Has anyone had a "successful" scramble?

[Bring It On]

What did you do to make it sucessful? Have 10 fax machines, 15 people calling, what was the formula that worked for you? If you don't mind sharing...

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[Top Gun]

What did you do to make it sucessful? Have 10 fax machines, 15 people calling, what was the formula that worked for you? If you don't mind sharing...

Well, I had one friend who had 3 people calling who managed to scramble into a family practice program.

 

[ekydrd]

I had my OME office prepare and fax info to programs I had applied to, and two phones for my use alone. I did my own calling and got into a top notch Med-Peds program.

 

[Dr McSteamy]

how many interviews did you guys get?

I'm trying to understand why you guys had to scramble...

 

[Top Gun]

how many interviews did you guys get?

I'm trying to understand why you guys had to scramble...

Last year I had only six. That was because I was foolish enough to wait till late October/early November to begin my ERAS application. I applied in early September this year. You wouldn't believe what a huge difference it made in the number of interviews I got this year.

 

[Dr McSteamy]

Last year I had only six. That was because I was foolish enough to wait till late October/early November to begin my ERAS application. I applied in early September this year. You wouldn't believe what a huge difference it made in the number of interviews I got this year.

you don't have to have your step 2 score by september, right?
just apply and throw your name out during september, right?

If you have a weaker step 1 score, better to get your ck score out during september too?

 

[gutonc]

you don't have to have your step 2 score by september, right?
just apply and throw your name out during september, right?

If you have a weaker step 1 score, better to get your ck score out during september too?

As mentioned in myriad other threads, if you are an...

AMG w/ good Step 1 score - no need to take Step 2 early unless your school requires it

AMG w/ bad Step 1 score - you should probably take it early to buff your CV

IMG/FMG w/ any Step 1 score - Take it as early as possible. Programs want to ensure you'll be ECFMG certified before the deadline and many places will use this as a cutoff for invite/no invite. You can kid yourself that since it's not "required" you don't have to do it until later but, given 2 equal I/FMG candidates, one w/ only Step 1, the other w/ all the ECFMG ducks in a row, the 2nd one will get many more interviews than the first.

 

[Top Gun]

As mentioned in myriad other threads, if you are an...

AMG w/ good Step 1 score - no need to take Step 2 early unless your school requires it

AMG w/ bad Step 1 score - you should probably take it early to buff your CV

IMG/FMG w/ any Step 1 score - Take it as early as possible. Programs want to ensure you'll be ECFMG certified before the deadline and many places will use this as a cutoff for invite/no invite. You can kid yourself that since it's not "required" you don't have to do it until later but 2 equal I/FMG candidates, one w/ only Step 1, one w/ all the ECFMG ducks in a row, the 2nd one will get many more interviews than the first.

Exactly. Residency applicants should follow the advice above.

 

[ekydrd]

Yes, but unfortunately even with such good advice things may not work out like you hope. I interviewed at 12 places and ranked 11 (was completely turned off by the residents bike biting each other and their attendings at one program), and still had to scramble. EM is very competitive so I wasn't totally surprised. Decided I'd rather do Med-Peds anyway, so here I am.