How does it work?

[Dermpath]

I'm looking for some insight here. I have applied and not gotten into Dermatology. When I have done rotations I keep getting told how good I am, etc. I asked one of my recommenders if they basically would be willing to talk to the PD on my behalf, I did not get a response. I was told by this person that I should definitely go into Derm, that I was one of the best they had seen in a long time, etc. Was I inappropriate in asking this?

How do people normally ask others to go to bat for them? Is there a different etiquette? Advice please!

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[dermathalon]

I'm looking for some insight here. I have applied and not gotten into Dermatology. When I have done rotations I keep getting told how good I am, etc. I asked one of my recommenders if they basically would be willing to talk to the PD on my behalf, I did not get a response. I was told by this person that I should definitely go into Derm, that I was one of the best they had seen in a long time, etc. Was I inappropriate in asking this?

How do people normally ask others to go to bat for them? Is there a different etiquette? Advice please!

Looks like your connections were not as strong....sorry about that. Derm is full of passive aggressive people that will tell you that you are good and then tank you later. What you need is someone that is really going to be honest with you about your application (first and foremost) so that you can really assess what may have happened with the application process. I can't tell you how many people that were "great" on paper that reeked arrogance and didn't even know it. I'm not saying that you are arrogant but what I'm saying is that those people would have benefited from someone telling them to not have the dial permanently set to 11 out of 10.

What you did is totally fine and unfortunately it looks likes your contact is either not comfortable with doing that or was not supportive of you enough to make the call. You will likely never know. How well did you know your recommender? It is not uncommon to change minds about granting an interview after a rejection just so that you know....

 

[Dermpath]

Looks like your connections were not as strong....sorry about that. Derm is full of passive aggressive people that will tell you that you are good and then tank you later. What you need is someone that is really going to be honest with you about your application (first and foremost) so that you can really assess what may have happened with the application process. I can't tell you how many people that were "great" on paper that reeked arrogance and didn't even know it. I'm not saying that you are arrogant but what I'm saying is that those people would have benefited from someone telling them to not have the dial permanently set to 11 out of 10.

What you did is totally fine and unfortunately it looks likes your contact is either not comfortable with doing that or was not supportive of you enough to make the call. You will likely never know. How well did you know your recommender? It is not uncommon to change minds about granting an interview after a rejection just so that you know....

I have not been rejected from this place, and I was granted an IV before. Should I ask again you think? Is there a certain way of asking this? I think I was polite and sent a heartfelt message.

 

[pupster]

Places that interviewed you before will likely NOT reinterview you.

 

[dermathalon]

I have not been rejected from this place, and I was granted an IV before. Should I ask again you think? Is there a certain way of asking this? I think I was polite and sent a heartfelt message.

Sorry for the delay since time is of the essence here. So, people that get IVs typically do not get another interview as pupster pointed out. However, there are always untypical things that happen. If this program happens to be a home program then there is a chance that they will re-interview you. However, if it is not a program that knew you well to begin with, the question comes up as to why should they interview you again when you didn't make it off the rank list the last time. It all depends where you were on the rank list. Did people like you but you just missed on their rank list or were you way down on the list? It's hard for you to find that sort of info out and so if you've sent a message to one recommender and they have not replied, the other option is to go to another recommender and try it again (assuming you know this person well). It's a fine balance to keep asking the same person over and over again since you walk a fine line between asking for help and becoming pushy and annoying. I just can't tell you where that line is for each individual so I'm at a loss to give you good generic advice here. Maybe someone else here will have another idea as well.

 

[Dral]

Sorry for the delay since time is of the essence here. So, people that get IVs typically do not get another interview as pupster pointed out. However, there are always untypical things that happen. If this program happens to be a home program then there is a chance that they will re-interview you. However, if it is not a program that knew you well to begin with, the question comes up as to why should they interview you again when you didn't make it off the rank list the last time. It all depends where you were on the rank list. Did people like you but you just missed on their rank list or were you way down on the list? It's hard for you to find that sort of info out and so if you've sent a message to one recommender and they have not replied, the other option is to go to another recommender and try it again (assuming you know this person well). It's a fine balance to keep asking the same person over and over again since you walk a fine line between asking for help and becoming pushy and annoying. I just can't tell you where that line is for each individual so I'm at a loss to give you good generic advice here. Maybe someone else here will have another idea as well.

Agreed. This is a tough situation. Dermatologists are busy people and do forget to follow on things like this sometimes. A single reminder is probably helpful if worded correctly (acknowledging 'just as a friendly reminder in case it slipped your mind' or such).

More than that starts getting annoying I think.

I think you could make a case for yourself and get a re-interview if you can prove that you have become a significantly stronger candidate since last interview season. I don't know if that's your case, but it's a possible strategy. Best of luck. I hate that there are some of us who want to be dermatologists but get thwarted by the competitive nature of the field...but it is what it is unfortunately.

 

[N-Surge]

Research fellowship? It might be an option.