how hard is it to match FM via SOAP as US MD w/o red flags?

[Nahom]

Hey guys. long story short, I'm a psych applicant. 230's and 240's for step, no failures in clerkships , never failed anything before, excellent letters and really splendid evals. I made a technical error when applying to programs (applied to 40+): for whatever reason my USMLE transcript was not assigned to any programs.

I have had 1 interview so far, and thats it. I haven't had any invite since eras first opened. All my application is in order now since this last friday (when I discovered the horrific error). Still NOTHING.

I am afraid I will not get any more interviews. Everyone else in psych has at least 4 by now, some a lot more. I have zip since that single invite.

If worse comes to worse, how hard is it to match into FM via SOAP if I don't match? I of course would try to SOAP into one of the rare positions in psych, but if worse comes to worse, I could be happy as an FM.

I have looked at the charting outcomes data and it looks like about 50% of US MD students that apply get SOME sort of position in some sort of specialty through the SOAP.

1. With my type of application, do I really have a 1 in 2 chance of not even matching through SOAP?

2. And if I don't match through the SOAP, would it be hard to match into FM 1 year post graduation? I read a study that said less than 50% of unmatched students that re-apply 1 year after graduation get matched the second time (although, this might be because they are re-applying to competitive stuff like derm or ophtho, not FM).

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[GoSpursGo]

If you just assigned your USMLE transcript last Friday, then most programs probably have not really evaluated your application in the last 2.5 days--remember, they probably put your entire application aside and didn't read it at all when they saw it was incomplete. This is probably a big enough update to your application, and it's probably getting late enough to warrant emailing the PCs at the programs that have not yet offered you invites. I would not start catastrophizing unless you're still sitting on one interview at the end of October. I think it is quite likely you will match in psych just fine.

If it makes you feel better, you will almost certainly match FM next year if you don't match this year for some reason.

 

[gutonc]

How does the psych interview invite thread look compared to your experience?

I agree, you're catastrophizing this a bit (I do the same, so I can totally relate). I don't think you need to do anything for another week at least (preferably the end of the month, as @GoSpursGo suggests). If the offers aren't forthcoming at that point, go ahead and give a few dozen places a heads up.