I guess we aren't gonna be able to do any aways before ERAS.....

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Doggeronie

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What do you guys think? I personally don't think most places are gonna be taking students for aways.
But I was leaning mainly towards IM so hopefully that doesn't affect my chances????

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If you are a US MD you don't need to do any aways for internal medicine. In fact many would say you probably shouldn't do any aways.
 
If you are a US MD you don't need to do any aways for internal medicine. In fact many would say you probably shouldn't do any aways.
Ya I am a US MD so I guess I should just chill and study for CK lol
 
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Agree no aways. Good chance no Step 2 CS for a lot of people, too. Hell Step 1 and Step 2 CK might even be unavailable all summer.

At schools that take Step 1 after their required clerkships, there might even be a bunch of people planning to apply in September who won't even know whether their Step 1 is competitive until right before ERAS.
 
Agree no aways. Good chance no Step 2 CS for a lot of people, too. Hell Step 1 and Step 2 CK might even be unavailable all summer.

At schools that take Step 1 after their required clerkships, there might even be a bunch of people planning to apply in September who won't even know whether their Step 1 is competitive until right before ERAS.
wait... we won't get to take CK before ERAS either??? wtf
 
wait... we won't get to take CK before ERAS either??? wtf
Well, there are thousands of MS2s right now on indefinite Step 1 dedicated because Prometric are closed. Their initial closure announcement said 1 month, but given that we're trying to target a long flat curve, we're almost certainly looking at a few months of social distancing and non-essential shutdowns. I wouldn't be that shocked if Prometric stayed closed into mid summer or late summer, and then there will be a stampede for their limited seating. Anyone who had a weak Step 1 and wanted to add a Step 2 CK score already reported to them by September could have that plan foiled.
 
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Well, there are thousands of MS2s right now on indefinite Step 1 dedicated because Prometric are closed. Their initial closure announcement said 1 month, but given that we're trying to target a long flat curve, we're almost certainly looking at a few months of social distancing and non-essential shutdowns. I wouldn't be that shocked if Prometric stayed closed into mid summer or late summer, and then there will be a stampede for their limited seating. Anyone who had a weak Step 1 and wanted to add a Step 2 CK score already reported to them by September could have that plan foiled.
I wonder what they will do to make up for the number of students that were delayed because of closure? Will they be canceling later dates and giving them to those who registered earlier? Will they increase capacity temporarily to get the backlog through ?
They should just do the right thing and cancel CS outright.
 
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Aways are in serious jeopardy. PE/CS is probably going to have significant changes, and I’ve heard their are rumblings of the ERAS date being pushed back to October (just a rumor so take that as you will).

Might even be a chance we don’t even have in person interviews and do Zoom type interviews.
 
I wonder what they will do to make up for the number of students that were delayed because of closure? Will they be canceling later dates and giving them to those who registered earlier? Will they increase capacity temporarily to get the backlog through ?
They should just do the right thing and cancel CS outright.
I also hope CS gets either cancelled or delayed until after the Match. Wouldn't be that bad to go do it in May or June right before starting residency.

But yeah, I think since prometric offers so many different exams, maybe they could hold off on reinstating stuff like the MCAT to make more slots for USMLEs? Dunno, really.

Come to think of it, these next few months were also the final window for MCAT testing for this summer's AMCAS. There's probably thousands and thousands of premeds out there who just got screwed into a mandatory gap year.
 
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Zoom type interviews
I like the idea of saving $10k on residency travel and interviews

I do not like the idea of the most important interviews of my life, that will determine where I spend the next half decade, being conducted over spotty low-rez Zoom/Skype calls
 
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They should just do the right thing and cancel CS outright.

The NBOME is cancelling the DO version in two week increments. I suspect they are doing this because they know a mass closure of multiple months worth of test dates would make it impossible for current MS3s to all take the test and would require some pretty large concessions.

I wonder if they will finally allow it to be a certification done by the individual schools.
 
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I like the idea of saving $10k on residency travel and interviews

I do not like the idea of the most important interviews of my life, that will determine where I spend the next half decade, being conducted over spotty low-rez Zoom/Skype calls

Same. I think this cycle we will see a lot of in house matches. Which sucks for those of us looking to try and punch up.
 
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No one told you to do aways to begin with if you are going for IM.

Wouldn't you still wanna do your IM sub-I before ERAS opens? I know aways aren't required but i heard some programs like seeing your sub-I done early.
 
Same. I think this cycle we will see a lot of in house matches. Which sucks for those of us looking to try and punch up.
Very good point. For the ivory towers that are already very incestuous, this year it could be a majority.
 
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I wonder if they will finally allow it to be a certification done by the individual schools.
We have a required mock CS that is apparently much harder to Pass. I wish this could just be the norm. Tell all schools they have to fail at least 3-5% or something if they must, but at least stop forcing us to fly across the country.
 
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Wouldn't you still wanna do your IM sub-I before ERAS opens? I know aways aren't required but i heard some programs like seeing your sub-I done early.
You can still do that at your home program.
 
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We have a required mock CS that is apparently much harder to Pass. I wish this could just be the norm. Tell all schools they have to fail at least 3-5% or something if they must, but at least stop forcing us to fly across the country.
My mock CS was absolutely brutal. Actors were terrible, and the cases were so outside the norm of anythign you would ever see in reality. Like unwilling to give you pertinent information or become non-cooperative just to withhold info.
 
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Come to think of it, these next few months were also the final window for MCAT testing for this summer's AMCAS. There's probably thousands and thousands of premeds out there who just got screwed into a mandatory gap year.

AAMC said it will add additional test dates if necessary. I know our school has said it will extend its cycle to account for that and is going to be accepting MCAT scores as late as October.
 
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We have a required mock CS that is apparently much harder to Pass. I wish this could just be the norm. Tell all schools they have to fail at least 3-5% or something if they must, but at least stop forcing us to fly across the country.

The test costs like $1800 to take. They will never get rid of it.
 
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The test costs like $1800 to take. They will never get rid of it.
Hey if hospitals can cancel elective surgeries then anything is possible right?

Our school makes us have a mock cs before sitting for CS. They already autofail the bottom 5% in any category. They even assign us a 3 digit standardized score based around 200.


the fact that the aamc has not even let up on or increased flexibility of graduation requirements for m3s while the acgme has for residents is a clear sign that they are either dragging their feet or $ focused
 
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Hey if hospitals can cancel elective surgeries then anything is possible right?

Our school makes us have a mock cs before sitting for CS. They already autofail the bottom 5% in any category. They even assign us a 3 digit standardized score based around 200.


the fact that the aamc has not even let up on or increased flexibility of graduation requirements for m3s while the acgme has for residents is a clear sign that they are either dragging their feet or $ focused

Especially since the AAMC was one of the member organizations that established the ACGME.
 
Aways are in serious jeopardy. PE/CS is probably going to have significant changes, and I’ve heard their are rumblings of the ERAS date being pushed back to October (just a rumor so take that as you will).

Might even be a chance we don’t even have in person interviews and do Zoom type interviews.

I was kinda looking forward to interview season... I like traveling and seeing different towns/institutions
 
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I was kinda looking forward to interview season... I like traveling and seeing different towns/institutions
Interview season is cool for a little bit. You get to meet a bunch of other applicants, which is great especially in really small specialties, because then you basically know all of your peers. You get to meet luminaries of the field and have their (mostly) undivided attention for half an hour. You get endless steak dinners and free drinks.

Then you don't want any more steak dinners, you've met everybody, you've gotten visual confirmation that other hospitals do indeed have ORs and ICUs, and you just want to go home.

Then you match somewhere in your top 3 and wonder why you had to go on 15 interviews. You wish you had that money back to spend on your own traveling interests (except for the poor souls this year who aren't going anywhere). You look forward to interview dinners as a resident when you get the same steak dinner but are already part of the club and don't have to tiptoe around every conversation.
 
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I'm still trying to figure out how to match in neuro when I cannot be sure I'll get aways or even a letter in neuro as of now...
 
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I'm still trying to figure out how to match in neuro when I cannot be sure I'll get aways or even a letter in neuro as of now...
Neuro as in neurology? If you have a Step 1 score >200 you have over a 90% chance of matching in neuro. Under 50% of neuro matches are US seniors.

Neurosurgery, totally different story, not clear what the standard will be this year.
 
Neuro as in neurology? If you have a Step 1 score >200 you have over a 90% chance of matching in neuro. Under 50% of neuro matches are US seniors.

Neurosurgery, totally different story, not clear what the standard will be this year.
Most of them still require at least 1 neuro LOR. There's one program specifically I want far more than others so trying to make myself as good as possible. I'm sure itll work out but still nerve wracking to not know
 
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I was kinda looking forward to interview season... I like traveling and seeing different towns/institutions
Believe me, it gets old very fast. I had to do more interviews than I otherwise would because of the couples match and there’s only a certain number of motels and hospital tours a person can handle before they begin to lose their mind. I’m basically an extrovert and I love the open road and seeing new places, but there comes a point where you are too exhausted of being “on” all the time and the enormous amount of money you have to spend and just want it to be over.
 
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I also hope CS gets either cancelled or delayed until after the Match. Wouldn't be that bad to go do it in May or June right before starting residency.

But yeah, I think since prometric offers so many different exams, maybe they could hold off on reinstating stuff like the MCAT to make more slots for USMLEs? Dunno, really.

Come to think of it, these next few months were also the final window for MCAT testing for this summer's AMCAS. There's probably thousands and thousands of premeds out there who just got screwed into a mandatory gap year.

Yea, I was talking to a premed earlier luckily they're taking a gap year anyway but the others are SOL at this point. Even outside of healthcare there are bunch of other exams that go through Prometric so a lot of of people are stuck between a rock and hard place.
 
Yea, I was talking to a premed earlier luckily they're taking a gap year anyway but the others are SOL at this point. Even outside of healthcare there are bunch of other exams that go through Prometric so a lot of of people are stuck between a rock and hard place.
Oh, right, they probably also do all the LSAT, GMAT, GRE, Bar exam, etc. Graduate applications in general are gonna be messed up by COVID.
 
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Same. I think this cycle we will see a lot of in house matches. Which sucks for those of us looking to try and punch up.
Agree. EM will not know what to do without SLOEs from some applicants as many will only have their home rotation if any.
 
Most of them still require at least 1 neuro LOR. There's one program specifically I want far more than others so trying to make myself as good as possible. I'm sure itll work out but still nerve wracking to not know
I hear you. I think you'll be totally fine but I appreciate how crazy this is for the rising senior class. Did you do your neuro clerkship yet? Surely you could get a letter from them in a pinch. Good luck.
 
I hear you. I think you'll be totally fine but I appreciate how crazy this is for the rising senior class. Did you do your neuro clerkship yet? Surely you could get a letter from them in a pinch. Good luck.
Nope that was gonna be at the end of this year...
 
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Nope that was gonna be at the end of this year...
Hmmm. If I were in your shoes I would ask letter writers to speak to a strong commitment to as well as interest and aptitude in neurology, even though that is not their field. I’m sure many would be happy to think of something if you told them your situation. If you’ve had any primary care or EM rotations you have had neuro patients and consults. Definitely have at least a draft of a personal statement written to send with the request to help them speak to this interest. I’m sure you can slip something into your personal statement about saving the rotation for last because you wanted it to be the culmination and peak of your clerkship year.

Edit: don’t be afraid to contact that particular program. You can do a combo LOI with a “please you review my application despite the LOR requirement bc COVID” type thing.
 
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