As long as it's September, it's WAY too early to draw ANY conclusions whatsoever.
Very true, way too early.
Medium-popularity residencies got at least 500 apps on Saturday.
I think this number is a bit on the low side, more like 700-800.
the time required for human eyes to find relevant data (open website, click things, scroll, use tired middle-aged eyes to read data that is judged by tired middle-aged human brain, mark app as invite-now vs hold vs no) is a minutes-long task.
Also very true, my middle-aged eyes tire after the 10th application from someone who "took care of my grandma as she died of cancer, which solidified my desire to help people" essay crap. Or the 20th application from someone with volunteer experience at the homeless shelter. Or the 50th application from the past president of the Orthopedic Surgery club, and the secretary of the Dermatology club, who found family medicine was their true passion (after scoring poorly on boards, that is).
It's hard to figure out who really is worth considering for an interview.
FM is one of the specialties that gets flooded with poorly competitive apps, which slows everything down for everybody. Your pretty-good app is in line behind an FMG with several Step 1 attempts and some red flags who applied to 500 programs.
Not an issue, we have filters that filter all the crappy applications out, so we don't have to deal with them. Out of 800 applications, we end up with about 200 after filters are applied.
FM residency program directors did not clear their calendars to get through all of the apps as fast as possible, because they have other priorities such as patient care, kids starting school, current residents in crisis, life.
Yes, indeed, we're human and have other things to do. Be aware that the application season is extremely busy for all of us (staff, directors, etc.) so be polite and respect our time. If you have a less than stellar application, don't call us after we reject you. You're wasting staff's valuable time, and it makes all of us very cranky. Leave it alone, and move on. If I was more tech savvy I would insert here a mini movie of Rambo holding a knife to the sheriff's neck and saying "let it go...let it go..." (look it up on You Tube).
Your match experience is a once-in-a-lifetime massively-high-stakes SERIOUSLY BIG FAT DEAL but for people who work at residencies it's ho-hum interview season AGAIN.
We really, really try to remember this, but it's hard. It happens every year, and as soon as it's over it seems that it starts all over again right after it ended.
It's a busy time, and we need to fit all that extra work on top of all the other stuff we need to do (residency goes on for all residents, we can't just put everything on hold to deal with the application season).
The take home is this:
- If you're an IMG with a good application, relax, it's too early to worry.
- If you're an IMG with a poor application, wait and see what happens, don't call programs and bug them. Honestly, DON'T CALL PROGRAMS. You'll piss off the staff and decrease your chances even further.
If you could hang out at our admissions office during the application cycle you would totally understand. The phone rings NON-STOP and our overworked staff hates it. Sometimes they don't even pick up the phone and just go through the voice mail (delete...delete...delete). This is a huge time-waster.
