Interview Invitations Thread

[doctorlarry]

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I just spoke to Emory neurology and the coordinator informed me they have already finished selecting which applicants they're inviting. They do not provide letters of decline. She said they sent out the last set of invitations a week or so ago. So I guess if you haven't received one by now, it's not happening. Unfortunately, I am in that situation.

Rejections thus far: Emory, Duke, Yale, WashU, Columbia, UCLA (via email). This has been a very dry week. 🙁

 

[TruTrooper]

I just spoke to Emory neurology and the coordinator informed me they have already finished selecting which applicants they're inviting. They do not provide letters of decline. She said they sent out the last set of invitations a week or so ago. So I guess if you haven't received one by now, it's not happening. Unfortunately, I am in that situation.

Rejections thus far: Emory, Duke, Yale, WashU, Columbia. This has been a very dry week. 🙁

Now that is just crappy. Man, that was the last of my most desirable programs that I was waiting for. They sent me a letter telling me to expect a decision for an interview by the end of October and they don't even send you the decision? Oh, well, I still have Paris.

Yes this week was dry. I got no new rejections or invites except for Transitional and Prelim prgrams. 😡

 

[Methyldopa]

Now that is just crappy. Man, that was the last of my most desirable programs that I was waiting for. They sent me a letter telling me to expect a decision for an interview by the end of October and they don't even send you the decision? Oh, well, I still have Paris.

Yes this week was dry. I got no new rejections or invites except for Transitional and Prelim prgrams. 😡

You should call or write to Emory, stating how much you like their school and that you'd be a great fit, etc...

Don't give up so easily!

 

[TruTrooper]

You should call or write to Emory, stating how much you like their school and that you'd be a great fit, etc...

Don't give up so easily!

I am kind of tired of this process and I have just began it. I can imagine how I might be by December where most of my interviews are scheduled. Checking my email multiple time throughout the day so I can get a jump on interview dates is so tedious but I am trying to enjoy this time as much as possible.

 

[play274]

I am kind of tired of this process and I have just began it. I can imagine how I might be by December where most of my interviews are scheduled. Checking my email multiple time throughout the day so I can get a jump on interview dates is so tedious but I am trying to enjoy this time as much as possible.

Definitely try to enjoy your time, TruTrooper. Not only will you get a chance to travel, but you'll be able to meet a number of your future colleagues. Neurology is a relatively small world, and other students, residents, and attendings will become increasingly more familiar to you as the years pass.


Some other thoughts:

Everything said and done, one person's positive or negative view/interview experience at a particular program may not be valid for the next person. The only way that you can truly tell if a program 'is for you' is via interviewing and appropriately asking the right questions. Also, IMO, being accepted or declined for interview by a program does not mean very much. There are too many excellent programs out there, and one should never feel let down by the process. Focus on the programs that do send you an invite.

It appears that almost everyone on the board has received invites from some excellent programs. I sincerely hope that you all do very well! Have fun.

Finally, it's really great to see what GopherBrain has done with this board. Kudos to you for your effort - and I hope that your internship is going well! I've been busy with my fellowship (one year is never enough time!) and am on the home-stretch in preparation for boards part I. Pretty soon, I'll have to decide on applying for an academic spot versus staying on for more research. Time goes too quickly ...

-274

 

[play274]

.

 

[Perseverator]

For those of y'all interested in holding onto your money for as long as you can, I started a new thread about coordinating travel so that we can split the cost of hotels or rentals or corned beef sandwiches... Check it out!

 

[Perseverator]

Don't worry all, the invites will start pouring in once the Dean's Letters are released Nov. 1st. I'm pretty sure that's what all programs are waiting on at this point.

To support my argument, a real life example:

Dear Applicant:
We have had an opportunity to review the application for the Neurology Residency Program that you submitted. At this time, your application is being held for a second review after we receive your Dean's Letter in order for us to give it careful consideration. Another email will be sent to you as soon as the second review is completed.

 

[TruTrooper]

For those of y'all interested in holding onto your money for as long as you can, I started a new thread about coordinating travel so that we can split the cost of hotels or rentals or corned beef sandwiches... Check it out!

I share my corned beef sandwhich with no one! 😀 But hotel bill-sharing is good.

Don't worry all, the invites will start pouring in once the Dean's Letters are released Nov. 1st. I'm pretty sure that's what all programs are waiting on at this point.

I don't see what the big deal is about Dean's Letter, anyway. I read over mine and it didn't seem much more enlightening than my application expect for class rank and z score. I guess that must what they want to know.

 

[neurolome]

Thanks for the heads up on Emory, really nice of you to share that information with people who applied. It really does seem impolite not to at least send letters of decline though. How is a prospective candidate supposed to get closure? Logistically, it also seems like a few (free) e-mails would save their frazzled secretary a lot of frantic calls from candidates in the near future. 😕

In other news, got a rejection letter via e-mail from Columbia this week. Definately a dry spell. Hoping for better luck after the Dean's Letter too.

 

[doctorlarry]

Thanks for the heads up on Emory, really nice of you to share that information with people who applied. It really does seem impolite not to at least send letters of decline though. How is a prospective candidate supposed to get closure? Logistically, it also seems like a few (free) e-mails would save their frazzled secretary a lot of frantic calls from candidates in the near future. 😕

In other news, got a rejection letter via e-mail from Columbia this week. Definately a dry spell. Hoping for better luck after the Dean's Letter too.

No problem. A week ago I called Univ of Miami and the coordinator said they get over 300 applications, and the only way they will contact us is for an interview. Again, no rejection notice nor application receipt notice. I asked when is the latest we may learn of an interview and she said Dec.31. She was rather upset that I had bothered her with a phone call concerning my application. Just a heads up.

Hopefully the upcoming week will be more pleasant! Good luck to you all.

 

[gallant2m]

New interviews - Michigan state u

 

[trajanman]

Got UCSF by email today! 🙂

 

[mcA13]

Interviews so far:
UT Houston (email)
UT San Antonio (email)
Tufts U. (email)
Northwestern (email)
Case Western (snail mail)
Loyola (email)
U Mass (email)
Med. C Georgia (snail mail)
U Conn (snail mail)
Georgetown (email)
Tulane (phone call)

Rejections
Yale (email)

Has anyone heard from George Washington or Baylor?

 

[Tiranth]

New interviews this past week - U of Miami (snail mail), OHSU (email)

4 programs left to hear from

 

[kima]

update,

Invitations
UVA
Hopkins

Rejections
WashU
Georgetown
UMD

still waiting on 23 others!

K

 

[penguins]

New interview offers:
Loyola (no hotel)- email
U of Louisville- call
Med Co of Wis- email

Old offers:
U of MN (no hotel)
U of Miss (no hotel)
U of MO
UT Memphis (no hotel)
MCG
SIU

Old rejections:
UAB
U of CO
U of IN

 

[ihateschool]

Hey Kima, how did Georgetown Deny you? Email, Letter, Call? please let me know i'm waiting for their decision...thanks 🙂

 

[kima]

Hey Kima, how did Georgetown Deny you? Email, Letter, Call? please let me know i'm waiting for their decision...thanks 🙂

By letter, it was for visa sponsorship reasons. Hope you will receive an invitation from them!

I just got a snail mail rejection from Duke, damn it I so wanted this program 🙁

 

[doctorlarry]

Received an invitation from UF Jax today via snail mail. Anyone have an invitation at Mayo Jacksonville? If so, when were you notified and how?

Thanks.

 

[kima]

Received an invitation from UF Jax today via snail mail. Anyone have an invitation at Mayo Jacksonville? If so, when were you notified and how?

Thanks.

still no response from Mayo Jax, I called them and they told me that they are still going through the applications and could not tell me when to expect a decision...hang in there, we're all in this @$#@

K

 

[alphajam]

It has been almost 2 weeks now that I got my last interview from Loyola. Though it pushes up my tally to 8, all of them are not the most desirable programs in the world. I would definitely like to get a bit more choice. But no further information coming forth. I wonder whether other reviewers have decided to shut the door on me without having the decency to inform about it.

 

[Plesso]

It has been almost 2 weeks now that I got my last interview from Loyola. Though it pushes up my tally to 8, all of them are not the most desirable programs in the world. I would definitely like to get a bit more choice. But no further information coming forth. I wonder whether other reviewers have decided to shut the door on me without having the decency to inform about it.

It's too early to worry...I imagine some programs wait to give out their second or third batch of interviews until after the Dean's letters are released on November 1st...

 

[Plesso]

New: Case Western, Maryland, Indiana
Old: Barrow, UC-Irvine, Pittsburgh, UT-Houston, UT-San Antonio, Utah, UVa

Rejections:
Wash U, Cleveland Clinic, Yale, Columbia, Rochester

 

[kima]

did anybody hear from Upenn, Cleveland clinic Florida, Jefferson, UMDNJ?
are there programs that actually reject you withtout even responding??

K

 

[neogeo]

did anybody hear from Upenn, Cleveland clinic Florida, Jefferson, UMDNJ?
are there programs that actually reject you withtout even responding??

K

Unfortunatley, I think MOST programs reject you without even responding.

 

[doctorlarry]

For anyone who is interested, last week I was told that UPenn does NOT review applications in the order in which it is received, but rather by alphabetical order. The program coordinator told me my application was being reviewed and my last name starts with M. So it looks as though they have a ways to go.

As far as rejections go, I have had my share, and the majority so far have contacted me either via e-mail or snail mail. Of note in my previous posts, Emory and University of Miami do not provide rejection notices.

We all will benefit by not crowding our inbox as I have been, but rather by focusing on the programs that have already offered us interviews. I believe an earlier poster mentioned something similar, and it is good advice so it is worth repeating.

Remember we are all experiencing this together, and I can't wait to meet my future colleagues on the interview trail and beyond. Best of luck to us future neurologists. 😉

 

[Plesso]

New: Miami (phone call), Baylor (via email), Minnesota (via email)
Old: Case Western, Maryland, Indiana, Barrow, UC-Irvine, Pittsburgh, UT-Houston, UT-San Antonio, Utah, UVa

New Rejections: Colorado (snail mail), Wake Forest (email)
Old Rejections:
Wash U, Cleveland Clinic, Yale, Columbia, Rochester

 

[alphajam]

After ages, got a call from Univ of Oklahoma. Pulls my interviews to 9 now. Any idea about the program/ place? I know most people from this forum are really going to big places, but any input regarding Oklahoma would be appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[kima]

update

interviews

northwestern
Hopkins
UVA
Emory

Rejections
WashU
UMD
Georgetown
Hmm..I am sure I am forgetting one, that's some selective memory!
still waiting on many, anybody hear from Upenn or the NYC programs?

K

 

[trajanman]

OHSU by email (last week)
Partners by phone (today)

Kima--I've heard from UPenn, but it was a few weeks ago--hang in there, they likely go in batches

 

[Methyldopa]

update

interviews

northwestern
Hopkins
UVA
Emory

Rejections
WashU
UMD
Georgetown
Hmm..I am sure I am forgetting one, that's some selective memory!
still waiting on many, anybody hear from Upenn or the NYC programs?

K

Congrats on your great interviews. Just sit tight. All the programs just received the dean's letters. Give them a couple fo days to process it.

 

[penguins]

After ages, got a call from Univ of Oklahoma. Pulls my interviews to 9 now. Any idea about the program/ place? I know most people from this forum are really going to big places, but any input regarding Oklahoma would be appreciated.

Heard something about the chair there just stepping down or about to. Don't have it in writing though

 

[doctorlarry]

After a long dry spell, today I received an interview invitation from Mayo Clinic Jacksonville. I am on cloud nine guys! 😉

Old invitations:
Cleveland Clinic Foundation
UNC
Case Western
Univ. of Cincinnati
UC Irvine
UT Southwestern
Univ. of Chicago
Barrow
UF Shands Jacksonville
Medical College of Georgia

Scheduling is becoming a nightmare! But this is a happy headache I suppose. Best of luck everyone. Hoping to hear from a few more now that deans letters are rolling out.

 

[discgoddess]

UCLA
Albert Einstein

both via e-mail.

 

[kima]

Congrats on your great interviews. Just sit tight. All the programs just received the dean's letters. Give them a couple fo days to process it.

Thanks methyldopa, looks like invitations are rolling again, let's hope for the best.

K

 

[trajanman]

U Washington by regular mail today

 

[NoSz]

Interviews: (I am an IMG with GC.)


I cancelled interviews at Chicago, Wisconsin/Madison, UNM.

Don't you hate it? How do you cope or do you just go to all interviews?

I have 13/22 invitations and now have to start cancelling. It really kills me, but I cannot take that much time off from work.

I have cancelled those 3 interviews so far and it feels like cutting off the cord. ...Of course now I will not get any residency position and I should have kept those interviews and cancelled others...

I am looking forward to meet you all soon during interviews at one place or another!

 

[moya moya]

Interviews: (I am an IMG with GC.)

accepted-UCI, Kaiser Permanente SC, USC, Stanford, UC Davis, Michigan/Ann Arbor, Dartmouth, BU, U Washington, Rochester/NY

cancelled- Chicago, Wisconsin/Madison, UNM

rejected- Yale, UCLA

Don't you hate it? How do you cope or do you just go to all interviews?

I have 13/22 invitations and now have to start cancelling. It really kills me, but I cannot take that much time off from work.

I have cancelled those 3 interviews so far and it feels like cutting off the cord. ...Of course now I will not get any residency position and I should have kept those interviews and cancelled others...

I am looking forward to meet you all soon during interviews at one place or another!

Congrats on all the interviews. It's always a good thing when you have too many and actually have to cancel. Do you or anyone else know if Stanford has completed sending all their interview offers? They are one of the last schools that I am dying to interview at but have not heard from. I fear that because I haven't heard from them at this point but several others on this message board have, it probably means that I will not be offered an interview 🙁 . Does anyone on this message board happen to know if all of their inteview spots have been filled?

 

[doctorlarry]

Congrats on all the interviews. It's always a good thing when you have too many and actually have to cancel. Do you or anyone else know if Stanford has completed sending all their interview offers? They are one of the last schools that I am dying to interview at but have not heard from. I fear that because I haven't heard from them at this point but several others on this message board have, it probably means that I will not be offered an interview 🙁 . Does anyone on this message board happen to know if all of their inteview spots have been filled?

Why not go directly to the source...call them? Good luck!

 

[NoSz]

{/QUOTE]Do you or anyone else know if Stanford has completed sending all their interview offers? They are one of the last schools that I am dying to interview at but have not heard from. I fear that because I haven't heard from them at this point but several others on this message board have, it probably means that I will not be offered an interview 🙁 . Does anyone on this message board happen to know if all of their inteview spots have been filled?[/QUOTE]

I know, that they had at least one open interview in December last week, because they asked me whether I would like to change. That might also mean, they have nearly filled all positions. But I would really call them. They seem to be extremely well organized and professional.
This is their contact:

Shazneen Khan
Residency Coordinator
Department of Neurology
Stanford University
(650) 725-6688

 

[Methyldopa]

Congrats on all the interviews. It's always a good thing when you have too many and actually have to cancel. Do you or anyone else know if Stanford has completed sending all their interview offers? They are one of the last schools that I am dying to interview at but have not heard from. I fear that because I haven't heard from them at this point but several others on this message board have, it probably means that I will not be offered an interview 🙁 . Does anyone on this message board happen to know if all of their inteview spots have been filled?

I think the problem for those who still have programs you haven't heard from is that these programs actually still haven't received your dean's letter. In fact SF match is not sending them out until next week. 😱

Another proof that SF match sucks!

 

[discgoddess]

Another proof that SF match sucks![/QUOTE]

During the interview trail this week, the chair of one of the programs said that the apps were delayed this week because, literally, the person in charge of SF Match threw out his back and had to take some days off... Hence delaying applications being sent out. The same source said that there was a vote whether the neuro match should be moved to regular match through ERAS... He thought that it is very likely that this year will be the last year of SF Match and that neuro will be regular match next year.

 

[GopherBrain]

The SF Match has some serious flaws. However, you can't yet imagine the glory of knowing that you already matched to your top choice in late January, February, and early March when your friends and classmates are still giving themselves ulcers with worry... 😀

 

[neurosign]

BIDMC

Details
5/year, call q4, night-float, mid-size, good balance of clinical & research training, convenient facilities, accessible faculty, excellent mentorship, many collaborative efforts with HMS and between departments, supportive administration, great fellowship placements, rehab and psych rotations, very clinically-oriented, strengths- stroke (Kaplan), MD, epilepsy, live patient case conference done weekly by Dr. Ronthal a famous tradition

Schedule
Dinner at 6:30, 7 applicants and 7 residents, next day 7:30-4; 6-7 interviews with Chair, PD, one resident, faculty; 30min each, served breakfast/lunch, did not provide lodging so book hotel early near Longwood off Green line, be on time to dinner and interviews! Asked to talk about one patient case during resident interview

Observations
+ nice dinner, residents friendly/talkative, faculty moderately enthusiastic, Chairman very nice and personable

-- tour did not show all facilities, many faculty asked how I heard about their program, young program due to split 8 years ago from BWH, lost some star faculty three years ago, very weak neurosurgery program that is now recruiting faculty and residents

?? coordinator also makes observations, still not clear on various levels of affialiation with Harvard (though they are proud of it), chief resident referred to program as a laid back/not intense

 

[neurosign]

Interview Questions I've had during my first few program visits:

Tell me about yourself…where you’re from, education, family, neurology interests, etc.
Why neurology?
What qualities are you looking for in a program?
What do you see yourself doing 5 years from now?
Tell me about your research.
Elaborate on your clinical experience related to neurology and medicine.
Talk about a patient case you found interesting on the wards or in clinic.
Tell us about your involvement in this/that organization at your school.
Do you have any specific interests in neurology?
What are your hobbies, things you like to do in your spare time?
Do you have any questions or concerns about our program?
Which other programs are you applying to?
Do you have a significant other and what does he/she do?

 

[discgoddess]

Hi All,
Has anyone been to Barrows Neurological Institute in AZ yet? Any thoughts about it?

Thanks!

 

[traveler]

Interview Questions I've had during my first few program visits:

Do you have a significant other and what does he/she do?

I was under the impression programs cannot ask this......

 

[kima]

I was under the impression programs cannot ask this......

there are many questions that they are not legally authrized to ask but they still do, and because you are not in the best negotiating position, you just need to suck it up and answer 😡

update on invitations temple U, anybody know anything about this program?

Old invites
JHU
Emory
UVA
Northwestern

update on rejections
Upenn :-( really wanted to go there

only 5 interviews so far, this is stressful ...

Kima

 

[doctorlarry]

New invitation today: Cleveland Clinic FL via snail mail. Beginning interview trail this Thursday. Good luck everybody!

Doctorlarry