Interview underdogs unite :) (from the new guy)

[Dr. Caveman]

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So I have been checking out SDN and freaking myself out lately looking at the stats from the posts with people getting 20+ interview offers and not knowing what to do (congrats to all, seriously). However, for all U out there that may be like me let me post that I do not have many interviews....I am trying not to worry and I hope maybe postings from some of us with lower interviews may be calming to all...or maybe I am alone 🙂

According to last years match stats.... ranking 5 = 75% match... ranking 6= 95% and 10 or greater is the magic 100%
over 230s on boards is like 99%....so maybe that might help some....

I applied to 24 programs, interview offers six, 10 rejections, only major one pending is harbor....Stats top 20%, step 1 236, three em rotations, HP, Honors, Honors and letter from my personal #1, NO RESEARCH, NO AOA....

So is there anyone else with me....🙂 or do I look like a man that may be scrambling....What's the chances of getting in the TOP 3? any insight from the big guys online would also be appreciated 🙂 Nice meeting yall

 

[Dr. Caveman]

Clearly new...I posted the thread twice and don't know how to delete it haha...

 

[Janders]

hey man, sorry about the tough luck with interviews. The stats you list look great. If you told me just the stats I would have guessed you got at least 75% of the interviews you applied for! Anyway, I bet things will work out great for you. Do you have any idea what might be holding you back? Not that I need to know, but if there is a big red flag of some kind you should prepare to explain it away during your interviews.

I am curious how much more competitive ED will be this year. Unfortuantly we won't know until match day. * Shudders *

 

[membsr-8890]

I applied to 24 programs, interview offers six, 10 rejections, only major one pending is harbor....Stats top 20%, step 1 236, three em rotations, HP, Honors, Honors and letter from my personal #1, NO RESEARCH, NO AOA....


Seriously you only got 6 interviews with those stats? That's unreal. I'm angry for you!

 

[Interpolfanclub]

I feel your pain, I honored several 3rd year rotations, both EM rotations and got 2 letters from pretty well known PDs. No research, no AOA, board scores in the 230s. No black marks on my record at all.

I initially applied to 29 programs, then added about 10 more a couple weeks ago. I've only got 4 interviews right now, multiple rejections and absolute silence from about 20 programs (not sure of the significance of that.) My MSPE was really late and I never got to look at it and one of my letters was late. I have no explanation for the lack of interviews, I'm going to go look at my MSPE this week and make sure there's not a huge mistake on it.

I'm hoping some spots open up later this year or I may be framing houses again. I called some programs in NYC and they said they've only sent out one group of interview offers and will interview into Feb so I'm slightly optimistic but the lack of interviews is frustrating given my academic record.

 

[kbrown]

So I have been checking out SDN and freaking myself out lately looking at the stats from the posts with people getting 20+ interview offers and not knowing what to do (congrats to all, seriously). However, for all U out there that may be like me let me post that I do not have many interviews....I am trying not to worry and I hope maybe postings from some of us with lower interviews may be calming to all...or maybe I am alone 🙂

According to last years match stats.... ranking 5 = 75% match... ranking 6= 95% and 10 or greater is the magic 100%
over 230s on boards is like 99%....so maybe that might help some....

I applied to 24 programs, interview offers six, 10 rejections, only major one pending is harbor....Stats top 20%, step 1 236, three em rotations, HP, Honors, Honors and letter from my personal #1, NO RESEARCH, NO AOA....

So is there anyone else with me....🙂 or do I look like a man that may be scrambling....What's the chances of getting in the TOP 3? any insight from the big guys online would also be appreciated 🙂 Nice meeting yall

that's too bad, but one thing that everyone is missing is the personal aspect. your numbers/stats look fantastic, so i doubt that that's what's holding you back (unless of course you are trying for all-academic powerhouses, even then seems unlikely to be the problem). do you have any reason to suspect that someone could have said something about your personality, work ethic, motivation, etc. in one of your LOR's or dean's letter. sometimes the smartest people make the worst docs, espec in EM where personality is a huge aspect. i don't know you or have any reason to suspect the above, but just based on your stats, there was either a problem with your application submission or something that someone didn't like in a letter.

the other possiblity is that b/c the app's are up pretty significantly this year, many "qualified" people aren't getting invites b/c the programs just don't have the time, money or need. if programs are really receiving in excess of 100 more apps this year, they may have just filled up before they got to you.

either way, just rock your interviews and you will be alright. good luck

 

[nocallaochicas]

I have stats similar to you two and have only heard from a few more programs and a have received only a few more invites.

I too have been discouraged at times. I have rationalized this way:

1. The folks getting 20+ interviews overall with some of those at the most competitive programs must have just crazy good stats (esp. to get at the CA competitive programs)

2. Other folks have nearly 20 interviews, but many of them are at less competitive places (although likely to be great training and enjoyable programs).

If you applied to the 20 least competitive places, wouldn't you expect more interviews than in if you applied to the 20 most competitive places?

3. Regionalism plays a bigger role than i think is often acknowledged

After reviewing this post, I am starting to think I should have posted when less exhausted = sorry if none of this made sense...at least it is worth a post pad.

Good luck to all with this interview madness.
ncc

 

[Dr. Caveman]

I have stats similar to you two and have only heard from a few more programs and a have received only a few more invites.

I too have been discouraged at times. I have rationalized this way:

1. The folks getting 20+ interviews overall with some of those at the most competitive programs must have just crazy good stats (esp. to get at the CA competitive programs)

2. Other folks have nearly 20 interviews, but many of them are at less competitive places (although likely to be great training and enjoyable programs).

If you applied to the 20 least competitive places, wouldn't you expect more interviews than in if you applied to the 20 most competitive places?

3. Regionalism plays a bigger role than i think is often acknowledged

After reviewing this post, I am starting to think I should have posted when less exhausted = sorry if none of this made sense...at least it is worth a post pad.

Good luck to all with this interview madness.
ncc

First Interpolfanclub I totally feel for you too....we'll have to keep in touch about this.

nocallaochicas: your message makes total sense (even if you're tired... I've been using some of the same methods)

Kbrown.... you are absolutely right that personality plays a huge part in EM and all fields for that matter and well nobody is going to say their personality sucks 🙂 but seriously my personality doesn't suck (I have friends I swear 🙂)

As for stats, I know my dean's letter was good no red flags there, but mostly B's in the clinical years and as for letters one of my interviewers read a letter in front of me and was "like damn that is a great letter, you're gonna do great" I was pumped cause that lor is from where I want to go...

Finally, I did apply to 24 "competitive" programs all of cali, all of chicago, Denver, Arizona, Vegas baby, New Mexico and two boston programs... so I guess not too many "back up" style programs....but still...so you might be onto something with the LORs but I'd be really surprised 🙁

 

[macdown]

I'm glad to hear that I'm not the only one in the "lack of interviews" boat. I've got 5 interviews, 4 rejections and have not yet heard from 14 programs. I go to a middle road school, 246 step 1, AOA, no research, 2 EM rotations; one with with honors. I have a very strong Deans letter and good to great LORs.

I'm pretty sure my biggest problem was switching from surgery to EM and sending in my ERAS the last week of October.

 

[nocallaochicas]

I'm glad to hear that I'm not the only one in the "lack of interviews" boat. I've got 5 interviews, 4 rejections and have not yet heard from 14 programs. I go to a middle road school, 246 step 1, AOA, no research, 2 EM rotations; one with with honors. I have a very strong Deans letter and good to great LORs.

I'm pretty sure my biggest problem was switching from surgery to EM and sending in my ERAS the last week of October.

Oh man!
I feel for you, brother. BIG time.
You gotta expect many of those 14 pendings will turn into interviews, no?
Have you called your top choices? ...maybe a call will get your AOA and 246 in front of the PD again.
ncc

 

[SolidGold]

Dr. Caveman,

This thread really makes me think what programs really look at though.

I go to a middle tier med school. Your Step I is better than mine, my Step II was pretty high though and I took it in July (along with CS). I only honored 1 third year course. But I've done 4 EM rotations, honored them all, including 2 away rotations. No AOA, some research but no abstracts or publications, middle third of my class of 120. My Deans letter was pretty strong, but I don't think it's any different than most since nobody ever gets a bad one. I got a total of 4 SLORs and a LOR from a FM doc that I worked with for 4 months.

One important thing that I think gets overlooked though is that I submitted ERAS the very first day and all of my letters were in by mid-October.
My EM advisor at my home school told me to make sure I submit on day 1 "because the early bird gets the worm," so I did.

With this, I figured I was an average applicant and since EM has gotten pretty competitive I applied to 36 programs. I now have 24 invites, 5 rejections.

I don't see much of a difference between us so I really don't get why you haven't received more invites. Based on feedback from the 5 interviews I've already completed it seems that my SLOR's were very strong. You might want to look into that somehow and see if that might be holding you back. Other than that, the only other thing I can think of is maybe you submitted ERAS late???

Call the programs, talk to the coordinator and express sincere interest, email the PD's with sincere interest. I did that for 2 programs and received invites about a week later from both of them (my last 2 invites, places I really was interested in from the start). Be persistent and you will get more interviews, and this is also the time that people start cancelling so invites are still being sent, but you can help your chances if you make programs know that you should get the interview because you are strongly interested in them while others might not be. Make them know that you are interested and that you would be excited to be able to visit them and that you would not turn down an invite.

We all work hard here and most of us really deserve success. With your stats it is obvious that you worked hard but don't let the fact that you have 6 interviews at this point get you down. Be persistent and get more, and if anything else, rock those 6 and you'll have no problem in the end. I wish you and all others in the same boat as you the best of luck.

 

[em4me]

I feel your pain. I keep laughing (while simultaneously breathing into a paper bag) that apparently a 240+, publications, an NIH funded fellowship and honors in my EM subI all amount to 8/9/29 (invites/rejections/total apps). All but one LoR was in by mid-October and the app was sent in September🙂. No AOA. My first two years of med. school grades were nothing to sing about but for goodness sake, I'm not going into molecular chemistry.

Anyway, the statistics seem to show that in spite of all the anxiety, the forgetting of thank you notes, and so-so deans letters, it all works out.

 

[quinsy]

hi... sorry Caveman and other disappointed folks. I really think you sound like a good applicant to me too, at least it seems that the interviews you have are all at strong programs as you say, so that is a positive way to look at it.

I am one of the people with over 20 interviews but I just wanted to note that despite the way it seems, I don't think 'stats' are everything. My step 1 is significantly lower than yours and I did not even honor my EM rotations, just 'high pass'. But I also got my application in on day 1 if that means anything, and more importantly I think, I had extracurriculars and awards from my extracurriculars, so many that I couldn't even list them all in ERAS. So I think that they are also looking for some diversity and intangible stuff as well, who knows I am not a program director, but I have done various health-related activities outside school and they LOVE to talk about the community service and so forth in my interviews, so I feel that that was part of the reason.

 

[Dr. Caveman]

Hey what's up 🙂 thanks solid gold for the words of encouragemnet.... I think I'm pretty locked in with six but like you said they are all good programs and my favorite is one of them, which also happens to be at home....so I'm gonna play it positive and hope for the best...interviewing now at five other "back up" programs could waste the time of both myself and those programs. The bottom line is that I hope my lack of interviews doesn't mean that I will be weak at the places I do have interviews when "competing against" other applicants that received 20 invites, especially when I am interviewing in my home state 🙂

Just for the record though I did get my stuff in on sept 1st. But also I was putting alot of hope into cali interviews...I guess three ain't bad though 🙂

EM4ME: I feel for you too I wish the best of luck and am glad to hear there are others out there like myself it kinda takes a load off

Quinsy: Congrats on the success.... You are right about the extracurricular I don't have a ton, I did some volunteering to teach kids cause I thought it was fun but not too much else... Life before med school I was a teacher I kinda think that gets some bonus points 🙂

Talk to you all later

 

[Mary Jane Watson]

Don't give up guys - we still have a bunch of applications to go through. For 3rd years reading this, submit ASAP, day one if possible. It really helps.

MJ

 

[WakeMedHeel]

The programs that don't let you know anything are just plain rude IMO. How hard is it to send a friggin email if you don't want to interview someone.