Dralright99999
New Member
- Joined
- Jun 8, 2019
- Messages
- 6
- Reaction score
- 7
Just posting to share my story although now irrelevant, I kind of need to vent.
I (a DO) applied to general surgery last year and did not match in AOA or acgme. During the soap my #1 acgme program where I interviewed offered me a preliminary spot. I took it thinking this could be a second chance to get my #1. I worked my butt off. I impressed the attendings.
During this years application cycle I applied VERY broadly. Got 11 interviews, 4 in the DO match.
At my semi annual review with the program director at my institution (large county hospital) my evaluation was excellent. As we're going over my eval i see a paper copy on his desk and written in pen at the bottom "take him". He sees me eyeing it and says "oh you weren't supposed to see that" then he tells me the recommendation by faculty was to accept me into the program. I was ecstatic. I thought I finally made it, got myself an MD res at a large trauma hospital. Fast forward a month and I have my actual interview with the faculty and it goes horrible. Basically the PD talking about how my scores suck, lack of research, etc. None of the other docs said anything. PD tears me down the entire time and says "we'll put you through our selection process and see what happens". My confidence plummets. I don't know what to make of it. Another few weeks later I get two emails from a DO program "you are ranked very highly blah blah blah" both times. I decide to talk to the PD (he was a former prelim). He tells me that as a prelim he would take the safest route possible to get a spot. I thought he was giving me good advice, like maybe he ranked me but not super high so nothing was guaranteed. So I rank that one program in the DO match and kind of hope not to match. Thinking worst case scenario is that I match there and have a spot, which is not that bad of an outcome. Although my own program was my real #1 and I know i at least had a chance (they tend to keep one prelim every other year). Well I match in DO surgery and don't think much of it. Not really happy but definitely a better outcome than not matching a second time. My program ends up matching one of the other prelims and I can't help but think it could've been me. Literally 2 days after matching I get an email from a university program "you are ranked very strongly, the faculty was impressed by your accomplishments, blah blah blah". I'm pissed, to say the least. Fast forward 3 months and I'm doing my last rotation at my prelim program. I'm operating with my favorite attending and she tells me "you know that spot was yours if you wanted it". I almost pass out in the the middle of a whipple. I'm like "what!?". She tells me that I was ranked as a top choice. "[Other prelim] had a chance but you were everybody's main guy". My jaw was on the floor.
I guess I should've had more confidence in my application, now I'm off to go to this community surgery program. Really wish the merger had happened this year.
I (a DO) applied to general surgery last year and did not match in AOA or acgme. During the soap my #1 acgme program where I interviewed offered me a preliminary spot. I took it thinking this could be a second chance to get my #1. I worked my butt off. I impressed the attendings.
During this years application cycle I applied VERY broadly. Got 11 interviews, 4 in the DO match.
At my semi annual review with the program director at my institution (large county hospital) my evaluation was excellent. As we're going over my eval i see a paper copy on his desk and written in pen at the bottom "take him". He sees me eyeing it and says "oh you weren't supposed to see that" then he tells me the recommendation by faculty was to accept me into the program. I was ecstatic. I thought I finally made it, got myself an MD res at a large trauma hospital. Fast forward a month and I have my actual interview with the faculty and it goes horrible. Basically the PD talking about how my scores suck, lack of research, etc. None of the other docs said anything. PD tears me down the entire time and says "we'll put you through our selection process and see what happens". My confidence plummets. I don't know what to make of it. Another few weeks later I get two emails from a DO program "you are ranked very highly blah blah blah" both times. I decide to talk to the PD (he was a former prelim). He tells me that as a prelim he would take the safest route possible to get a spot. I thought he was giving me good advice, like maybe he ranked me but not super high so nothing was guaranteed. So I rank that one program in the DO match and kind of hope not to match. Thinking worst case scenario is that I match there and have a spot, which is not that bad of an outcome. Although my own program was my real #1 and I know i at least had a chance (they tend to keep one prelim every other year). Well I match in DO surgery and don't think much of it. Not really happy but definitely a better outcome than not matching a second time. My program ends up matching one of the other prelims and I can't help but think it could've been me. Literally 2 days after matching I get an email from a university program "you are ranked very strongly, the faculty was impressed by your accomplishments, blah blah blah". I'm pissed, to say the least. Fast forward 3 months and I'm doing my last rotation at my prelim program. I'm operating with my favorite attending and she tells me "you know that spot was yours if you wanted it". I almost pass out in the the middle of a whipple. I'm like "what!?". She tells me that I was ranked as a top choice. "[Other prelim] had a chance but you were everybody's main guy". My jaw was on the floor.
I guess I should've had more confidence in my application, now I'm off to go to this community surgery program. Really wish the merger had happened this year.
Last edited:
