Match WITHOUT an interview?

[PathologyFirst]

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So this is my 2nd year of applying to this same program which I interviewed at last year. I also did a rotation there before I applied. I got an email today from the coordinator saying "thanks for your interest in our program, Dr. program director reviewed your file and feels that you do not need to come in for an interview again but we will put you on our match list, please let me know if you have any questions"

So how do I interpret this? Good or bad? I mean, what if they rank me #99 out of 100? Should I take this as a polite reject and find other alternatives?

Has this ever happened to body before???

I'd appreciate any advice. Thanks.😕

 

[Samoa]

I've never heard of a program doing that, but it seems reasonable to me if they know you that well.

Sounds to me like they know what they think of you, and further interviewing isn't going to add anything to their impression. They've at least said they'll rank you, and it's unrealistic to expect them to say where until they've seen the other applicants.

Overall, it sounds neutral/slightly positive, and I don't think you can read much more into it than that.

 

[DarthNeurology]

So this is my 2nd year of applying to this same program which I interviewed at last year. I also did a rotation there before I applied. I got an email today from the coordinator saying "thanks for your interest in our program, Dr. program director reviewed your file and feels that you do not need to come in for an interview again but we will put you on our match list, please let me know if you have any questions"

So how do I interpret this? Good or bad? I mean, what if they rank me #99 out of 100? Should I take this as a polite reject and find other alternatives?

Has this ever happened to body before???

I'd appreciate any advice. Thanks.😕

I think maybe it would help to look at the best and worst case scenarios. From what I can tell:

1. Best Case Scenario: You didn't match at this program last year, but did a rotation AFTER your interview last year which causes the PD to like you more, i.e. wants to rank you higher this year, and doesn't feel that he/she can get any new information about you from an interview as you are now well known, but plans on ranking you highly.

Problems: If the PD is thinking highly of you why wouldn't he/she want to bring you back to the program to woo you and imply how much he/she likes your application and wants you to match there. A lot of programs not only want to interview applicants for evaluation purposes, but want to show-off their program and entice applicants they like to rank them highly.

2. Worst Case Scenario: The PD didn't think highly of you to rank you high last year (or you would have matched there I guess), and wants to let you known that he/she doesn't feel a personal interview will change his/her mind but wants to let you know that he/she will rank you although he/she will be trying to woo other applicants who are invited to interview.

Problems: There must be some reason the PD will rank you instead of flat out rejecting you.

I think knowledge is power and would call the secretary and ask nicely if you could get more information about this status. Sadly, I think if the PD were to rank you highly enough that you would match there if you ranked them high too, then the PD would have invited you out there to seal the deal more.

 

[NotAProgDirector]

Darth is right on.

They didn't rank you highly last year (hence you did not match).

They are unlikely to change that opinion this year.

Ranking the program can't hurt you, but don't count on matching there.

Contacting them further about this is unlikely to help, and could hurt.

 

[Winged Scapula]

Not that you need my two cents but I agree with the last two posts: my first impression when I read the OP's post was that this was NOT good.

If they had liked you enough last year, they would have presumably ranked you high enough that you would have matched. Some programs rank everyone who interviews; ranking does not = being ranked high enough to match.

 

[PathologyFirst]

Sadly, but yes, I agree with all of you. To clarify this a little bit, I did my rotation as a medical student there BEFORE they invited me for the interview last year. The PD did tell me on my last day to come back for residency, but I'm sure that did NOT mean anything!

I am an IMG, got withdrawn from the match last year because I was NOT certified by match day. So unfortunately, even though I interviewed at 3 out of the 10 programs that I applied to, I couldn't rank anyone of them and thus unmatched, who knows if I could have been matched if I was able to participate in the match anyway.

I'm truly sad to agree with you all on this because I really liked that hospital and that program. It was the least malignant program in the area and all the residents/attendings I worked with really liked me. One of the attendings wrote me a letter and gave it to the program. Should I ask him to do anything to help?

So at this point, do you all think that I should just leave it as that and do nothing? I will rank them for sure, so I guess we shall see...

Thanks to all of you for your advice. I appreciate your expertise from the other side!

 

[DarthNeurology]

Sadly, but yes, I agree with all of you. To clarify this a little bit, I did my rotation as a medical student there BEFORE they invited me for the interview last year. The PD did tell me on my last day to come back for residency, but I'm sure that did NOT mean anything!

I am an IMG, got withdrawn from the match last year because I was NOT certified by match day. So unfortunately, even though I interviewed at 3 out of the 10 programs that I applied to, I couldn't rank anyone of them and thus unmatched, who knows if I could have been matched if I was able to participate in the match anyway.

I'm truly sad to agree with you all on this because I really liked that hospital and that program. It was the least malignant program in the area and all the residents/attendings I worked with really liked me. One of the attendings wrote me a letter and gave it to the program. Should I ask him to do anything to help?

So at this point, do you all think that I should just leave it as that and do nothing? I will rank them for sure, so I guess we shall see...

Thanks to all of your for your advice. I appreciate your expertise from the other side!

Well, this story is significantly different from your opening post, i.e. it looks like a "horse of a different color." I was supposing that you went through the match and did not match which implied that this program did not rank you highly. The PD seems very supportive of your application and you might have very well matched as apparently you could not participate in the match through no fault of your own. I would definitely rank this program as highly as you would want and wouldn't bug their secretary, . . . perhaps if I were you I would write a thank you note to the PD thanking him/her for being ranked and reminding them nicely that you couldn't have gone through the match last year and are happy to go through the match this year. So, I feel the situation is much brighter than you fear!

 

[PathologyFirst]

Well, this story is significantly different from your opening post, i.e. it looks like a "horse of a different color." I was supposing that you went through the match and did not match which implied that this program did not rank you highly. The PD seems very supportive of your application and you might have very well matched as apparently you could not participate in the match through no fault of your own. I would definitely rank this program as highly as you would want and wouldn't bug their secretary, . . . perhaps if I were you I would write a thank you note to the PD thanking him/her for being ranked and reminding them nicely that you couldn't have gone through the match last year and are happy to go through the match this year. So, I feel the situation is much brighter than you fear!

Thank you Darthy for your encouragement. I do feel better with this outlook. I wrote to the secretary who emailed me saying thanks, I will rank your program highly and would be willing to return for an interview to show my sincere interest.

I was planning on writing a card to the PD to say the same, but I'm not sure how to nicely remind him of how I couldn't have gone through the match last year and write a non-desperately sounding "please take me" statement.

Thanks Darthneurology for your comments.

 

[DarthNeurology]

Thank you Darthy for your encouragement. I do feel better with this outlook. I wrote to the secretary who emailed me saying thanks, I will rank your program highly and would be willing to return for an interview to show my sincere interest.

I was planning on writing a card to the PD to say the same, but I'm not sure how to nicely remind him of how I couldn't have gone through the match last year and write a non-desperately sounding "please take me" statement.

Thanks Darthneurology for your comments.

Yeah, perhaps it would be better not to mention that you didn't match last year (although not your fault), and the PD might already know why and the important thing is that he/she is still interested.

 

[Blade28]

I agree - it doesn't sound like a good thing, unfortunately.

 

[NotAProgDirector]

I am an IMG, got withdrawn from the match last year because I was NOT certified by match day.

As others have pointed out, this changes everything. Perhaps the PD really did like you, ranked you highly, but you were withdrawn from the match?

Here's what I'd do: If it's not very far/expensive to go to, and you really want to go there, I'd suggest requesting a "second look" at the end of interview season. Many programs will let you come for a more in depth look after your interviews are done, to help you make up your mind. This would let you check out the program and make sure it hasn't changed drastically since you were last there, and get your application back on the radar. Normally, I think second looks do not affect your chances of matching, but in your case because you didn't really interview, it might be a good idea -- again it's been quite awhile since you were there, and you should make sure that things are all OK. Good luck!

 

[dragonfly99]

Agree with aprogramdirector.
It doesn't sound like you need to do anything more now. They likely know that you are interested in their program and they know you and probably have formed an opinion of you. In a couple of months, asking if you could do a "2nd look" wouldn't be a bad idea at all. The worst they can say is "no" and I doubt they would dislike your asking, as long as you aren't constantly hounding the secretary or something.

 

[PathologyFirst]

Agree with aprogramdirector.
It doesn't sound like you need to do anything more now. They likely know that you are interested in their program and they know you and probably have formed an opinion of you. In a couple of months, asking if you could do a "2nd look" wouldn't be a bad idea at all. The worst they can say is "no" and I doubt they would dislike your asking, as long as you aren't constantly hounding the secretary or something.

Thanks for your advice, aprogramdir and dragonfly! I will try to schedule a second look before the match day! Your advice is greatly appreciated!

 

[zola]

Obviously I am not a program director and don't know the details of how everything works, but I do think it is important to tell/remind them why you did not match last year ie to make sure they know that if you had gone through the match you would have ranked the program highly. What if they think you are one of the people who go on about how much they like the program only to not even rank it in the end? That would not make it likely they would take you seriously this year, since you might just waste their time again. Are you sure that the PD ever knew you were out of the match?

 

[NotAProgDirector]

Are you sure that the PD ever knew you were out of the match?

When we put our rank lists in, and when we get our final match lists, it reports who was withdrawn from the match (but not why). So the PD would know that the student was withdrawn, but wouldn't know if it was because they 1) didn't complete the USMLE steps, 2) withdrew voluntarily, 3) forgot to or refused to pay the match fee.