Matched psych despite ppl saying on here that I wouldn't. AMA
Started by Kanye's Psychiatrist
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Congratulations, but yeah you're going to have to give some background information here if you want this post to be helpful for others.
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Congrats!!
some background. Had a few red flags, some ppl over here said I wouldn't make it.
Stats: US MD 23x at mid-tier school in the south
Red flags: failed a rotation and shelf exam, had to remediate
Research: one pub, couple projects
ECs: several psych related activities including hotline volunteer etc.
Class rank: 3rd Tertile (my school doesn't do quartiles)
Clinical Grades: 4 HP and 3 Passes (Honored sub I in MS4)
Applied to 120 programs, 11 interviews, matched at #9
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Even with your red flags your app was good enough for psych (unless the rotation you failed was psych). Psych is pretty forgiving of one or two red flags, especially for USMD’s. I don’t know why anyone on here would tell you straight up that you wouldn’t match, or they know nothing about how psych’s competitiveness.
Did anyone actually say that verbatim to you? I’m not doubting you but that is concerning that someone would say that on this forum where students are supposed to get good advice.
Hey happy you matched but I just looked at that thread. Who said you wouldn’t match?
People said your red flag of failing a rotation would hurt you. You applied extremely broadly, didn’t get many interviews, and matched low on your list. I’d say you got pretty good advice.
Congrats on putting all this BS behind you and being able to focus on your desired specialty.
People said your red flag of failing a rotation would hurt you. You applied extremely broadly, didn’t get many interviews, and matched low on your list. I’d say you got pretty good advice.
Congrats on putting all this BS behind you and being able to focus on your desired specialty.
Actually 11 interviews is like a >95% chance to match psych as a USMD per NRMP data. That's actually a really good number
Quick search of your post history shows you were told your red flags would hurt (duh) and to apply strategically, not that you wouldn’t match. I don’t think that was unfair commentary at the time, and you matched at your #9, which is about what I’d expect with that app - psych still has a ~90+% match rate for MD seniors and you managed to get a lot of interviews.
Apparently it hurt some but you played the game and got in - super! Congrats!
To make this more constructive, did you focus on certain things in the application process to succeed? You were smart to apply broadly with the 120 programs, how’d you handle your signals?
Apparently it hurt some but you played the game and got in - super! Congrats!
To make this more constructive, did you focus on certain things in the application process to succeed? You were smart to apply broadly with the 120 programs, how’d you handle your signals?
11 interviews out of 120 applications is hardly impressive yielding for a field like psych imo.
Number of interviews needed to match is a flawed statistic. It just means that if you get a lot of interviews you’re more likely to be competitive for your field. Its main purpose is to scare med students into spending more money on applications. But that’s a discussion for another thread.
A lot of people apply to that many though, in a lot of specialties. 11 interviews is objectively good for a 'field like psych'.
And I mean, data is data. Although I see your point about how it could scare students into spending more money.
Op applied to twice as many programs as average for a USMD applying to psych.
Here’s how many residency programs medical students really apply to
How many applications are typical among physician residency applicants? The number is going to depend largely on specialty and applicant type.
www.ama-assn.org
Happy it worked out. But just highlighting the real difficulty OP had which was predicted in that thread. It’s not a good interview number when you have to do twice as much as the next guy for the same yield. Again highlighting how little the number of interviews matter. If a top student from a top med school applied to 11 programs and got 11 interviews, anyone would say that person has a higher chance of matching than a non us img with red flags that got 11 interviews by applying to 250 programs. One is at the top of every programs list and the other is probably near the bottom if ranked at all.
Op applied to twice as many programs as average for a USMD applying to psych.
Here’s how many residency programs medical students really apply to
How many applications are typical among physician residency applicants? The number is going to depend largely on specialty and applicant type.
Happy it worked out. But just highlighting the real difficulty OP had which was predicted in that thread. It’s not a good interview number when you have to do twice as much as the next guy for the same yield. Again highlighting how little the number of interviews matter. If a top student from a top med school applied to 11 programs and got 11 interviews, anyone would say that person has a higher chance of matching than a non us img with red flags that got 11 interviews by applying to 250 programs. One is at the top of every programs list and the other is probably near the bottom if ranked at all.
I wasn't aware of the average number of programs USMD's apply to. I see your point.
OP, I think it would be helpful if you were able to talk about how you wrote about your red flags in your personal statement and how you talked about them in interviews, since surely they came up.
