No Interview Invites...Anyone else with me?

[Chloe900]

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I have not received any e-mail or phone invitations to come for an interview yet and with the other thread getting longer every day, I'm wondering if maybe I'm not a competitive candidate this year. Anyone else in the same boat? If you have received invitations already, it would be helpful to know how many.

Thanks!

 

[Svmophtho]

Hey! Hope you're doing well. I'm also applying/interviewing this year, so I'm not sure how much advice I can offer bc the process is new to me too. I think it would be helpful to list your stats for the residents/fellows/attendings that give pretty awesome and honest advice on this forum about what kind of candidate you are for residency. If you don't feel comfortable doing that, have you spoken to an ophthalmology advisor at your school?
In terms of invites, I've only received about 5 myself, and I know others who have received fewer, so I have no idea if it's still considered too early to worry or not.

 

[razkui]

I'm kinda in the same boat, 230 step 1 (low i know), 10+ ophtho publications, mix of honors/HP, and i think some decent letters, but ZERO interviews. do you think phone calls at this point would help me get some even if i probably got screened out by step 1?

 

[EyeOnThePrize]

No invites. 2 rejections. I know I'm not the most competitive candidate on paper: DO applicant applying MD/DO with Step 1 220s and Step 2 230s and great COMLEX scores, 2 ophtho publications/manuscripts in preparation on interesting and "hot" topics, and what I think are strong LORs and solid grades. I'm confident I'll interview well...if I can just get one (and it only takes one!) But, I am determined...and maybe a little bit stubborn and naive in thinking that I'll land a spot but I know this is what I want and was meant to do. It's crazy how competitive it's become but stay positive and keep working hard and hopefully it will all work out. I do believe it's still early in the game as the majority of programs still have not sent out interview invites, to the best of my knowledge. Also, I don't think a phone call will hurt so why not give it a shot. Good luck!

 

[oogamous]

No interview invites, no rejections either.

 

[DrTrish]

Speaking from a program point of view.... we haven't started offering interviews yet as our dates are a little later, and our application deadline isn't until mid October. We have a good idea of some of the candidates we will be inviting, but want to make sure ALL applications get a good review before we start to fil up our spots.

 

[RestoreSight]

Its still pretty early guys. Plus the shuffling for dates hasn't really started either. There will be a lot of cancelations and a lot of spots will open up. Good luck

 

[ophthoapp2010]

Hi guys - I was in the same boat two years ago. I applied to 40 programs and freaked out when the list started getting long on SDN and I didn't have any interviews, so I spent a lot of money applying to more programs. I ended up getting a ton of interviews the following week. Don't worry yet, there are still a lot of programs who have not sent out interviews.

Conversely, if the interview invites start slowing down in a few weeks and you still have not gotten any interviews, I would act sooner rather than later. Talk to your school's ophthalmology program coordinator or your ophthalmology mentor and have them start making calls.

 

[clo3326]

Hi. I am in the same situation as Svmophtho. I don't really know what is competitive for ophtho, and I don't know many people who are applying this year, so I don't have much to compare myself to. But so far, I've gotten 5 interviews, and I put out ~50 applications. I asked the program director at my school, and she had said not to stress yet bc many programs haven't given interview offers yet.

Good luck to everyone!

 

[Bubchik]

My program has just started going through the pile of the applications, long process as each application is reviewed by 3 faculty members...then they compile a list of people, then e-mails go out, then wait for how many responded, then give additional interviews out.

If you have any particular programs in mind personal phone calls might be helpful from your ophtho mentors...

 

[EyesOnThePryze]

Thanks for the update. Just curious, who exactly would our mentors call at other programs? The program coordinator, PD, or contacts they have at other schools?

 

[cle eye]

I'm with you! Only one interview invite here. With a step 1 of 250+ and being AOA I really expected more by now 🙁

 

[rocketbooster]

I'm with you! Only one interview invite here. With a step 1 of 250+ and being AOA I really expected more by now 🙁

**** man, do you have any research on your CV?

 

[wakeringer]

I'm with you! Only one interview invite here. With a step 1 of 250+ and being AOA I really expected more by now 🙁

Yea, I find this crazy. My stats aren't even close to matching up to you and I have a bit more luck. How were your research, letters and grades in clerkships?

 

[rocketbooster]

Yea, I find this crazy. My stats aren't even close to matching up to you and I have a bit more luck. How were your research, letters and grades in clerkships?

If he is AOA, then his clerkship grades must have been good. Research and letters?

 

[throwawayeye]

I'm with you! Only one interview invite here. With a step 1 of 250+ and being AOA I really expected more by now 🙁

you might appear to be too good for some programs, you know? maybe you need to express interest first so they don't think they're wasting an invitation. some programs invite applicants within their region or look at a certain brand of medical schools. i also hear a lot has to do with who your letter writers are (does the PD know him/her)

or maybe you misspelled your email address on your cas? =p good luck i'm sure things will work out! if you don't match, we're all doomed

 

[cle eye]

I have some non-optho research and am in the process of working on an optho case report. I'm not sure how great my letters were but I'm certain at least 2 of them were pretty solid.