Only 1 DR invite so far.. Am I screwed?

[Medical Seed]

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Thank you for reading my concerns.

I am a 4th year DO student who applied to Diagnostic Radiology. I got 236 for step1 and 237 for step2. I applied to 57 programs. I only got 1 DR invite so far. I got 8 prelim/TY though. NRMP match result in 2020 said 41/42 DO applicants matched to DR with the similar score as me. I don't know why I got only one. Am I going to be one of the 1/42 who didn't match? I am very concerned and I feel like I am going to be unmatched. Seems like a lot of DR applicants already received many invites and only few spots are left for the interviews. The only program I was invited is academic program. So I don't know why not any single community hospital wants to invite me.

Does anyone know if DR invites in December will be decent amount? Or am I really, seriously screwed?

I am living under extreme stress every day. Any comments from those who applied to DR with the similar score as me would be really helpful. Thank you again for reading my post :/

 

[brownman23]

To be frank, your chances don’t look good.

You should prepare for the worst, and try your best to do PGY1 year at an institution that has a DR residency.

 

[Medical Seed]

To be frank, your chances don’t look good.

You should prepare for the worst, and try your best to do PGY1 year at an institution that has a DR residency.

Why is it important to do PGY1 year at an institution that has DR residency? They accept people who did well from their PGY1? I have never heard of.

 

[7331poas]

This is exactly why I hate it when people on this website just say "go look at the charting outcomes".

Applicants heavily self select.

For OP, can any of your mentors reach out to local programs? Try and target historic DO programs?

 

[Chelsea FC]

Why is it important to do PGY1 year at an institution that has DR residency? They accept people who did well from their PGY1? I have never heard of.

People who dont match to an advance spot that do their prelim year at a program that has a residency program in their field of choice can use it as an opportunity to network and strengthen ur app for next year. If ur really really lucky they might even offer u a position. I agree ur chances dont look good with 1 interview this late in the game

 

[Chelsea FC]

Thank you for reading my concerns.

I am a 4th year DO student who applied to Diagnostic Radiology. I got 236 for step1 and 237 for step2. I applied to 57 programs. I only got 1 DR invite so far. I got 8 prelim/TY though. NRMP match result in 2020 said 41/42 DO applicants matched to DR with the similar score as me. I don't know why I got only one. Am I going to be one of the 1/42 who didn't match? I am very concerned and I feel like I am going to be unmatched. Seems like a lot of DR applicants already received many invites and only few spots are left for the interviews. The only program I was invited is academic program. So I don't know why not any single community hospital wants to invite me.

Does anyone know if DR invites in December will be decent amount? Or am I really, seriously screwed?

I am living under extreme stress every day. Any comments from those who applied to DR with the similar score as me would be really helpful. Thank you again for reading my post :/

Also have u sent out LOI, reach out to mentors? reached out to past alumni who matched at local places ?? Ur not in a great spot right now and show be using every tool available to you.

 

[calivianya]

I hear you. The position you are in sucks.

I am at 247/256 and applied to 89 IR and 113 DR, plus <10 carefully chosen categorical IM programs for a backup. I still only have between 5-10 interviews for each specialty. It has been a meat grinder this year and after thanking one of the interviewers for sending me an invite after I sent the program a LOI, she said they probably would have gotten to me anyway - but they had >1000 apps and she still hadn’t finished reviewing all apps yet for their DR program and she hopes to have gone through all the applications by the first week of December.

This was *last week,* so if this situation is the position many programs are in, there is still a chance if you court programs you have not yet heard from aggressively with LOIs and leveraging connections. They literally might not have gotten to you yet.

In the meantime, I would see if you could find some extracurriculars right now so if people ask you what you did differently between this year and next year should you have to reapply, you have things to tell them. Find a new research project, preferably at an institution you would like to match at to make those connections.

 

[Medical Seed]

Also have u sent out LOI, reach out to mentors? reached out to past alumni who matched at local places ?? Ur not in a great spot right now and show be using every tool available to you.

I'm sending out LOIs, and haven't reached out to mentor yet. He's off till Thanksgiving so I will contact him after holiday. Thank you for your reply...

 

[Medical Seed]

I hear you. The position you are in sucks.

I am at 247/256 and applied to 89 IR and 113 DR, plus <10 carefully chosen categorical IM programs for a backup. I still only have between 5-10 interviews for each specialty. It has been a meat grinder this year and after thanking one of the interviewers for sending me an invite after I sent the program a LOI, she said they probably would have gotten to me anyway - but they had >1000 apps and she still hadn’t finished reviewing all apps yet for their DR program and she hopes to have gone through all the applications by the first week of December.

This was *last week,* so if this situation is the position many programs are in, there is still a chance if you court programs you have not yet heard from aggressively with LOIs and leveraging connections. They literally might not have gotten to you yet.

In the meantime, I would see if you could find some extracurriculars right now so if people ask you what you did differently between this year and next year should you have to reapply, you have things to tell them. Find a new research project, preferably at an institution you would like to match at to make those connections.

Yeah I think I should send out LOIs more aggressively. Thank you for your advise...

 

[Lawpy]

With how competitive rads is thanks to all that internet hype, i can easily see rads following the way of surgical subs/derm where 250+/near all honors/AOA/research/good ECs/good networking + letters really start to matter

 

[Steve_Zissou]

With how competitive rads is thanks to all that internet hype, i can easily see rads following the way of surgical subs/derm where 250+/near all honors/AOA/research/good ECs/good networking + letters really start to matter

Networking/letters have probably netted me 3-4 interviews this season. If I didn’t have a big name in the world of radiology writing an exceptional letter for me, I probably would only have a very small handful of invites. Rough year.

 

[Lawpy]

Networking/letters have probably netted me 3-4 interviews this season. If I didn’t have a big name in the world of radiology writing an exceptional letter for me, I probably would only have a very small handful of invites. Rough year.

Yeah it's pretty clear mentorship and who you know go a really long way. This is something SDN can't help.

 

[deleted898021]

Something doesn't add up. Rads is not that competitive for USMD and DO, I know that the number of apps is up and you may have under applied but one interview means that there is some other red flag in your app. Maybe it's a letter ... you need to ask your school admin/advisors. Your stats are solid and should have had no issues matching. The above poster has 5-10 IR and 5-10 DR interviews for example. You should have been at atleast 5-10 IV's.. I get that maybe Rads programs take their time but you need to investigate if there is a red flag hidden somewhere in your app

 

[deleted898021]

The pre-covid charting outcomes are deceiving. I have two DO classmates with similar scores who didn't match into Anesthesia last year. Both Rads and Anesthesia are stats-heavy and aren't as DO friendly as it looks like from the outside

Send letter of interests to former DO programs and try to get a PGY1 (prelim or categorical) IM spot at institutions where they have DR. I know there's a funding issue but maybe a second residency is an option

With 230's the stats aren't the issue.. it's definitely something else. >220 is good for gas and rads

 

[Hippocrates II]

OP, I feel for you. Rads seems unusually competitive this year. I know a few people at my school applying rads with ordinarily good apps and they're mostly at ~5 or fewer interviews. I've gotten some pretty decent invites in these past few days/past week so I think there is still movement occurring, but I do agree you need to be proactive and start reaching out with LOIs. I think I saw toledo and univ Oklahoma have a lot of open spots on thalamus if you applied there. I would craft a strong letter to as many places as you can right now. I'm pretty sure that got me 2 interviews at 2 programs that probably would have ignored me otherwise.

With 230's the stats aren't the issue.. it's definitely something else. >220 is good for gas and rads

Apply to rads as a DO with a 220/220 and let me know how it goes for you.

 

[deleted898021]

OP, I feel for you. Rads seems unusually competitive this year. I know a few people at my school applying rads with ordinarily good apps and they're mostly at ~5 or fewer interviews. I've gotten some pretty decent invites in these past few days/past week so I think there is still movement occurring, but I do agree you need to be proactive and start reaching out with LOIs. I think I saw toledo and univ Oklahoma have a lot of open spots on thalamus if you applied there. I would craft a strong letter to as many places as you can right now. I'm pretty sure that got me 2 interviews at 2 programs that probably would have ignored me otherwise.


Apply to rads as a DO with a 220/220 and let me know how it goes for you.

I am just going off charting outcomes, a 220/230 isn't a deal breaker if you apply broadly(which OP really didn't do)... but 1 interview out of 57 apps with 230+ steps states that there is something else lethal in the app..

 

[giguerex35]

This is exactly why I hate it when people on this website just say "go look at the charting outcomes".

Applicants heavily self select.

For OP, can any of your mentors reach out to local programs? Try and target historic DO programs?

can you elaborate on the bolded

 

[howdoiknow]

With 230's the stats aren't the issue.. it's definitely something else. >220 is good for gas and rads

I second this. I know tons of COMLEX only DO Rads matches. Even 2 with <500, average students, no ECs. OP definitely has a red flag they're not sharing

 

[deleted898021]

I second this. I know tons of COMLEX only DO Rads matches. Even 2 with <500, average students, no ECs. OP definitely has a red flag they're not sharing

Although gas and rads have gotten more competitive and you prbly would have a hard time matching them with only comlex... and with virtual interviewing ppl that applied to less programs such as OP are def hurting right now but with a 220+/230+ there has to be something else going on. As ppl have said, others with stats similar to OP have 5+ IV's... However... Rads is known to be very slow with IV's we will see where OP is in a month, maybe they will be at more IV's...

 

[deleted898021]

I hear you. The position you are in sucks.

I am at 247/256 and applied to 89 IR and 113 DR, plus <10 carefully chosen categorical IM programs for a backup. I still only have between 5-10 interviews for each specialty. It has been a meat grinder this year and after thanking one of the interviewers for sending me an invite after I sent the program a LOI, she said they probably would have gotten to me anyway - but they had >1000 apps and she still hadn’t finished reviewing all apps yet for their DR program and she hopes to have gone through all the applications by the first week of December.

This was *last week,* so if this situation is the position many programs are in, there is still a chance if you court programs you have not yet heard from aggressively with LOIs and leveraging connections. They literally might not have gotten to you yet.

In the meantime, I would see if you could find some extracurriculars right now so if people ask you what you did differently between this year and next year should you have to reapply, you have things to tell them. Find a new research project, preferably at an institution you would like to match at to make those connections.

Something tells me your situation is more unique as your applying IR and DR and even then you have a decent number of IV's between the two(IR and DR as you said you have between 5-10 for each which puts the total at 10-20 IV for DR and IR) those are solid IV numbers.

 

[Steve_Zissou]

Did you do an away at a big name institution? I've always read aways are not beneficial in rads, anyone see this changing?

I did not. I just sought out mentors in programs at big schools near mine since mine doesn’t have a radiology program. Lots of knocking on doors virtually. Cold calling and emails.

 

[DOVinciRobot]

With how competitive rads is thanks to all that internet hype, i can easily see rads following the way of surgical subs/derm where 250+/near all honors/AOA/research/good ECs/good networking + letters really start to matter

Rads used to be like that in many ways, it took a hit for a few years but has rebounded in competitiveness as the fears about the job market have thus far proven to be incorrect (as compared to like say rad onc or EM for example).

Rads has always been a field that likes shiny board scores

 

[km93]

Thank you for reading my concerns.

I am a 4th year DO student who applied to Diagnostic Radiology. I got 236 for step1 and 237 for step2. I applied to 57 programs. I only got 1 DR invite so far. I got 8 prelim/TY though. NRMP match result in 2020 said 41/42 DO applicants matched to DR with the similar score as me. I don't know why I got only one. Am I going to be one of the 1/42 who didn't match? I am very concerned and I feel like I am going to be unmatched. Seems like a lot of DR applicants already received many invites and only few spots are left for the interviews. The only program I was invited is academic program. So I don't know why not any single community hospital wants to invite me.

Does anyone know if DR invites in December will be decent amount? Or am I really, seriously screwed?

I am living under extreme stress every day. Any comments from those who applied to DR with the similar score as me would be really helpful. Thank you again for reading my post :/

yikes. DO who matched rads last cycle.
a few questions:
1. have you contacted any programs with letters of interest. if not... start there (and start asap)
2. are you sure your entire application transmitted? have heard of certain issues with ERAS not submitting LORs or personal statements.
3. how broad was your list?

there are still nearly 3 months left of the cycle to go. there are still invites remaining (i.e. do not lose hope yet), but you should have more than one at this point. your scores do not explain the lack of invites. feel free to DM me.

 

[Radgy]

As someone who goes to a rads residency associated with a top 15 medical school, I can attest that rads has gotten very competitive this year. I’m involved with interviewing applicants this year and had an applicant from my residencies home medical school who only had 4 interviews with a 246 step 1 and otherwise stellar application. You’re not alone. Maybe a lot of places haven’t sent out interviews yet?

 

[Hippocrates II]

Yeah, for people saying OP's stats are too good to explain the 1 invite, I think they're underestimating the effects of virtual interviews + massive increase in rads applicants this year. I'm 260s/260s with an overall strong app (IMO) and I have gotten less interviews than I expected. I know a few people at my school with above-average boards who are sitting on only a few interviews. DO + below-average boards (for rads) = bad time this year. I'm surprised OP only has one, but it's definitely possible this year with a little bad luck. The fact that they have 8 TY/Prelim interviews and at least one rads interview makes me think me they probably don't have some hemorrhaging red flag in their app.

 

[deleted898021]

Yeah, for people saying OP's stats are too good to explain the 1 invite, I think they're underestimating the effects of virtual interviews + massive increase in rads applicants this year. I'm 260s/260s with an overall strong app (IMO) and I have gotten less interviews than I expected. I know a few people at my school with above-average boards who are sitting on only a few interviews. DO + below-average boards (for rads) = bad time this year. I'm surprised OP only has one, but it's definitely possible this year with a little bad luck. The fact that they have 8 TY/Prelim interviews and at least one rads interview makes me think me they probably don't have some hemorrhaging red flag in their app.

Crazy... but I also hear that many rads programs are yet to send all thier IV's soo there is hope

 

[Lawpy]

At least one thing is clear: charting outcomes is very misleading. Covid 19 has changed the residency game significantly and rads is a clear example

I'm pretty damn confident letters from big names will matter a lot for rads

 

[Lawpy]

Rads used to be like that in many ways, it took a hit for a few years but has rebounded in competitiveness as the fears about the job market have thus far proven to be incorrect (as compared to like say rad onc or EM for example).

Rads has always been a field that likes shiny board scores

The virtual interviews and the amazing flexibility of rads/telerads are likely what shot up rads popularity dramatically. No joke the rads life is sweet from irl experiences and the flexibility in the covid-transformed world is huge

 

[DOVinciRobot]

The virtual interviews and the amazing flexibility of rads/telerads are likely what shot up rads popularity dramatically. No joke the rads life is sweet from irl experiences and the flexibility in the covid-transformed world is huge

It was already on the upswing long before covid. I’m not quite sure why everyone wants to attribute the increased competitiveness across the board to covid, when the number of applicants has been increasing every year and will continue to do so. Virtual interviews has nothing to do with it.

 

[Lawpy]

It was already on the upswing long before covid. I’m not quite sure why everyone wants to attribute the increased competitiveness across the board to covid, when the number of applicants has been increasing every year and will continue to do so. Virtual interviews has nothing to do with it.

Really? That surprises me because of this seemingly huge jump in competitiveness now (or last year) vs in 2019. Rads really didn't seem that hyped up until the past year, and that made me think the whole remote work/virtual interviews played the key role.

 

[DOVinciRobot]

Really? That surprises me because of this seemingly huge jump in competitiveness now (or last year) vs in 2019. Rads really didn't seem that hyped up until the past year, and that made me think the whole remote work/virtual interviews played the key role.

Yeah the upswing started before that. And anecdotal evidence doesn’t give you a great picture, we’ll have to wait until charting outcomes next year to see just how much more competitive any field has gotten since 2020

 

[calivianya]

Something tells me your situation is more unique as your applying IR and DR and even then you have a decent number of IV's between the two(IR and DR as you said you have between 5-10 for each which puts the total at 10-20 IV for DR and IR) those are solid IV numbers.

I am less sure because most of the IR programs interviewing me have one spot, and they all have their own medical schools. Hard to believe they’d pick an outsider over someone in their own institution with only one spot available. What are the odds that no one at that institution wanted it, or that everyone that wanted it at that school screwed up badly enough that the program would rather take an unknown person than someone they’ve personally worked with? As a DO, I have no home program to fall back on, so every program would potentially be taking a gamble on me.

I hope you’re right, though.

 

[Ho0v-man]

I think it’s been getting more competitive. But overall, I think virtual interviews are just killing DOs trying to match out of primary care. DOs are mostly “second-tier” applicants just by the nature of the letters after our name. We’ve traditionally gotten most of our invites from the MDs cancelling interviews. That’s not happening too much now.

I could see the realities of Covid making DR much more appealing and thus resulting in a mild uptick in competition. But that’s pure speculation.

I applied last year with 250s/260s to ~45 places; the majority of which were not competitive. I figured I’d be turning down interviews. Was very surprised to only get 12 DR interviews.

It’s somehow worse this year. Too many 260 step1 applicants that don’t have 10 interviews yet. This is a field that largely DGAF about research or away rotations and is just super board score focused. To me, the only logical explanation is interview hoarding causing DOs to get the shaft.

 

[7331poas]

I think it’s been getting more competitive. But overall, I think virtual interviews are just killing DOs trying to match out of primary care. DOs are mostly “second-tier” applicants just by the nature of the letters after our name. We’ve traditionally gotten most of our invites from the MDs cancelling interviews. That’s not happening too much now.

I could see the realities of Covid making DR much more appealing and thus resulting in a mild uptick in competition. But that’s pure speculation.

I applied last year with 250s/260s to ~45 places; the majority of which were not competitive. I figured I’d be turning down interviews. Was very surprised to only get 12 DR interviews.

It’s somehow worse this year. Too many 260 step1 applicants that don’t have 10 interviews yet. This is a field that largely DGAF about research or away rotations and is just super board score focused. To me, the only logical explanation is interview hoarding causing DOs to get the shaft.

Ive been asked about research at a majority of my interviews.

I think its moreso that if you dont have much research they wont ask you about it. Then you assume that they dont care about it.

But what do i know

 

[deleted898021]

I am less sure because most of the IR programs interviewing me have one spot, and they all have their own medical schools. Hard to believe they’d pick an outsider over someone in their own institution with only one spot available. What are the odds that no one at that institution wanted it, or that everyone that wanted it at that school screwed up badly enough that the program would rather take an unknown person than someone they’ve personally worked with? As a DO, I have no home program to fall back on, so every program would potentially be taking a gamble on me.

I hope you’re right, though.

No clue but every year DO's match IR at places they have home students so idk

 

[deleted898021]

I think it’s been getting more competitive. But overall, I think virtual interviews are just killing DOs trying to match out of primary care. DOs are mostly “second-tier” applicants just by the nature of the letters after our name. We’ve traditionally gotten most of our invites from the MDs cancelling interviews. That’s not happening too much now.

I could see the realities of Covid making DR much more appealing and thus resulting in a mild uptick in competition. But that’s pure speculation.

I applied last year with 250s/260s to ~45 places; the majority of which were not competitive. I figured I’d be turning down interviews. Was very surprised to only get 12 DR interviews.

It’s somehow worse this year. Too many 260 step1 applicants that don’t have 10 interviews yet. This is a field that largely DGAF about research or away rotations and is just super board score focused. To me, the only logical explanation is interview hoarding causing DOs to get the shaft.

Yea but there are solid MD applicants right now that also only have 4 IV's.. I think most people are getting the shaft due to virtual IV's and people hoarding IV's and also the surge in applications. DO's have it bad but the worst would be IMG/FMG going for rads..

 

[Ho0v-man]

Ive been asked about research at a majority of my interviews.

I think its moreso that if you dont have much research they wont ask you about it. Then you assume that they dont care about it.

But what do i know

They ask you about things that are on your app. But research in and of itself doesn’t play a huge role in applicant stratification per my talks with people involved in the process at a couple of programs unless it’s super impressive quality. This lines up pretty well with what you read here and other sites like Reddit, etc.

N=1 but I matched into a pretty competitive competitive program with zero pubs.

Edit: perhaps things have gotten so competitive in the past year that maybe they randomly started caring more about research in one year’s time and I’m just way off base.

 

[howdoiknow]

If research, ECs, and aways aren't that helpful, is there anything DOs can do to be more competitive other than just try to score as high as they can on Step 2 and pray?

Past a certain cutoff, your initials are the ultimate deciding factor. Some programs interview as a courtesy but don't rank them, some rank them very low.

 

[Prehealth1011]

With 230's the stats aren't the issue.. it's definitely something else. >220 is good for gas and rads

This hasn't been my experience last cycle. But it's just n=2 for me so who knows. One ended up soaping into something else and the other fell down to his backup FM list. Both had >230 steps, no red flags, did auditions etc. I don't think the old charting outcomes are capturing what's really going on. Post-covid is a different ballgame. Thankfully both of these have advanced programs, so one less year if you were to do a second residency

 

[howdoiknow]

This hasn't been my experience last cycle. But it's just n=2 for me so who knows. One ended up soaping into something else and the other fell down to his backup FM list. Both had >230 steps, no red flags, did auditions etc. I don't think the old charting outcomes are capturing what's really going on. Post-covid is a different ballgame. Thankfully both of these have advanced programs, so one less year if you were to do a second residency

I wonder in these situations if it would have just been better going unmatched. I know myself and If I couldn't do rads or gas I would rather be unemployed than do FM.

 

[deleted898021]

I think it’s been getting more competitive. But overall, I think virtual interviews are just killing DOs trying to match out of primary care. DOs are mostly “second-tier” applicants just by the nature of the letters after our name. We’ve traditionally gotten most of our invites from the MDs cancelling interviews. That’s not happening too much now.

I could see the realities of Covid making DR much more appealing and thus resulting in a mild uptick in competition. But that’s pure speculation.

I applied last year with 250s/260s to ~45 places; the majority of which were not competitive. I figured I’d be turning down interviews. Was very surprised to only get 12 DR interviews.

It’s somehow worse this year. Too many 260 step1 applicants that don’t have 10 interviews yet. This is a field that largely DGAF about research or away rotations and is just super board score focused. To me, the only logical explanation is interview hoarding causing DOs to get the shaft.

This hasn't been my experience last cycle. But it's just n=2 for me so who knows. One ended up soaping into something else and the other fell down to his backup FM list. Both had >230 steps, no red flags, did auditions etc. I don't think the old charting outcomes are capturing what's really going on. Post-covid is a different ballgame. Thankfully both of these have advanced programs, so one less year if you were to do a second residency

This is for gas?? I heard gas was brutal last year.

 

[deleted898021]

Past a certain cutoff, your initials are the ultimate deciding factor. Some programs interview as a courtesy but don't rank them, some rank them very low.

Lol I don't think there are a ton of programs that are giving courtesy interview to DO's that's a complete waste of time for both parties. I think that top programs that are interviewing DO's are actually matching them, this is how we are seeing better DO matches ever since the merger the last couple of years.

 

[deleted898021]

Do you think it may become a DO-unfriendly field in the near future if the competitiveness keeps increasing?

I doubt it would turn DO unfriendly it will just get competitive, as better DO and USMD applicants match it.

 

[Ho0v-man]

If research, ECs, and aways aren't that helpful, is there anything DOs can do to be more competitive other than just try to score as high as they can on Step 2 and pray?

As of right now? No. The game will change once people start applying with p/f step 1. Yes everything will shift to step 2 at first. But stuff like research, connections and ECs will have to become more important simply because there’s less ways to stratify applicants. There’s been a PD survey that already said where you go to school will matter more now.

It seems highly unlikely that step 2 won’t go p/f shortly after step 1 does. The 50th percentile for step 2 will probably jump up 10 points in 2023 making a great score today just run of the mill. There’s likely second year med students already grinding for step 2. The exam will basically be torn apart in a couple years. These exams going p/f are essentially giving the finger to DO students. I’m not a big fan of this, but at the same time, I don’t know if the current model was sustainable anyway. The average step 1 this year was like 233. By the time I’m an attending, it would’ve been 240+ at this rate.

These are just my best guesses though. Honestly, anyone giving advice on matching into residency with p/f step 1 is just guessing.

 

[Ho0v-man]

This is for gas?? I heard gas was brutal last year.

I was talking rads. Gas was an absolute bloodbath last year. I would’ve told a 220s applicant for gas to go for it before last year. Now I’d tell them to make sure they have a backup. Like rads, the charting outcomes we have now are NOT relevant today.

 

[futureapppsy2]

I wonder in these situations if it would have just been better going unmatched. I know myself and If I couldn't do rads or gas I would rather be unemployed than do FM.

With med school debt? I kind of doubt that, tbh.

 

[howdoiknow]

With med school debt? I kind of doubt that, tbh.

It's a very highly unlikely scenario for me. My school matches nearly 100% of all matriculants and most into their top choice fields (with reasonable expectations). I'd probably be able to get into a decent psych or PM&R program if gas/rads didn't work out, FM is not an option for me at all I would go crazy.

 

[Medical Seed]

Hi all,
I just asked my friend from the same school (DO). He applied to rad as well with step1 236, step2 242 (I got step1 236, step2 237 and 1 DR invite). He also got only 1 DR invite so far. I think it isn't because I have red flags. Luckily he had a PM&R backup but I don't have backup ... :/

 

[deleted898021]

Hi all,
I just asked my friend from the same school (DO). He applied to rad as well with step1 236, step2 242 (I got step1 236, step2 237 and 1 DR invite). He also got only 1 DR invite so far. I think it isn't because I have red flags. Luckily he had a PM&R backup but I don't have backup ... :/

That sucks but based on what I've heard from people applying rads at my school as well, rads programs seem to take time, there are many programs that have open days, as others have pointed out programs are still going through apps so I would send out LOI's and wait it out for another month before full on panicking , you might(hopefully) have a more comfortable number of invites by then. Even 250+ step1/2 people seem to be sitting at 5-10 invites(many at 5 or below even). It might also be a good idea to throw in say another 30-40 apps maybe? With 57 apps you didn't apply as broadly especially with virtual IV's. Target the former AOA and low tier and community programs. Its also possible a lot of those 57 programs are mid or upper tier programs and with a 230 step that would be terrible application strategy.

 

[Medical Seed]

That sucks but based on what I've heard from people applying rads at my school as well, rads programs seem to take time, there are many programs that have open days, as others have pointed out programs are still going through apps so I would send out LOI's and wait it out for another month before full on panicking , you might(hopefully) have a more comfortable number of invites by then. Even 250+ step1/2 people seem to be sitting at 5-10 invites(many at 5 or below even). It might also be a good idea to throw in say another 30-40 apps maybe? With 57 apps you didn't apply as broadly especially with virtual IV's. Target the former AOA and low tier and community programs. Its also possible a lot of those 57 programs are mid or upper tier programs and with a 230 step that would be terrible application strategy.

Are they applying this year like me? I applied broadly targeting a lot of community + low/mid tier academic programs. Thank you for the info.. I am a bit less stressed thanks to you. But I will definitely send more LOIs.