Questions about reapplying

[toothless rufus]

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So, after a week of ruining my mascara, I've made peace with not matching or scrambling, and am going to reapply next cycle. And I have some questions. Please feel free to answer any, all, or none at all. All input appreciated.

1) Will I be able to keep my current ERAS login, or will I need a new one? How do I get a new one after I graduated, and no longer attend medical school?

2) Do I need all new letters, or can I use the old ones, or at least have the old ones resubmitted?

3) Should I apply to places that didn't offer me an interview the first time?

4) Should I reapply to places that did interview me?

5) Should I reapply to places where I declined an interview? (oopsie)

6) I may need to get a "civilian" job. Will this hurt me?

7) Can I take Step 3 to strengthen my app?

8) Could not having my PE grade at the time of programs' ranking have killed my chances? (one program called to ask about it, since all I had was "will take 02/2011" on ERAS. Still pending)

9) What sort of things can I do to strengthen my app?
(I may be able to scrape up a traditional rotating internship. If I do get one, what kind of letters should I get from who?!?)

10) I have had an attending recently suggest getting into a family medicine residency then basically leave after a year, after discovering "family medicine is just not for me." This seems like a stupid situation to expect a good letter from (although he said they would still write a good one) and I really, really don't want to lie; I just cannot do this. Especially as I am a baaaad actor. Is this remotely a workable idea? Could I maybe explain this to them ahead of time? Should I take acting classes?

11) Would research be of any real value? (How much? Is full-time necessary? Do these positions pay anything? Do I need to publish?)

12) My wife can support me for the next year. Should I devote my time to PS3 and yoga and getting super-buff?

****If there's anything I forgot to ask about, please let me know!****

 

[peppy]

1) Will I be able to keep my current ERAS login, or will I need a new one? How do I get a new one after I graduated, and no longer attend medical school?

Every year, you need a new "ERAS token" though your ID number (as I recall) will be the same. Contact the person who is in charge of ERAS at your school to make sure they know that you will be reapplying next year and will need a new token.

2) Do I need all new letters, or can I use the old ones, or at least have the old ones resubmitted?

If you end up finding a TRI or prelim year then I'd definitely recommend having a new letter from your PD at least affirming that you're in good standing at the program. If you can manage to get a good letter from an attending on one of your rotations then that's a nice bonus, although I wouldn't sweat it if you can't (being a new intern is sort of like being a new MS-3 - you're not likely to shine when you're still trying to learn the ropes at the start). The letter from your program director is VERY important though. New programs will want to know that your original program doesn't consider you to be a problem resident.
If you end up doing something outside of medicine this year then I would say you can probably get by with reusing the old letters from med school at most places, though I think I remember a couple of programs saying they preferred/required letters from within the past year.

3) Should I apply to places that didn't offer me an interview the first time?
4) Should I reapply to places that did interview me?
5) Should I reapply to places where I declined an interview? (oopsie)

As I said elsewhere, I would probably try to focus mostly on new places where you don't have a history rather than places that rejected you or didn't rank you highly already. The odds are that you are limited in how many interviews you can go on (either by time, money, or scheduling conflicts), so it's best not to waste interview slots on places that have already found a reason to say no to you.
If you can think of a plausible explanation for why you didn't come to the interviews at the places you originally declined that doesn't make it look like you didn't like the programs, then maybe that's worth a shot. They must have seen something in your app that they liked, so they may want to give you another chance.

6) I may need to get a "civilian" job. Will this hurt me?
I think it looks better to have an internship or research (or something else medical related) if possible, but if it's not possible, you have to do what you have to do.

7) Can I take Step 3 to strengthen my app?
Yes.

8) Could not having my PE grade at the time of programs' ranking have killed my chances? (one program called to ask about it, since all I had was "will take 02/2011" on ERAS. Still pending)
Not sure.

9) What sort of things can I do to strengthen my app?
(I may be able to scrape up a traditional rotating internship. If I do get one, what kind of letters should I get from who?!?)
As I mentioned above, make sure you get a letter from the program director at least.

10) I have had an attending recently suggest getting into a family medicine residency then basically leave after a year, after discovering "family medicine is just not for me." This seems like a stupid situation to expect a good letter from (although he said they would still write a good one) and I really, really don't want to lie; I just cannot do this. Especially as I am a baaaad actor. Is this remotely a workable idea? Could I maybe explain this to them ahead of time? Should I take acting classes?

I think that would be a bad idea. There is a chance it might work out, but the risk of offending someone at the FM program, if they were to realize that you never intended to complete the entire program and were just "using" FM to get into psych, is too high. You NEED your original program's support to get a new residency spot. You don't want to give them any reason to be angry with you.
Most PDs will write a positive letter for residents who are leaving if the PD is a reasonably nice person, but they don't HAVE to. If they wrote a bad letter, that would be very damaging to your ability to ever get another residency spot.
The only way I'd go for an FM spot is if you ever decide that you really would be happy sticking with FM as a career.

12) My wife can support me for the next year. Should I devote my time to PS3 and yoga and getting super-buff?
Well, after how stressful this past week surely was, I think you'd be entitled to some PS3 time to take your mind off this crap. 🙂

 

[digitlnoize]

I would say to apply, interview, and rank as many places as possible. The NRMP match outcomes shows an improved chance of matching the more places you rank, and beggars can't be choosers. I agree with what peppy says, but even a small chance of a 2nd chance seems worth it to me.

 

[Cody1MD]

You can become a college professor at the undergraduate level and teach anatomy and physiology.

You can do a MPH and it will enhance your application if you started it.