Quick residency matching question

[PKU]

Hey all,

Question is on behalf of my friend who's in his 4th year of med school at nymc.

Can knowing a physician (personally) that's responsible for teaching other residents at a program he's going to apply to for his residency, help him in anyway? Do those physicians have a say in who to invite?

Thanks and hopefully this makes sense!

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[AdmiralChz]

This is phrased in a strange way. Are you asking if a "friend of your friend" who is on faculty help him get into that residency? Perhaps, but it would be a pretty big conflict of interest and would be very frowned upon (at least at my program and I sit on the match committee). Plus there are more than one person on match committees so individual voices (unless they are from the chair or PD) are usually overpowered, especially if the application is marginal.

 

[PKU]

This is phrased in a strange way. Are you asking if a "friend of your friend" who is on faculty help him get into that residency? Perhaps, but it would be a pretty big conflict of interest and would be very frowned upon (at least at my program and I sit on the match committee). Plus there are more than one person on match committees so individual voices (unless they are from the chair or PD) are usually overpowered, especially if the application is marginal.

Thanks for your reply.

His moms cousins husband is a physician at the hospital and he regularly is involved in teaching incoming residents.

 

[AdmiralChz]

His moms cousins husband

Talk about I know a guy... answer still remains the same. Rarely we have family members (much closer in relation than this) of faculty that apply, if that's the case we have that individual step out of the room during the discussion. I suppose this isn't an absolute for everywhere, but I'd be shocked if nepotism would be readily allowed at most places.

 

[PKU]

Talk about I know a guy... answer still remains the same. Rarely we have family members (much closer in relation than this) of faculty that apply, if that's the case we have that individual step out of the room during the discussion. I suppose this isn't an absolute for everywhere, but I'd be shocked if nepotism would be readily allowed at most places.

Lol that's what I was thinking too.

Thanks for your reply though!

 

[Gastrapathy]

Thank you Simone

 

[NotAProgDirector]

Agreed. First of all, if someone is personally related to an applicant, we basically ignore anything that person says. Second, programs are often very big and just because someone "teaches residents" they may have nothing to do with the program admin. So, basically, this doesn't change much. In fact, if someone is closely related to a key player in the program, it might be a disincentive to avoid issues of nepotism -- either real or imagined.

 

[BeddingfieldMD]

Of course it could help. Depends on how honest this faculty doctor is and how prone his department is to nepotism.

In most cases, my experience is that if this MS4 is not academically on par with his colleagues or has any red flags from med school, he still will unlikely match at said program--even with the friendly insider.


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[namika]

Hypothetically speaking, if he had a seat at the admission table it would be frowned upon for him to promote you out of nepotism and to do so without admitting to know you. However what he could do is to promote you through the proper channels with a written statement. Like if he knows you well and he is acquainted with the Program Director, he could send the Program Director a sort of official email recommending you for X, Y, or Z reason. The Program Director could print this out and put it in your file as a sort of accessory LOR given freely from a local staffer. That's a very transparent, honest, and accepted way for someone on staff to give you a little boost. What's not allowed is for him to pretend to not know you personally and to try and promote you "under the table".

 

[caffeinemia]

So you're asking... Is there nepotism in residency matches?

The answer is... YES.

PRS Chairman/Program Director at Yale matched both his children to that program. Life goes on.

 

[studyaholic]

So you're asking... Is there nepotism in residency matches?

The answer is... YES.

PRS Chairman/Program Director at Yale matched both his children to that program. Life goes on.

Seriously?? that's insane...I guess there's no NRMP rule for nepotism?

 

[evilbooyaa]

There certainly is nepotism. It's not a lock but it can't hurt to try.

 

[PKU]

Little update for you guys...
Turns out this doctor he "knows" is indeed part of the committee and is EXTREMELY close with the PD (talking outside of work close). This is a competitive residency. He will be applying next cycle. Sad part is, he's a carribean IMG. Maybe this is how some IMG's match into surgery or other competitive specialties. I got some PMs from people asking me for the hospital name and specialty. Please note, for obvious reasons I can't give them out.

 

[NotAProgDirector]

Your friend is thinking about this incorrectly. Sure, their connection might be able to swing them an interview. And an interview means a chance at matching. But if a program doesn't consider IMG's, it's unlikely that this type of connection is actually going to work at all.

In any case, they should use their connection to get a rotation in that field at that hospital. That is absolutely something that a connection can do for you. Then, your friend get's LORs from that rotation -- perhaps that helps them match there, but might also help them match somewhere else.

All that said, this can backfire greatly esp if this is a hyper-competitive field -- like Ortho, or Neurosurgery, or Plastics. In that case, your friend could apply to those fields and not match (because he's an IMG), but also have trouble matching in a backup field because everyone who looks at his app thinks "he's applying to Ortho, and only applying to Gen Surg as a backup. We want people interested in / happy with Gen surg".

 

[caffeinemia]

Seriously?? that's insane...I guess there's no NRMP rule for nepotism?

Absolutely serious. I was like.. NOPE. Can't rank this place -- but hey, their interview dinner was da bomb.

Your friend is thinking about this incorrectly. Sure, their connection might be able to swing them an interview. And an interview means a chance at matching. But if a program doesn't consider IMG's, it's unlikely that this type of connection is actually going to work at all.

In any case, they should use their connection to get a rotation in that field at that hospital. That is absolutely something that a connection can do for you. Then, your friend get's LORs from that rotation -- perhaps that helps them match there, but might also help them match somewhere else.

All that said, this can backfire greatly esp if this is a hyper-competitive field -- like Ortho, or Neurosurgery, or Plastics. In that case, your friend could apply to those fields and not match (because he's an IMG), but also have trouble matching in a backup field because everyone who looks at his app thinks "he's applying to Ortho, and only applying to Gen Surg as a backup. We want people interested in / happy with Gen surg".

True true - definitely encountered this when I applied Gen surg as a back up. However, I my particular situation, I always found it funny that some segment of the gen surg population always forgot that plastics is a legitimate fellowship track in gen surg. I mean they hate on prs, until they get a frickin ginormous ventral hernia or a disaster APR wound dehiscence/evisceration and then it's PRS to the flappin' rescue.