Residency Interview: Question about moving from Waitlist to interview on MyERAS

[dude2000]

Hi Guys,

I'm not in med school but my brother is so just joined this forum in hope you guys could help me with your thoughts.

My brother is currently in 4th year doing a rotation. He had low Step 1 and Step 2 scores but really wanted to do general surgery for residency so he applied to many programs knowing that there was a low chance of even getting interviews, and if he did, it would be likely from a less prestigious program.

However, he is so into the specialty that he just went for it and he is now waiting on interviews in the "MyEras" system. He actually applied to something like 250 programs which is apparently a lot.

So here is my issue: he currently has an insane schedule on surgery rotation, and so he asked me to watch for notifications on his email and as soon as they came in, (if he wasn't available or didn't have his phone on him), to hit schedule on his behalf, since from what he told me, it is first come first serve and there's a chance that if you click too late you could be put on the waitlist. So I was basically his backup in case he didn't have his phone on him.

One morning I was asleep and missed the notification, and only saw it an hour after it came in. I rushed to MyERAS to schedule, but the spots were filled and all that was left was waitlist. (There were 5 interview days, so I hit waitlist on all of them, so I guess he might technically be on 5 waitlists...).

I feel horribly guilty about missing the notification because my bro has seems to have so few options and every interview counts. (So far he got only one other interview scheduled, the rest have been rejections)

And so I wanted to ask you guys what you think about the chances that he could move from waitlist to "scheduled" in the coming months. I know nobody really knows, but just your general feel/experiences you've heard considering:

1. The program is not that prestigious (I don't want to mention them to diss them or anything)
2. That I put waitlist on all of the 5 available days
3. I think it is early into the process? so maybe people with interviews might still shuffle around and drop out?

Also, this might be naive of me, but I was thinking maybe he could email the program person who sent the invite and show some enthusiasm for the program? I know people send emails when they haven't heard back at all, but do you think it may be more likely to hear back when the student has already been extended an invite and is now on the waitlist?

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!

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[NYCdude]

You basically answered your own question. Each program has their own way of doing things.

I would say that since it's so early in the game, he has a good chance of getting off the waitlist since it's not a prestigious program and people cancel interviews all the time.

 

[operaman]

I’d wait a little bit but it would not hurt for him to send an email to the program coordinator letting them know how much he’d like an interview and is hopeful a spot opens up. I would not email the PD or faculty, but a short kind note to the coordinator can go a long way.

Essentially, they’re all human and it takes time out of their day when someone cancels and they have to go to the wait list. Sometimes people are no longer interested or available and young people, despite being glued to their phones, aren’t always prompt in responding. Knowing someone on the list is a sure thing can help make you that first call when a spot opens.