Selection Process and Contacting a Residency Program

[Got2BeENT]

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Based upon how this interview season has gone so far (see stats and interview offers on otomatch.com for plenty of examples), I'm beginning to feel that the process is more random than I would have expected. Plenty of people with 250+ board scores, research, etc. are posting some pretty different varieties of interview offers that they have received, and geography alone cannot explain these differences.

1) Other than the obvious (people who rotated at a program, AOA status, or having great letters of recommendation), what factors are being considered that have resulted in such a seemingly random distribution of interviews?

2) If an individual is very interested in a particular program and wishes to express this interest to the program in hopes of standing out and improving their chances of obtaining an interview offer, what is the best way to go about contacting them (email, phone call, letter...) and do you feel like this can really make a difference?

I'm starting to feel like this process strongly favors the 60-100 individuals who look the best based upon ERAS criteria (who probably have 15+ interview offers by now), and leaves the other 200-300 candidates (some of whom would make excellent otolaryngologists) in the dust, especially with regards to obtaining interviews at particular programs they may be especially interested in... How can the underdogs, like myself, make such programs notice them?

Thanks for your input.

 

[neutropeniaboy]

Let me tell you the basic selection process.

Most places rank applicants based on a number of different categories: letters of recommendation, performance on rotations, numeric scores, personality, region of interest, etc. You interview with the attendings and often residents who rank each candidate based on each category.

For example, each category may have a maximum score of, say, 5 for a maximum score of 25 or whatever. Scores are compared, and a final score is given. In the end, after 30 or 40 people are interviewed, the candidates are ranked. Usually the pool will be reviewed to see if anyone has changed his or her mind or has new information that changes things (rarely this is the case). The rank list is submitted.

So, grades, AOA, and USMLE scores are important, but they're often lumped into a single component of the candidate score.

Letters of recommendation are very important.

Performance on a rotation is very important. Away rotations can make or break you, and this is when resident input is critical. If the attendings like you, but you rubbed the residents the wrong way, that can kill your application. I'm completely serious about this; we value the resident input.

How you perform during your interview can also make or break you. I've seen quite a number of people with honors, AOA, and board scores >250 who just tank the interview. Consistently it's because of the fact that they can't talk intelligently about their inflated resumes. Not knowing anything about your research will hurt you. Be prepared to be grilled to see how much you know. If you say golf is your hobby but can't speak about the sport, then people will easily sniff out someone who has fluffed up their resume.

Personal statements are important as well. Advice: stop saying that you were attracted to ENT because ENT surgeons have "awesome" command of medicine and surgery and that you fell in love with the "beautiful mix" of "endless" nerves and vessels that "harmoniously" entangle themselves through the spaces of the neck or some crap like this. Tell us about your background. Tell us *really* why you went into ENT. Tell us that you are a hard worker, are looking forward to working with others, want to gain a solid clinical and academic base, and that you're open to all aspects of ENT (even if you know you're otology bound).

Lastly, if you're going to tell your interviewer that you want to do a fellowship and go into academics, have a good reason. Wanting to teach is what everyone says. People who can't go beyond that really do not want to go into academics. We can fish this out. More people do private practice than academics, so how is it that 100% of applicants say they want to do fellowships and join universities? Be real.

nb

Based upon how this interview season has gone so far (see stats and interview offers on otomatch.com for plenty of examples), I'm beginning to feel that the process is more random than I would have expected. Plenty of people with 250+ board scores, research, etc. are posting some pretty different varieties of interview offers that they have received, and geography alone cannot explain these differences.

1) Other than the obvious (people who rotated at a program, AOA status, or having great letters of recommendation), what factors are being considered that have resulted in such a seemingly random distribution of interviews?

2) If an individual is very interested in a particular program and wishes to express this interest to the program in hopes of standing out and improving their chances of obtaining an interview offer, what is the best way to go about contacting them (email, phone call, letter...) and do you feel like this can really make a difference?

I'm starting to feel like this process strongly favors the 60-100 individuals who look the best based upon ERAS criteria (who probably have 15+ interview offers by now), and leaves the other 200-300 candidates (some of whom would make excellent otolaryngologists) in the dust, especially with regards to obtaining interviews at particular programs they may be especially interested in... How can the underdogs, like myself, make such programs notice them?

Thanks for your input.

 

[northandponce]

wow- thanks for your input, if only I had read it a few months ago.

when i sat down to write my ENT ps- i just let it flow...

funny enough, I managed to nail quite a few of the cliche statements you referred to in your post... although, I did not do so intentionally... and I really DO want to teach! 😉

I suppose these are all things to keep in mind for next year (just in case)

On a different note- how common is it for programs to accept residents as PGY-2 (after prelim surgery?) I browsed FindaResident and I noticed two programs had open spots...

 

[TheThroat]

I found the interview process to be pretty random as well. I applied to about 30 programs and got about 15 interviews. Went to Hopkins and Iowa interviews but got snubbed by a few programs that I really wanted to check out (Emory, South Carolina, Mayo, some in the Northeast).

My advice for getting an interview to a program that you really love is to see if one of your staff at your program has any contacts at the target program and see if they will make a phone call for you. That takes some cajones, but can really help you out, mainly because many staff from different programs know each other. Academic ENT is a pretty small world.