Silence = rejection?

[blue0rchid]

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I'm freaking out, I guess... I've had about 14% rejection, 6.5% invite, the rest is just silence. Do most EM programs send out rejection emails or do they not? Is silence = rejection for the most part? Thanks.

 

[Daedalus]

Yeah I would say a decent number of the programs I never received an invite at were silent rejections. It's still a bit early to call it, though. I definitely got additional interview offers later in the season (into December if I remember right)

 

[RustedFox]

I matched seven years ago; but I remember the hot venom taste of the "silent rejections" very well. Poor form on you, PDs, if you do this.

 

[RainbowOtterz]

So what I am seeing right now im the interview process is there are four groups: initial invite, wait list, silent wait list, and decline. With a silent school it is hard to tell. Within the last two days I found out I was silent wait listed at two programs I'm interested in by emailing them. It seems like at this point not many places are sending out wait lists yet and ate waiting a tiny bit more.

 

[gman33]

It takes a long time for programs to review all the apps.
Silence may mean a number of things.
A nice email or phone call expressing your interest probably wouldn't hurt.
I'd only do this to the programs where you would really like to go, not just every place that did not get back to you.

 

[blue0rchid]

Thank you for your responses.

 

[blue0rchid]

I'm sort of in a mode of panic. Should I apply to more programs now? Advice please?

 

[ChrisTraeger]

Silence definitely does not necessarily equal rejection. I've gotten three invites from programs where I initially heard silence, and others had already been invited to. Two of those were within the past 4 days. I think unfortunately there's no way to know whether you're on a silent waitlist or have a silent rejection, but both exist.

 

[deleted720339]

I'm at 12 interviews, 3 waitlists, 14 rejections...and 27 programs I haven't heard a peep from! Applied to 56 which I think was appropriate considering my average stats and no regional preference. Two waitlists and an invite in the last week.

This thing is far from over!

 

[RPedigo]

Agree with above posters. Many programs at this point will send out rejections to those applicants that are not a good fit for the particular program. Silence now (especially if they have sent out rejections to others) usually means that you are on a wait-list to see if people decline interviews at which point you may be invited. However, if programs have not yet sent out any rejections then there is no way to tell if it means rejection or wait-list.

 

[The White Coat Investor]

I'm freaking out, I guess... I've had about 14% rejection, 6.5% invite, the rest is just silence. Do most EM programs send out rejection emails or do they not? Is silence = rejection for the most part? Thanks.

Get some confidence. You're obviously not a bad applicant or you wouldn't already have invitations. As I recall, most invitations came out in November with some well into December. Plus you haven't even called any of the "silent rejections" to tell them how much you would love to interview with them. I'd look at it like this. You applied (presumably) to 30-50 programs and you've already got 3 invites! That's awesome! I think the "number of interviews required to match" has only historically been something like 6, no?

But I think it's really awesome that you calculated your invite percentage down to the decimal place. 🙂

 

[Birdstrike]

I matched seven years ago; but I remember the hot venom taste of the "silent rejections" very well. Poor form on you, PDs, if you do this.

Dude. In real life, when you apply for a job, if the HR people at the place you're applying don't want to interview you, 9/10 times they're not going to call or email you just to give you a hard "No" to ease the blow. Silence either means they didn't get or look at you app, haven't made a decision on your app, or don't want you.

For the applicants: Don't be a wussy. If you hear silence call and ask, "Just calling to check on the status of my application." Do it. Don't let uncertainty eat you up. They'll either say, "Oh, we were about to call you for an interview," or "Sorry, but no thanks," or *more silence* which equals "Sorry but no thanks."

Don't know if that helps, but be aggressive. Don't hang back and freak out. Serves no purpose. Go take a shot at grabbing that golden ring, and do it now. If someone else gets it first, move on with no delay. Waste no time sitting around "freaking out." Pointless.

 

[RustedFox]

Uhh, Bird ? - I'm an attending, too. I know how rejections work in "real life".

I say its a slightly different ballgame when we're talking residency apps.

 

[Birdstrike]

Uhh, Bird ? - I'm an attending, too. I know how rejections work in "real life".

I say its a slightly different ballgame when we're talking residency apps.

I know you get real life. I was directing the post more towards applicants. They should not expect candy-coated rejections or any response at all, necessarily. Nobody owes them anything. They need to rattle the cage themselves. And be aggressive. Hand holding is not going to be prevelent. Obviously you get it. You have a job. You're not still waiting around for rejection letters to come.

It's not a different ballgame. It's the same. We should not expect hand holding in Medicine. We're replaceable labor. This is why so many doctors are disgruntled, miserable and with poor morale. Expectations. They're trained that they are special. We're not special.

It's a job.

 

[blue0rchid]

Thanks for all the advice.
It's a delicate balance though. I want to call or email to ask. But I also don't want to come across as an annoying applicant who has no patience. The problem is I don't know where in the selection process each program is at and there's nothing I can do about it. Perhaps I will wait until next week then start calling/emailing.