So what does an Interview Really mean????

[PayingMyDues]

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I thought I would put this out there for people to make comments on...

Have been told and have seen in a lot of posts that if a program grants you an interview that they are seriously thinking about having you in the program....

I am looking at this from a D.O. prospective in CA...I am not in the top of my class...USMLE step 1 of mid-200's...and I have an interview from a "place" that has not taken a DO in its history....Is this a form of Affirmative action???...thoughts???

 

[NYMd2008]

probably...

nothing against DO's, but I have never seen DO residents at top ny schools (cornell, columbia, nyu) unless they have some connection...and even then its pretty difficult

its the same thing as they listing on their websites requirements for foreign grads and their ECFMG requirements....they have to at least give the appearance that their program is open to everybody.

i would look into NYMC - WMC. they are DO and foreign grad freindly. its a university program and they always take top DO kids and top foreign grads. Many place fellowships usually at WMC (nephrology, pulm, heme/onc, rheum). GI and cards fellow is tough but they do take their own (one per year)

 

[lemonade02]

i disagree with the previous poster. you got an interview at a school that has never taken a DO in its history and you obviously have some qualifications that warranted an interview. you have to believe its your merit that got you that interview and not affirmative action. i find it hard to believe a premier program would spend their time and resources as well as yours if they didn't believe you had a shot.

 

[NYMd2008]

i disagree with the previous poster. you got an interview at a school that has never taken a DO in its history and you obviously have some qualifications that warranted an interview. you have to believe its your merit that got you that interview and not affirmative action. i find it hard to believe a premier program would spend their time and resources as well as yours if they didn't believe you had a shot.

I urge you to go to the websites of cornell, columbua, and nyu. they list who their current residents are and from what medical school they hail from. these places are not DO friendly and that is clear from their resident profiles (current and past).

I would love it if a program director would comment on this.

 

[DrWBD]

I thought I would put this out there for people to make comments on...

Have been told and have seen in a lot of posts that if a program grants you an interview that they are seriously thinking about having you in the program....

I am looking at this from a D.O. prospective in CA...I am not in the top of my class...USMLE step 1 of mid-200's...and I have an interview from a "place" that has not taken a DO in its history....Is this a form of Affirmative action???...thoughts???

There is no such thing as affirmative action for DOs. Either they want you for some reason, or they made a clerical error (which happens a lot).

If you truly have an interview at a place which is highly desirable, please do your osteopathic brethren a favor and kick ass at the interview. 🙂 We could always use more programs that will take DOs seriously as applicants.

 

[Fexofenadine]

There's nothing against DO....I just think it makes sense that allopathic programs tend to favor allopathic applicants rather than osteopathic residents. I'm assumming that if allopathic applicants apply to DO residencies that the DO candidate would look more favorable. It just so happen that Cornell, Columbia, Duke, UCSF etc... are just really competitive allopathic programs and the best of the best allopathic residents vive for the very few spots.

The same analogy can be applied to Foreign Medical Grads and U.S. grads. It make sense that U.S. grads are favored over FMGs because if we graduate from a US med school shouldn't be get first dibs on US residencies? If I were to apply to residency overseas (like England) i wouldn't expect to be favored over English grads right?

 

[gclax30]

There's nothing against DO....I just think it makes sense that allopathic programs tend to favor allopathic applicants rather than osteopathic residents. I'm assumming that if allopathic applicants apply to DO residencies that the DO candidate would look more favorable. It just so happen that Cornell, Columbia, Duke, UCSF etc... are just really competitive allopathic programs and the best of the best allopathic residents vive for the very few spots.

The same analogy can be applied to Foreign Medical Grads and U.S. grads. It make sense that U.S. grads are favored over FMGs because if we graduate from a US med school shouldn't be get first dibs on US residencies? If I were to apply to residency overseas (like England) i wouldn't expect to be favored over English grads right?

Dude, you have an interview at a top program and hundreds of MD applicants are sitting at home because they DON’T. Either something about your application wowed them or a secretary switched your file with someone else’s (which I highly doubt)… either way, take advantage and shine on the interview. If you’re not a tool they might even rank you. The whole “DO discrimination” just for the sake of being a DO is way overplayed on this forum, it’s the same old argument over and over. The above poster is partially correct, but it is also because many DO students swallow this crap and don’t apply in the first place. Look hard, there are or have been plenty of DOs at “big” places for most specialties. Apply where you want.

 

[NYMd2008]

Dude, you have an interview at a top program and hundreds of MD applicants are sitting at home because they DON'T. Either something about your application wowed them or a secretary switched your file with someone else's (which I highly doubt)… either way, take advantage and shine on the interview. If you're not a tool they might even rank you. The whole "DO discrimination" just for the sake of being a DO is way overplayed on this forum, it's the same old argument over and over. The above poster is partially correct, but it is also because many DO students swallow this crap and don't apply in the first place. Look hard, there are or have been plenty of DOs at "big" places for most specialties. Apply where you want.

It amazes me how posts like this one are always written by DO's. Whatever makes you feel better about yourself dude!!!

As for the original poster (payingmydues)...do listen to gclax...apply wherever you want but understand the reality of whether you could match at a top place. go to their website and see if they have taken DO's in the past and if they have then you got a shot. As a side...cleveland clinic which from my understanding is one of hte top hospitals in the country (right?) is very DO and US FMG friendly. btw, out of curiosity, can anyone tell me why that is?

 

[wilco57]

NYMd2008, don't be such a punk. Aren't we all about to be doctors here? No reason to act like a five year old. I've worked with and met some great DO's and worked with some crappy MD's in my day, as I'm sure most people have. DO's end up taking the same boards we do and end up working their way through the same residencies we do. DO's go through the same curriculum MD's do except with some additional osteopathic education. If a DO is top in his/her class, has some great research and phenomenal board scores then he/she will likely get the same interviews we do. I would also venture to guess that most programs would take a great DO over an IMG. Sure, the top programs aren't exactly flooded with DO's, but that's because their programs are full from top 20 med school grads. At the end of the day, we're all doctors and we're all going to be working with each other.

 

[DJ LACTULOSE]

just out of curiosity, why do DOs apply to MD residencies? are there not enough DO residencies or DO residency spots for all of them?

what does the average DO student after graduation? an MD residency or a DO residency (i.e. one that only DO students can apply to)?

 

[gclax30]

😉

It amazes me how posts like this one are always written by DO's. Whatever makes you feel better about yourself dude!!!

As for the original poster (payingmydues)...do listen to gclax...apply wherever you want but understand the reality of whether you could match at a top place. go to their website and see if they have taken DO's in the past and if they have then you got a shot. As a side...cleveland clinic which from my understanding is one of hte top hospitals in the country (right?) is very DO and US FMG friendly. btw, out of curiosity, can anyone tell me why that is?

Yes, the facts do make me feel better about myself and my profession.

As for Cleveland Clinic, it's probably because the don't have their heads up their A$$ and realize they have a crop of brilliant, well-trained physicians to choose from every year regardless of the letters after their names.

 

[Linus2007]

Hey congrats on the interview. You have an application that is awesome enough to secure an interview, have fun and good luck with the interview. I don't know, in terms of percentages, how chances for a candidate improve with an interview but I know its a lot more than not getting an interview. Knock 'em dead! [Air high-five]
PS This is coming from an MD student

 

[DrWBD]

just out of curiosity, why do DOs apply to MD residencies? are there not enough DO residencies or DO residency spots for all of them?

what does the average DO student after graduation? an MD residency or a DO residency (i.e. one that only DO students can apply to)?

No need to hijack this thread, there are plenty of threads dealing with your question already.

 

[NotAProgDirector]

I thought I would put this out there for people to make comments on...

Have been told and have seen in a lot of posts that if a program grants you an interview that they are seriously thinking about having you in the program....

I am looking at this from a D.O. prospective in CA...I am not in the top of my class...USMLE step 1 of mid-200's...and I have an interview from a "place" that has not taken a DO in its history....Is this a form of Affirmative action???...thoughts???

Getting back on track here:

In general, most programs rank most of the people they interview. We are not charged "per rank", so it's the same cost whether we rank 10 people or 1000. Interviewing people costs us money and time (yes, I know it costs you too!! 🙂) and we don't want to waste either. Usually better to rank more people then to end up in the scramble, which is not fun on our end either.

Usually, not ranking someone who was invited for an interview is because of:

1. Their interview was a complete nightmare. I was called by security once because one of my interviewees parked in the wrong place, got into an argument with security, ended up throwing some punches. Not the best way to make a first impression.

2. They were invited and then a new problem is found -- they do poorly on Step 2, a surprise in found in their MSPE, etc.

3. They were a borderline candidate to begin with, we interview them to take a closer look, and then decide to pass.

95+% of people don't fall in these categories.

 

[DJ LACTULOSE]

what kind of surprises on an MPSE would cause a program not to rank a candidate?

 

[Linus2007]

Getting back on track here:

In general, most programs rank most of the people they interview. We are not charged "per rank", so it's the same cost whether we rank 10 people or 1000. Interviewing people costs us money and time (yes, I know it costs you too!! 🙂) and we don't want to waste either. Usually better to rank more people then to end up in the scramble, which is not fun on our end either.

Interesting, I always wonder how many applicants get interviewed for a spot. Is this information ever available. I know for Med school they print no of applicants, interviews and spots. I know Freida has number of places but I don't recall interview numbers. According to one university program in Dallas they interview 50 applicants on the application day, surely that cannot be right.

 

[Linus2007]

Oops hang on it is on FREIDA - d'oh. 😛

They do have on there how many interview spots were given.

 

[dadr]

Here is my take, as a current resident. In the medicine residency match, if you are offered an interview you already have a fairly high probability of matching at that program if you wish. The reason is that while medicine programs interview a fair number of applicants per spot, there are many of the same applicants interviewing at multiple programs. Applicants overall will have different top choices so it kind of averages out (i.e. the Brigham might interview 4x the number of slots, but if you're fortunate enough to interview remember that most of those people are also interviewing at MGH, Hopkins, Duke, Michigan and so forth and they can all only choose one program to rank first/)

You will notice this on the interview trail; you'll see the same people several times as they tend to fall into circuits defined by geography, top tier programs, etc. Remember this: in the overall match, something like 70-80% match into their top 3, so you would think for a less competetive specialty like medicine it would be more like 90%. Thus, if you do get an interview, you should feel good about your chances of matching there if you impress them in person.

 

[InNeedOfFriends]

...Thus, if you do get an interview, you should feel good about your chances of matching there if you impress them in person.

Thanks for your comments🙂