BTW, as for advice on how to Scramble into one of those 6 Categorical spots...no idea, since I didn't do that.
For me, once I found out I didn't Match, I went online to FREIDA, looked up all the different Surgery programs in states that I would even consider going to, eliminated all the military ones, and ended up with 211 programs. I then started going through them, making occasional notes, writing down which programs I'd (1) applied to but wasn't granted an interview, (2) applied to, was offered an interview but couldn't make it, (3) applied to and interviewed at, or (4) didn't apply to. I figured this would be useful when I talked to the PD on the phone. I also thought about which state, geographically, would be ideal to me, and which programs I wanted to call first - that way, when the unfilled programs list came out at 12 noon Eastern yesterday, I wouldn't be blindly flailing around without a plan.
I did try calling the Categorical spots first, but of course they were always busy. The difficulty with the Scramble is that the phone lines are usually busy, or the voice mailboxes are full. Most were full in the first 10-15 minutes of the Scramble. I had brought my cell phone to my school, so I was dialing with two phones simultaneously - my school's landline and my own cell phone. (Sometimes, when I reached a live human on the phone, I wouldn't even know which program I was talking to!
)
I was also emailing programs when I couldn't get through after multiple attempts on the phone. Their contact info is on the unfilled programs list.
What other tips? I brought breakfast and lunch with me, in case I'd be calling all day, but as it turns out, I only needed an hour to Scramble.
Know that there are other options, if you so desire. The two other options that I admittedly BRIEFLY considered (before rejecting), were:
*Take a year off, work/do research, apply for the Match again
*Try to Scramble into a less competitive field (i.e. change from General Surgery into something else)
I just couldn't see myself doing anything else, so I stuck with G Surg. That left me with another two options:
*Try to Scramble into a Categorical spot in a so-so location
*Try to Scramble into a Preliminary spot in a location of my choosing, and hope for the most stable program possible (and I made sure to talk to the PD, to ask about what happened to the Prelims after the first year...booted out? repeat the Match? become Categoricals at their program? or somewhere else in the city/state/country?)
Wow, I'm on a roll now. Any other questions, let me know!
I can't describe the feeling of knowing where you're going to be this June. It's great...now I can plan shipping my car, moving, finding a new place (apartment? condo? house?), even silly things like changing my cell phone number, possibly teaching myself Spanish, etc.!
