The official WTF All things Applying/Matching Dermatology Edition

Started by genericderm7
This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.
Get help with your application

Use all the free resources available to you from SDN: articles, guides, expert advising, forums discussions, and school research.

Browse articles Compare schools My application plan Read Interview Feedback
Practice for interviews Ask an Advisor
genericderm7

genericderm7

Membership Revoked
Removed
10+ Year Member
Advertisement - Members don't see this ad
Praise anonymity:

I won't name names, we will just make up a fictional one.... Duh-Niese

A not so gifted girl matching Columbia Derm because her uncle is huge on the faculty, I know you hear about it, but to actually see it is something else....no research, no publications, decent medical school, but an uncle on faculty ....

I mean seriously, is that even legal?

😡
 
I've heard of fellows / med students sleeping with faculty to get in. But that's just a rumor.

Then I've heard of faculty bragging about being dermies to hit on med students. That's more than a rumor.
 
Advertisement - Members don't see this ad
genericderm7 said:
Praise anonymity:

I won't name names, we will just make up a fictional one.... Duh-Niese

A not so gifted girl matching Columbia Derm because her uncle is huge on the faculty, I know you hear about it, but to actually see it is something else....no research, no publications, decent medical school, but an uncle on faculty ....

I mean seriously, is that even legal?

😡
Click to expand...


This girl is matching this year?
 
1. She started derm this past july

2. the sleeping with residents rumor may be true, but ive never heard of residents having that much sway

3. its not the fact that she knew someone on staff, its the fact that when the doctor, who is notorious for grilling his residents, notoroius for being a hard ass, and notorious for demanding perfection out of his residents (to the point of making them cry or quit) just so blatantly takes it easy on his niese who with all due respect was probably just as qualified as any other med student who didnt take a year off to do research and matched in derm right away
 
"why not cry about those born into royalty"

can you really be so misguided to even begin to compare the two

seriously....

you equate matching derm with royalty....hahahahha

We live in a society where we are led to believe that hard work pays off, a non-caste, non-elitist society where if you want to be a doctor and you work hard enough you can be one....

oh wait....

unless you are poor and your parents arent doctors already

one would think that after spending thousands upon thousands to get into medical school...then 100's of thousands of dollars during medical school, that somewhere along the way the playing field would be level

but its not, and we have to deal with it

but that doesn't mean we can't point out abuses of a broken system when we see them

I for one would be so ashamed and embarassed if I were this Duh-niese girl at Columbia Presby Derm....she's got some balls to be able to hold her head up and think that she should be where she is on her own merit....
 
Yeah, keep calling out people. That will help win over your future colleagues. Whether you like it or not, she's a derm resident. At a top notch program to boot. What are you?
 
genericderm7 said:
"why not cry about those born into royalty"

can you really be so misguided to even begin to compare the two

seriously....

you equate matching derm with royalty....hahahahha

We live in a society where we are led to believe that hard work pays off, a non-caste, non-elitist society where if you want to be a doctor and you work hard enough you can be one....

oh wait....

unless you are poor and your parents arent doctors already

one would think that after spending thousands upon thousands to get into medical school...then 100's of thousands of dollars during medical school, that somewhere along the way the playing field would be level

but its not, and we have to deal with it

but that doesn't mean we can't point out abuses of a broken system when we see them

I for one would be so ashamed and embarassed if I were this Duh-niese girl at Columbia Presby Derm....she's got some balls to be able to hold her head up and think that she should be where she is on her own merit....
Click to expand...

Dude you think that's bad from the dermboard hot gossip a few years ago ucla 2 years in row took girls married/engaged to faculty. How you like them apples.
 
genericderm8

I am a derm resident at a top notch program that busted my behind to get it, took several years off of medical school and have no problem calling out dermtrocities

thats messed up about UCLA I would expect that on the west coast though, you know with shows like the OC and all
 
genericderm7 said:
I am a derm resident at a top notch program that busted my behind to get it, took several years off of medical school and have no problem calling out dermtrocities
Click to expand...

Word call out the dermtrocities perpetrated by the dermato-hyprocrisy. I too am a derm resident and thinks it's foul when you sit there with a PD/chair and they tell you they want the best and brightest, aoa, published, high board score having residents and then see that connections trump all this. This makes one say WTF or at least what the pho.
 
Honestly, you guys are pathetic. All you are doing by talking about this **** are showing off how blatantly insecure you are about this whole damn process. This is the real world, some people have connections to places. GET OVER IT!!! Work your ass off and do what YOU need to get where you want. Sometimes life isn't fair and pissing and moaning about it isn't going to do you any good in the long run... GROW UP!!
 
What the pho said:
Dude you think that's bad from the dermboard hot gossip a few years ago ucla 2 years in row took girls married/engaged to faculty. How you like them apples.
Click to expand...

I thought it was unfair, but they seem well qualified. One of them did a ton of research like all the other applicants they usually take who do a research year. And the other one also took a year off. It would be more fishy if they went in straight without doing any work or lack of qualifications like Duh-Niese.

I am curious who da heck Duh-Niese is. I looked on the site and I don't even see a denise or anything remotely close. Unless Duh-Niese = the niece
 
Advertisement - Members don't see this ad
GenericDerm9 said:
I thought it was unfair, but they seem well qualified. One of them did a ton of research like all the other applicants they usually take who do a research year. And the other one also took a year off. It would be more fishy if they went in straight without doing any work or lack of qualifications like Duh-Niese.

I am curious who da heck Duh-Niese is. I looked on the site and I don't even see a denise or anything remotely close. Unless Duh-Niese = the niece
Click to expand...

her name is posted on the underbelly forum
 
GenericDerm9 said:
I thought it was unfair, but they seem well qualified. One of them did a ton of research like all the other applicants they usually take who do a research year. And the other one also took a year off. It would be more fishy if they went in straight without doing any work or lack of qualifications like Duh-Niese.
Click to expand...
It's unfair when you have 2 AOA applicants from the same school are passed over by the non aoa applicant just because she is dating a resident who later became faculty.

genericderm2 said:
her name is posted on the underbelly forum
Click to expand...
What the hell is the underbelly forum, link or photo please. This is what I loved about the dermboard all the hot juicy gossip without pulling any punches.
 
hahahhaa, genericderm69. love the name.

the underbelly forum is the googlegroups forum. i want to see a pic too. is she hot?
 
Genericderm69 said:
It's unfair when you have 2 AOA applicants from the same school are passed over by the non aoa applicant just because she is dating a resident who later became faculty..
Click to expand...

that is true, didn't think about that. that year i think there were 11 applicants from that school.
 
What the pho said:
Word call out the dermtrocities perpetrated by the dermato-hyprocrisy. I too am a derm resident and thinks it's foul when you sit there with a PD/chair and they tell you they want the best and brightest, aoa, published, high board score having residents and then see that connections trump all this. This makes one say WTF or at least what the pho.
Click to expand...

i want some of your pho.

are you and long dong friends? you guys have similar personalities. hilarious! 👍
 
You are all certifiable... Honestly... Who really gives a crap about AOA... So you got good grades in med school (And yes I made AOA)... But I in no way think that it makes me more qualified to match into my specialty of choice. We all worked hard. I honestly believe that if I meshed well with a program than I will end up there. If a program takes someone because of ties to that program, because they know that individual will be a good fit, then so be it... And if you have a problem with that, just say "well thats not the kind of program I want to be at anyway"... I am really disgusted that some of my future "colleagues" are this immature... move on already...
 
genericderm4 said:
You are all certifiable... Honestly... Who really gives a crap about AOA... So you got good grades in med school (And yes I made AOA)... But I in no way think that it makes me more qualified to match into my specialty of choice. We all worked hard. I honestly believe that if I meshed well with a program than I will end up there. If a program takes someone because of ties to that program, because they know that individual will be a good fit, then so be it... And if you have a problem with that, just say "well thats not the kind of program I want to be at anyway"... I am really disgusted that some of my future "colleagues" are this immature... move on already...
Click to expand...

Thank you!

I too can't believe these will be my future colleagues. (Hopefully not, hope they fall to the scramble)

If you've matched and still feel the need to pick on someone because they "didn't work as hard as you", you've got one diseased brain.
 
FAIR WARNING - PLEASE READ.

SDN users are not allowed to create multiple accounts to use on the forums. This is considered trolling and is not permitted.

Pick an account and stick to it. Alternate accounts will be banned and those who create them will be subject to disciplinary action on their primary account.

As far as needing a more 'anonymous' account to gossip (or whatever)... this is SDN, not JuicyCampus. 🙄

Ditch the alternate accounts, please. 🙂
 
There is no rule that the applicants with the highest board scores, the most publications, or the most clinical honors will match. These are all pieces of what makes an application strong, but the main things most programs want are residents who are respectful, intelligent, and easy to work with.

As for connections. They matter in ALL fields of real life. It's not unfair, it's how life works. People want to work with people they know or their friends know and say good things about. Many professionals rely on their connections for work... from handymans to caterers to lawyers to realtors to doctors... good word of mouth means more than a set of numbers on an exam.

I learned early on that connections mattered so I started cultivating them as soon as I developed an interest in derm. Instead of complaining about applicants with connections, why not make some connections of your own? (This doesn't mean sleeping with or being related to anyone either! Just work hard and impress the right people.)
 
oracle07 said:
Instead of complaining about applicants with connections, why not make some connections of your own? (This doesn't mean sleeping with or being related to anyone either! Just work hard and impress the right people.)
Click to expand...

I agree 👍, but it seems like the connections ppl above are complaining about are the ones that involve sleeping with or being related to somebody...
 
I see the point, but there's no sense in complaining about it. The familial connections aren't wrong or illegal. The sleeping with the chair rumors are probably true in only a small minority of cases. Overall, neither of these types of "connections" are taking up very many spots each year.

If my kid goes to med school and derm is still a sought after field, I'd definitely do all I could to make sure s/he lands a spot if desired. You'd probably do the same for your kid.

I wouldn't tell Joe the Plumber that his son can't take over his business because Jim's son scored higher on his SAT... so Jim's son gets first dibs.
 
I wouldn't be so quick to call it a clean process.

No names.

I know of an applicant within the past 5 years whose parent happened to be a prestigious dermatologist. An arrangement was made for the program to take the child if the parent would take one of the program's residents as a fellow.

This stuff happens.
 
I am the chief resident at Columbia and am horrified to read this thread about one of our most capable residents in the program who has every qualification to be here and has been performing at the highest level. BTW, no one has quit because of our attending. I do not follow these message boards for this reason and am disappointed to read all of this false information that was brought to my attention.
 
THIS is why anonymous accounts don't work. Too many *****s starting false fires. Even if it were true, the fact that the OP didn't have the balls to say it even under a regular ole SDN name probably indicates it's inappropriate forum material.
 
Advertisement - Members don't see this ad
Agree with bananamed. And that's why the dermboard was so incredibly ridiculous and corrosive. That was the only resource I had when I applied, and I was never able to get any decent application advice. It was just a series of flame wars.

To be frank, I've never been able to trace anyone with an SDN username. I've met A LOT of med students and have no clue who anyone is.
 
the crazy columbia derm med attending who makes everyone cry is a true story. well judge it this way - i heard that and thought it was an exaggeration then was at a meeting where a columbia derm resident told a horrific story about him and then STARTED TO CRY. luckily i was drunk enough to move away quickly without remorse.

is he letting his niece off easier?

look i'm only one voice but a lot of the scuttlebutt i heard when i was applying turned out to be true. i mean, jose canseco isn't someone you'd want in your living room, but at the end of the day, the man spoke true.
 
formerdermres said:
i mean, jose canseco isn't someone you'd want in your living room
Click to expand...

may i ask why?

jose.jpg


nvm, i have the answer

:laugh:
 
Here is another WTF story from a few years back that some of you padawans may not know about.

http://www.post-register.com/index.php?Name=ViewNews&ID=998

Some people that knew her say she was a little too serious/gunner and difficult, but what neurotic derm applicant isn't to some extent. Most of us know an odd derm faculty that is hard to work with, yet they still matched. Some of these faculty if they tried to match in todays competitive enviroment probably wouldn't even match in the first place going against today's superstars. If she didn't show dedication to derm all 4 years of med school and starting DIGA, then I don't know what would. All I can say is the stories about the chair/pd at her home school aren't the best ether. She would of probably faired better in the match had she dated a resident or faculty or been connected to faculty by family.🙄
 
Last edited:
I was wondering when this would come up.

A student at UTSW, Kelly founded DIGA, the Dermatology Interest Group Association, and made it a national organization. From what I understand, it was her brainchild. She also did research on Latino skin issues, presented posters, published, and was active at derm conferences. Her picture is on the DIGA main page.

Kelly matched at an IM backup. Then committed suicide.

Obviously, she was struggling with much deeper problems that wouldn't necessarily surface in an unmatched applicant without clinical depression.

But isn't it rather sickening that someone with such deep involvement didn't get more support from her own home derm department? They didn't take her. Either she was so personally toxic that even her home dept didn't want her, or her PD really did not do a good job looking out for her match (an understatement).

I heard that she may have had low scores, but based on what one friend of mine directly experienced with that PD (repeatedly blowing off a scheduled meeting), it may have been a PD factor playing into her being unmatched as well.

Ultimately multifactorial.
 
DermMatch said:
I heard that she may have had low scores, but based on what one friend of mine directly experienced with that PD (repeatedly blowing off a scheduled meeting), it may have been a PD factor playing into her being unmatched as well.

Ultimately multifactorial.
Click to expand...

Yes, it was MULTIFACTORIAL.

I am from UTSW.

I do not know all the details surrounding Kelly's unsuccessful match, but I can tell you FOR SURE that the rank list at UTSW is not determined solely by Dr. Cruz. He may be the program director, but he is only one among many who play an EQUAL role in this process. To select candidates to interview, for example, Dr. Cruz and 2 other faculty review ALL applications and all their scores are tallied and EQUALLY WEIGHTED to determine who gets invited. Then, to create the rank list, ALL SCORES from ALL FACULTY are again EQUALLY WEIGHTED and tallied. The faculty then deliberate to see if they want to move an applicant up or down the rank list preliminarily determined using the interview scores. During the deliberation, Dr. Cruz DOES NOT have any more power than the rest of the faculty.

I heard that Kelly (may she rest in peace) stepped on some toes during her clinical rotations. It was unfortunate and seems unfair that she did not match, but to blame the PD is not just either.
 
As an aside, I wonder if the faculty/PD at UTSW feel any guilt/remorse?

I know it's not their fault but I'm sure it doesn't feel all warm and fuzzy to be involved in any extent with a situation like this.
 
I am just wondering PD aside, that she didn't match anywhere else, did she not have an amazing CV as well as extracurriculars, I can only imagine that her personal statement was decent, and even still, she got rejected everywhere,

just doesn't seem to make sense unless she stepped on toes on every interview she went on


hmmmm
 
we don't have all the info

maybe her scores were too low to overcome the CV? maybe the LORs from the PD were weak? poor interviewer?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

WildWing
FAQ - Dermatology
Replies
0
Views
3K
WildWing
WildWing
G
Mohs Fellowship Application Match 2025
Replies
2
Views
8K
uconnfellowship
U
M
  • Question Question
Question about Dermatology LORs for 2025 match.
Replies
0
Views
2K
MathT
M
D
Posters at the 6th Annual San Diego Dermatology Symposium, February 7-9, 2025, Hilton San Diego Bayfront
Replies
0
Views
3K
DREF
D
N
IM Resident planning to apply to Dermatology after Residency
Replies
11
Views
11K
nalasimba
N