Those with red flags, how did the match go?

[SillyGenius]

Congrats to all those who matched!

Those of you who had red flags on your app (repeated year due to academic failure, failed board exams, etc.), how did the match go?

Considering that this was the first match with P/F Step 1, I'm interested in knowing how the match worked out for those who had a red flag on their app

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[Goro]

Amazingly almost all of the people at our school who had a board failure matched. Don't Know full details yet.

I need to warn you that hope is not a strategy.

 

[pierty]

From what I understand, nothing really changed this year. A failed Step 1 attempt a few years ago represents the same thing now (and so would a repeated academic year, etc). Step 2 scores are being used for stratification instead of a weighted mean of step 1 + 2 - that's it.

Regarding "red flags," there are always ways to work around them. You have to excel in other areas, show that it was a sole occurrence (i.e., a repeat goes well without any hitch), provide concise/reasonable context if applicable to the situation, manage expectations accordingly, etc. There's always another open door, and it's important to plan ahead (but, of course, it would be better to avoid the need to go through these extra hoops if at all possible).

 

[SillyGenius]

Amazingly almost all of the people at our school who had a board failure matched. Don't Know full details yet.

I need to warn you that hope is not a strategy.

I'm happy they all matched! I totally understand that relying on hope is not a strategy, I was just asking the question to see how applicants with red flags fared considering that step 1 is p/f and no longer scored. It feels like there are less ways to stand out since there isn't a numerical score given when you take step 1

Obviously, an overwhelming majority of them got into FM, IM, and psych. But it would be interesting to know what proportion of these applicants got competitive specialties

 

[wysdoc]

I'm happy they all matched! I totally understand that relying on hope is not a strategy, I was just asking the question to see how applicants with red flags fared considering that step 1 is p/f and no longer scored. It feels like there are less ways to stand out since there isn't a numerical score given when you take step 1

Obviously, an overwhelming majority of them got into FM, IM, and psych. But it would be interesting to know what proportion of these applicants got competitive specialties

Whoever overcame their red flags is probably not a fan of resurrecting them for your viewing at this point 🤐

 

[Goro]

I'm happy they all matched! I totally understand that relying on hope is not a strategy, I was just asking the question to see how applicants with red flags fared considering that step 1 is p/f and no longer scored. It feels like there are less ways to stand out since there isn't a numerical score given when you take step 1

Obviously, an overwhelming majority of them got into FM, IM, and psych. But it would be interesting to know what proportion of these applicants got competitive specialties

>35% Iof my kids went into non-PC residencies, some into uber-competetive one where DOs are few and far. Matches overall were great, I'm told.

 

[GoSpursGo]

I'm happy they all matched! I totally understand that relying on hope is not a strategy, I was just asking the question to see how applicants with red flags fared considering that step 1 is p/f and no longer scored. It feels like there are less ways to stand out since there isn't a numerical score given when you take step 1

Obviously, an overwhelming majority of them got into FM, IM, and psych. But it would be interesting to know what proportion of these applicants got competitive specialties

I depends how you define “competitive.” I would probably define psych as increasingly competitive btw.

There is no “secret sauce” on how these people would have gotten into a competitive specialty, except probably the same stuff that you normally would need (high step 2, research, connections) but more than someone who didn’t have the red flag.

>35% Iof my kids went into non-PC residencies, some into uber-competetive one where DOs are few and far. Matches overall were great, I'm told.

>35% of the kids with an academic red flag like failing a board exam or repeating a school year? I suspect that is not what you meant.

 

[Goro]

I depends how you define “competitive.” I would probably define psych as increasingly competitive btw.

There is no “secret sauce” on how these people would have gotten into a competitive specialty, except probably the same stuff that you normally would need (high step 2, research, connections) but more than someone who didn’t have the red flag.

>35% of the kids with an academic red flag like failing a board exam or repeating a school year? I suspect that is not what you meant.

No, I'm talking about the entire class.

Those who didn't match were the usual suspects, but the numbers so far have been a tad lower than previous years.

I'm still waiting to hear how the scramble went.

 

[SillyGenius]

No, I'm talking about the entire class.

I was talking only about those with a red flag (failing a board exam or repeating a year)

Also, what does scramble mean? Is this like another round of SOAP?

 

[GoSpursGo]

Also, what does scramble mean? Is this like another round of SOAP?

It's the totally unregulated process that happens after the SOAP concludes, where programs simply make their open spots public and invite applicants in a first-come/first-interview format. Some programs, for whatever reason, choose not to fill their empty positions through the SOAP (or don't like the applicants they get in the SOAP) and decide to take a chance in the scramble. As you might imagine, the programs available in the scramble are not the best and/or are heavy on surgical prelim spots.

 

[SillyGenius]

Whoever overcame their red flags is probably not a fan of resurrecting them for your viewing at this point 🤐

I thought SDN is anonymous, is it not...

Also, I'm kind of in a similar boat with a red flag. So, info like this is valuable to me

 

[GoSpursGo]

I thought SDN is anonymous, is it not...

Also, I'm kind of in a similar boat with a red flag. So, info like this is valuable to me

SDN is anonymous, but many red flags are identifying if shared.

I think you have already received valuable advice about focusing on the proximal issues in front of you and worrying about the match process once you get closer to that time. But as I said... there is no "secret sauce."