Too Late To Apply?

[PathSoccerDude]

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Hey Guys,

First of all I wanted to thank everyone, especially the attendings and residents, who post on here. I have been reading the boards the last few weeks and everyone has been really helpful. I have told a lot of my friends about the forum for path and they too are starting to join...

So my question is this. I am a 4th year (almost) at Tulane in New Orleans. Due to Hurricane Katrina, a lot of us from the '08 class have had to take a lot of our cores later in the year. I have currently completed all o fmy cores except for Surgery (which I finish in October) and Internal Medicine (which I complete in December). I have taken a one month pathology elective at my home school and loved it and it confirmed my thinking that path was for me. My step 1 score is pretty decent (few points below the NRMP's incoming Pathology residents avergae for 2007) and I have two LOR's, but only from Pediatrics and Fmaily. I could most likely get a path LOR in the next few months. My main goal would be to graduate on time in 2008 and match back in my home area (New England) or in Chicago, and ge ton with my residency.

However, at this point a lot of residents and other people have advised me NOT to apply with the 2008 class. They say my lack of Internal Medicine and Surgery Grades, Step 2 score (which wont be taken until early January) and only two LOR's as of now will hurt my ERAS application if I submit it in September. They told me to wait and apply in 2009 and in the meantime finish up my rotations, and do some research in Path if I can find the opportunity (which is limited at my school due to the Katrina situation).

Then today I talked to two second year path residents here who said I would be crazy not to apply in 2008. They said I have a good chance of matching in Chi-town or New England, even with my current status and that I would get interviews because it is Pathology. They also said if the schools I am targeting do not send me an interview then I can always NOT submit a Rank Order List in September and withdraw my application from the schools I apply to. To me that sounded like a BAD idea though, especially if I was to apply to the same schools again in 2009 (to them, who's to say I wouldn't withdraw again), but the residents said just tell them you decided to do some research...

So that is my situation and I was looking for some advice. Do I apply in 2008? Or should I listen to the other residents and just wait it out, search for research, and apply in 2009. I really appreciate any advice anyone has to offer. Good luck to all in the application process!

Peace😎

 

[trent05]

Apply for this years match. Simple as that. If you can graduate in time to start residency in July then there is absolutely no reason to wait out a year. Do you really think doing a year of research makes you a more desirable candidate? It could make it look like you didn't match the first time around. Step 2 scores matter little as long as you did okay on step 1. Surgery and IM cores don't mattter AT ALL. Get a letter from any pathologist that you worked with during your path elective and apply. Trust me, there is little you can do to make your application that much stronger for next year. If come March you don't match, then you can start to think about last resort solutions such as a research year.

 

[yaah]

It doesn't hurt to apply this year and see what happens. They are right, you can always withdraw and reapply. You may have to explain to some programs the following year why you did that, but you have a good explanation and no one would hold that against you. The worst thing that happens is that you apply next year anyway. In your personal statement for next year you can just include a brief explanation.

But agree, you do need to get a path letter. I would imagine you would be able to get a letter from somebody if you did a rotation there. It might not be the best letter, but letters don't have to be great to be adequate.

 

[BU Pathology]

Hey Guys,

First of all I wanted to thank everyone, especially the attendings and residents, who post on here. I have been reading the boards the last few weeks and everyone has been really helpful. I have told a lot of my friends about the forum for path and they too are starting to join...

So my question is this. I am a 4th year (almost) at Tulane in New Orleans. Due to Hurricane Katrina, a lot of us from the '08 class have had to take a lot of our cores later in the year. I have currently completed all o fmy cores except for Surgery (which I finish in October) and Internal Medicine (which I complete in December). I have taken a one month pathology elective at my home school and loved it and it confirmed my thinking that path was for me. My step 1 score is pretty decent (few points below the NRMP's incoming Pathology residents avergae for 2007) and I have two LOR's, but only from Pediatrics and Fmaily. I could most likely get a path LOR in the next few months. My main goal would be to graduate on time in 2008 and match back in my home area (New England) or in Chicago, and ge ton with my residency.

However, at this point a lot of residents and other people have advised me NOT to apply with the 2008 class. They say my lack of Internal Medicine and Surgery Grades, Step 2 score (which wont be taken until early January) and only two LOR's as of now will hurt my ERAS application if I submit it in September. They told me to wait and apply in 2009 and in the meantime finish up my rotations, and do some research in Path if I can find the opportunity (which is limited at my school due to the Katrina situation).

Then today I talked to two second year path residents here who said I would be crazy not to apply in 2008. They said I have a good chance of matching in Chi-town or New England, even with my current status and that I would get interviews because it is Pathology. They also said if the schools I am targeting do not send me an interview then I can always NOT submit a Rank Order List in September and withdraw my application from the schools I apply to. To me that sounded like a BAD idea though, especially if I was to apply to the same schools again in 2009 (to them, who's to say I wouldn't withdraw again), but the residents said just tell them you decided to do some research...

So that is my situation and I was looking for some advice. Do I apply in 2008? Or should I listen to the other residents and just wait it out, search for research, and apply in 2009. I really appreciate any advice anyone has to offer. Good luck to all in the application process!

Peace😎

I would apply, and be sure to include the Katrina issue in your personal statement. Programs should be aware of the disruptions imposed by Katrina and factor that into the equation when considering your qualifications.

Dan Remick
Chair, Department of Pathology Boston University

 

[superkeith]

i too would apply this year. due to a large number of students going in to pathology from my class, i was not able to take my pathology elective until september of my fourth year. thus, i was not able to get my pathology letter until early october, which is when i submitted my completed eras last year. i do not think this adversely affected my application, as i applied to ~30 programs and recieved interview invites from all except 1 (unc) including new york (mt. sinai, aecom) and chicago (nw, loyola, uic) programs.

my advice is to secure your path letter and apply this year. solid letters and step scores should get you to the interview. and if anyone notices and cares enough to ask about your late cores, you have an excellent reason and something interesting to talk about.

edit: also, i did not take step 2 ck until mid-late december.