When to reach out to residency programs?

[CallMeBigJeff]

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What's up y'all, just a 4th year applying for DR residency soon trying to get some advice.

There's two programs in my hometown (where I also go to medical school) that I'd love to go to for residency and consider myself pretty competitive for (260 step 1, AOA, mostly Honors, some research). Truth be told, if I could do "early-decision" like medical school and just match at one of these programs I'd be so happy. I was wondering if there was any benefit in reaching out before the interview season just to introduce myself and express my interest, or if I should just hope to get an interview and express my interest then. Just trying to get some perspective.

 

[.Asterion]

As long as you have a good reason and are polite I think it would only help. Worst case they just delete it.

 

[JRY6788]

What's up y'all, just a 4th year applying for DR residency soon trying to get some advice.

There's two programs in my hometown (where I also go to medical school) that I'd love to go to for residency and consider myself pretty competitive for (260 step 1, AOA, mostly Honors, some research). Truth be told, if I could do "early-decision" like medical school and just match at one of these programs I'd be so happy. I was wondering if there was any benefit in reaching out before the interview season just to introduce myself and express my interest, or if I should just hope to get an interview and express my interest then. Just trying to get some perspective.

Reaching out this early in the process won't provide any real benefit (and could potentially hurt you). It's unlikely that a program you contact now will remember you by the time interview invites are sent. My advice would be wait until you submit ERAS, and then wait at least an additional week after submitting applications to contact the program. At that point it'll be easier for the program coordinator or the PD to pull up your profile b/c they already have your info in their system via ERAS.

 

[daffy duck]

Agree with the above ^

I forgot the exact time line for application but maybe you ask about doing away rotation and see if they are offering them in the time of COVID. That might be able to get you on their radar without you having to reach out to them out of the blue

 

[Aurum]

For what it's worth, there is a high likelihood you will get interview invites from these places if your stats are as good as you claim and if you indeed are from/attend medical school in this area. PDs often send invites preferentially to folks from the same geographic region. To further increase your chances of getting an invite, you can create a version of your personal statement with a small blurb at the end about how you're from the area and would love to train at the program in question.

As stated above, wait until you submit ERAS. If there's a spreadsheet this cycle, keep an eye on it and definitely reach out to the programs in question once they've sent out their first wave of invites.

 

[tigga2013]

Too early - wait until after ERAS submission if you don't get an early wave invite after a week or two. If you're reaching out now it should be regarding an elective or research etc.

 

[Cognovi]

What's up y'all, just a 4th year applying for DR residency soon trying to get some advice.

There's two programs in my hometown (where I also go to medical school) that I'd love to go to for residency and consider myself pretty competitive for (260 step 1, AOA, mostly Honors, some research). Truth be told, if I could do "early-decision" like medical school and just match at one of these programs I'd be so happy. I was wondering if there was any benefit in reaching out before the interview season just to introduce myself and express my interest, or if I should just hope to get an interview and express my interest then. Just trying to get some perspective.

You should introduce yourself because, I think, this is your home program. You should have an advising conversation with someone, typically either the director of medical student education or an assistant program director. Just ask for advice about applying; that's your introduction.

Now if you are saying these are programs that are not where you go to medical school (eg, you go to Tufts and your programs of interest are MGH and BWH), then it's another story.

 

[CallMeBigJeff]

Right on, thank you for the replies, I'm going to heed your advice and wait!