When?

[Doowai]

---

Members do not see this ad.

That was a CRAZZEEE 4 or 5 hours. Tons of emails, 23 ERAS applications, many faxes, countless phone calls. I got 4 call backs(2 from 3rd year residents who said they would have an attending call next - and one from Mayo clinic). So far no commitments and no contracts. But I feel a bit better - especially hearing from Mayo. Since I have not had any commitments yet I am still not feeling overly hopeful, but at what point can I guess I am not going to hear anything? Do you think there is still much chance to hear from them tomorrow?

 

[Winged Scapula]

Sure...I would expect that most people would have either a verbal contract or an invite to interview (some places want to check you out in person, especially if you are close-by) within the next 48 hrs, if not 24.

There is nothing wrong with calling them back if you haven't heard in that time frame...sort of like chasing after the girl who want answer your calls, but at least you know the 411 (or whatever the cool kids are saying now).

BTW, I'm glad you are feeling better and got some positive feedback. Best of luck to you.

 

[Doowai]

yeah, now I am regretting eating that slow acting cyanide.....lets see what was the antidote for cyanide..... mehtylene blue????

Seriously, I am feeling some hope now. I tried calling Mayo back - no answer and ompletely full answering machine. I am hoping the got all of my information, I would love to have that feather in my cap.

Thanks again for your well wishes

 

[Pox in a box]

yeah, now I am regretting eating that slow acting cyanide.....lets see what was the antidote for cyanide..... mehtylene blue????

Seriously, I am feeling some hope now. I tried calling Mayo back - no answer and ompletely full answering machine. I am hoping the got all of my information, I would love to have that feather in my cap.

Thanks again for your well wishes

Just out of curiosity, which program did not fill at Mayo?

 

[Doowai]

Family. It did not fill last year either and I think they plan it that way.

 

[deleted113029]

yeah, now I am regretting eating that slow acting cyanide.....lets see what was the antidote for cyanide..... mehtylene blue????

Seriously, I am feeling some hope now. I tried calling Mayo back - no answer and ompletely full answering machine. I am hoping the got all of my information, I would love to have that feather in my cap.

Thanks again for your well wishes

sodium nitrite then sodium thiosulfate

 

[Doowai]

sodium nitrite then sodium thiosulfate

Damn, dead man walking

 

[Doowai]

Dang, it was a bit disheartening to watch the Mayo FP position get filled last hour. I had just texted a clinician who is a residency instructor and on a hosptial board of directors to call Mayo for me tomorrow - but now its not needed. I do hope I get something - what a roller coaster...I was resigned to returning to my former career, then got my hopes up, now feeling dismal again. Why would someone do this for a $150K per year????

 

[zver81]

best of luck tomorrow!

 

[Doowai]

Thanks. FP is really what I wanted to do - underachievement or not. Unfortunately we have now sunk roots here and since Mayo is closed here, there is not a chance that anything is going to happen here locally now. I am going to sleep on it, but I think it pretty certain I am done. My family says they are willing to move, but I can tell they really don't want to - and medicine as a job probably just isn't worth it. Its kind of sad - I need to go through the stages of grieving ASAP, but I think my career in medicine is dead in the water. Best of luck to everyone else too

 

[fpforever]

Thanks. FP is really what I wanted to do - underachievement or not. Unfortunately we have now sunk roots here and since Mayo is closed here, there is not a chance that anything is going to happen here locally now. I am going to sleep on it, but I think it pretty certain I am done. My family says they are willing to move, but I can tell they really don't want to - and medicine as a job probably just isn't worth it. Its kind of sad - I need to go through the stages of grieving ASAP, but I think my career in medicine is dead in the water. Best of luck to everyone else too

This whole match process is not over until July when residency starts. Anything can happen until then. If you don't find a spot during scramble, you should continually look for open spots until the beginning of July. Some people don't pass step 2 or can't get visas or something unfortunate. At least, do the scramble for another day. In another life, I wuz yo mama!

FP

 

[Pox in a box]

Good luck Doowai. I hope you find success today or tomorrow. If you really want to be somewhere this coming year, look outside your geographical area. Have a quick heart-to-heart with your family and decide if a drastic move is the best option for the best interests of you and your family.

 

[mig26x]

Doowai, I know how you are feeling. Last year I didnt matched and was unsucessful in the scramble. Went to FindAresident.com and although I was looking for an IM position I saw like 5-8 FM positions pop up during the months of march-june. So dont give up!!

 

[Doowai]

Well, when is now. Waking up this morning I realized that the fat lady sung. I still tried to make some calls, send some emails and faxes but all of the emails bounced back and the calls all said the spots had been filled. Last week I had a cousin die at a very young age, leaving 2 children and a husband behind. And while this may be a very insensitive comment by comparing, laying my medical education to rest has all the feel of a funeral to me.

I was given a great opportunity. My wife and children sacrified as much as I did to accomplish this. Prior to returning to school at 40 years of age, I had a fairly blessed career that left us with enough money and more than average free time (I owned the business) to really enjoy life.I was rather blue collar sort og guy, but life was comfortable. But I was unsatisfied and wanted more, I wanted to be an MD. I really loved all my rotations.

I tried not to let people now what I was doing in case I failed.My parents and brothers did not know for years. One brother is a department chair of a surgical specialty at a major US medical school, the other is a very successful attorney. We are not close. I was the youngest and considered quite the failure by the family, despite making an above average income. 15 or so years ago I overheard my dad lying about my job when a friend of his asked what his children did, he told his friend I was a MD - the irony was I went back to school 5 years ago to do just that. When I moved out of the house decades ago my mom actually got angry when I came home once for a few days to visit. I have on video tape my wife's and my first christmas - my mom sent this huge box of Christmas gifts, kind of unusual - and I filmed taking out all the gifts - it had gifts for my wife and our unborn child (she was pregnant at the time) and not one single gift for me (not so unusual). The only times I have felt the ice thaw between us was when I had the first grandchild for my parents and when they could honestly tell people I was in medical school.I have to admit, despite being fairly old it was a good feeling to feel a parents approval for once.

Well, I feel I gave everything my best effort. My board scores were marginal (77 and 81), and although I did not take a course like Kaplan I put in hundreds of hours of studying - 754 hours for step 1. I kept a log and studied my rear end off for quite some time. I had very very strong letters of recommendation from residency instructors, boards of directors from hospitals, etc. During the scrmble I got call from Mayo of all places and got so excited - I applied to 39 FP programs and only got one interview this year - so it was a big deal - I called former a former clinician who is a surgery instructor for a residency and my friend who is on the board of a ACGME hospital to call and tell Mayo I was a great guy.But by the time they got my text messages the position was taken.

I have been the sole source of income for my family, - 4 children. My oldest will be in college in 2 years - and although unlike me he is a surperlative student, and already colleges are recruiting him, he will need some funding to do it right. The past year has had some serious turn arounds - I had the money set aside to skate into residency with no debt - but with failing step 2 last year and having to withdraw from the 2006 match, and major stock market loss, and buying an investment home just as the market stalled here, and having to take patchy work this year so I could be available for the match and openings - my money situation has reversed in a very bad way.

I have failed everyone involved : my wife for letting me persue this lark at a time when I had more responsibilities than that, my children who had been used to plenty of my time, my parents for really not living up to whatever potential I might have had, and myself for not "losing myself" and blowing my one shot as eminem would have said.

For me the saddest part is I really have to bury the fact I ever went to medical school as any conversation involving it can only end with me saying "because I am a loser idiot". Ex. "You went to medical school...really? What is your specialty?" "I don't have a specialty" "why not?" "well, I never did a residency?" "why not, I read there was a shortage of doctors, I thought they were taking everyone they could?"......."because I am an idiot loser"

So I just went through the roughly 18 inches of paper that had been the sum of my 4 years of medical school (lists of procedures from rotations, copies of clinician evaluations etc). I retained my diploma, ECFMG certificate, 2 pages of transcripts, and dozen letters of recommendations that I might use for job applications. About 16 pieces of paper out of almost 2 feet of documents - the rest went into the trash. All I need to do is now wait out the few weeks or months that it will take for everyone in my life to ask "how is the medical thing going?" and to either offer condolensces or gloat over my failure and for the history of my medical lark to decompose in its grave.

I struggle with all sorts of vain wishes - wish my older brothers and I got along, and perhaps my medically well connected one (dept chair, new president of a major international medical association, editor of a major medical journal etc) would have thrown me a bone. Wish I could have gotten into an American medical school. Wish I was more of a scholar and did better on boards. Sometimes I have even wished I did not have my wife and kids so that I could have been more free (understand that these negatgive feelings are temporary). Wish it had not been so close (fail boards by one point, etc) so that I would have given up a long time ago and not wasted so much time.

I am glad I did it. I loved the heady feeling it was. I loved my rotations - except maybe psyche. I remember my first OB delivery - the family hugged me and took pictures with me even though I had never met them before.

For those of you who matched, at 3 AM when you are frustrated with a nurse who does not seem to understand your prn Tylenol instructions and won't let you sleep, or when you feel unnappreciated even though you were successful in your attempt to get to have the career you wanted - remember, there are people like myself who would take your spot in a heartbeat if we could.

 

[Doowai]

Good luck Doowai. I hope you find success today or tomorrow. If you really want to be somewhere this coming year, look outside your geographical area. Have a quick heart-to-heart with your family and decide if a drastic move is the best option for the best interests of you and your family.

I perfer to live here of course, but during scramble yesterday my wife and I were frantically "scrambling" for everything - FP (which is really what I want to do - deliver babies, pedes and all), IM, psyche, PMR, in every location - including Puerto Rico and even more foreign - West Virginia. Got a few calls back - but nothing when it was said and done. Residents from Franklin FP in Baltimore called me twice and said they would have an attending call - but never did. I have in-laws in Silver Spring Maryland and so that would have seemed a dream come true (I hate when it is "close-but-no-cigar", I would rather fail by a long shot than to "almost" make it) The feelings of rejection are intense. I think one of the reasons I developed good people skills over the years is I hate rejection - had enough of it growing up.

We maxed out our ERAS applications, sent who knows how many faxes, made how many phone calls, sent how many emails non-stop without even taking a pee for 6 hours yesterday. My ass was so asleep when I tried to stand up. Luckily my 5 year old had a birthday party to be at all day. We gave it the best shot we could, and I just was not an attractive enough candidate to warrent anyones serious attention.

I tried to go into the scramble with the attitude of not caring, but I did care, desperately

 

[Obedeli]

I perfer to live here of course, but during scramble yesterday my wife and I were frantically "scrambling" for everything - FP (which is really what I want to do - deliver babies, pedes and all), IM, psyche, PMR, in every location - including Puerto Rico and even more foreign - West Virginia. Got a few calls back - but nothing when it was said and done. Residents from Franklin FP in Baltimore called me twice and said they would have an attending call - but never did. I have in-laws in Silver Spring Maryland and so that would have seemed a dream come true (I hate when it is "close-but-no-cigar", I would rather fail by a long shot than to "almost" make it) The feelings of rejection are intense. I think one of the reasons I developed good people skills over the years is I hate rejection - had enough of it growing up.

We maxed out our ERAS applications, sent who knows how many faxes, made how many phone calls, sent how many emails non-stop without even taking a pee for 6 hours yesterday. My ass was so asleep when I tried to stand up. Luckily my 5 year old had a birthday party to be at all day. We gave it the best shot we could, and I just was not an attractive enough candidate to warrent anyones serious attention.

I tried to go into the scramble with the attitude of not caring, but I did care, desperately

I am sorry you have been through so much. What your parents put you through was clearly wrong. I think perhaps one of the best bits of specific advice came from an earlier post about FP positions opening up before July 1. All is not lost even though right now it certainly seems that way.

 

[happyob]

I am speechless... I'm truly sorry that you were not able to find a position. You have come a long way and this is not the time to give up. Last year a friend of mine did not get a position for psych in the scramble but afterwards she was able to get one and started the program in July. I believe she wrote letters to programs statting her interest if anything opened up and I believe 3 programs conacted her later for a position. She was very depressed at the time but now she is half way through her intern year and very happy.

Keep looking at findaresident.com and don't give up.... you will be able to practice!!!!

Best of luck

 

[thedman888]

hey, dont get too down on urself, there are plenty of fm spots still unfilled, i kno you want to stay at certain location, but hopefully you'll find somewhere you dont mind going, afterall, it is only 3 years

 

[jkb]

......what was that story about the frog who kept swimming in the milk until he had churned it into butter? Your career is far from being over. Pretty much everyone finds a residency spot eventually.

 

[TUCOMSam]

Wow... anyone who laments with a post like that truly must be at his wits end and lower than the bottom of the ocean... I feel terrible this is where your mind is right now and hope that you will be able to re-orient yourself and see what everyone else has posted after you as truth and reality... although the results come in a matter of hours, don't dispair! Keep searching for programs that might be available. If it is in fact what you REALLY want (and not just because you want to prove something to everyone else), then you will persevere. Have you called prelim programs? Have you called literally every program that has openings? I understand a move (especially with a family) is a HUGE undertaking but if there is a place that has an opening call it and keep doing it until there are no more options. I hope and wish the best for you. Keep going and you'll get there. You've invested FAR too must to give up now. 🙂

 

[napoleondynamite]

Whoa..your situation really sucks. Sorry to hear everything has gone so terribly for you.

I am also an older student with a family. As I read your story I'm thinking "you already moved OUT OF THE COUNTRY for medical school..why is this guy now so tied to a certain geographical area inside the US???" I truly lament your situation, but I think you need to take a step back and regroup here. I think if I moved my family outside the US to pursue my career and then gave up when it got difficult..that's when my wife would think I'm a loser.

You are NOT a loser. You've been through a lot...but now is not the time to give up. It's not fair to your family and you are cheating yourself. You need to find a silver lining here somewhere and keep trying. Best of luck!

 

[anencephalic]

Agree with Napoleon.

When life hands you lemons...

Keep ya head up, and good luck...

 

[Doowai]

What your parents put you through was clearly wrong. .

I don't think anyone can really point fingers at my parents without knowing the whole situation, and that was not the point. My point was really the sense of loss of opportunity to mend some fences. I might have sort of disowned myself if I were them. I was a fairly feminine kid (straight sexual orientation) and quite the underachiever in grade school. My brothers were always very aggressive - which lead to much career success, and athletic success, although it also came with a couple of juvenile arrests and teen pregnancies too. I was pretty much the loser until about 7th grade where I made the basketball team as first alternate because some kid flunked off - and showed some promise in sports and school until 10th grade when alot of bad things happened and I allowed myself to return to my previous underachiever ways.

I can't relate to my parents in sme ways - my kids are superlative. If my kids were the underachieving loser I was, I might feel similarly. I don't know - I did not have to face it as a parent. My 10th grade boy already has 6 hours of college credit, earns straight A's (well got his first B in advanced English this quarter), is already getting recruiting offers from colleges, was voted best all around swimmer in his high school in 9th grade and tooks state in swimming this year. My oldest daughter finished her grade schools math curriculum in 4th grade and has been taking high school level math ever since. My dad was this sort of macho cowboy ex-WWII POW great athlete sort of guy - my brothers and their aggressive nature made him proud. My wimpy underachieving was a major source of dissappointment - but if I had a kid that was as mediocre as myself I might feel the same way. I would like to think not since that is the way I actually was, but nobody could be prouder of their kids than I so I can't relate. I just hope if my younger son somehow ends up more with my genes I can be proud of him, and let him know I am proud of him even if he has to stand in his older siblings shadows.

the point was it feels like a great many opportunities of all sorts were lost in this. Not that my parents were bad. They were usually dissappointed and sort of wanted to wash their hands of a train wreck (myself) but I am not sure I can blame them. I mean you want a mental image of me - think Fabio with a blue collar job, Fabio has a big nose like me. Okay maybe not Fabio - maybe more like Ray Romano of everyone loves Raymond fame...except shorter and dumpier. Okay maybe just like Doug Heffernan of KING OF QUEENS TV show...... but with a big nose...... and who did not get a place in the match.

 

[Doowai]

As I read your story I'm thinking "you already moved OUT OF THE COUNTRY for medical school..why is this guy now so tied to a certain geographical area inside the US???" I truly lament your situation, but I think you need to take a step back and regroup here. I think if I moved my family outside the US to pursue my career and then gave up when it got difficult..that's when my wife would think I'm a loser. !

Gosh Napolean, girls love a guy with skills - bo staff skills, numchuck skills, - the CIA already offered me a job because of my secret bo-staff skills.

I think my wife decided I was a loser when I filled my daughter's birthday pinata with dogfood (dog biscuits) as a joke instead of candy.

I tried to go into the scramble with the attitude I did not care, and that I would not take a position outside of our geographical area - but within an hour I was emailing every specialty within reason (think psyche, not ENT) in every location - including Puerto Rico and ports even more foreign and 3rd world (such as West Virginia). I really don't want to do psyche (it may be the only rotation I did not like) but I was contacting psyche residencies everywhere. Like I said I got a couple of calls from Franklin FP in Maryland, and the surprise call from Mayo but that was it. I think it just seems evident that if I cannot scramble to a FP position in the Dakotas or WV, its not likely I am going to get in anywhere ...and when do you say when.

But for years my family of 5, my wife was pregnant with our youngest when I returned to school - lived in 900 square feet (including garage)- all my kids shared one bedroom. We now live in a house where the girls have their own bedrooms, and my sons share a room, pool and on the lake. They are pretty happy. Its an amazing house we were soooo lucky to get, thanks to great contacts at a lending institution. Do I want to move them to bumf**k New Jersey to live in an apartment for 3 more years (my oldest son graduates HS in 2 years- do I want all his years to be in some rappy living environment?)?

During the scramble we tried everything - I mean, even Puerto Rico - which can be great and exotic when you are single - but living anywhere but the USA gets old after a short while. Do you know on the island there was a KFC - and we ate there and I know, I know beyond a shadow of a doubt as someone who has taken many hours of biology and comparative anatomy that what they fed us in that KFC was not chicken. But during the scramble we applied to everything in all locations (except for a couple like Oklahoma - Oklamhoma now requires that every single rotation a FMG performs as a student are in ACGME approved hospitals - and 3 of my electives such as dermatology were not in ACGME hospitals so I could not get a temp license in Oklahoma). We tried everything in every location that would have me - so please do not feel I or my wife were not willing to relocate - even though now in retrospect it was probably a blessing to my family - I am not single and cannot just live for my dreams - I want my kids to have great teen years, they are such great kids - I finished school a year ago - so my son has been able to do last year and this year at a great US high school and has a great many friends, done well in sports and exceeds in scholastics. He is a ton more than I was at his age.

I submitted 100 apps to match this year exactly, 39 in FP (the rest were in things like pedes, IM) - my wife tries to tell me its just because there are so many other good applicants this year - but (and I am not trolling for soothing words here, but honest replies) it just seems to me that ALL the residencies that have had an opportunity can't ALL be wrong. I can even see if I got overlooked in the match - okay maybe all 100 match programs might have just overlooked my good points, but by this time a great many more have had the chance to look my application over and it seems pretty obvious its a unanimous rejection - can they ALL be wrong. I don't think so.

I mean seriously, would you recommend I keep trying or be thankful what I have and not throw good money and time after bad?????

Maybe its all my previous arrests??? just kidding.

 

[Duckie24]

I perfer to live here of course, but during scramble yesterday my wife and I were frantically "scrambling" for everything - FP (which is really what I want to do - deliver babies, pedes and all), IM, psyche, PMR, in every location - including Puerto Rico and even more foreign - West Virginia.

Ha Ha! A West Virginia joke! How original. I'm going to try and not kick someone when they are down here, but I guess you should watch what you say about a state that has previously been very friendly to your FMG brethren.

Sorry about your match difficulties. Maybe you can travel to WV sometime and see what a beatiful place it is.

 

[Doowai]

Ha Ha! A West Virginia joke! How original. I'm going to try and not kick someone when they are down here, but I guess you should watch what you say about a state that has previously been very friendly to your FMG brethren.

Sorry about your match difficulties. Maybe you can travel to WV sometime and see what a beatiful place it is.

Sorry, but I make jokes about WV and Arkansas (I lived in Missouri 20 minutes from the Arkansas border for many years). But actually it is a really nice place and my wife was hoping for that - since her parents live in Silver Spring Maryland, we would have been pretty close. When we lived in Missouri we drove several times to Maryland, and I loved going through this one little town...maybe it was Morgan...can't remember exactly, but really lovely in the fall when the leaves change. I would have been very happy with WV - I like a more rural area, and yet it is lose to many great cultural events (DC. the Smithsonian, Civil War battlefields etc). Plus the cost of living would of allowed us to get a good house there.

I hear they are trying to change the driving age in WV to 22 - so there are fewer drunk driving fatalities on HS graduation night.

Did you know the toothbrush was invented in WV - yeah...if it was invented anywhere else it would have been called the teethbrush.

The rest involve bears, trailer parks and incest and are widely innapropriate.

 

[oceanwaves]

wow, I am speechless... but please dont be soooo down on yourself and please dont call yourself a loser.....a loser doesnt even try and doesnt have hope.. you have tried and have succeeded in many ways, having a beautiful family for one thing.. not everyone can say that... and even going through med school at a later age and finishing it up.. that is a huge accomplishment in itself... Something might turn up... but dont put yourself down.. Best of Luck!!

 

[VuDOo]

wow, I am speechless... but please dont be soooo down on yourself and please dont call yourself a loser.....a loser doesnt even try and doesnt have hope.. you have tried and have succeeded in many ways, having a beautiful family for one thing.. not everyone can say that... and even going through med school at a later age and finishing it up.. that is a huge accomplishment in itself... Something might turn up... but dont put yourself down.. Best of Luck!!

I wouldn't feel too sorry for Doowai. It appears that a lot is self-induced.

Start with post #11 in the following thread: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=379820

 

[S.c. Cdc28p]

Doowai,

I'm very touched by your story. Thank you for sharing it with us. I know that no matter how much we on SDN try to make you feel better, it's still going to be very hard. I do think you still have a chance in the next few months as others have said, so don't give up yet.

You seem to have the greatest thing in life though: a wonderful family with a supporting wife and kids that make you proud. Yes, you should not give up on a career in medicine now, but at the end of the day medicine is not the most important thing in life... at least for me. A medical career is one of the many paths to achieve your goals in life. It's undoubtedly awkward to hear questions about your difficult medical training, but so what? I'm sure you have many other achievements that other people only dream about. A medical career is special, but so is running your own business, building it up, and making a difference in the world. So is being a loving husband or a good father.

Grieve, but not for too long. And spend time with your kids, not with us SDNers. 🙂

 

[VanDude]

I submitted 100 apps to match this year exactly, 39 in FP (the rest were in things like pedes, IM)

Just wanted to make a suggestion in case you decide to reapply next year. Apply to more programs, and try to network with the PDs before the ERAS application season even starts (read start next month).

The trick would be to go past the initial screening that is done by the Program Secretaries as well as the filters that they set up in their ERAS interface.

Given your scores, chances are many of the 'review committees' did not even see your application because it was not even downloaded and printed by the program secretary in the first place. I know for a fact that the ERAS filters even prevent the programs from seeing your name on the list of their applicants if you don't meet the filtered criteria. It happened to me at a couple of programs this year. I am a non-citizen IMG few years out of medschool (one of the parameters commonly used for filtering out applications) and there were some instances when I would call a program and the secretaries would tell me that they don't even have my application (turned out that they could only see my name after disabling the filters).

The key would be for you to somehow get the attention of the PD at the time when he/she is less busy (done with the previous year's application season, happy with the match results, and not started the new season yet). This way, you can get back to them later when you submit your application and ask them to pull your application. Hopefully, you have generated enough interest by this time for the PD to do that. At least one of the PDs who interviewed me (and I am sure she ranked me high, but I matched at a higher choice of mine) told me that she would not have seen my application had I not contacted her earlier. She told me that "she was intrigued to meet me...".

The other key point is to cast a wider net. Frankly, 100 applications in multiple specialties for someone with your scores is not enough. I applied to 3 specialties and, between the 3 of them, submitted 275 applications (150 in IM alone). My approach helped me get 20+ interviews and I matched at a program where the average score of those whom they interviewed was 240. I would not have matched at this program, if matched at all, had it not been for my hard work and networking over the past 9 months.

The morale of my story is that everything is possible if you play your cards right and plan your moves right.

Good luck

 

[Doowai]

Just wanted to make a suggestion in case you decide to reapply next year. Apply to more programs, and try to network with the PDs before the ERAS application season even starts (read start next month).

The trick would be to go past the initial screening that is done by the Program Secretaries as well as the filters that they set up in their ERAS interface.

Wow, Van...seriously that is some very insightful advice. I hope all the others in my shoes read this because it is very insightful. 275 apps - that is a high bar to set. And the calls are a great idea - there are 5 FP programs locally - I have met 4 of the PD's, and offended 1.

1) Would you recommend I go around to all of them, reintroduce myself and let them know my good points again? I would prefer to stay locally.

2) How would you recommend I pick programs to contact starting in a month? Ones I really want or ones most likely to accept me (ones that did not fill typically)?

 

[VanDude]

Doowai, I sent you a PM.

 

[marshmallows]

Just wanted to make a suggestion in case you decide to reapply next year. Apply to more programs, and try to network with the PDs before the ERAS application season even starts (read start next month).

The trick would be to go past the initial screening that is done by the Program Secretaries as well as the filters that they set up in their ERAS interface.

Given your scores, chances are many of the 'review committees' did not even see your application because it was not even downloaded and printed by the program secretary in the first place. I know for a fact that the ERAS filters even prevent the programs from seeing your name on the list of their applicants if you don't meet the filtered criteria. It happened to me at a couple of programs this year. I am a non-citizen IMG few years out of medschool (one of the parameters commonly used for filtering out applications) and there were some instances when I would call a program and the secretaries would tell me that they don't even have my application (turned out that they could only see my name after disabling the filters).

The key would be for you to somehow get the attention of the PD at the time when he/she is less busy (done with the previous year's application season, happy with the match results, and not started the new season yet). This way, you can get back to them later when you submit your application and ask them to pull your application. Hopefully, you have generated enough interest by this time for the PD to do that. At least one of the PDs who interviewed me (and I am sure she ranked me high, but I matched at a higher choice of mine) told me that she would not have seen my application had I not contacted her earlier. She told me that "she was intrigued to meet me...".
Good luck

congrats,! u must have had good cv and scores,

 

[Doowai]

I wouldn't feel too sorry for Doowai. It appears that a lot is self-induced.

Start with post #11 in the following thread: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=379820

Its all self induced - doing poorly on boards is mine, offending the PD is mine, een just simply going to med school is mine. I may have over reached trying this...... but on the bright side, I may save more lives by not being a MD than by matching

 

[Doowai]

a loser doesnt even try

Hunh, I thought a loser tried and lost.

Just kidding, thank you for your kind support - I am sure you would make a very compassionate doctor. I am learning some new things as people respond