Where are my interviews?????

[toe2hand]

---

Members do not see this ad.

Wow, I knew being an IMG would be an obstacle but not this much. I have applied to 55 general surgery programs (25% university, 75% community) and have only received 4 invites. Briefly, I have scored 254/99 & 257/99 on Step I & II and have 3+ publications.

Please, someone tell me the invites will come in a flurry in October.

 

[Winged Scapula]

Surgery programs tend to send out invites later than other specialties. Some programs may even wait until Dean's letters are out. Its too early to worry yet.

And don't expect any movement during the second week of October during the College of Surgeons meeting in SF.

 

[dragonfly99]

Congrats on the invites you do have.
I think it's still kind of early in the process to be freaking out.
You might get in with your 4 interviews, but I would expect you'll get more. Also, you don't say whether you got any rejections yet. For IM and surgery they are still giving out invites at many programs, throughout November I would say.

 

[toe2hand]

Thanks for the reply. I will probably hold on applying to more programs. To answer your question, I have received one rejection thus far.

Do most programs send a rejection letter if they are not interested or is a lack of response the norm? We go through a lot applying, picking programs, and spending money, so I would prefer a rejection letter/email to nothing at all.

Also, I received a prelim interview invite although I only applied for a categorical position. I told the program that I would be happy to attend the interview if they extended the offer to a categorical position. What do you guys think?

 

[sandraf]

In the future! Hang in there, you'll be OK.

 

[Winged Scapula]

Thanks for the reply. I will probably hold on applying to more programs. To answer your question, I have received one rejection thus far.

Do most programs send a rejection letter if they are not interested or is a lack of response the norm? We go through a lot applying, picking programs, and spending money, so I would prefer a rejection letter/email to nothing at all.

I wouldn't hold your breath waiting for a rejection letter. Some programs send them, many do not. As I've often said here, I'm still waiting to hear from programs I applied to 9 years ago! 😉

Also, I received a prelim interview invite although I only applied for a categorical position. I told the program that I would be happy to attend the interview if they extended the offer to a categorical position. What do you guys think?

Eh...sounds rude to me, and besides, you might find a Prelim position coming in handy if you don't match. I would have called them and said, "I applied for a categorical position but received an invitation to interview for the Preliminary track. I was calling to see if this was an error."

 

[dragonfly99]

agree that TELLING a program you wanted a categorical spot, not a prelim one, was kind of rude. It would be better to call and ask them if they intended to offer you a categorical interview, or a prelim one. They probably did this on purpose. I wouldn't burn any bridges at this point...you might need to interview, and it might be the only spot you can get. If I were in that position, I would go ahead and schedule the interview, but just schedule it for one of the later dates. If you end up getting a whole bunch of categorical interviews, you could always cancel the prelim one at some later time...

 

[toe2hand]

My statement wasn't written with quotes. The jist was the same, but I assure you, I wasn't rude.

As for my earlier posts, the interview offers are really beginning to come in now. You guys were right saying that offers come in later from surgery programs, and I expect a few more to filter in after the MSPE becomes available.