Who got the April oral board date?

[2ndyear]

I registered on the very first day available for New York in April. I thought somewhere it said on there that I was almost guaranteed the date. I was happy, just stay in study mode, and catch the Acela for a nice quick trip to NYC.

Got the ABA paper yesterday in the mail...confirmed for October...in Minneapolis? Now I'm kinda bummed out. So who gets the spring slot?

 

[Arch Guillotti]

Same here got the fall date.

 

[camkiss]

I applied about a week after it opened up to do so, and I got the April date. With as screwed up as getting our written results to us was, it does not surprise me that there is no rhyme or reason to who got April vs October. Who got to pick the cities anyway...Minneapolis in October...yuck!

 

[thegasman]

I signed up on nov 28 and they gave me ny in april. Go figure.

 

[gaspasser2004]

Not that I am a huge defender of the ABA, but it did clearly state that all applications received by a certain time (first they said October 15th, then they moved it to December 15th) would have the applicant's preferences considered in a "lottery" fashion. While the ABA didn't say exactly, I think everyone assumes that most people want to get the test over with in the spring so that the "lottery" is a way to fairly bump people from spring to fall. That said, I had my application and check in by September 29th and I "won" the lottery by getting my spring choice.

 

[bubalus]

I replied with my $ online the day the results were posted, and before I received the email that I passed. I requested April and ended up with October. That's the way it goes. Now I've got more time to put off studying.

 

[powermd]

It's pretty ridiculous that they don't take into account the fact that some of us are doing fellowships that require passing the anesthesia orals to take the subspecialty boards. Stupid.

 

[powermd]

Well, there's karma for you.

I got the coveted April exam date!

 

[Arch Guillotti]

Cut and paste from the ABA website:

Dear Dr. Guillotti:


This is to acknowledge that, on Friday, October 10, 2008, the ABA received your credit card payment in the amount of $1,850.00 U.S. dollars. This amount was charged and received as payment for your 2009 Primary Certification Oral Exam Reply Form.

 

[mille125]

good luck to all...........it is a truly a random test...

 

[objdoc]

Payed for the oral within hours of email notification of passing written

Got the October date

Very unhappy

 

[CambieMD]

I received an April test date. I applied for the orals about a day after I obtained my e-mail from the ABA stating that I passed the written exam.

Cambie

 

[soorg]

I applied 1 day after I got my written results, requesting NYC in April. Of course, I got Minneapolis in October. I live 10 MINUETS away from midtown Manhattan! WTF?

 

[Worldtraveler]

My wife & applied for Oral boards the day after we checked our results online(requesting NY). Both of us received October. Looks like thats the way the cookie crumbled!

 

[maceo]

would you all quit whining..

the april date has more failures

the fall date is better.. pm me for the reason why...\

I too wanted the april date and go tthe fall date. even though i had to fly a longer way.. it turned out to be much much better.

 

[pgg]

the fall date is better.. pm me for the reason why...\

If you're going to tell anyone anyway, why don't you just post it here?

 

[Arch Guillotti]

would you all quit whining..

the april date has more failures

the fall date is better.. pm me for the reason why...\

I too wanted the april date and go tthe fall date. even though i had to fly a longer way.. it turned out to be much much better.

Whining?

Since obviously you are much more knowledgeable than us why don't you let the rest of us in on this "secret?"

 

[22go]

same here,

paid the day results were listed with request for spring, October instead.


Looks like all the type-A folks get to visit Minneapolis.

 

[michael3469]

Traditionally most people who took the boards for the fist time took it in April. October saw more repeat takers and foreign grads. Thus, if you were a first time American grad it was thought that you would stand out and have a better chance of passing in the October pool. With the increasing number of residents graduating and taking the orals the number of examiners have not really increased. If before you were virtually garanteed an April date if you wanted one, now a lot more get October. With so many first time takers taking the Orals in October as well as April any percieved advantage is gone in my opinion.
Michael