I remember DS mentioned there are several categories and he needs to pass all categories.
Since you mentioned “about average”, “exceptionally good”, there is indeed some grade like that in the clinical years (honor, high pass, pass, etc.) and maybe just fewer classes of grades, e.g., only good, average, fail (and the first two are considered as “pass”.)
If this is the case, the real question is: to what degree the program directors value a “good” CS grade over an “average” CS grade. I actually heard the rumor that the ability of a student to get an influential faculty member to write her/him a really convincing evaluation letter (i.e., to really bat for him/her) is more beneficial than most other credentials – there used to be a doctor/parent (Princess’Dad?) who once claims here that the old boy network is still alive and strong in this residency application process. (BTW, I also heard of a rumor that the physician jobs could “run in a family” in the sense that, although many offsprings of physician parents do not want to follow their parent’s footsteps, in a class of medical school, there are still abnormally high representations of offsprings of such parent(s). One of the labs at DS’s medical school is even named after one of his classmates whose families have three generations of doctors produced by this same med school - definitely no problem with the “connections” for such a student. Their student show even used this as a humor - along the line of why this student was admitted to this med school! (He or she likely could have her/his pick of specialty easier than others, especially if willing to “stay put”.)
Some of DS’s classmates seems to have done with the application/interview process - heard that several of them have been interviewed by quite significant number of “top dogs” on both coasts - not in a particularly competitive specialty though.
Ability to establish a great relationship with the person who is well known nationaly and even may be like chairperson of certain subspecialty within specialty will make a huge difference in residency application as we are learning now. however, there is no quarantee even with that. So the goal is always to obtain certain number of interviews and one needs to be smart and once again, not listen to others but rather follow her own intuition in regard to how many to apply and where. And again, even with the number of interviews reached, there is still no guarantee and here is hard “psych” self-training when you have to focus on one day at a time and block yourself from thinking about March, even block others from talking about it,…or there is a real potential of simply breaking down. Anyway, the process seems to be brutal, there is no other way to describe it.
From what I hear, pass is fine, even Step 2 score (the wirtten part) is not as important as Step 1 score. Most people score much higher on the Step 2 because it is much easier than Step1. D’s dofference was +10, but somebody here said that they had +20.
Happy New Year everyone! I have completed 12 interviews so far and I have 2 left that I will attend. I was really excited about the possibility of going to California or the Northwest, but after attending a couple of interviews over there I realized I did not want to be so far from the east coast. As it turns out, geography is now playing a big role in my decision. I also canceled my New York interviews…(i’d rather go and visit once in a while). I am concentrating in the North East and Midwest here with interest in academic programs that I have been familiar with from my medical school application days. I love my current institution, but I thrive on new experiences so I am looking forward to a new city and a new program! We will see how it works out at the end.
^Interesting…D. did not even apply in California and NYC, she said, she does not see herself living there. She is very familiar with NYC while CA is just too wild and to much traffic and too far (she actually has never been there). She is also focusing primariy on Midwest and some in NE (I really cannot say that she is focusing though, these places just invited her). South has been out, all of it, not a single one.
My kid will finish next week. She will get her 11 interviews and she liked them all. Literally. All. She has a loosely formed no rank order top 3 followed by about 6 tied for 4th. lol A couple get dinged heavily for cost of living and prestige and rep are not getting it done this go round. Might just rule them out.
She gave up invites to U of Washington and Penn. Kind of a surprise. She had a wonderful interview season. Little stress. She interviews very well. I expect these last two to make it a top 5 and then all Hell will break loose. She is not that good at choices of this type. And to rank those 5 is gonna be tough.
@curmudgeon so happy to hear from you! Glad to hear that all is going well with Mudgette!
I’m enjoying reading about everyone’s good news and prospects! Hope everyone matches well!
I’m also enjoying the “break” from all of this since S is only a MS2. However, I’m happy that THIS TIME S will actually study/prepare for exams, etc (some may remember that my S hardly listened to me about anything app-related, and didn’t study at all for the MCAT and only completed 6 med school apps…but… for Christmas he asked for some BOSE noise-canceling headphones specifically so that he could use some kind of Step prep on his iPad. So there is hope yet! Actually, he did spend Christmas break studying a good bit of the time. He wants a competitive residency so I guess the motivation is there (a mom can only hope! )
D1 has 2 more interviews to go (one next week; one the week after). All I can I say right now is that she very likely going to end someplace much colder that her current location. (Only 2 interviews in W/SW; rest in the C-O-L-D portions of the country.)
She says it’s been a especially competitive year for her specialty this year with a record number of applicants. (Or so she’s been told by every PD she’s spoken with.)
So far she has 4 programs she’d be delighted to match at. (And bunch she’s already consigned to the bottom of her list.) Her ranking of her top 4 is subject to change at any given moment. She has some hard thinking to do about what kind of residency program she wants–some are definitely more laid-back; some are very intense. (She was shown the intern’s pager belt at one program–6 different pagers to be worn at all times. Yikes!)
Yeah. Talked to kid and, as I sugested, top 3 are clear but surprisingly they are ranked. She has received lots of individual love at all 3 whatever that is worth. It is about to get really nit picky.
Done with interviews! Done with CS! (It’s a pass/fail test–program directors never see the breakdown of the little bars that indicate how you did.)
I ended up with 20 invites out of 33 apps. I cancelled 7 (didn’t want to live there; he didn’t get an interivew; etc), went on 13, and will rank all 13. He went on 13 but will rank 12 (he hated one program so much that I ended up cancelling my later interview in the same city).
We have a clear favorite and through a lot of charm and serendipity have secured some very promising love letters from that program–lots of fingers crossed for a thrilling match day! Even if that one doesn’t work out, the next 3 are pretty much tied for 2nd place, and any of them would be fabulous. Beyond those top 4, there’s a group of 5-6 that would be great, then a few toward the bottom of the list that would still be just fine but we would prefer other places (with bigger programs or nicer locations or closer to home or…) I’m confident we will match together and have a very specific “find a lucky penny” “11:11” “fill in your superstition here” wish to be making between now and 3/20!
So happy to hear everyone is doing well. Can’t say I’m surprised! Good luck to those winding down. It is sure to be a wild ride!
Congrats, Kristin!
What a relief to be done with interviews.
D. is at one as of right now. After that one, she has 3 more to go. I believe that her #1 will stay #1 and 2 last ones will stay last. The middle will be tough to rank, she loves them all. She met lots of the same people at completely different interviews in different parts of the country (absolutely mind boggling!), made some friends, they seem to be nice to each other despite of severe competition and she even stayed with one of them instead of hotel. Another surprize is that all who she talked to pretty much agreed on the programs that they like the least despite of somewhat different goals.
It has been much more wild than expected, including an Interview Invite after rejection. We were floored by both, rejection and invite, D. said she has never heard anything like this.
How well she is doing we will know only in March. The goal is not to think about March until it is here. D. will be very happy to match at ANY place.
Best wishes to everybody!
…maybe you should be a little coy and suggest that you’re not sure where you should do your residency since you’re unsure of what your future relationship will be… (keep 'em guessing…)
Someone DS knows has the very last interview in this interview cycle. I heard the residency program would feed them the day before the interview. I guess the interview for residency program is different from that for med school because it is more like a job interview. (But is it a dinner rather than just a lunch?)
For all who have completed the interviews this year, congrats. For Kristin, another big congrats for your upcoming wedding.
Actually, he did spend Christmas break studying a good bit of the time. He wants a competitive residency so I guess the motivation is there (a mom can only hope! )
