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Your Residency Application: What to Do if You Receive No or Few Interview Invitations?

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1. Don’t panic.
2. Try contacting – in a professional manner – all institutions to which you have sent your ERAS. You can send an email and call. When you call, be calm, respectful, and enthusiastic. Do not demand to speak to the program director. Let the person who answers the phone know that you are very interested in the program and would appreciate the opportunity to interview. Offer to be on an interview wait list if necessary.
3. Prepare for the Supplemental Offer and Acceptance Program (SOAP). Note that SOAP is not a separate program from the residency Match. So a) your main residency Match user status must be active and b) your credentials must be verified by the Rank Order List Deadline in order to participate in SOAP. Here is more information on SOAP.
4. Make a plan for what you will do if the Match and SOAP don’t work out for you. What will you do next year? How will you improve your written materials, interview skills, and overall candidacy? If heaven forbid, you do not have success in either the Match or SOAP, please consider getting help from me or someone else who is experienced. The sooner the better to improve a candidacy and prepare for a re-application.
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Your Residency Application: What Do Program Directors Really Want?

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If you were a program director (PD), you’d be trying to avoid two big headaches as you assessed a residency candidate:

1) Will this person be competent and collegial? A PD does not want to get complaints from patients, faculty, or other services about his/her residents.

2) Will this person leave the program prematurely? A PD does not want to scurry around to fill an open call schedule/ residency slot.

As you approach your interviews, consider how you can demonstrate your competence and collegiality, as well as your commitment to the field and the residency program. For the former, ensure you showcase academic successes, extra curricular activities that demonstrate teamwork, and – if asked – hobbies and reading materials that demonstrate your personality. For the latter, highlight research projects in the specialty, sub-internships, and knowledge about the program and city.

Making sure the PD knows you are not going to cause him/her headaches is half the battle.

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The Residency and Medical School Application: Moving Past Impostor Syndrome

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First described by psychologists Drs. Suzanne Imes and Pauline Rose Clance in the 1970s, impostor phenomenon occurs among high achievers who cannot easily internalize their successes. They often externally attribute their accomplishments to luck and worry that others will eventually realize they are frauds.

Recognize this phenomenon of self-doubt?

You are not alone. Although many people suffer in silence (as they do not want to be revealed for what they perceive to be major deficiencies), the syndrome is quite common, especially in medical school. According to one 2016 study, almost a quarter of male medical students and nearly half of female students surveyed suffered with impostor syndrome. The phenomenon can be associated with depression, burn out, and anxiety.

The American Psychological Association offers a few tips for overcoming impostor syndrome including speaking to mentors, recognizing what you excel at, and talking to a professional if necessary.

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Your Residency or Medical School Application: More on the Squeaky Wheel

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Please see my previous blog entry about contacting institutions regarding your status. When you call you can gently say, “I’m attempting to make some travel arrangements and was wondering if you could give me an update on my status.” As long as you are polite, you won’t hurt your candidacy. (Of course, if an institution specifically requests on their website or brochures that you not call, I would advise against it.)

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Your Residency Application: Know Before You Go

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I distinctly remember a very strong candidate whom we considered as a potential emergency medicine resident many years ago. Although multiple faculty members raved about the medical student, one of my colleagues pointed out that the applicant made it clear he did not want to move to Boston. “He wants to stay in California. If he’s not interested in us, why are we interested in him?”

Mathematically speaking, this strategy doesn’t make a lot of sense. Programs should rank strong applicants highly no matter what they believe the candidates’ desires are. (After all, the program may be wrong, and there is little disincentive to go for the gold.) But the point is that it’s critical that you don’t give off signals that you are not interested in the program at which you are interviewing. (If you would rather not Match than be at that residency, you shouldn’t be interviewing there – not a tactic I would generally recommend, however.)

Know the program well and be enthusiastic about its strengths. Every program has something to offer, and you’ll need to learn details of those positive qualities if you want to stay in the running for a spot.

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About Dr. Michelle Finkel

Dr. Michelle Finkel

Dr. Finkel is a graduate of Stanford University and Harvard Medical School. On completing her residency at Harvard, she was asked to
stay on as faculty at Harvard Medical School and spent five years teaching at the world-renowned Massachusetts General Hospital.
She was appointed to the Assistant Residency Director position for the Harvard Affiliated
Emergency Medicine Residency where she reviewed countless applications, personal statements and resumes. Read more

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