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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. Ask faculty to make calls or send emails on your behalf. This strategy is especially helpful if the faculty member has a tie to the institution and/or has a weighty title. (Yes, the system is broken in many ways.) 

4. 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.

5. 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? Consider getting comprehensive help and an honest assessment from me or a faculty member who is highly experienced in residency admissions – the sooner the better to improve a candidacy and prepare for a re-application. Also, as sad as this sounds, if this is not your first defeat in the Match/SOAP process, it might be time to consider other career options like research or industry. Sometimes it’s simply recognizing that one door is closing to see another one opening. 

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The Residency and Medical School Interview Process: 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.

Part of interviewing well is demonstrating confidence, according to Amy Cuddy, whose compelling TED talk has been viewed almost 60 million times. Practice a lot and then fake it until you make it, as she suggests. How you present yourself can make a big difference in the outcome of your interviews.

   

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How to Save a Bundle of Money

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The big question of financing medical school and residency interviews is often swept under the rug, but this year things are – believe it or not – simpler: The virtual interview process is going to save everyone – applicants and institutions – a wad of cash. Please check out my Physician on Fire guest post The Virtual Interview for Medical School and Residency Will Save Everyone a Bundle of Money and feel free to share. 

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Could Virtual Interviews Help Mitigate Systemic Sexism in Medicine?

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Congrats to a few applicants who have already received very early medical school interview invitations. For most, the season will be starting in the next month or so. Virtual interviews through VITA or other platforms will be standard, and how that will affect the admissions process and next year’s medical school classes is anyone’s guess. My guess is that the virtual interview process will reduce discriminatory practices that have plagued the system for a while. See my Doximity article “How Virtual Interviews Might Mitigate Systemic Sexism in Medicine” and please pass it along. 

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AAMC is Encouraging Both a Systemic Virtual Medical School Interview and Virtual Residency Interview Policy During the COVID Pandemic

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There is no time like the present to plan how you’ll practice for your virtual medical school interview: Last week the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) announced that they are strongly encouraging medical schools and teaching hospital faculty (that’s you, residency programs) to conduct all interviews with applicants in a virtual setting. In an additional, reinforcing announcement on away rotations (see below), the AAMC specifically addressed the residency cycle for this coming year saying that they recommend that all residency programs commit to online interviews and virtual visits for all applicants for the entire cycle. The AAMC suggests “that the medical education community commit to creating a robust digital environment and set of tools that will yield the best experiences for programs and applicants.” I applaud the AAMC for their willingness to be proactive, encourage public health, and decrease medical school and residency applicant anxiety. 

Assuming there are no in-person interviews, this medical school and residency application cycle will look completely different with no applicant visits to institutions or face to face conversations with current students/residents and faculty. Schools and residency programs will be left with quite a burden to make their institutions looks distinctive and to select qualified applicants.

For the latter, be prepared to strategically handle a virtual medical school interview. Consider getting my help. For the virtual residency interview, get my help here. 

On the same date that AAMC announced the recommendation regarding the virtual medical school interview, they also announced that for the 2020-21 academic year, because of COVID, away rotations should be discouraged and that ERAS’ opening be delayed. The latter has already come to fruition: While ERAS will open on September 1 for candidates to submit their applications, residency programs will not being reviewing applications and MSPEs will not be released to residency programs until October 21 this year (compared to September 15 and October 1 last cycle). Of note, ERAS did not announce a change in Match Day yet. 

There are a lot of changes afoot. To keep up, check this web page, which AAMC has been updating regularly. 

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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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