What new hell is this?

[houseelf]

Hi! I had a baby winter of M4 and it was the craziest time of my life. We "get" you here!

[v-girl]

Welcome and lots of hugs to you!

[SuzySunshine]

Welcome! I think getting interviews from the programs who know him is a huge plus - yes, it sucks not to have the numbers and yes he should have a back-up plan but try to keep him level headed, big big hugs!

[jennschwaz]

Sandy,

Thanks for your encouragement. DH is convinced that he needs 12 interviews to match, so he is already in the process of talking to his Dean about a plan B. I still think he has a really great shot at matching at one of the programs who know him, who've seen him work with patients and know his talents. It's just hard to watch the man you love keep taking it on the chin from more and more rejections every day.

I'll try to keep my chin up and be his loyal cheerleader in the meantime.

I'm so glad I found this forum. You all have been a great help already.

Grace

[jennschwaz]

Vanquisher - Research is one of the options he's considering as a back-up. He sounded to me like he wasn't sure it would help him eventually secure and ENT spot though, so it's good to hear that it's possible.

Thanks for your advice and encouragement!
-Grace

[metroguy]

ent is very competitive and will only get more competitive because of increase # of med students without increase in # of residency slots. at 75 programs and only 4 interviews, he needs to reconsider his options. also it doesn't hurt if the has the his program director make calls on behalf him.. it's possible to get 1 or 2 more interviews this way.. for ent-- i hope he got the stats-- aka 240+, aoa, away rotations, research....
anyway, ent life is not all that good (in residency). i know a girl who drop out of an ent program. couldn't cut it and decided to leave medicine. she had 240+, aoa, ivy med school, etc.. med school is a cake walk in comparison to residency.

[jennschwaz]

SoonerTexan,

DH has applied to 75 programs, essentially every ENT residency program north of Nashville, due to my preferences about where we make our home/raise our family for the next five years (I'm a midwesterner/northerner/dyed-in-the-wool liberal at heart). Do you really think he should apply to more than that? What do you mean by "regional bias"?

[jennschwaz]

TulipsandSunscreen,

Wow, we do have a lot in common! I know urology is a very competitive match like ENT, so I'm sure you were feeling a lot of what I'm going through right now.

Thanks for the suggestions on what to do if...we are discussing his options. I wonder if doing a year of research would actually give him a bit more free time to be a dad in our baby's first year of life compared to starting residency/internship. I'm going to try to stay positive, supportive and loving and keep the faith, plus try to see the silver lining if our worst fear does come true and he doesn't match.

I look forward to sharing more with you in the coming months!
-Grace

[jennschwaz]

seriously, ladies, thank you to all of you. I feel like I've found a new coping resource that'll come in handy for the next 7 years and beyond! Thanks for making a girl feel so welcome!

[SoonerTexan]

Thanks for your encouragement. DH is convinced that he needs 12 interviews to match, so he is already in the process of talking to his Dean about a plan B. I still think he has a really great shot at matching at one of the programs who know him, who've seen him work with patients and know his talents. It's just hard to watch the man you love keep taking it on the chin from more and more rejections every day.

Is this based on the charting outcomes (published by the NRMP I think) in relation to his scores, etc? (FWIW, DH was told by his adviser he needs 12 interviews to be very sure of matching and the charting outcomes confirmed that, but this is Rads. Different, but competitive too)

DH has applied to 75 programs, essentially every ENT residency program north of Nashville, due to my preferences about where we make our home/raise our family for the next five years (I'm a midwesterner/northerner/dyed-in-the-wool liberal at heart). Do you really think he should apply to more than that? What do you mean by "regional bias"?

Hmm... this is hard to answer. He might want to ask his adviser and see what others on here have to say. One one hand, I would say YES! It's better to match somewhere than not match at all. I don't know what his stats are, but 75 programs is still a lot. So either something is up or do the most competitive programs seem to be in the north for ENT? Maybe that is the issue? Has he gotten any feedback on his letters or application in general?

On the other hand, he may have missed the deadline to even apply to the other programs (Nov 1 for a lot of them I think) and applying this late could be a red flag to them anyway. But it still might be worth it to get more interviews. This is where he needs to talk to his adviser. I'd hate to tell you to do something that would waste money and not get you any more interviews.

By regional bias, I mean that programs are more likely to give applicants from the area interviews than applicants that seemingly have no ties to the area. For example, he got "first wave" invites to the more prestigious programs in our region, but no response or an outright rejection from middle and even lower tier programs outside of our region. He applied to 3 or 4 programs in Chicago...nada. Not much from the East Coast either.

I cant blame you for targeting a certain area. We applied to only a handful of NE places and almost none on the west coast--the COL is too high and he didn't think he would be competitive anyway.

[jennschwaz]

metroguy,

Clearly we know that ENT is very competitive and that the residency isn't pretty. I work as an RN in the OR with the ENT attendings and residents at a major medical center, so I see what they go through. Believe me, I did everything I could to encourage my DH to choose another (any other) specialty. But his heart is set. So I have to believe there is a place for him/us...at least until March.

[jennschwaz]

Is this based on the charting outcomes (published by the NRMP I think) in relation to his scores, etc? (FWIW, DH was told by his adviser he needs 12 interviews to be very sure of matching and the charting outcomes confirmed that, but this is Rads. Different, but competitive too)

It must be. My DH is obsessed with running the numbers. He knows where he sits as far as his Step1 score, number of applications sent and number of interview invitations offered in relation to students who historically have matched in ENT. Not a day passes when he doesn't wish he'd gotten a higher score on the Step1, and he's currently obsessing with getting a good Step2 score, which he thinks will help him, albeit not in getting interviews but in making him more desirable to programs when they sit down to rank their applicants.

So either something is up or do the most competitive programs seem to be in the north for ENT? Maybe that is the issue? Has he gotten any feedback on his letters or application in general?

He is actually beginning to think that "something is up," like maybe he made some glaring mistake on his application, because we are both shocked that he's not getting more invitations. He hasn't gotten any feedback on his application, unfortunately.

He'll be meeting with his advisor soon.

[diggitydot]

Not a day passes when he doesn't wish he'd gotten a higher score on the Step1, and he's currently obsessing with getting a good Step2 score...

Which is the perspective of every single 4th year med student. Don't sweat it.

[moonlight]

He is actually beginning to think that "something is up," like maybe he made some glaring mistake on his application, because we are both shocked that he's not getting more invitations. He hasn't gotten any feedback on his application, unfortunately.

He'll be meeting with his advisor soon.

Welcome!
I just wanted to add that this could very well be the case. I know a resident that didn't match from a fancy med school with all the right scores. After the match he got PDs on the phone and questioned them about why he wasn't ranked. Got copies of his application. There was countless mistakes All Over his med school transcript, LORs, Deans letter, everything. It was a mess.
If he has that gut feeling, he honestly needs to find out everything he can now.

[MAPPLEBUM]

Hello, and Congratulations on all these great accomplishments and your baby! A couple things to add to what's already been said:

1.)They're right about the interviews coming in waves, I definitely remember my DH getting interviews into November (and maybe even December). 4 is better than 1 and the other posts are right to say there's still time. I know it's not great to think about getting an interview because someone cancels but nobody thinks about that after the match.
2.) Has he talked to the people in his program about staying where you already are? If he has a good reputation with them (which I'm sure he does) and expresses interest in staying, chances are they'll give him priority.
3.) It probably wouldn't hurt for him to reinforce his enthusiasm to the people he knows in other programs. Remember, they go through applications after working all day and are essentially looking for a reason to toss them aside. Anything to thwart that process may be to his benefit.
4.) This is an extremely stressful time all other factors excluded. Even if his match is somewhere totally random (like what happened to us), or your process takes a little longer than expected, you have both already proven that you are able to fight for what you want, and that is your greatest weapon. No matter what happens you will be able to make a beautiful life, so stay convinced of that.