The NRMP Residency Match process just ended for this year and the most common question I’ve received in the Ask RookieDoc survey is “I didn’t match… What should I do now?” While I can provide some general advice about what to do if you didn’t match, it really depends on your personal situation. There is no one-size-fits-all advice for people who didn’t match. For some of you, it’s your scores, for others it’s communication skills, and for others it’s something else.
Well, here’s some advice I recently gave… in case it helps:
This, of course, is not the end of the world. But it will require some work and strategy.
The big picture steps:
Scramble process
Honestly assess the potential reasons for not matching
Set goals
Monitor for openings (ongoing)
Improve your credentials (ongoing)
Re-apply
So let’s look at these things one-at-a-time:
Scramble process: I assume you are doing this now… If so, remain active, and at the same time (most importantly) be patient. These 2 days of scrambling are loaded with rejections. Don’t get a few and then stop… keep plugging along.
Assessing your reasons for not matching: This is a 2 part process… 1 internal & 2 external. The internal self-assessment is to take a look at your application, your skill set, your CV, your scores, relationships, etc.
Before reviewing your stuff… ask this very important question: What does your gut feeling tell you – Why didn’t you match?
Then while reviewing these things above, put yourself in the mind of someone reviewing your application. Why should they take you? What about you is easy to sell to them? What about you would be a red flag?
Take a look at the relationships you’ve developed at various institutions – everyone from attendings to residents to nurses to residency program coordinators & secretaries. Ask yourself if there were any that were great. If so, what made them great? Were there any that didn’t go so well? If so, why not?
Take a look at your CV. What’s great about your CV? What’s not so good? What could be better?
How about the places you’ve done rotations… Which ones did you perform well in? Which ones not so well? Why? What relationships can continue to be nurtured now?
The external portion is to have someone examine some of these things for you. Ask the programs you thought you had a good chance at for some insight into why you were not chosen and what you can do now to improve your application. Send me your CV and personal statement for review (this is for RookieDoc members only). I can take a look at them. (Although I cannot offer immediate help for this application year, I can provide some helpful insights for what needs to be improved for next time.) But also, have others review them and give you feedback (just make sure they’re honest & not just trying to avoid the hard conversation – it’s not easy to tell someone about their weaknesses).
Set goals: Now don’t blow this off. Setting goals is ultra-important… and not only that… write them down. Even tell some people (friends/family) your goals for this upcoming year. They’ll help you stick to them.
Your goals should specific with specific dates. “I want to get a research position at XYZ University with Dr. ABC by April 30th” “I will have 3 people review my CV by April 10th” “I will get a job in XYZ hospital as a phlebotomist by May 1st” … or whatever you think will improve your application for next time.
Monitor for openings: The best way to monitor for openings is to be involved in the places near where you have the best shot at getting in. Sometimes people have visa problems when they get started & programs can wait only so long before they find a replacement. Sometimes it just doesn’t work out for one reason or another – behavior problems, etc. If you have befriended someone on the inside, they can let you know that something has happened in the program.
Another way to monitor for openings is to use services like FindAResident (https://services.aamc.org/findaresident/ ). Some programs even send out notice on Twitter, so you should have a Twitter account and follow them.
So as you’re carrying out your plan/fulfilling your goals, if a position opens up, you pounce on it.
Improve your credentials: This possibility is endless… most people think research is the only way to go. Although research is good, maybe even great, it really depends on what you identified in #2 (your assessment of why you didn’t get in). Sure research may be good for some, but if you find that your reason for not getting in is communication skills – then research won’t help, but maybe being a phlebotomist or an EKG tech would. You see? So, whatever your reason for not getting in was, you need to be able to counter that objection next time.
Another way to improve your credentials is to “strengthen your strengths”. If there’s something that you’re particularly good at that is a valuable skill, then maybe you take that skill from good to great. Maybe you work in research during the day, but work on writing a book at night, or whatever.
Again it all depends on #2.
Re-Apply: Map out the important dates for next year now. Get your papers/files in order now. Your re-application starts now. Along the way, you may have an opportunity to jump in if a spot opens up. Have all of your stuff ready for a moment’s notice.
Again, I’m sorry that you didn’t get in, but I hope this advice helps. Send me your CV & your most recent personal statement if you want me to look at them. (again… RookieDoc members only)
Also, tell me your answers to the above questions… your honest, gut feelings as to why you didn’t get in, etc. Also, are there any extenuating circumstances – family, visa, medical, financial, addiction recovery, language proficiency, etc.
Wondering what to bring to your residency interview? I just posted this video on YouTube as the first in a series of video tips that just centers around your residency interview, questions you’ll be asked during your interview, etc. Check it out:
If you could sit down with me and ask me any question about your residency interviews, what would it be?
I may not get to every question directly, but may be able to post important answers here, in special RookieDoc reports (PDF), on the RookieDoc Squidoo lens, etc.
After shining on your residency interview, that’s when the real work begins.
I have received several questions about how to respond after getting an interview for a residency program. And although most people are aware that thank you letters should be sent, many seem confused about what comes next.
In particular, I saw a question on a forum that seems pretty typical of some of the questions I’ve received lately. You can see the question below and how I responded to it:
Question (unedited): I was wondering if you get replies from the ppl you send a thank you note to , cuz somehow they never write back to me . Is that normal ? or does that mean they hate me ?
My Reply: Don’t expect them to reply.
There are several reasons why I have never replied to thank you letters written to me after I interviewed someone.
1 – There are so many
2 – Because there are so many, my reply would not be very specific for each individual (think form letter)
3 – There’s room for misinterpretation of what is written or for me to misrepresent the opinion of the Program as a whole
4 – I never thought anyone expected a reply
Email… different story. I have replied to some emails with generic things like “Wish you the best”, but I’ve regretted it, because I thought that person might be sitting at home saying, “What does that mean?!… Wish you the best? Is that like ‘have a nice life’ or is it like ‘I really thought highly of you and I wish you the best’?”
Interview season is upon us and I’m preparing myself to sift through a bunch of residency applications. The problem is… many of them start to blend together and look the same. So, I look for the nuggets… the hidden gems… And most of the time, these gems are not what you think.
Anyway, in an effort to help some of the people out there stressing about interviewing for internship and residency, I jumped onto several forums and began answering some questions.
Most of the concerns and fears centered around actually getting interviews or how to answer the interview questions.
However, there were several threads where people were whining and complaining about their contacts at various residency programs “not coming through”, “leaving [people] high and dry”, “forgetting where they came from”, etc. Basically, several forum goers were complaining that they weren’t getting the favors they thought they were entitled to and were easy to give.
So, I posted the following response. I hope it helps you on your interviews for internship, residency, fellowship, and jobs…
Question: Hey guys do contacts help? One of my friends got an interview through some contacts, problem is i don’t have any!!lolzz
Answer: Contacts do help. I have done it for some and not for others, so you might want to understand why… what goes through someone’s head when you ask them?
Here’s the thing… Your contacts are being asked every year by tons of people to do this same favor. And while you might think it’s because they “don’t deliver”, or “they forgot where they came from”, or whatever… it’s actually not that.
If they recommend everyone who asks, it dilutes the power of their favor. And, if they don’t really know the person, they run the risk of being blamed for having lobbied for bringing that person in (if that person sucks).
So here’s the difference between which of your contacts will make a curbside reference for you and which ones won’t…
… ready?
… it’s not “contacts” at all… so, stop looking for contacts.
It’s RELATIONSHIPS. Just knowing someone’s name or having met them once or twice is irrelevant… However, if you stood out in some way (not just answering questions on rounds)… if you just focus on answering questions right, then you run the risk of not showing the real you… people don’t just care about your medical knowledge… they care about how you fit in as well. What other things will you contribute to the Program, besides medical knowledge?
Let me give you an example… one time in my training, I was taking a break leaning on a wall talking to the janitors and maintenance guys about football (American football – Go Eagles!). While I was leaning there, the Chief of Medicine walked by with a huge glob of white coats behind him. (Inside I was like O my God! My chances here are done.) He stopped in his tracks… stood right in front of me… and just looked at me. The other med students and interns looked at me like, “You’re toast”. While the Chief was looking at me, I shrugged and said, “What?… Football rounds.” and I smiled.
He cracked up laughing and kept walking. Later he struck up a conversation with me about football and later about some other stuff we had in common… cities we’ve lived in, universities attended, etc. When I interviewed at that program and other programs in that city, people said that he mentioned me.
Now, I never asked him to mention me, but he did. The reason… it’s easier to remember a relationship than it is to remember a contact.
So, when you’re on your clinical rotations of 3rd and 4th year, or when you’re on observerships, etc, don’t just concern yourself with answering medical questions. It’s the relationships that will be noticed… relationships with docs, nurses, administrators, secretaries, and patients.
And one last HUGE tip… Focus on what you can do for them, not what they can do for you. If you provide value wherever you go, people will notice in a good way. If the first question in your head is how can this guy help me, people will notice in a bad way.
If you could sit down with me and ask me any question about being successful in your internship or residency interviews, what would it be? I’ll answer some questions on upcoming RookieDoc FAQs – these are occasional phone conferences for RookieDoc fans and members where I discuss a hot topic or answer questions.
I may not get to every question directly, but may be able to post important answers here, in special RookieDoc reports (PDF), on the RookieDoc Squidoo lens, etc.
Although RookieDoctor.com focuses mainly on what happens after you’ve already been accepted, I cannot ignore all of the requests and concerns about actually getting in. So, I debated with myself… Do I start a whole line of things dedicated to getting into residency programs and potentially lose focus on RookieDoctor.com’s mission? Or, should I seek out services to recommend? Well, I don’t want to lose focus, so I chose to try out a bunch of services and come back with recommendations. And here’s the first of them… Accepted.com. The following, is an article by one of their writers… good stuff.
To get into medical school, you explained why you wanted to be a physician. Now that you’re an M.D./D.O., you need to show them you’ve got what it takes to be a valuable addition to a medical team. To that end, your personal statement should give the residency committee a taste of what you’re all about, and make them want more.
Easier said than done? Here are four critical pieces of a residency personal statement to get you started.
OK, now that we’re in the thick of the residency application season and people are gearing up for their residency interviews, RookieDoctor.com has a Twitter-Only special. Here’s how it works…
If you’re not on Twitter, sign up… it’s free and it’s cool. You can read more about it at my first blog post about Twitter. Once you sign up, follow RookieDoc.
Then just send me a direct message through Twitter. Just type a letter “d” in the Twitter message box, followed by my user name “RookieDoc”. Then type your message and send it.
Your message should look something like this:
d RookieDoc Sign me up for the personal statement review.
If you are one of the first 5 to respond, I’ll send you a direct message notifying you of the next step (how to get your CV and/or personal statement to me, etc). All of this is free, of course, but for the first five only. Go to Twitter.com and sign up now.
So, you did pretty well, or maybe even great on the MCATs… You submitted your applications through ERAS… You were even granted a few interviews for internship and residency in top programs…
Now don’t screw it up.
If you’re thinking that you’ve been successful all your life, and that you’ve WOWed almost everyone you’ve met up to this point in your life… then you better hold on.
Being successful is fine… Being confident is also fine… But if you’re cocky or arrogant, you just might screw it up now. And here’s why:
Being a physician is just as much about being a “people person” as it is about knowing the medical science. In some cases, even more so. And one of those cases is in clinical practice. And another of those cases is actually getting in to your training program of choice.
You see, if you’re cocky, you are going to miss one of the most important people in the residency interview process. If you’re arrogant, you are going to go into that interview thinking that the only important people there are the interviewers. And if that’s the case, you are at high risk for not getting your program of choice… and rightfully so.
Any guess on who the most overlooked VIP of the residency program is?
