Appealing for Reconsideration after a Rejected Residency Application

Let me begin on a cautious note by saying that this post isn't for everyone. It is for those candidates who have rejects from residency programs where they might be a strong fit at, with their credentials such as specific research, clinical and/or work experiences. For such guys, justifying why their application should be reconsidered, by writing a polite email that directly reaches the program director or chairman is worth a chance - coz' its very likely that the program director did not bother to look at their resume beyond screening criteria such as scores and inadvertently missed a diamond.

Please note that I am not suggesting that you blindly spam and anger the program directors or chairmen, coz' a great score does not automatically make you eligible for interview invites from every single residency program you apply to. Rather I suggest doing this only after getting reject from a program where you specifically feel and can justify yourself as a strong fit. A hypothetical example to explain this further = Lets say we have a candidate who did some outstanding work and had experiences / publications in say ... sleep pattern studies . But the candidate gets a reject from a good psychiatry residency program that does have ongoing research study & faculty specializing in sleep patterns study. He felt he was rejected because of not meeting scores criteria or years-since-graduation criteria. Such a candidate should probably take that chance.

My friend who interviewed for residency positions in 2006 for the 2007 Match season will vouch for this. He had some rejects from some good university places despite having a 99/99 and 5 publications, most probably coz' he was more than 5 years since medical school graduation. Chagrined, he fished out emails of the residency program directors using some innovative search methods - (which I shall outline on another post on this blog) , justified himself politely and sure enough, got himself 3 more interviews from places that initially had rejected him.


Notice that in the first paragraph I said that the email's gotta reach the program director / chairman directly. Why stress 'directly' ? Coz' most of the contact emails listed publicly on the websites or even MyERAS are controlled by residency program coordinators, who may not forward such emails that they might consider as 'spam'. Hence you might need to use different methods to search director / chairmen emails. I shall cover than soon !

Again....no spam to residency programs please - write only if the specific scenario mentioned above applies to you :-)


Also read:

- Residency Interviews tips - n -tricks
- Maximizing Interview chances after applying

INTERVIEW OFFER EMAILS : KEEP TABS ON YOUR 'JUNK EMAILS' FOLDER !

Call it the bad side of technology or simply call it the non-human side of a computer - unfortunately, at times, the Interview Offer email may land up in your "Junk Emails" Folder on your email. Many of us, including myself, blindly go ahead and click on that "Clear Junk" tab without even going through what is being deleted.
Kindly refrain from that during the period from September 1st until the Match Day - You don't want to miss out any program emails!

Hotmail is known to do that a lot, yahoo at times - I personally love Gmail ..yet trust none of them to do your Junk email categorization for you .

Ofcourse, you should also receive the same email on your MyERAS messages section - but at times programs send regular emails, whereas some programs send out paper mail via post !! - e.g. FP program at University of Oklahoma at Tulsa did paper mails during the 2005-2006 season.

You can always change your email address preference on your MyERAS application, if you want to switch.

So , stay alert and ready for some picking-from-the-trashcan activity ;-).

Some of you may say this is aint something to make a big deal about, but I really would not want to miss out that one interview that would have mattered ... hmmm, just a matter of taking-no-chances

Update: Whoa ! Looks like ERAS folks have been reading this blog ;-) Coz recently this notice did show up within ERAS online system :

"Programs have two options of sending emails. They could send an email using the ERAS software or they could send an email using their own email software. If they use the ERAS software you will receive a copy of the email in your Message Center.

Depending on the email service you use, the possibility exists that the emails from programs may be interpreted as either Spam or Junk Mail and therefore they will not appear in your inbox.

Since ERAS has no control over this - we recommend that you check the Message Center regularly for your messages."

g/l


Also Read:

- Responding Late to Interview Invites Could cost you the Interview !

HOW MANY INTERVIEWS DO YOU NEED TO GET A RESIDENCY "MATCH" ?

Some say you need at least 10 interviews to 'guarantee' yourself a residency match position - some say you need 20. Puzzling eh ?


While intuition may say that the more interviews you have, the better the chances of matching, it is also true that there have been many cases of people not matching despite many interviews, while people matching to a good program with just one interview.

The truth is there IS NO magical, finite or critical number of interviews to "guarantee" you match !

What's more important is where you stand in the rank order lists of each of those residency programs you interview at. So even if you have 15 interviews and you are consistently placed unfavourably on the Rank Order List (ROLs) in all those places, chances are low. Secondly, some programs may interview more than 100 people, but only place 50-60 candidates on their rank-order lists.


In the context of the Rank order lists that the residency program and you submit, your chance of matching depends on :

1. Number of the people above you on that list
2. The ranking of that residency program on the ROL's of candidates above you on that list
3. The rank of that residency program on your list
4. Number of positions in that program [if you rank 10th on the program list and the program has 10 positions ...now that's a guarantee :-) unlike ranking 20th on the same list]
5. The Desirability of the program amongst candidates in general and especially amongsts AMGs- The more it is , the lesser the chances
6. The variety or "range of spread" of people on the list above you - what I mean is, if almost the SAME candidates interviewed at all those places and land up on the same lists, chances are a little better - coz the same guys cannot have all the programs ..LOL. But if the IMGs on the list above you are vastly different , it is more likely that the positions will be taken up.

If these factors are not in your favour for the first program on your Rank Order List (ROL), then the computer matching program moves on to the next program. The matching algorithm works continuously around all ROLs till it secures a best "match" for you.

Moral of the story: Do your best on every interview you go to. Treat every interview as the only place that you have an interview at, coz just having many interviews is unfortunately NOT a guarantee of a match.




Read Residency Interviews Tips-N-Tricks at : MDinterviews.blogspot.com

AFTER APPLYING : MAXIMIZING INTERVIEW CHANCES

Tons of applications, hundreds of good scoring candidates, lotsa strong credentials and yet the Program Director's gotta choose who makes it for the interviews. Choose not just the best of what they got, but also choose candidates with a good likelihood of actually ranking their program - coz' as I explained on another post, the interview quotas are limited by time and budget.


It may pay to remain proactive even after you applied to residency programs, instead of letting only programs and fate work with your ERAS application ;-) No matter how unbiased a selection process maybe, personality and soft skills do play their role in all walks of life ! Here are some steps you could take AFTER YOU APPLY, to push your luck into improving your chances for that residency interview (...After all, aren't we all in the business of improving chances of landing that Interview , so that we have a chance to show-case what we got & earn a spot on the program's Rank-Order List?)

1. 3 to 4 weeks after you apply, call up programs that you did not hear back from at all, and inquire about the "status of your application". This makes the program coordinator look up your application again, if not already looked at. If a decision of a reject was already taken and not communicated, they will let you know. If no decision was taken , your calling may at least prompt most of the programs to have a another better look at your application . A friend of mine with low scores in the 2006 match, will vouch for this strategy, which helped him get more interviews than he anticipated. It definitely may help to keep you in the spotlight, considering that there will be hundreds or thousands of applications received ....and not everyone will be calling to check in. ( Of course, you may email - but I would rather that you call. ) A note of warning though, if the program clearly communicates that they would not like people emailing or calling back to check status, refrain from doing so.


2. If you manage to get your first or another useful US clinical / research experience AFTER you apply - like say an externship or observership or a publication, etc, sending an email to all programs informing them about them would make many programs, if not all, give your application a second look in a positive light. Thus, just because you finished applying does not mean you should stop seeking resume-enhancing US experiences.

3. Calling up programs becomes especially relevant as the interview season nears the end in Dec-Jan-Feb of the match year. Why ? Remember that a lot of strong candidates either cancel excess interviews at the last moment or simply don't show up at all (which I think is very impolite ). Secondly as programs start giving out prematches, other programs see more 'match withdrawals' of candidates they had already interviewed. Unmet Interview Quotas and match cancellations put the programs at risk of having some seats unmatched - and trust me - as much as we hate to the post-match scramble, the programs themselves hate that too ! Towards the end of the season, there may not be enough time to send off formal invites to candidates on their list - and if you happen to call in such a situation - Bingo ! :-)


Hmmm...having said so, these approaches are especially relevant to slightly disadvantaged candidates like those low scores, no USCE, etc. But again, please please please do not overdo it and bug the programs enough to hate you !


Also read:

- Tips to Indicate your strong interest in a residency Program
- More Residency Positions for your Dollars: Positions v/s Program Numbers