11-02-2020, 10:24 PM
Guest
I completely agree with this. There was a study from OBGYN published earlier this year if all top applicants accept all their interviews then almost half of the total applicants will receive one or zero interviews this cycle. I second capping myself at 20 and will also partake.
Part of the problem is that top 30-40 programs are the last to release interviews this year. I applied to below the average # and I’m ok with the number of IIs I’ve received, but I’m doing poorly with top programs that have invited ppl. I’d start withdrawing apps and interviews if I felt confident I’d hit 19-20, but it’s so hard to know. Once those start to drop, I think there will be more cancellations. I’d honestly hate to do more than 20 interviews.
I wouldn’t be surprised if too places interview mostly the same ppl and a couple spots end up in the scramble.
(11-02-2020, 08:57 PM)Guest Wrote:(11-02-2020, 07:20 PM)Guest Wrote: Resident here:
We sent out interviews this year to the same caliber of applicants we usually interview in the previous years. All of them accepted the invitations.
I am pretty sure however that most of those applicants would also accept "any" interview they get from other programs, since this year's interviews do not involve the extra costs and hassle of travel, accommodation, etc. What I fear is, how many of those applicants are accepting interviews in programs they wouldn't even consider while ranking, or in programs that they would consistently rank low in their lists, basically guaranteeing matching in programs higher up in their lists. This might leave programs with unmatched spots (something that almost never happens in Neurosurgery), and forcing them to go through SOAP.
In my opinion, the governing authorities should have put a limit to how many interviews an applicant can accept/attend, and subsequently rank. This would ensure that we don't see what we are seeing now through the posts where seemingly competitive applicants (by historical parameters) receive almost no interviews.
It is a tough and unpredictable match season, and I sincerely wish each and every one of you the best of luck!
This is very true and pretty much exactly the concern that some have expressed before this cycle, once it was decided it would be virtual. There were concerns that everyone would invite the most qualified applicants and those people would occupy a vast majority of the interview slots programs had available. With it being virtual almost no one will cancel and that leads to a much larger discrepancy between the haves and have-nots in the applicant pool.
I imagine a lot of what happens normally is people accept any interview early on, and then cancel as better places offer. Then, those slots trickle to other applicants. This cycle no one will cancel and that’ll leave people who are hoarding the low-upper and mid-tier program positions with those interviews, and they will pretty much hold onto them since 1) they don’t have better offers to take and 2) they don't need to cancel to make room for other interviews since travel isn't involved. That prevents the people with few to no invites thus far from getting anything. I'm doing decently on invites, so I may cap myself at 20 since 15-20 seems to be the number for 90%+ chance of matching in previous years. It's unlikely I and most other US MD applicants need more than that and from what we're seeing here there are qualified people not getting offers
I completely agree with this. There was a study from OBGYN published earlier this year if all top applicants accept all their interviews then almost half of the total applicants will receive one or zero interviews this cycle. I second capping myself at 20 and will also partake.
Part of the problem is that top 30-40 programs are the last to release interviews this year. I applied to below the average # and I’m ok with the number of IIs I’ve received, but I’m doing poorly with top programs that have invited ppl. I’d start withdrawing apps and interviews if I felt confident I’d hit 19-20, but it’s so hard to know. Once those start to drop, I think there will be more cancellations. I’d honestly hate to do more than 20 interviews.
I wouldn’t be surprised if too places interview mostly the same ppl and a couple spots end up in the scramble.

