Hello friends!

I thought anyone who could get accepted to and graduate med school, pass the usmle, etc., would be able to follow basic social norms during residency interviews…. And so far I have been completely wrong.

I’ve only attended a few open houses, resident social hours, and interviews, and already I’ve seen other applicants doing stuff like:

- asking the PD a question while laying on their pillow in bed

-asking multiple questions in a row while sharing the virtual lobby with others that are waiting to ask their questions

- men attending interviews without wearing a suit

- unnecessarily long intros without a single smile

- asking questions that are easily found on the programs webpage

- thinking resident social hour is the same as hanging with your bros so you show up with a raggedy t shirt on

- one guy was resting his head on his fist the entire time the PD and others were talking, as if he was ready for a nap

-awful English

I could go on and on, and again this is just the start of the cycle…

I’m now convinced that if you are just a regular person with regular people skills, you will get a huge boost in interviews, or if not, many other applicants will humiliate themselves and drop down the rank list, therefore increasing your chances of being ranked above them.

Seems like they got it pretty fast.

My relationship of 7+ years recently ended, and I honestly don't know how to navigate this stage of my life without him. He was someone I thought I would marry, someone I imagined being there to see me graduate from medical school and become a physician. He had been by my side throughout my premed years, and after years of long distance, we had finally moved in together.

We broke up right before the start of my dedicated step1 study period, and I'm supposed to start rotations in a few months. I'm terrified of navigating the hardest years of medical school without the person who has been my biggest support system for so long. I am now living alone, and coming home to an empty house is hard.

I've been trying to study for step, but it's been difficult to focus when he's on my mind every day. Some days, I feel like I'm just trying to get through the day.

Has anyone else gone through a long-term breakup during med school, especially around dedicated or the transition to rotations? How did you cope, get through studying, or learn to navigate med school without someone who had been such a big part of your life?

no no please, less teaching, more gossiping. how ARE their kids at soccer?

What are the biggest/worst red flags in an app/student that you've seen end up matching? Curious since everyone seems to be a little neurotic about how strong of a candidate they are and I'm sure people could use a bit of hopium.

I’m at a US MD school and want to do psych. When applying to med school I interviewed poorly despite interview prep. Out of my 7 interviews and I had 1 A with multiple post-II rejections. All WL became rejections. I know I have a longstanding problem with social cues, body language, and misc social skills that began well before med school. In med school, I have been told that I don’t make enough eye contact, speak in a monotone voice, and appear tired or uninterested. I like interviewing patients because it is more formal and structured, but I don’t really socialize at all (go out to eat, hang out with others, etc.) because I am self-conscious and introverted. Autism evaluation was negative. I do have depression and anxiety and this is being managed with meds and therapy. I know my social skills are poor but I am not sure how to improve them, as practice alone does not really help. Does anyone have any advice?

Is it time for me to start getting concerned? For now, the only thing I can do is prepare for interviews, but I think things aren't looking good for me...

I am a first gen college graduate/Medical doctor.
My wife who is a Ob/Gyn and myself will be giving a presentation to a first gen medical student club.

Wanted to ask y’all about important subjects to talk about or what is something you wished people told you before starting, or even while in medical school.

Thanks!

about to hit em with a do i bring the vibe of employment or not big dawg pd?

Hello again. Applying psych. I’m still at 1 IV from my home program and now realize that my list was too top heavy for my stats.

Should I apply to more programs asap? or is it considered late for that.. please help😭 i’m devastated

Sorry if this is neurotic, but USDO applying IM, Step1/level 1 first time pass, 25x/57x, no red flags, 4 publications, only sitting at 4 interviews as of today. Should I be concerned?

It is soooo extremely obvious when AI is being used. Immediately makes me feel like you couldn’t put any original thought into your application.

EDIT: I come from an excellent academic program. Everyone has incredible step scores and are researchers. The only way I can differentiate a good candidate from an incredible one is what they say on experiences and personal statement. If they are passionate, it bleeds through and I feel excited to have them as a future colleague.

AI has its perks, can help with spelling and moving you forward if you don’t know how to translate a thought to paper, but some of these (like 10-15%) of apps are soulless, read like a ChatGPT summary. Use your intuition, I would rather have a 5% less elegant paper that is original in your voice, than an AI generated slop fest.

I'm only an M1 so I'm hoping it gets better as things go on, but right now I feel so disheartened. Everyone in my class is so confident and eloquent and has such good people skills while I genuinely always feel nervous and fumble at any sort of public speaking, even if it's in a small group.

I had to lead a discussion group a few days ago and it went poorly and I can't stop replaying awkward moments in my head. Each time we have group patient interview practice I'm dreading it so much or worrying about it so far in advance. I know that public speaking is a part of medicine and I'm trying to get better but I genuinely feel so inadequate compared to my peers sometimes it's embarrassing. I can't even imagine how I'll be on rotations.

I'm in the process of getting a therapist to work on some of these thinking habits lol and I do have a psychiatry appointment, but in the meantime I'm wondering if anyone else can relate or has any advice. I have a good support system so far in school and have good friends but none of them can really relate so I've just been feeling a bit alone in this regard lol

If you’re going for a weekend to present one poster, should you be spending the rest of the time attending other sessions? do you guys spend the whole time in the conference? or do you just attend some and then enjoy the city?

also registered for a residency meet and greet, but genuinely have no idea what to expect going into it.

how do you network during these events?

Current 2nd-year here considering GLP-1 agonists for weight loss. I have an appointment with my doctor this week to discuss. Long story short, I want to lose around 40 pounds and I cannot consistently lose weight with lifestyle modification. I have tried and I do not have the willpower. I’m very active but I have a huge appetite. But it is severely affecting my mental health.

My only concern - and question for the sub - is whether anyone has noticed a decrease in cognition and focus while taking these medications. I will be entering dedicated and taking Step 1 in the near future and I want to be at the top of my game. I have a lot of education in nutrition and I don’t think protein intake will be a problem as it is for some patients. But I’m hoping my peers might have anecdotal insight.

Hey everyone! Looking for some input here. I’m an M3 on my elective rotations. Some background, I am interested in Anesthesia mainly as of this year but narrowed it down to that and PM&R. I had PM&R for 2 weeks and now I’m on Anesthesia for 2 weeks. The PM&R elective was a lot of fun, happy residents and happy attendings. I got to do things in clinic and enjoyed myself. The Anesthesia elective has basically been shadowing a resident and it’s been really hard to tell whether I can see myself doing this for residency, let alone forever. I understand that there’s a lot at stake in Anesthesia and the knowledge base is different so I can’t do much. I know I have time but I’m really trying to figure out the correct thought process about the whole thing, as it doesn’t feel like I have much time to figure things out either. Thank you for your help I really appreciate it!

Just a rant to ease out of this frustration a little bit.

This M-4 of mine has been one of the worst years so far in medical school. It was so haphazard and so unorganised that whatever I learnt throughout the year, has smoothly escaped from my brain completely. I did not learn a single concept, nor can I just eyeball an answer and get past it. I myself turned unserious and threw myself into the abyss of self sabotage. Sigh. I should have failed in the internal exams to get rattoed back to reality. Now as I face the Goliath of Professional Exam, I feel like no David at all.

If I fail, it will be a well deserved consequence.

I’m not saying this is every case ever, but it does seem to be the overwhelming trend.

Is it possible that there were more waves than was reported in the ERAS megathread spreadsheet in previous years?

USMD applying IM and sitting on only community/university affiliated IVs and wanted to see how cooked I am. Hoping for some love from academic programs

Hey all

Currently a MS3, trying to figure out what Sub-I to do. I am interested in EM, pretty set on it. My school offers IM, FM, surgery, and peds of which IM or FM seem to be most applicable. Would it be better for residency to do an IM or FM? My guess would be FM as it includes care of children and pregnant women, am I wrong?

Guess I’ll be soaping only 1 interview for EM. 😭😭😭😭😭😭

I spent thousands of dollars to attend an away rotation at an program out of state and am currently only being supervised exclusively with NPs otherwise unassociated with the residency faculty. I feel pretty misled, as this was not explained to me before my first day on the rotation. The document with all of the rotation sites had an NP as well as a doctor (but now I'm wondering if this was a PhD perhaps?) on my specific site. There are no MD/DO physicians at this location, and I will not have the opportunity to be in any other facility.

I feel like this was a massive waste of my time and I am not getting proper exposure to the program I originally was trying to audition for. My coaching today consisted of the very basics of the basic in terms of my chosen specialty... I have been seeing patients independently in this field for 4 different rotations now (of course, i am no expert. But I am certainly no beginner either)🥲

Of course I will try to make the best of this situation, and it could certainly be worse.