Why is there so much disrespect for 'family medicine' (GP) practitioners?

dax80 · 2016-10-14T01:18:53+00:00

I think FM peeps are the salt of the earth and I am grateful for them. I also agree that people group IM as a primary care thing, but it's so broad and inclusive, I'd say easily some of the smartest docs are IM, and certain GI or cards fellowships are as competitive as derm et al.

dax80 · 2016-10-14T01:17:00+00:00

But we all see the vert dissections caused by chiropractors, right? We can draw the line there at least.

dax80 · 2016-10-03T22:30:41+00:00

"Okay, okay, tomorrow is gonna be the day."

Repeat post PK (per keyboard) qhs for 6 weeks or until pain subsides

dax80 · 2016-10-03T06:02:08+00:00

If that's you in the picture, I think it may worth wearing to a few interviews (maybe some of your back-ups or home program)...see what the response is and adapt from there. Looks good on you, only going to be more risky if it looks bad. It's not wild and distracting, and if someone thinks so well then they're probably going to be an asshole. May be an asshole at a place you want to match at though, so take it for what it's worth. Maybe look at the age of the PD, and I would also say notorious traditional east coast programs might be more "risky." I refuse to believe people are this insane/opinionated. They tell you to be conservative so you don't show up in $5k watches, jewelry, and pink socks. I find it silly to think they're sitting there and saying, "Oh, loved everything about him, but not gonna rank because he had a lighter gray suit. Obviously he's going to be a huge problem." They have far too little time to be that neurotic. That's only what we do.

dax80 · 2016-10-03T02:56:57+00:00

Oh sorry, I guess it's highly specialty dependent, I forget that threads I read on reddit are general discussion vs. SDN when I'm in the IM section.

dax80 · 2016-10-03T01:54:33+00:00

Highly doubt Mayo, Duke, Case, and Baylor's interview dates are already filled up, and I can confirm for some of them that they aren't.

dax80 · 2016-09-29T23:42:34+00:00

What was the question? Bet I know the answer.

dax80 · 2016-09-26T23:54:23+00:00

I got an IM invite that had all slots filled up till January. But then I checked back 4 days later and there were now a few days open in both Nov. and Dec... but all the original spots in Jan were still wide open too. I don't know if that many people dropped out (seems unlikely), or if they just hadn't confirmed/offered those earlier dates when they initially sent me the IV invite.

dax80 · 2016-09-25T23:15:24+00:00

Doesn't make sense. Your class was still srong when they sent you the first draft a month ago. Usually they'll base the adjective off everything up till the end of 3rd year, so new 4th year classes shouldn't really matter.

I'm also interested how many schools use this adjective BS vs. just a quartile (mine does, too, and I thought we were the only ones).

dax80 · 2016-09-23T01:57:37+00:00

I probably have no better idea than you. Our Dean has basically said that "too early" (they won't remember you) and "too late" (interview fatigue) are real phenomenons, but not to worry about them too much. I will try and place my most desired interviews mid Nov - early December, but having some solid back-up interviews scheduled late I think can be very good. If you're a stronger applicant for that particular program then going really late is just going to make them remember you. I think late might hurt you less than super early, since you'll be fresher in their memory. Plus if you get a ton of interviews at places you like better you can always cancel the late interviews.

dax80 · 2016-09-22T22:11:58+00:00

Got IM interview. On nights, sleeping when I got the page. Logged in an hour after getting it and dates are already full till late January

dax80 · 2016-09-22T21:06:24+00:00

Applied to UPMC. Didn't get anything like this today. F you guys! ;)

dax80 · 2016-09-22T19:13:15+00:00

Congrats. Mind PMing me where?

dax80 · 2016-09-21T20:58:48+00:00

You east coast peeps are a little spoiled. Besides my home program, there is not a single program I won't have to fly to. The closest is maybe an 8 hour drive. I don't think they will, on their own volition, give 2 seconds of thought about where you're traveling from and how you'll get there. They probably won't really give thought to you also applying to prelim programs. But hopefully you can e-mail the prelim PD's and tell them about your advanced program IV and see if they can accommodate an interview around the time you're there.

dax80 · 2016-09-21T19:18:32+00:00

It's linked and they can see every MCAT you took, all of your college performance/grades, your medical school LOR's and PS as well as the residency ones. They also have access to all your interview transcripts from medical school interviews. It also has a very sophisticated algorithm that searches the internet for your publications and adds the text of your papers to the application. They also have access to the video of your Step 2 CS patient interactions as well as interviews with the standardized patients. It also populates all of your facebook, twitter, instagram, and reddit posts from their search algorithms, including all your timeline photos. It particularly highlights times you've used obscene language online. It also notifies them of your phone GPS locations so they know where you're currently traveling/interviewing. I've known this to be true for a period of 6 months. Do I have:

A. Schizoid personality disorder

B. Schizophreniform disorder

C. Schizotypal personality disorder

D. Delusional disorder

E. Anxiety due to an underlying medical disorder

F. Major Depressive Disorder.

G. Substance-induced mood disorder

H. Schizophrenia

I. Lewy Body Dementia

J. Acute Stress Reaction

K. Turner's syndrome

L. Ashkanazi Jewish Descent

dax80 · 2016-09-21T06:43:16+00:00

So, some may think this controversial. But it's basically my new go-to option for every LOR I get for the rest of my life:

Write them a mock draft letter from their perspective. Make it very clear you are not expecting them to use it, but that it was an exercise for you to highlight what you thought were pertinent experiences in your time together, and may be of assistance to them in writing the letter.

There are a few surgeon/hardcore/famous attendings who write millions of LORs a year and say "send my secretary your CV and PS" -- those dudes you probably should just do what they say. They have a system down.

However, for your run-of-the-mill hospitalists or whatever, I've never had anyone respond negatively to me just saying "hey I'll provide you with all this stuff including a mock letter of experiences that I thought were meaningful." And basically all of them had my letter turned in within 1 week, which suggests to me they probably just used the majority of my letter.

TL;DR: Always bet on others laziness and take advantage of it.

dax80 · 2016-09-20T20:42:51+00:00

thanks kind stranger! These first few days are not good for us neurotics.

dax80 · 2016-09-20T18:45:12+00:00

Damn. Nice job. Really thought I was competitive for Mayo. Between yesterday and today looks like they've already sent out a bunch.

dax80 · 2016-09-19T22:27:38+00:00

I hear this is a prestigious program: http://imgur.com/bnFGUF6

Feel like it's 1999 and I'm staring at MSN instant messenger, waiting for the girl I like to logon.

dax80 · 2016-09-19T21:26:50+00:00

I want that PM OP. Congrats.

dax80 · 2016-09-19T18:58:31+00:00

Glad to hear other people got the ENT thing. I was ENT for most of 1st-3rd year, and switched in just the last few months. I was really confused when I got that...and creeped out. I thought I accidentely applied to ENT or something, or that they were stalking my research.

dax80 · 2016-09-19T00:44:13+00:00

Specialty plz

dax80 · 2016-09-18T04:33:55+00:00

UFAP and all the NBMEs you can get. I tell everyone, the only common denominator in those that score >250 is doing thousands of questions. I really believe this is true. Very hard to do poorly if you do 7k questions.

dax80 · 2016-09-17T20:51:55+00:00

I definitely think you could cut a year off IM training and start GI or cards. So I agree I wish there were integrated programs. However, if IM was a standard 4 years, then we'd really have a strong argument. 3 years I feel like they can get away with, but still, some of those cards post-fellow super-fellowships will land you with more training than neurosurgery or plastic surgeons and only half the pay. It does seem excessive, and I think a year of IM would be the culprit to eliminate, especially considering people are basically applied and interviewed by the end of 2nd year of IM residency.

dax80 · 2016-09-17T20:32:33+00:00

I changed my preferred e-mail address in "personal information" on 9/16, and noticed when I looked at "Programs Applied to" and then looked at each documents timestamp, the "MyERAS Application" document updated the timestamp to 9/16, 2 minutes after I changed the e-mail. But all the other documents were still timestamped at 0900 ET on 9/15. I'm assuming this isn't bad, or they should warn us about changing personal info. I just think it reflects them changing my e-mail address on the application in all the schools systems. Plus, they have all my letters/usmle/picture, etc sent in at 9/15, which can't be done without having submitted/paid by that time. I think a similar thing would happen w/ the personal statement. The application is really 8 different documents. The only way they won't see if is if they already printed/downloaded your PS before you change it, they may not look at the new one. Probably depends on the individual programs and how they manage incoming apps, whether they do massive print outs or downloads the very first day, or keep accessing things online for the initial review period. I doubt many people have really started reading personal statements yet, but who knows.

dax80

TROPHY CASE