true. but most of us at SGU are Americans or Brits whose first language in English. And most of CS is "can you speak American English" so I don't understand why a CS score is imperative for us. But then again, this whole process has been as confusing as hell.

Hi Seagoddess; I'm entering SGU in Jan 2008 and I want to go into surgery (at this point atleast); but I was wondering if you have any tips/pointers/must-reads for those who want to follow this path.

Thanks

with any specialty, surgery, IM, FP the only thing you can do and prepare for yourself is to learn the materials well for the 1st 2 yrs and study for USMLE and not just for exams purposes in sgu. there is not much you can do now to help yourself to get a awesome USMLE 1 score than to spend 2 yrs studying for it and then 6-8 wks reviewing it

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Shhhhhh........

hey butters,

i agree! i applied 3 and a half weeks ago and i only have 4 interviews, 3 rejections and 2 that notified me they recieved my app and are still reviewing it. that may seem ok, but i applied to 40 programs (which is probably overkill for IM). the rate at which i'm hearing from them seems to be very slow, dont' you think?

i'm probably just being impatient...

It's still early in the process...there are many places that wait until after their deadline to send out invites for interviews. Other places invite people in a rolling fashion. If you're not hearing from people by the end of November, start calling around. Some people may want to call some places earlier, like their top choices.

IMG2BE,

Trust me, you are not being impatient...this season is incredibly slow.

One of my friends who didn't match last year was telling me that she is not hearing from programs as quick as she did last year.

IM seems to be really, really competitive this year. I got a rejection today from a program I thought I would use as a backup! Crazy, huh?

Good luck guys...hope we all get positive responses.

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you know why, right? you have all the people from the UK who have been displaced from residency, because of limited spots over there, that not only did tons of them apply last year, but those who did not make it last year are reapplying this year, and have made their applications stronger by doing observerships, or whatever.

IM used to not be so competitive, but in the last couple of years, it has become moreso. With the advent of this new "hospitalist" movement, it's appearing more attractive all the time. I mean, making $200K right out of residency, for only 3 years of residency, with shift work, it isn't too shabby. But I think another big part of it is... tons of foreigners (UK, India, Pak, etc), are going for IM. it's "not competitive", and they can go on to get fellowships later.

40 programs is great for one, but not enough for another. it all depends on how competitive your scores are, and your application.

bro-
40 applications is probably not enough unless you have high scores. Even people with high scores have applied to about 80-120 programs. Yeah, the UK follks are coming here since there are no consultant spots over there. Alot of programs here see these UK guys with tons of clinical experience and all elusive MRCP qualifications and this is displacing alot of others.

I applied for 37 anesthesia spots and 36 IM spots, sent my applications later in Sept. without a Step 2 score and got 5 interviews and 2 rejections. Even with both my Steps being >90, strong letters and evals, I am anticipating a tough time with getting interviews. But good luck to all.

are you an SGU student? did you get an Anesthesia interviews yet? are you applying to any anesthesia places in NJ?

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SGU-SOM, Class of 2010
Due to the high volume of private messages, I can only answer questions that are posted in a forum. Private messages will be ignored.

I have 10 IM interviews to date, but I applied to 72 programs. I was advised by a program director to apply to more than 40, and i'm very glad i took his advise. i have a good step 1 score, but a sucky step 2, and cs passed. (i go to CAHSU, not SGU). but i think having all exams done by sept really helped things.
my advise to you is, apply to more community/univ affil programs.