Yeah, I got that email. "We are sorry, you did not match to any position". :sick:
My wife, thankfully, did match. We were applying as a couple. Her specialty is usually unfilled but it filled this year (only 2 spots left in the entire country out of over 1000). So maybe that kept me from matching?
My stats:
School: Small mid-atlantic non-top 50, strong home ortho program.
Step 1: 245
Step 2: 241
Pre-clinicals: Average
Clinicals: All As
Letters: was told on the trail were "phenomenal".
Extra: PhD in engineering from one of the best schools in the world (ortho-related dissertation), lots of athletics, community service, humanitarian device development, etc.
What should I do? I couldn't get any love in the SOAP and I'm currently applying for post-doctoral research positions to work with medical devices and get as close as I can to a translational environment. There is a humanitarian device I am involved with that is used to help control infections that could get real big and need to be taken overseas for testing.
What I really want is a prelim surgical spot. I applied to 75 programs, got 19 invites, and was able to make 13 interviews. My wife is supportive and said she will take a year to look after our infant if I match next year. Has anyone else gone through this and want to offer some words of encouragement? Is doing another research year going to hurt my chances? I'm planning on taking step 3 and doing as much CME stuff as I can to try to show I am committed to being a physician, much less a surgeon. Any thoughts/advice much appreciated. Im kinda lost/depressed/angry/sad. I will apply as many times as needed to get a spot, or until I need to actually start making money and paying off my loans....
