Unmatched 2006 list

I'm a little shocked by it. I am totally debating about what to do. one year of research versus taking a potential great EM spot in New York.

ROL 11 places

Step 1: 259
Step 2: Just got back on sat. 221 (no studying and took it in 4.5 hours)
Not AOA
No Pubs

After talking to a lot of people, I realized that getting together a funded spot and getting something out before Spetember is kind of fruitless. I mean if you are going to do research it better not be some BS literature review on rat femurs that gets published in the Lithuanian Journal of Orthopedics. (No offense to those from Lithuania).

The other option was to do pro-bono research/scut for an ortho lab. I guess you can get good connections/letters that way if you dont have any meaningful pubs by steptember/october when you reapply.

I did some looking around, made a couple of phone calls and it seems like no one has a legit funded research spot available for next year. So, I took a surg prelim at a place where I want to do ortho. Its not a guarantee by any means but hopefully I can network at this place.

This sucks. Being unmatched is definitly not on my top ten list of favorite things.

Mr M

I shouldn't have been surprised, but I was. Only got 5 interviews and ranked them all.

Step 1 205
Step 2 240 (taken after interviews)
Not AOA
No Pubs

Couldn't give up the dream yesterday so now stuck with very few options. Do you think a prelim spot at a place that doesn't even have an ortho program is better or worse than an unfunded/unofficial research spot with a private orthopod (money not a big issue-spouse works)? Anybody hear from the last unfilled program (wish they would just call me and tell me no, so I can quit hoping)

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Do not do pro bono work, unless you can get a written agreement promessing you a spot. Especially if you're weak on paper.
most places who allow these situations
will abuse the sh*t out of you and will look
to keep you in that situation. The longer you work at and/or the better you are at your pro-bono functions the more they are incentivised to keep you there. Just think, there will be another kid just like you available next year, so why promote you, when they can just wait for you too give up, leave and then get someone else.


Research or pre-lim are the best options (research being the best option)
if you do a pre-lim:
1. ask every one under the sun for a letter
2. make sure your rotations fullfill the AAOS req. for an ortho intern
3. log all your cases with ACGME immediately after you do em.
4. keep a mentor in Ortho real close (the more powerful the better) trust me something will open up and they will have to go to bat for you. They will push doors open, you would have had to otherwise knock on.
5. If you are a pre-lim at your almamater (sp), keep going to ortho functions whenever you can. This is good for many reasons (trust me)
6. Have a plan B, your dreams (as you probably still have them at this stage) can be fullfilled in other fields. and prepare for the worst.

Good luck

and remember the following
1. assume that there are no such thing as nice people in Medicine
2. Incentive makes the world go round
3. act positive but, expect the worst

there is no sure fire way to do it...the one guy i know who didn't match last year did a prelim year at UCSF. this year he got lucky and got a pgy-2 spot at Harbor-UCLA. he was a nice guy with scores in the 220s but nothing special about his application. word in the department was that he wasn't a great rotator and was kind of quiet. anyways, i saw him on the interview trail along with a couple of other non-matchers and they were saying they only had 4 or 5 interviews the second time around. so things can work out if you are persistent. good luck.

This is not the post I was hoping to make.
Over 20 interview invites, able to schedule 11, ranked all 11
I 247, II 241, nominated AOA (not elected), master's degree
from a small primary care med school with no academic ortho program
did 2 months away for letters

my thoughts:
1. THIS SUCKS
1a. congratulations to those who matched, enjoy what you have
2. I knew it could happen but, based on advice during interviews including "you don't have to worry, you will definately match", I thought it was unlikely
3. Bottom line: paper apps all end up looking the same and it comes down to who went to school with who and who they play golf with on the weekends. I know that sounds exceptionally bitter, and I guess I am a little. I think PD's either assumed I was less qualified b/c I did not have a home program or chose, understandably, to clear up the confusion of similar paper applications by ranking people referred to them by close friends. I am going at this again next year after a prelim year and I will do my best to become one of those "recommended by a friend" sort of applicants.

hey, i feel y'all's pain. i'm not exactly in the same boat, since i had to withdraw from ortho match in december due to "the needs of the air force" but the result is the same and i am prelimming next year in gsurg.

some positive thoughts for you who plan to try again:
1) when i told my PD (at the program which will likely be my No. 1 if i ever get to rank ortho programs) he said that if you are solid as an intern, progams see you favorably-- you have actual success as a doctor, rather than the theoretical success of a sub-i, and he said people who are delayed are happier because they are so glad to be living the dream.

2) we had a few at my school who didn't match, and to my knowledge they were all successful this year-- as others have noted: the pgy2 spots are rare, but they are out there... that said, be willing to redo intern and you might be pleasantly surprised.

3) this one particularly relevant to me: now i know who will interview me, so i don't have to waste my cash on programs that won't give me the time of day.

4) finally, you'll never know if you were next on the list at any or all of the programs you ranked. i've been surprised and saddened at the politics and geographical bias through all this, but it's there. we're mostly pretty stellar, regardless of numbers. for the most part, d!cks don't end up in ortho. so buck up. and i wish you all tons of luck for the upcoming app season.

cheers.
firegirl

Although it sucks that people didnt match, all this talk of others in the same boat makes me feel a little better. Im just trying to analyze what went wrong, and I pretty much came to the conclusion that my political connections were not as strong as I thought.

At least now that I have a game plan, (kick ass as an intern) I can move onto something more productive than wallowing in grief.

Hey guys,
I feel your pain, you seem to have the right attitude. I agree with the connection thing. When I prelim'ed I can think of 2-3 key connections without which I would not have landed the most excellent pgy2 spot in the country. (seriously). Dig in, bring your game face.

(see previous Black monday post by me)

Southpaw
aka one of the luckiest SOB's

I get your guys pain. i hate hearing people in my class that didn't do half as well as i did and matched into ortho, or any other competative residency. looks like pre-lim is the way to go this year, and then reapply. i was really hoping to never look at this site again as a med student. oh well. life wouldn't be life ifit throw punches.
Interviewed 12
ROL 9 (cause i was sure to match)
matched 0

this really sucks.

... I thought American Grads were "secured"...I was very wrong?

No match

1
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interview (in my department)
Applied October 31 to 26 prog
Step 1 99/244, II 91/224, SC passed,
Russian MD diploma with Honours 1993 (something like AOA)
Ortho residency in Russia 1993-1998
PhD (in medicine) from Russia 1995-1998
Worked in Ortho Dept of American University 5 years as an ortho techn
Many residents in our program wanted to see me there as an ortho resident
Got very strong recommendation letter from professor from that department

as I understood the reason of unmatching was:
- grad of notAmerican medical school,? it?s not possible to "FIX", When they were comparing the application nobody ever heard about my med school ....my medical school name was my ?Achilles Heel? ? Which is not logical to me _ ?.I?.. am ......going to work in program ...not my medical school...

I offered my research ?abilities? to our department but got rejected ?? they do not want people get false expectation....

I missed prelim surgery because I was late with my "California Training authorization letter" just 5 days........

I will not give up
I like my profession too much
And can not see myself as a Family Practitioner handing out pills to people

i don't know about others that unfortunately didn't match into ortho this year, but just as i am starting to get over the heartbreak, and realization that i have to go through this again next year...i find out that people from my class with far lower scores, no research, nothing to make their appl. stand out get the spot because they know the program director. it only makes this process that much more frustrating. so to all who matched honestly...congrats; all that didn't match...good luck in whatever u decide; all that matched because their neighbor is the program director...kiss my a--!

to all you sycophantic bastards, only hard work is rewarded... eventually again I say (onlyortho) I feel your pain.

exactly!!!...

there is an old Armenian saying
"Hewn stone will not lie long unused on the earth? or
"finished stone will not lie long on the road"

I think this is very true.......


_______________________________________

sorry for off topic but

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according to the stats, out of the people who applied to ortho this year, only 2 people who ranked 11 spots didnt match.

For the person who interviewed 12 and only ranked 9, for the people who ranked 12 spots, 100% of them matched.

Something to think about.

If you look at ROL in the document "Charting Outcomes in the Match", you will see that the greatest number of applicants who matched in Ortho ranked 15 or more programs. Therefore, one should probably plan on applying to 30 or more programs to get interviews and thereby rank 14-15 programs.

Of course, there are some (myself NOT included) who probably have a Step I score of 260, AOA, and 5 publications so maybe 30 programs are not necessary for you. But for the average ortho applicant, I think 30 programs are probably a safe bet.

Of course one resident told me that if I wasn't AOA and didn't get a 260 on boards then I should probably apply to 50 programs. I would think, talk with your home program's director and he/she would give you the best advice.

im the guy that ranked 9, and interviewed at 12. in hindsite i think i still madethe rite decision. because one program i interviewed at was maimonides...it sucks. i am so glad i am in a g-surg prelim and reapplying then in that program. i nver seen such incompetence amongst a department. sorry 2 bash on the program if u ra a resident there.

i actually cn't believe that this thread is started again. i havent forgotten march 13 2006...and now i am reliving it. thanks good luck 2 all that reapply this year. i am only applying to programs that offered me an interview last year. i dont want to get hurt again this year and notice i spent almost $4000 doing it. still bitter

I'd be careful about bashing any program. . . . . .especially, from the other side of the fence. I don't know what's going on at maimonides, but it's like that old med skool joke. What do you call the worst resident who graduates from the worst orthopaedics residency program in the country? An orthopaedic surgeon. I interviewed at a couple of crappy programs, and I wanted ortho so bad that I ranked every one. The bottom line is that you're gonna get adequate training no matter where you train in the country.

I have been reading and posting to this board for probaly over 5 years, and each year it seems some poor souls keep making the same DUMB mistakes when it comes to matching/ranking and I simply dont get why.

I have a med school buddy who is now a PGY5 ortho res like me. We were talking about what we were gonna rank places (totally different list of places interviewed at) and he mentioned that he was considering only ranking his top ten (he went to 14). I asked him why and he gave the "typical" answer of "I dont think I will drop past my number 4" b/c all his top 4 place had given him "soft" signs that he had a "good chance" of going to their program. I eventually convinced him he was insane not to rank them all. He matched at #12.

For the people who dont rank all your interviewed programs, WHY?
If you are "sure" your gonna match, then what harm does it do to rank all your places you interviewed at anyway? It does not cost anything to rank them all.
Also, I think the best attitude to take when considering not ranking a particular place you interviewed at is to honestly ask yourself if you would rather not match and HAVE A CHANCE OF NEVER MATCHING than go to program X. Period.

When you make out your ROL, check your egos at the door first. You may be glad you did.

i guess bonedoc is rite. and about bashing any program, it is anger speaking. all apologies. if i dont have ortho in the 2007 match, then i will have to change not only my name...