What went wrong?

[LookBehindYou]

On March 11th, I was so excited to learn that I had matched into dermatology. However, on Match Day, I was shocked to open my envelope to find that I didn't get my first, second or third choice, but rather my fourteenth. This post will probably come across as sour grapes, and I know that I am lucky to have matched at all in this highly competitive field. However, the question of why I did so poorly has been eating me for a month now. Had I fallen three more spots down my rank list, I wouldn't have matched. What did I do wrong?

My adviser assured me that I was a strong candidate and was doing everything right. I had strong letters of recommendation from my home program and both of my away rotations. I am AOA with faculty awards in non-derm fields. I connected well with program directors and chairs at many of my interviews. I sent thank you notes. I don't have a personality disorder. My faculty adviser was just as confused as I am, and couldn't offer much advice other than to move on. I have accepted my position and will work hard during my residency, but I would really like to find out what I did wrong. Is there any way to get feedback from the programs with which I interviewed? Can anyone suggest another method for moving on?

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[reno911]

I know that you want to know. But there is really no way to find out. And even if there was, in all likelihood nothing went wrong. I can tell you from my experience from being full-time faculty at a derm dept for a while that there is a lot of randomness/luck involved. A lot more than you would ever believe. It was one of the more frustrating things for me about academia. Based on your description, you were probably a strong candidiate. So, the way I would take this is that you got unlucky. But your application was so strong, that you matched despite your bad luck.

We always hear the stories of someone who didn't have the greatest application on paper, but they matched at a top program. They will often have explanations for what other awesome attributes they had that allowed their application to shine despite fairly ordinary accomplishments (relative to other applicants), but some of them forget that at the end of the day they just got lucky -- maybe the right person reviewed their application or maybe their esoteric research was in just the right area ... who knows. But at the end of the day, for people like this to get lucky, people like you must get unlucky. But your application was strong enough that the bad luck did not derail your career.

I think you have the right attitude of accepting that you're still fortunate and you have a great opportunity to make the most of. I'm sure many have told you to just forget it and move on. It will be hard, but it's the right thing to do.

 

[asmallchild]

On March 11th, I was so excited to learn that I had matched into dermatology. However, on Match Day, I was shocked to open my envelope to find that I didn't get my first, second or third choice, but rather my fourteenth. This post will probably come across as sour grapes, and I know that I am lucky to have matched at all in this highly competitive field. However, the question of why I did so poorly has been eating me for a month now. Had I fallen three more spots down my rank list, I wouldn't have matched. What did I do wrong?

My adviser assured me that I was a strong candidate and was doing everything right. I had strong letters of recommendation from my home program and both of my away rotations. I am AOA with faculty awards in non-derm fields. I connected well with program directors and chairs at many of my interviews. I sent thank you notes. I don't have a personality disorder. My faculty adviser was just as confused as I am, and couldn't offer much advice other than to move on. I have accepted my position and will work hard during my residency, but I would really like to find out what I did wrong. Is there any way to get feedback from the programs with which I interviewed? Can anyone suggest another method for moving on?

Agree with above, it all boils down to luck. Being able to observe the match process as a resident over the last couple of years has been eye-opening: there's an incredible amount of randomness and luck involved (and for those cynical folk, yes perhaps a touch of nepotism sprinkled in)

The other part of acceptance is insight. I lacked it as a student, perhaps others had more. I can honestly say I had no idea what kind of residency program would suit me best and was ranking on random factors that don't really contribute to true satisfaction: location, presumed prestige, presumed resident happiness (which can drastically swing from year to year especially as new residents are integrated within the program), cushiness, academic time, etc

Now that I'm nearing the end, I can say that I luckily ended up matching where I belonged. And if asked if I would rank this program #1 if forced to go through the match process again, I would absolutely do so. Without getting too touchy feely and philosophical, I feel we usually end up where we were/are supposed to end up.

 

[xyzyx]

I have also sat in on these selection meetings and it is shocking how random it can be. We had some applicants who almost everyone liked, but if one atttending feels strongly negative against that person, the applicant gets knocked out of the top tier. This is just based on a 10 minute interview. How can you form such a strong opinion of someone in just 10 minutes? You were obviously a strong applicant to have had so many interviews. You had a lot of chances to make it into the top tier at a program and not have to go to the end of your list and be unmatched.

I think you have a good attitude about this; move on and do your best during residency.

You can continue asking people for feedback about what you did "wrong", but honestly, I don't think people can tell you much other than it was just the randomness of the process.

 

[opencomedo]

I agree with everything posted above. The match is an weird, fickle beast. I think the best thing you can do to move on is to be happy that you were able to match in to dermatology (there are true stories out there of people with more interviews than you not matching at all). You also have to remember that if you were ranking a bunch of competitive programs and/or places with research fellowships the number of actual spots available for you to match in may have been lower than it appeared. In my limited experience (less than above posters) you are just as likely to like (or dislike) your program at the end of residency matching high on your list versus matching low. I guess all I'm really trying to say is that in the long run you prob wind up where you should.


p.s. I have known 1 or 2 people to match low on their list and let people know about it, I would advise against this... One such person actually had a sense of "superiority" thinking they were better than the program they matched (obviously thats no good either).

 

[N-Surge]

Nothing went wrong. You matched, and for that you rock. We salute you. Welcome to the club. =)

Sent from my Nexus 4 using SDN Mobile

 

[ccmol]

On March 11th, I was so excited to learn that I had matched into dermatology. However, on Match Day, I was shocked to open my envelope to find that I didn't get my first, second or third choice, but rather my fourteenth. This post will probably come across as sour grapes, and I know that I am lucky to have matched at all in this highly competitive field. However, the question of why I did so poorly has been eating me for a month now. Had I fallen three more spots down my rank list, I wouldn't have matched. What did I do wrong?

My adviser assured me that I was a strong candidate and was doing everything right. I had strong letters of recommendation from my home program and both of my away rotations. I am AOA with faculty awards in non-derm fields. I connected well with program directors and chairs at many of my interviews. I sent thank you notes. I don't have a personality disorder. My faculty adviser was just as confused as I am, and couldn't offer much advice other than to move on. I have accepted my position and will work hard during my residency, but I would really like to find out what I did wrong. Is there any way to get feedback from the programs with which I interviewed? Can anyone suggest another method for moving on?

This is a tough one. I imagine you got a lot of strong places too so that could impact things. A number of friends also dropped pretty low but the only thing I could think is that they didn't go to a name brand school or had no research for some of the bigger places. However, I think it works better in the long-run because I did not like some of the better/top places myself.

 

[Dral]

As others have suggested, just go with it. I'm not going to say name means nothing, but it seems that in Derm, people really seem to end up in places where they fit in, for the most part. In the end, this is way more important than name, IMO.

I'll bet you'll find things at your program that will make you think to yourself how you fit in there more than some of the other places you ranked higher.

 

[Anonymous007]

What were your board scores, how much did you publish, and what tier med school do you attend? Were most of the programs on your rank list top tier programs?

 

[scumbagderm]

I matched at my number 17 out of 19. I was devastated.
I'm about to graduate and had a blast. My residency was perfect for me.
Enjoy life and forget the past.

 

[dermathalon]

Agree with above, it all boils down to luck. Being able to observe the match process as a resident over the last couple of years has been eye-opening: there's an incredible amount of randomness and luck involved (and for those cynical folk, yes perhaps a touch of nepotism sprinkled in)

The other part of acceptance is insight. I lacked it as a student, perhaps others had more. I can honestly say I had no idea what kind of residency program would suit me best and was ranking on random factors that don't really contribute to true satisfaction: location, presumed prestige, presumed resident happiness (which can drastically swing from year to year especially as new residents are integrated within the program), cushiness, academic time, etc

Now that I'm nearing the end, I can say that I luckily ended up matching where I belonged. And if asked if I would rank this program #1 if forced to go through the match process again, I would absolutely do so. Without getting too touchy feely and philosophical, I feel we usually end up where we were/are supposed to end up.

I can't tell you how much I agree with this post. We spend too much time chasing a program for reasons like prestige that never translate into happiness. Life is too short to not be happy. Might sound like a hard lesson if you've programmed yourself from pre-med years to always sacrifice, sacrifice, sacrifice...

Also, to the OP, you're in a tough predicament. No one really has any reason to be honest with you in regards to why you did nor did not match at a particular program. Your situation is precisely why people should try to go to as many interviews as possible. These experiences can be humbling but you will be so much more appreciative of life after you let this acute experience absorb. The last thing you want to do is be bitter because you will then become THAT resident that makes the residency a miserable place to be.
You are going to love residency and welcome!

 

[V3NOM]

Don't worry about that. Enjoy this opportunity you created.