First, congrats to those who matched! I think it would be an invaluable resource for future applicants if we got a better idea of what it takes to match. Forums for other competitive specialties do this. Seeing where people from what schools match is useful, but it doesn’t give the entire picture. If you want to keep certain parts of your application anonymous, thats fine, but obviously the more details the better.

Format-

Undergraduate:

MCAT:

Medical School:

Step I:

Step II CK:

Preclinical :

Third-year Clinical :

Fourth-year Clinical :

Alpha Omega Alpha:

Research: 

Programs applied to:

Interviews Offered:

Accepted interviews:

Ranked programs: 

Match:

General Comments :

Undergraduate: Princeton University
Step I: 238 / 96
Step II CK: 240 / 99

Preclinical : Some honors
Third-year Clinical : Almost all honors
Fourth-year Clinical : Almost all honors (including neurosurgery Sub-Is)
Alpha Omega Alpha: no
Research:  Extensive before and during med school, w/ abstracts presented
Programs applied to: 40
Interviews Offered: 33
Accepted interviews: 13
Ranked programs:  12
Match: No match.

Missed matching by one spot at my home program, was heavily courted by several places and my chairman knows I was ranked highly at several other programs.  Very disappointed today, but based on feedback I don’t think anything was wrong or missing in my application process...just really awful luck in the outcome, and probably a heartbreaking number of near-misses.  Will certainly be watching the radar for vacancies, though my understanding is that this was a highly competitive year and openings are especially unlikely.

Hope someone is helped out by the data I’m sharing - and that others will have the courage to do the same.  I know I’m not the only good applicant who had a rough day today, and I share my condolences with the others.  No shame in having tried our best even if we missed out, guys and gals.

And truly, congratulations to those of you who matched.  I met some fantastic people on the trail this year.  When I look at the match list, specifically at the places I had ranked highly, I can say that every single person who matched there deserves their spot and I do not begrudge a single one of them.  Way to go, y’all. 

Holy shit, what the hell happened ?

Terribly sorry to hear this, surgigal. My best wishes to your future endeavours.

Anonymous User - 24 January 2008 02:07 PM

Holy shit, what the hell happened ?

Terribly sorry to hear this, surgigal. My best wishes to your future endeavours.

Thanks a whole bunch, I appreciate it!  Nobody knows what happened… I have to say, it really put a band-aid on my heart when my home program’s chairman seemed as shocked as I felt.  When I got the call from my dean at 7am with the bad news, I thought this could only have happened if I really screwed up somehow, and maybe my chairman would tell me that there had been awful feedback on my interviews or something.  Nope.  Just a fluke, for all we can tell.  So it happens!

Time to grab those bootstraps and make a new plan of attack, I guess. 

Undergraduate: UC Berkeley
Step I: 256 / 99

Preclinical : All honors
Third-year Clinical : Half honors, Half high pass
Fourth-year Clinical : Honors (including neurosurgery Sub-Is)
Alpha Omega Alpha: unknown
Research:  PhD (two first author, 4 other, 1 pending first author)
Programs applied to: ~45
Interviews Offered: 40
Accepted interviews: 22
Ranked programs:  21
Match: Matched (one of my top 3)

Maybe you didn’t match because people thought you weren’t enough of a douchebag to belong in ns.  The appropriate response to not matching with those credentials is screaming, cursing and chair throwing, not polite acceptance.

Most respect surgigal---for keeping your head up and still going for your dream.  You would make a great team member on any NS service.  Don’t give up.  Credentials are great...PD’s screwed up majorly

Undergraduate: ASU

MCAT: 29

Step I: 241/97

Step II CK: 241/97

Preclinical : 1/2 H, 1/2 HP

Third-year Clinical : Only H in Neurosurgery and Surgery SubI’s, everything else HP

Fourth-year Clinical : HP’s

Alpha Omega Alpha: No

Research: 1 abstract, 1 case review

Programs applied to: 32

Interviews Offered: 17

Accepted interviews: 12

Ranked programs: 11

Match: My second choice.

General Comments : Be yourself. I know most neurosurgeons want to make the whole world believe that their job is holly and something that only geniuses can master. But really, when you think about it, it’s pretty mechanical and certainly nothing that you can’t learn after seven years. Good luck.

Undergraduate: Westminster College
Medical School: Mercer University
Step I:  248/99
Step II CK: not taken yet
Preclinical :  school does not put grades on transcript, but reports in top 10%
Third-year Clinical : above
Fourth-year Clinical : above
Alpha Omega Alpha: as a junior
Research:  Clinical with a couple case reports, some still data collection, a couple of presentations
Programs applied to: 45
Interviews Offered: 35
Accepted interviews: 15
Ranked programs: 15
Match: #1

Undergraduate: NC State (ie… Wolfpack Red)
MCAT: 29 (yeh, yeh… not so hot)
Medical School: UT-Memphis
Step I: 260/99
Step II CK: not taken yet
Preclinical: 4.0
Third-year Clinical: 4 A’s, 2 B’s (damn you OB/GYN)
Fourth-year Clinical: All A’s and passes
Alpha Omega Alpha: nope
Research: 1 pub (undergrad), 1 poster (m1/m2 summer), several projects - not related to NSG
Programs applied to: 30
Interviews Offered: 25
Accepted interviews: 18
Ranked programs: 16
Match: Matched
General Comments: I could go on a diatribe here but I’ll keep it short. The interview trail and ranking process was more subjective in the end than I could appreciate when this whole mess started. Meaning, realize that you’re going to a program for 6-8 years. Use your home + away rotations to figure out the environment you feel you’d really be able to succeed in - type of people, attitude of the program, program size, location.

Hey- just quickly wanted to thank everyone for posting on this topic.  It helps the rest of us out in getting some sort of idea of the process you all just completed (congratulations to everyone who matched!).  Please keep the posts coming and offer any advice you may have for those of us who will be following in your footsteps…

Undergraduate: A Midwest School
MCAT: 36 (Don’t know why this is listed since no one cares about MCAT)
Medical School: A Midwest School
Step I: 265/99
Step II CK: Not Taken Yet
Preclinical: A’s
Third-year Clinical : A’s except AB in OB/Gyn and Family Med
Fourth-year Clinical: A’s on SubI’s, I will someday get around to checking the other grades
Alpha Omega Alpha: Yes
Research: Solid first author paper
Programs applied to: 32
Interviews Offered: 22-24
Accepted interviews: 13
Ranked programs: 13
Match: 5

Thank you for replying to this thread! This will be very useful for future applicants!

Anonymous User - 24 January 2008 02:41 PM

Maybe you didn’t match because people thought you weren’t enough of a douchebag to belong in ns.  The appropriate response to not matching with those credentials is screaming, cursing and chair throwing, not polite acceptance.

Anonymous User - 24 January 2008 02:49 PM

Most respect surgigal---for keeping your head up and still going for your dream.  You would make a great team member on any NS service.  Don’t give up.  Credentials are great...PD’s screwed up majorly

Again, thanks a lot to both of you for your kind comments.  It hurts a lot to have spent the money, taken all those flights, put on my best face for so many interviews and still come away without a match today.  But you know, I bet I don’t even have the best resume among the people who got hosed this year!  I try not to take it personally, and realize that it doesn’t mean I “wasn’t good enough.” I think I’d have been a very good resident and NS, just like almost every single person who applies would be, but there aren’t enough spots for all of us.

I’ve also found really incredible support at my home institution which is helping me to be strong and move forward.  If I want to pursue neurosurgery by taking a prelim surgery year at home and going for a PGY2 spot or the match again next year, that option is on the table.  I’m involved in a neurosurgery research project, and could consider making that a full-time year long endeavor.  I’ve also heard from totally different departments who knew me from clinical rotations, and who say they are holding me a spot in this year’s match if I would be willing to let neurosurgery go.  So although I didn’t get what I hoped for today, only 12 hours later I can honestly say that the future holds good choices and I believe I will find something that makes me very happy.  I wish the same supportive environment and open doors for everyone who got bad news today.  It’ll all work out in the end.

Glad to see you’ve kept your chin up, surgigal. I remember some freak story last year about this exceptional female applicant who didn’t match. Hope it doesn’t become the norm…

Oh, and same goes for all unmatched applicants. Best of luck, and don’t give up the fight.