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advice from past scramblers - abciximab82
#1
for the brave individuals who have scrambled in the past...

do you have any pearls of wisdom to pass on? something you wish you had done differently? anything at all?


i helped a friend scramble last year. i can tell you from experience that faxing was a waste of time. in the end, it just took up too much time, and we resorted to ERAS, emails, and phone calling. nonetheless, we were still unsuccessful.

please advise!
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#2
I helped many people to match last year in the scramble. You are right faxing and emailing is useless. Even applying to any speciality other than prelim surgery is wasting of time. Apply only through eras to 45 programs and thats it. i will provide you with the list on 10 mrach that take imgs in the scramble.
applicantguide
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#3
I disagree with the advice that applying to other specialties than prelimn surg is a waste of time. I personally coached people who entered IM last year in the scramble.

In fact, I do not recommend to anyone to get into prelimn surg. It is a dead end move. Once you get there, you get stuck. Transitioning to Gen Surg is extremely hard and there is much abuse in prelimn. I coached somebody who entered prelimn, now they are pretty much forcing her to do 2 years of research. She could not get into Gen Surg, could not have a single interview other than her own. Once you are there and you apply to other specialties, people do not understand why you are not pursuing surg.
Think twice before you go into prelimn surg. You would think it gives you US clin exp, but it also boxes you in a way that is difficult to get out later.

Dr. Belibi
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#4
Just FYI, here are average number of applications split by specialty received by programs on the first day of scramble:

FM - 518
Anesthesiology - 453
IM - 434
Pediatrics - 319
Psychiatry - 307
Emergency Medicine - 236
Surgery - 164
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