#SOAP19: My Strategy to Find Success After Failure
tl;dr: just match the first time, if not then read the entire post for my SOAP strategy.
WOW! This week has been an emotional roller coaster but I wanted to share my SOAP strategy in words while this is fresh because I found it so challenging to find help this week when I needed it most. Go ahead, google "SOAP Strategy"...Don't worry, I'll wait.
Do not make the same mistakes that I did in this process because relying on SOAP is the greatest gamble you can make when you have done so much to get so far. I will share openly with you all, as I have been transparent thus far in this hellish game, that my scores were 210/230/Pass all on the first attempt. I knew all to well after reviewing NRMP's Charting Outcomes that my Match success rate as an IMG with my stats and only two interviews was 20%. I was worried as hell going into the match and I knew in my gut that I was probably not matching - like it was a crazy, gnawing feeling that I had the morning of Match. I woke up on Monday and just knew this was not the day for me. Everything went wrong that morning including an emergency trip to a bathroom on the way to work because my bowels were as nervous as the rest of me.
Anyway, I found out Monday morning that I did not match. I was not okay. I was okay. Then, I was not okay. And that's all okay. I went into Match applying to 102 Ob-Gyn programs because that was the only specialty I wanted. It was where my heart was and I hadn't tried to envision myself in any other discipline. However, that failure was the best thing that could have happened to me because now I had a second chance. I was given the ability to envision myself in other disciplines that previously I had written off because I was so in love with my first core rotation of medical school.
Best advice here is not only give every discipline a chance, but actually try to gear your application toward two disciplines for yourself if your heart isn't screaming committment to one like Ob-Gyn was for me. . If you are like me and it's "this discipline or bust", you might feel the way I did Tuesday afternoon of the Match. By Tuesday afternoon, I had cycled (and re-cycled) through the stages of grief. I was angry that what I felt was "my" discipline didn't want me. I was depressed that I was not good enough. I thought my family was destined to be screwed for a long time because we've been struggeling thus far so what was to change? Luckily, I openly shared on Facebook my struggle and the overwheling support I received from friends and family made me cry a lot more...but then pull myself up by my bootstraps and keep fighting.
Once I accepted that I did not match, it was very easy for me to start planning and scheming my next move. Luckily for me, this year's SOAP process was very skewed from the normal process. It was basically one of the most dissappointing things about this that although I had planned SOAP one way, it was about to go a very different direction - especially when you paid ~$2,400.00 USD to AAMC's ERAS program that did not make sure the systems were in place to handle the thousands of applicants who collectively spent an ungodly amount of money...but, I digress.
I took the extra day that I had to get my application together and submitted to analyze my attack process while choking down any lingering emotions that I was having - yes, you can cycle out of acceptance back into anger and denial and every other stage --> just get back to acceptance fast because SOAP is not where you have time to linger.
Back to where I was going, not matching was the opportunity of a lifetime to apply to disciplines where I could see myself finding a happy quality of life in a location I would love. My two interviews last fall where up north where I was NOT from and had no idea if I could handle negative 100 degree weather and snow...ugh, but I was going to do anything to pursue Ob-Gyn. So, I applied in a region this time (South East) and into a variety of discplines...casting a wide net I guess you could say.
My SOAP strategy
You get 45 applications - I used all of them. Some people hold off on using them all thinking they should save them for later in the rounds but you probably should not do that! NRMP data even reports that a majority of positions are filled in the first round so don't save some applications as a way of holding out hope for later rounds because the math isn't good for you if you do.
Ballpark numbers I was estimating from looking at how the data trended: roughly 1000 US grads unmatched and I'm estimating about 13,000 others did not match (so either previous US grads or IMGs). So, 14,000 individuals going through the SOAP together....great, if I didn't stand out before what's going to make me stand out now? Not a good paradigm to have so I changed it and asked myself to brainstorm what is the best way to increase the odds since this was a gamble anyway. I chose five disciplines to have Personal Statements ready for that I wrote between Monday and Tuesday with using rejection as fuel to advocate for myself.
I applied to (roughly) five pathology, five internal medicine, five psychiatry, 5 Ob-Gyn [See, I wasn't ready to giveup], and 25 Family Medicine programs. In my opinion, the key for me was applying to programs with as many positions open as possible instead of those 1 or 2 spots available. Both interviews I received from SOAP (as I will describe below) were to programs that had plenty of seats available and the program and were in locations I would love to raise my kids with my wife. I figured if I was going to be switching committments to a different discipline then it might as well come with a view.
On Wednesday (because of the crazy change to the schedule SOAP schedule mentioned above), I was fortunate to receive my first phone call at 8 am requeting me to be available for a pathology interview at 11am. I was ecstatic. I was so happy that I was ready to move to the program that minute and show my committment. I felt that I had found a program that wanted me AND I was a good fit with the resident profiles I was reading... I was sold! Then, I received a phone call at 4:00 PM on Tuesday for a surprise interview by the PD of a categorical IM program. By the end of the phone call, I felt that I found a PD that I liked, who was about resident wellness, and made me excited to join her team. She took her time to go through the tenants of the program and wanted to know what questions that I had....Wow, I was torn. I went from feeling empty inside to having two very amazing prospects...prospects that felt like a bright light at the end of a dark tunnel. That night (last night), I went home to talk things out with my wife about how would I accept between the two should I receive an offer. I accepted the offer in the first round because I was not brave enough to see if I was going to get a different offer in the second round. Plus, I loved the impression of the IM program I accepted and the excellent presentation of the facets of the program. I was sold! Remember, most positions are reported to fill by the end of the first round meaning the applicant stays large, the availibility has decreased, and the probability is farther from you than winning the lottery. I truly feel today that I won the lottery.
So, will I become the Ob-Gyn I was dreaming to become as I continued to envision as I stared at the ACOG landing page (which I was on for almost all of last year and throughout residency interview season)? No. I will not become an Ob-Gyn but that is okay. Who knows if I change my mind down the road, but today I want to be the best damn generalist that can be produced from the program that chose me. I would have regretted having a parallel plan originally even with as brutal as the emotions were that I experienced this week. However, I am also resilient and knew I could handle an emotional roller coaster like I expereinced. I have been through a series of unfortunate events at times in my life, but I wouldn't change any of them because of who I am today. I really believe in the saying "everything happens for a reason" (thanks, mom), and I am truly a lucky man to be entering the world of Internal Medicine where I will find a niche for my passions as I am lucky enough to be passionate about many things.
So if you need to find me, I'll be in sunny Florida learning medicine for the next three years. If you have any questions, please reach out to me anytime, as I firmly believe it is important to help others, not just the sick patients but the next generation of doctors too!