Hard at work

I've been hard at work, waiting for interviews to come in.

On a lighter note

I ordered the new Sienfeld
DVD's today from Amazon. They have a special edition set with the first 3 seasons and some extra junk thrown in there like a script and salt and pepper shakers. They have it for $77 or so which is ridiculously cheap compared to the prices I have seen it at elsewhere.

MCG continued

I called MCG today for further details. It turns out no rental car will be needed after all. There is a shuttle from the airport to the Partridge Inn and from there to MCG. The dinner on Friday night is at 7:00PM at the Partridge Inn. I think I may have stayed at this place before. It was a really neat historic hotel. I remember very specifically what I got to eat at the restaraunt and that it was extremely cheap and most delicious.

The other thing I learned is that they plan to have 20 applicants per session. The other is some time in March. If they get 40 people to interview it would be fairly long odds given that they only offer 2 spots.

The flight is going to be a little pricey at right around $300 and the hotel will be $55. Hopefully that will be one of the most expensive ones and everything else will be cheaper. I have $500 per interview budgeted so I suppose anything under that amount is a plus. Still the U of Chicago interview will be under $200 total. Oh well, we can't have it all.

Time to break out the magnifying glass

Today I am going to do some advanced snooping on MCG. Now is when I do the search for where their graduates have ended up, who is doing what research etc. Its time to get serious and take a real hard look at them. In the next few days I will put together a list of questions about things that I could not answer on my own.

I still have no idea what is going on over at plastics2002. Hopefully it has been down for a site reorganization and it will reopen better than ever. In the meantime people seem to be posting over at the forums on scutwork.com. Its interesting to see other people go through the same ups and downs that I do. Some of them are getting interviews at the elite institutions and getting flat out rejections from not so desirable places. The criteria for interviewing must be bizarre at some of these places.

I got a look at some of the interviewees at our general surgery program the other day. I got to look at some of their applications and I must say I was seriously impressed. A much higher caliber of applicant is coming through than we have seen over the last 3 years. I suspect general surgery will be extremely competitive this year. Perhaps GS as a specialty is regaining some of its prestige. Its yet another thing that people can bash us gen-xers about. We were all too lazy and worthless to be up to the challenge and honor of general surgery. We're like Rodney Dangerfield when it comes to respect. :P

It was getting too quiet

Looked in the mailbox today and there was an invite from Medical College of Georgia. They are offering interviews on Jan 14th and 15th (two day affair) or March 11th and 12th. I signed up for the 14th and 15th. If anyone is going let me know. Maybe we can share a car or something.

Interview confirmed.

My first interview is all set. It is at the University of Chicago. The interview starts at 08:00 on Thursday December 9th. I am planning on flying in the night before and staying with a cousin in Lincoln Park. I'm also going to stick around the night of December 9th to revisit my old stomping grounds. If anyone wants to meet up let me know.

Set up message board!

Alright I finally bit the bullet. Plastics2002 has been down for some time. I finally set up a plastic surgery fellowship discussion board. I have a free 30 day trial for the board. If there is enough interest I will consider making it a more permanent board. In order to post there you have to register with ezboard but its not a big deal and it is completely anonymous. You can check it out at:
The Plastic Surgery Fellowship Match Forum.

Plastics2002 where are you?

Oooh this is painful. I wonder whats going on over at plastics2002? There has been this apache.org message on there for days now. This is longer than the usual drop. I'm glad I'm not in the combined/integrated match. They are in the thick of it right now and plastics2002 is much more relevant to them. All is quiet on my front. No more news one way or the other to report.

Grrrrrr.....Holiday = no mail

I kept checking my mailbox and then I remembered. Its a holiday. Oh well I guess it can wait. Its too early anyway except for a few fluke interviews here and there.

Switched Browsers tonight.

I switched browsers tonight. I am going to try out Firefox - Mozilla's new browzer. So far it seems to be working very nicely. It works almost exactly like internet explorer but it blocks pop-ups. Sometimes that can be a problem like if you are using a spell checker on some sites they pop up in new windows. You can click on a little button at the top of Firefox and it will bring up options to allow that particular pop-up. So far it has worked seemlessly for me. If you are interested head on over to
Mozilla's Website.

Emails from Applicants

I got a few emails from applicants yesterday. I love meeting people so if you check the site regularly I would love to hear from you. Although I am not posting information about specific programs on here I do discuss what I know privately over email. One of the best resources we all have is talking to each other. There is no better source of information than someone who is actually at a program, even if they are only lurking in general surgery. I assume that most of the other applicants are like I am. I have tried to get to know my plastics department from the ground up all the way from the office girls to the scrub techs to the residents to the attendings. There isn't a whole lot that goes on that I don't know about one way or another. If those channels fail I am certainly not above a little of the old-fashioned locker room surveillance. :P So anyway a big shout out to the other applicants and if you're willing I am waiting for a big shout back.

Fourth Communication from a Program

Pay Dirt
I got a call from a program director last night. I was offered an interview for what I consider one of the top 3 programs in the country. I don't think I am supposed to say where yet because they haven't been able to call all of the potential interviewees. I can say that the interview will take place in early December and that they plan to invite 5 people.
Needless to say I am doing cartwheels right now. I couldn't sleep last night so I am wandering around like a happy zombie. Maybe there is hope for me after all.

A relaxing week of vacation

I just got back from a week of vacation. It was a well needed rest. I didn't get any more mail over the course of the week. Based on discussions with a few fellows, I suspect that a few of the early interviewing programs will start to offer interviews in the next few weeks. Most remembered getting a few offers in November for January interview dates. Obviously some programs are starting to look at applications. I would assume that Tulane has offered interviews to some people, given that they sent me a thanks-but-no-thanks letter. Hopefully things will start heating up soon.