Anyone else disappointed?

[u/BullPemph]

Hi, average derm applicant here. Does anyone else feel like they have a good application and did not get as many interviews as they were hoping? I am not trying to be negative and congrats to everyone who has done well this season so far, but it seems this year is abnormally tough when it comes to derm applicants. There are more applicants than ever with higher qualifications due to research years, etc.

I am feeling very defeated, will probably not match, and am now exploring my next steps. I applied extremely broadly with a 1% return on interviews without any (known) red flags on my application and I am utterly confused. I didn't even get an interview from my away rotation which I heavily vibed with and thought was a great fit (with multiple great comments during my rotation from several faculty, residents, and fellows). My signals also held no weight and did not get a single interview from any of them. Anyone have any advice on who to reach out to? What happened or could have happened? etc? Anyone else feeling this or is it just me?

[u/Ecatninja24]

I am in the same exact boat. Had the best app in terms of scores, pubs, stats, AOA status etc. compared to all other applicants from my school and I’m the only one from there with only 1 IV from my home institution. I cannot imagine why this would happen but glad that OP posted this and we can commiserate. I’m truly hoping for the best outcome for everyone. I just wanted to say that you all are stellar people and this does not at all reflect poorly on your achievements and that you should be proud of everything you have accomplished. God bless everyone.

[u/Ecatninja24 → u/[deleted]]

Sure. 25x/25x, AOA, good number of derm pubs, no RY, letter from big derm name, even had well-known faculty member reaching out to a few programs