No GI interviews yet — should I be concerned / start planning for next year?
Applying GI this cycle and still sitting at 0 interviews. I applied very broadly with a good mix of community, university-affiliated, and academic programs, and my home program has an internal GI fellowship but has not sent out interviews yet. For context, I’m a US MD and PGY-3 at a lower-tier academic IM program. I did have significant red flags from medical school: I had to repeat a year and failed Step 1 on my first attempt, although I subsequently passed and scored 248 on Step 2 CK and ~210 on Step 3. Research is probably the strongest part of my application: across my CV I have roughly 13 first-author manuscripts published/accepted plus several additional co-authored publications, with a large portion focused on GI/hepatology, as well as 30+ abstracts/presentations at the major GI/liver conferences, including an oral presentation at DDW and several research awards/distinctions. This is not just case reports and includes a substantial amount of original research. I also have several GI-related national organizational and local leadership roles, although I’m not a chief resident, and to my knowledge my recommendation letters were strong. I knew the medical school issues would hurt me, but I was hoping the upward trajectory, research productivity, and significant GI involvement would help offset them. At this point, is 0 interviews by mid-August a major red flag that this cycle may not work out, or is it still too early? And should I already be thinking about a game plan for next year—chief year, hospitalist year, dedicated research year, etc.—or focus on networking/reaching out to programs for now? My program does have an internal GI spot, so perhaps I get lucky there, but I’m trying to be realistic and proactive.