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Is there some of that? Perhaps. But I think that you are overgeneralizing a bit, and frankly it's not very helpful. That particular reason isn't going to help her match the next time around.My statement of medicine being conservative was not a political one...medicine is slow to move and still is very male centric with the idea that men have spouses that will take care of the family and the resident can focus on their job as being a trainee...your statement here shows that to be true... if you mentioned you are married with children during your interview, it would have been seen as a positive... stable and reliable because you have a family...it’s not so for women... because it’s still seen that women are still responsible for the family and it will divide her attention from training.
Let's look at reality here for a second. She is a higher risk applicant. As NotAPD mentioned, she was a below average student in her clinical rotations. Even if it wasn't for the other factors, that's a big risk. Now you include that she is a single parent with a special needs child, entering a job that is even more demanding than clinical rotations, and it's not hard to rationalize that PD's will have concerns. If I was a PD...I'd have questions. If she had a great plan I'd be willing to give her shot....which seems to be the case, as she did receive 10 interviews (30% of her applications resulted in invites). There were tons of PD's that gave her a shot.
Regarding your last statement. She IS responsible for her family. And it WILL divide her attention from training. How can it not? She's a single mother...she is the family for her special needs child. I'd have the same concerns about a single dad in those circumstances. If she brings up the topic, I'm going to ask about her plan...any smart PD would. Again...a PD would be a complete fool if they didn't...they want to see that their residents make it through their training program and become board certified.
I'm rooting for her. The fact that she has come this far with her challenges is remarkable. It speaks loudly about her perseverance and work ethic. If she had a plan...I'd even be willing to look over the lesser clinical scores (because she had a good reason...in my opinion). But she needs a plan. She needs to get that figured out before she reapplies. Or she can just withhold the information....but honestly, I would see it as a positive if she just had a good plan laid out as far as how she was going to pull it off in residency.