applying to 5 programs - am i crazy?

[littlbluepengui]

hi everyone,

just wanted to see if there was anyone else restricted to applying only in one city. i HAVE to be in Chicago, so i was thinking of applying to all the uro programs there, and then entering the NRMP in another specialty.

Do I have a chance? I think this just may be a wasted effort. Seems like most people apply to 30ish programs.

Step I: 243
Clinical grades: All honors
Preclinical grades: honors, a few high passes
Research: first author on one paper, none in urology

thanks for your help!

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[Tori's dad]

Your application looks good, I think you'll get interviews in Chicago for sure. The problem is that for all the midwest, east and west coast students, Chicago is a big name city, so you'll be in a large applicant pool. Essentially, there will be many with numbers similar to yours. Are you crazy for only applying to five...Maybe not if you ABSOLUTELY cannot go elsewhere. Be honest with yourself, could you go to Wisconsin or Indiana or Ohio etc? Be prepared for the possibility of not matching and have a backup plan. Personally I would rather go elsewhere than not match, but you gotta do what you gotta do. This is all just opinion however. Best of luck.

 

[littlbluepengui]

hi tori's dad,
thanks so much for your response. i see your point. however, my fiancee has accepted a full ride plus 25k a year stipend for a phd at northwestern...so i'm pretty attached to chicago. anyway, i'm prepared to enter the regular match as a backup. i'm just glad to hear someone thinks this is even worth a try.
thanks again.

 

[KAI1927]

I think Tori's dad is right on the money, but what do i know I am still just a med student as well. Something that could help you a great deal would be doing an away rotation at one of the chicago places and getting a good letter from the chairman. Since you probally make a great impression and the programs know you are dedicated to the chicago area having a letter from a local program would put you in strong standing.

 

[jshcan]

having matched not too long ago, my advice would be to do several aways in chicago, and at the places that you dont do an away, try to make an effort to visit them or spend some time there. that might be overkill and way too intense, but it sounds like you're pretty set on chicago or nothing. doing just one away at say a place like northwestern or loyola is great and all, but the pool of people that uic or rush are looking at may be slightly different. so it might be a good idea to do something there too to show that you'd be willing to go to one of those places as well. also, second looks can be very helpful after the interview just prior to the ranking process, particularly if you haven't done an away there. although have you considered milwaukee? you could live in between. it would be painful but do-able.