How Do You Pick Your Programs to Apply To?

[Gifted Hands]

It's that time of year again... ERAS application time

I'm getting everything together so I can submit on the 15th and I'm a bit curious about how many programs people typically apply to and how do people decide which programs to apply to?

I haven't really found any book or website that give info about residency programs (other than SDN, of course). So do people just pick where to apply based on location and prestige/well known?

Good luck everybody

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[oldbearprofessor]

how do people decide which programs to apply to?

Obvious factors need to be considered and are described in many places. These include location, size of program, your competitiveness for them and proximity to things like a beach/ski resort/good cheap food (yes, I know that's part of location, which is important enough to be listed twice ).

Beyond that though what you need to do is to make an appointment with at least 2, preferably more pedi faculty and run your ideas/list by them. Find faculty that didn't go to college, med school, residency and fellowship all at your institution....Try to find faculty that won't cry/scream/physically attack you when you say you want to look outside your home program.

It is also worthwhile to check peer resources (including the interview threads on SDN), and recent grads from your program and see what their experiences have been.

Others can comment on the usual number of programs.

 

[Superman DO]

I don't know about other people, but I have 22 programs lined up to apply to. Cannot wait to hit the submit button on Sunday! =)

Edit: I'm applying based purely on location. I want to get back to the Southeast!

 

[Pipers]

It's that time of year again... ERAS application time

I'm getting everything together so I can submit on the 15th and I'm a bit curious about how many programs people typically apply to and how do people decide which programs to apply to?

I haven't really found any book or website that give info about residency programs (other than SDN, of course). So do people just pick where to apply based on location and prestige/well known?

Good luck everybody

I'm applying to 20 programs (I don't want to pay the increased fee for any programs above the 20). I am from the west coast so many of the faculty I've worked are familiar with the programs. Word of mouth for me was a way to decide about these programs. To decide about other programs in the midwest and east coast, I talked to the program director at my school, who was able to give me good ideas about programs within my reach and that fit my needs/wants.

 

[Rutgers06]

It's that time of year again... ERAS application time

I'm getting everything together so I can submit on the 15th and I'm a bit curious about how many programs people typically apply to and how do people decide which programs to apply to?

I haven't really found any book or website that give info about residency programs (other than SDN, of course). So do people just pick where to apply based on location and prestige/well known?

Good luck everybody

I would say that 15-20 programs is a pretty decent number to apply to. If you're couples matching, going for a broader geographic area or have any red flags, then you could probably do more. I personally applied to 18 programs and pretty much applied to programs in the NE (Boston to DC to Pittsburgh) and chose programs based upon reputation. It was definitely helpful for me to sit down with a few peds people to get guidance on what other programs were like. Some other things to think about are whether you want to be at a freestanding children's hospital or not and how big of a program you want to be in.

If you want a more general overview of what factors people use to figure out where you apply to, you can go to the NRMP website and look at the results of the 2013 NRMP applicant survey http://www.nrmp.org/match-data/main-residency-match-data/. In peds, the big factors were geography, reputation, quality of training, quality of residents and size of the program. Good luck this match season!

 

[mvenus929]

My adviser and the adviser to one of my friends told us both 15-25 programs. I'm still working on my list, but I have 19 as of now... I may or may not drop some of those. I'm on the East Coast, but am applying to Western and Southeast/Mid-Atlantic programs with a range of program sizes. The Western programs are pretty easy to choose between, because there's typically only one or two per state (except Cali, and I'm only doing Northern California, so that narrows the field a bit).

 

[Scissor88]

Hi,

I'm in interested in pediatrics and have a few questions. (I am US med student at a DO school).

1. How many places should I apply to?

I've applied to 9 DO programs and will be applying to 9 MD programs. I only took the COMLEX boards - 692 (Level 1), 678 (Level 2). Quiet person in general, but am enthusiastic on rotations, always on time/early. I've done generic volunteering experience with the exception of a medical mission for 2 weeks in Peru. I came straight from undergrad and so do not have any real work experience nor have I done any research.

2. How long after a program downloads your application should you expect to get an interview offer if you are going to get one?

Of the 9 DO programs I applied to in July - 8 have downloaded my application and I have only received 1 interview offer. Should I start to be concerned that the other programs are not going to offer me an interview?

3. Should I apply to family med as a back-up?

Thanks for the help!!

 

[danaling12]

I'm applying to about 26 programs mostly mid-Atlantic region and Chicago. From what I've heard around 20 is usually good to start.

 

[DitchDoc73]

26 here as well...Based my decisions off of location, and availability of fellowships that I am interested in. Best of luck all!