How many IM programs to apply to?

[throwaway1928]

Hello all!

I am a US-MD who is applying IM this upcoming ERAS cycle. I am hoping to match at an academic-type setting as I am interested in medical education/working with med students and possible fellowship after residency. I am wondering how many programs I should apply to to give myself the best chance of matching at this type of program? I currently have 27 programs on my list (hoping to stay Midwest).

Here are my stats:
STEP 1: 256
STEP 2: 271
Work: 1
Volunteer: 11
Research: 3
Pubs: a couple posters and oral presentations, no real pubs --> I feel like this is my main downfall for these types of programs, but my med school is pretty limited in terms of research availability, especially with COVID and all.

What do y'all think? I'm just genuinely curious and looking for any and all feedback!
Thanks!

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[The Last Ankibender]

With your stats I think 30-40 is more than enough. Add all the top programs you want and a couple of safety cause who knows

 

[Redpancreas]

Hello all!

I am a US-MD who is applying IM this upcoming ERAS cycle. I am hoping to match at an academic-type setting as I am interested in medical education/working with med students and possible fellowship after residency. I am wondering how many programs I should apply to to give myself the best chance of matching at this type of program? I currently have 27 programs on my list (hoping to stay Midwest).

Here are my stats:
STEP 1: 256
STEP 2: 271
Work: 1
Volunteer: 11
Research: 3
Pubs: a couple posters and oral presentations, no real pubs --> I feel like this is my main downfall for these types of programs, but my med school is pretty limited in terms of research availability, especially with COVID and all.

What do y'all think? I'm just genuinely curious and looking for any and all feedback!
Thanks!

Anyone advising, be aware there is a new change to ERAS where you are essentially given the option to tell x (I think 5?) programs that you're very interested in them as well as you can pick two geographic areas you want to settle in.

As for where I think you'll land, I'm thinking top 30ish assuming there's nothing egregious missing here and depending on the tier of your current institution.

As for how many to apply to, you're going to have people telling you to limit applications to XYZ but apply to how many you feel safe applying to. Everyone's in it for themself.

 

[throwaway1928]

Anyone advising, be aware there is a new change to ERAS where you are essentially given the option to tell x (I think 5?) programs that you're very interested in them as well as you can pick two geographic areas you want to settle in.

As for where I think you'll land, I'm thinking top 30ish assuming there's nothing egregious missing here and depending on the tier of your current institution.

As for how many to apply to, you're going to have people telling you to limit applications to XYZ but apply to how many you feel safe applying to. Everyone's in it for themself.

Thanks for the reply! I would say I'm at a mid/lower-tier MD school but I'm only applying at schools in the Midwest. My wife and I want to stay close to family during my training, and all the schools I'm applying to fit within the 3 regions I'm signaling. The top programs 5 that I'm signaling are a mix of reach and programs I think I have a pretty good shot at. The PD at my home programs basically told me that if I wanted to match there I would and thinks I have a good mix of programs of varying competitiveness and thought it was reasonable based on my scores. I might find 3 more to apply to so that I can round out to 30 and call it there. Does that sound reasonable?

 

[mrbreakfast]

I would say 30ish is a good number. You're quite likely to match favorably, but (as an applicant with similar stats) I was glad that I included a variety of programs as I ended up ranking one of my "warm-up" programs rather highly.

 

[throwaway1928]

I would say 30ish is a good number. You're quite likely to match favorably, but (as an applicant with similar stats) I was glad that I included a variety of programs as I ended up ranking one of my "warm-up" programs rather highly.

Thanks for the reply! I would say that the majority of my programs are university-based academic hospitals, but I have 5-6 (my home program included) that are more community-based university-affiliated that I am still very interested in as I would have the opportunity to work with medical education, just not at the same level as the other programs. Thanks for the advice!

 

[Elite Medical Prep]

With virtual interviews again this year I think everyone will be leaning towards applying to more rather than less. Your stats are very good, so you could almost definitely get away with 20 or less, but certainly would be reasonable to apply up to 30 to be safe. I guess there's no huge detriment to applying to more outside of the minimal application fee, but you will likely end up cancelling a lot of interviews towards the end so it's up to you.

 

[throwaway1928]

With virtual interviews again this year I think everyone will be leaning towards applying to more rather than less. Your stats are very good, so you could almost definitely get away with 20 or less, but certainly would be reasonable to apply up to 30 to be safe. I guess there's no huge detriment to applying to more outside of the minimal application fee, but you will likely end up cancelling a lot of interviews towards the end so it's up to you.

Thank you so much for the reply! I appreciate the feedback I think I'm gonna go with 30. I asked my home program PD and they seemed to think that my list was more than reasonable for my stats so I added like 3 "reach" programs outside the midwest just to shoot my shot. Thanks!