I disagree that an FM secondary generally means you're getting an interview.
Generally it means the program is flooded with apps, because of all the low stats applicants who apply to 100+ programs, and because of the applicants who apply to all 50+ programs in an area such as SoCal or NYC.
A residency secondary generally means the program gets:
- too many primary apps
- not enough info in those primary apps to have a rational strategy for whom to select for interview (note: whether a selection process is "fair" to any given applicant isn't the point, nor was it the point in med school apps. get over that, if you haven't yet.)
- way too many applicants who do no research AT ALL thus don't realize that a program is rural or religious or on probation or no longer affiliated with X or requires a car or just changed from being a 3 yr to a 4 yr program etc.
- way too many applicants who will balk at a secondary which is a pretty darned good laziness indicator
When I was applying last year, I considered it a STRONG POSITIVE when a program required a secondary. It means SOMEBODY at the program isn't burned out by doing this whole thing every gosh darn year since the beginning of time.
Of note, some programs TELL YOU on their website what they want you to send. Noticing and acting on that is OBVIOUSLY a good idea.
Good luck y'all.
