How many applicants this year?

My program director said he got over 400 applications, supposedly half of that had a step 1 score over 220-230. The applicant pool was superb- many of whom, as he stated, could "walk on water".

wow. that's more than last year (I think I read 366 or something like that). makes me feel very lucky to even have interview offers...

yeah thats a lot, but dont forget that that includes people that didnt match the year before, residents trying to switch fields, and med students who apply to more than 1 field.

My sense is that the big name programs likely receive close to the total numbers in the applicant pool and "lesser" programs around the 200's. Though the pool includes "people that didnt match the year before, residents trying to switch fields, and med students who apply to more than 1 field"...they still add to the pool and I'm sure some are competitive as well.

Anybody read that recent red journal article about the NRMP match (Wilson and Haffty)? I found the numbers to be interesting...the article stated that the total number of applicants for the NRMP were like in the 200's? But that doesn't add up b/c I have heard (same as others) that the total numbers are closer to 400 and up. Are there that many programs accepting outside the match?

Originally posted by Thaiger75
Anybody read that recent red journal article about the NRMP match (Wilson and Haffty)? I found the numbers to be interesting...the article stated that the total number of applicants for the NRMP were like in the 200's? But that doesn't add up b/c I have heard (same as others) that the total numbers are closer to 400 and up. Are there that many programs accepting outside the match?

Click to expand...

Is that an actual count from last year or an average number from a few years?

about 200 per program is what folks are telling me. I dont believe the 400. But i may be wrong- if you add everyone up it may be 400

Originally posted by cancer_doc
Is that an actual count from last year or an average number from a few years?

Click to expand...

Ok, here are the recent numbers according to the review (which looks at 1993-2003):

2001: 214
2002: 188
2003: 209

Around 3/4 of these are 4th year US med students.

They only list around 50 programs, which means that there are many programs that offer outside the match, which is probably consistent with the underestimated numbers list above.

PD at UC said they received 230 applications.

I would guess the total number, then, would be somewhere a little below 300.

Guessing, though. Pure guessing.

My RD said applications are slightly down this year. Also at Buffalo I was told that they had something like 110 applicants.

Total rumor, but I've heard that applicant to position ratios this year are approximately 2:1 whereas they have been as close as 3:1 in previous years.

Why fight it? It sounds like good news to me!

Joe

Emory said they had 175 applications

Continuing to propagate rumors...

I heard 3rd (or 4th) hand that a PD (for some reason) showed the total number of ERAS (apparently for all programs) on his/her computer to one of the applicants and it was 270 or 271.

one PD tell's me about 300 applicants.
Most are telling me they are getting to the point that they may as well just chuck all the apps down a flight of stairs and take the ones that land face up. It would be about as objective as trying to select a mere 20 applicants for interview among a group so strong.