6 Interviews so far, worried

[KeepCalm&DownDog]

Hey guys,

I'm a 4th year student at a US allopathic program (state). I applied to ~29 IM programs and so far have only heard back from six . I am concerned because I actually did not receive an email invitation from the last program that extended an interview (Loyola) and they had to call me personally. For some reason, the PC's email address was thought to be quarantined as spam, although the message never showed in my spam folder either!

Now I am worried that the same thing may happen with the other programs I have applied to (mostly east coast and Chicago), as I am not receiving rejection emails either. I consider myself to be a below-average applicant on paper but with strong Dean's letter and LoR's. Step 1 216/Step 2 223/CS passed first try.

Should I have more interviews by now, or am I stressing out unnecessarily?

Thanks, sorry if this is a total newb post.

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[littlereddot]

I am at a similar situation. I am a somewhat competitive applicant for peds step1 237/step 2 233/step 3 251. The only downside is that I am a Canadian graduate and need visa.

I applied to about 50+ peds programs (a mix of top, mid-tier and community programs) and I only have 6 invites and 1 waitlist so far. I am getting a bit worried because the interview slots are getting full in most programs. I have 4 rejections but the rest of the programs are radiosilent. I believe that some of the programs that I have not heard from, have started sending out rejections to applicants. Does it mean that I still have a chance at those programs at this point in time?

One surprising thing is that I am not getting invites from smaller community programs while IMGs with much lower scores than me are getting invites.

 

[curiousneuro]

Hey guys,

I'm a 4th year student at a US allopathic program (state). I applied to ~29 IM programs and so far have only heard back from six . I am concerned because I actually did not receive an email invitation from the last program that extended an interview (Loyola) and they had to call me personally. For some reason, the PC's email address was thought to be quarantined as spam, although the message never showed in my spam folder either!

Now I am worried that the same thing may happen with the other programs I have applied to (mostly east coast and Chicago), as I am not receiving rejection emails either. I consider myself to be a below-average applicant on paper but with strong Dean's letter and LoR's. Step 1 216/Step 2 223/CS passed first try.

Should I have more interviews by now, or am I stressing out unnecessarily?

Thanks, sorry if this is a total newb post.

What type of programs did you apply to, like reaches/safeties? Did you have a proportionally high number of reaches?

 

[KeepCalm&DownDog]

@littlereddot I'm sorry to hear that you are in a similar situation. Your stats are solid and it sounds like you applied to a reassuring number of programs. I wish I had some answers as to why we have so few interviews so far, and I haven't been in touch with friends or classmates to compare our situations to everyone else. I'm hopeful that it's still early in the season and that programs are probably still sifting through apps and haven't gotten to ours yet

@curiousneuro Thanks for the reply! I applied to 4 reach programs (WashU, Brighams, Penn, Boston University, Mass Gen), 5 community programs, and the rest are solid university programs. To be honest, I have already received interviews at the programs that I will rank highly (and likely my home institution will be #1 because I have strong ties to the area and incentive to stay).

I just regret not having higher Step scores, but studied my hardest and honestly did the best I could. I hope that my stats and lack of research aren't seen as a liability at this point.

 

[californiaappli1]

I have a similar step 1 and higher step 2 ck. I applied to 55 programs and have around double your interviews. I suggest applying to more programs if you can.

I haven't received many mid university interviews atm.

 

[one11]

I have a similar step 1 and higher step 2 ck. I applied to 55 programs and have around double your interviews. I suggest applying to more programs if you can.

I haven't received many mid university interviews atm.

That what I was going to say, I don't think your scores is a problem for decent community programs or even university ones given that you are an AMG. You just need to apply to more programs (try to do it now since things are catching up), and be reasonable about programs. It is ok to apply for reach programs (at the end no body knows!), but the ratio should be 1:10, for each reach program, apply for 10 decent community programs.

 

[gutonc]

That what I was going to say, I don't think your scores is a problem for decent community programs or even university ones given that you are an AMG. You just need to apply to more programs (try to do it now since things are catching up), and be reasonable about programs. It is ok to apply for reach programs (at the end no body knows!), but the ratio should be 1:10, for each reach program, apply for 10 decent community programs.

No idea where you came up with this "data". And I wouldn't call it the worst advice ever, but it's pretty damn suspect.

 

[KeepCalm&DownDog]

I'm strapped for cash and can't think of any other programs I would want to apply to at this point. I find the 1:10 ratio interesting, as I haven't heard of it before! Sounds expensive though

I'm happy with the invites I have received, but decided to reach out to a handful of programs this afternoon to 'express interest.'

Here's hoping!

 

[KeepCalm&DownDog]

@californiaappli1 Good luck to you!!

 

[one11]

No idea where you came up with this "data". And I wouldn't call it the worst advice ever, but it's pretty damn suspect.

The data from the NRMP says that you need about 10 IVs to guarantee match. Although there are no data about how many interviews an applicant can get, but its somehow close to 50% of all programs you apply for (if you are an AMG and you applied to programs that matched you credentials). In case of the OP, he needs 4-5 more IVs to match, the probability to have an IV and match to a reach program (based on his scores) is less than 10% I think. So he needs to apply to 10 more community programs hoping for 50% of them will send an invitation and then will have a total 10 IVs which is a safe number to match.

 

[KeepCalm&DownDog]

The data from the NRMP says that you need about 10 IVs to guarantee match. Although there are no data about how many interviews an applicant can get, but its somehow close to 50% of all programs you apply for (if you are an AMG and you applied to programs that matched you credentials). In case of the OP, he needs 4-5 more IVs to match, the probability to have an IV and match to a reach program (based on his scores) is less than 10% I think. So he needs to apply to 10 more community programs hoping for 50% of them will send an invitation and then will have a total 10 IVs which is a safe number to match.

Ahh I see. Those stats are disheartening, but assuming I receive 50% of interviews from the 16 programs (20 remaining - 4 reach programs) I have still yet to hear from, then I would be sitting at 14 interviews total, assuming I took all 8.

I only need four more interviews to hit the magic number of 10, so i'm not really that bad off since it's still early in the app season, right?

 

[playingfrombehind]

~29 IM programs Step 1 216/Step 2 223/CS passed first try. .

Your scores are not that great for IM. both your USMLE scores are below average (just stating the facts...but your scores are better than mine)

Did you back up in family mediicne?
Did you apply to top tier programs only?

Also you have to make sure you meet the program's cutoffs beacuse programs may use a filter and if you app is below their req then app may never see a human being.
I only applied to IM programs allowing step 1 failures PLUS meet specific score cutoffs (also avoided university/top-tiered programs, applied about 100 FM, IM, psych)
If there was any requirement where I didn't meet for a school didn't bother to apply (exception my own school)

But there is hope for you I have received more IM interviews then you and both your step scores are higher than mine but again only applied to programs where I met requirements

 

[KeepCalm&DownDog]

Your scores are not that great for IM. both your USMLE scores are below average (just stating the facts...but your scores are better than mine)

Did you back up in family mediicne?
Did you apply to top tier programs only?

Also you have to make sure you meet the program's cutoffs beacuse programs may use a filter and if you app is below their req then app may never see a human being.
I only applied to IM programs allowing step 1 failures PLUS meet specific score cutoffs (also avoided university/top-tiered programs, applied about 100 FM, IM, psych)
If there was any requirement where I didn't meet for a school didn't bother to apply (exception my own school)

But there is hope for you I have received more IM interviews then you and both your step scores are higher than mine but again only applied to programs where I met requirements

Thanks for the advice! My scores meet the cutoff for about 80% of the program's I applied to. As I mentioned above, of the 29 I applied to, only 4 are 'reach' programs (not sure how to determine which are top tier). 100 seems like A LOT of programs, and from the people I've talked to who are also applying IM, 29-30 is about the average number of programs ppl with similar stats as me are applying to.

The one program that did reject me had no cutoff for step 1 score listed on FREIDA.

I have no interest in family medicine and wasn't aware that applying FM as a back up to IM was common practice. I just need four more interviews to reach ten and I'm solid!

 

[playingfrombehind]

Thanks for the advice! My scores meet the cutoff for about 80% of the program's I applied to. As I mentioned above, of the 29 I applied to, only 4 are 'reach' programs (not sure how to determine which are top tier). 100 seems like A LOT of programs, and from the people I've talked to who are also applying IM, 29-30 is about the average number of programs ppl with similar stats as me are applying to.

The one program that did reject me had no cutoff for step 1 score listed on FREIDA.

I have no interest in family medicine and wasn't aware that applying FM as a back up to IM was common practice. I just need four more interviews to reach ten and I'm solid!

I guess its alittle too late to add programs now but honestly its like 20 someting dolllars for each additional program - better safe than sorry

in my mind IM minus peds/OBGYN is bascially FM because there are some FM programs that are pretty much the same as IM especially in the unopposed programs where FMs are the only residents and expected to provide full spectrum care.

I applied to about 100 in total (FM + IM + psych - mostly FM)
Calling the program/beg your attending to call on your behalf, etc. helps for FM programs (got 2 invites last week this way) don't know if this helps for IM.

 

[californiaappli1]

if OP is an AMG without redflags he/she does not need to apply to FM or psych... Furthermore, I think IM is much different than FM. Sure, they have overlap but I don't think I would be happy doing FM.

At this point imo, she/ he has a reasonable chance to match but not 100%


However, my advisor did recommend that I apply to more schools than average. At my schedule the average IM applicant applied to 30-40 programs.

 

[KeepCalm&DownDog]

@playingfrombehind I took your advice to heart and just applied to eleven more programs in NJ, Pittsburg, and Delaware. and Saint Louis. 9 of them are university-affiliated community programs that seem legit with low Step 1 score cutoffs.

@californiaappli1 Thank you! Yeah, no red flags (no failed/repeated courses, all High Satisfactory or Superior grades in first and second year and same for third year clerkships) that I can think of. Psych would be cool now that I think about it, but I'm sure I'll get plenty of exposure by proxy in IM haha

I can breathe a little easier now. Thanks ya'll!