Anesthesiology Residency Advice 2025-2026

[PressorPrincess]

---

Members don't see this ad.

Hi all, wanted some insightful advice about how to structure my gold/silver signals going into this upcoming anesthesiology residency cycle. Aiming for a t30 residency program, interested in doing critical care fellowship after. Here are my stats:

School: US MD, Low-Mid Tier
Step 1: Pass
Step 2: 264
Preclinical: All Honors
Clinical: 1 HP, Remaining Honors
Research: Few publications & 10+ posters. Hoping to submit 1-2 more pubs before ERAS but likely won't be finished. Did MSARF after M1.
Volunteering: Few good experiences, but nothing extraordinary.

Have a few friends from other MD schools w/ 260+ Step 2 who didn't match, definitely "feels" like 260 is the new 250 even though I don't believe that to be true. The main reason I am worried, is I have heard lots of schools (not just T30s) are only looking at gold signals, but being that applicants only get 5, I've been told silver signals have low yield now. Don't want to overshoot myself and end up not matching.

 

[Arch Guillotti]

TF are gold and silver signals?

 

[Dr. Anonymouss]

TF are gold and silver signals?

Applicants get 5 gold and 10 silver signals. You can designate one to a program which indicates you are highly interested in their program. It’s pretty much made applying to more than 15 programs non-beneficial as a lot of programs are only sending out interviews to applicants who signal, but of course there are some programs which are still outliers.

 

[Dr. Anonymouss]

Hi all, wanted some insightful advice about how to structure my gold/silver signals going into this upcoming anesthesiology residency cycle. Aiming for a t30 residency program, interested in doing critical care fellowship after. Here are my stats:

School: US MD, Low-Mid Tier
Step 1: Pass
Step 2: 264
Preclinical: All Honors
Clinical: 1 HP, Remaining Honors
Research: Few publications & 10+ posters. Hoping to submit 1-2 more pubs before ERAS but likely won't be finished. Did MSARF after M1.
Volunteering: Few good experiences, but nothing extraordinary.

Have a few friends from other MD schools w/ 260+ Step 2 who didn't match, definitely "feels" like 260 is the new 250 even though I don't believe that to be true. The main reason I am worried, is I have heard lots of schools (not just T30s) are only looking at gold signals, but being that applicants only get 5, I've been told silver signals have low yield now. Don't want to overshoot myself and end up not matching.

I matched at a program I sent a silver signal, don’t stress. I will say I only received 1 interview from a program that I didn’t signal and received 9 interviews from programs that I did signal. I applied to about 40-45 in total. My application was similar to yours although yours is better. I had 260 step 2 and 4 ortho publications. I made the switch to anesthesia my 3rd year of medical school.

My biggest piece of advice would be to use your signals appropriately. Some programs have bias toward geographic region or towards school prestige. Best way to identify this is by looking at the list of current residents to see where they went to medical school and what types of medical schools they went to. I wouldn’t stress as much about the gold and silver as I would about knowing which programs you should be sending your 15 signals to.

 

[Drwine]

Critical care is in low demand so a top 30 program is overkill IMHO. I would do some homework and seek out some mid tier programs that could appeal to you and save some signals. OK to reach for a couple programs but the competition is more keen.

 

[PressorPrincess]

I matched at a program I sent a silver signal, don’t stress. I will say I only received 1 interview from a program that I didn’t signal and received 9 interviews from programs that I did signal. I applied to about 40-45 in total. My application was similar to yours although yours is better. I had 260 step 2 and 4 ortho publications. I made the switch to anesthesia my 3rd year of medical school.

My biggest piece of advice would be to use your signals appropriately. Some programs have bias toward geographic region or towards school prestige. Best way to identify this is by looking at the list of current residents to see where they went to medical school and what types of medical schools they went to. I wouldn’t stress as much about the gold and silver as I would about knowing which programs you should be sending your 15 signals to.

Thank you, this is helpful. I've noticed this when looking at some programs most recent match list for sure, I will definitely make note of that.

 

[PressorPrincess]

I matched at a program I sent a silver signal, don’t stress. I will say I only received 1 interview from a program that I didn’t signal and received 9 interviews from programs that I did signal. I applied to about 40-45 in total. My application was similar to yours although yours is better. I had 260 step 2 and 4 ortho publications. I made the switch to anesthesia my 3rd year of medical school.

My biggest piece of advice would be to use your signals appropriately. Some programs have bias toward geographic region or towards school prestige. Best way to identify this is by looking at the list of current residents to see where they went to medical school and what types of medical schools they went to. I wouldn’t stress as much about the gold and silver as I would about knowing which programs you should be sending your 15 signals to.

Do you have any insight if my Step 2 is going to inhibit me from any program? Or is it simply a cutoff and beyond that it doesn't matter regardless the program? I've seen some texas star data of some programs having half their respondents with a 260-275 scores.

 

[NicholasPavona]

.... with a 260-275 scores.

My God I would never stand a chance these days. All programs would send me pre-DISqualification letters.

 

[Dr. Anonymouss]

Do you have any insight if my Step 2 is going to inhibit me from any program? Or is it simply a cutoff and beyond that it doesn't matter regardless the program? I've seen some texas star data of some programs having half their respondents with a 260-275 scores.

Take Texas star with a grain of salt…. It’s a survey, so there is going to be bias. It tends to lean towards individuals with higher scores as the ones who report data. Your score will not prevent you from matching any anesthesia program in the country. Unfortunately there is only so much you can do to set yourself up for success, the rest of it is just out of your control. What you can do to set yourself up is have a high step score, build relations with anesthesiologists who will write you great letters of recommendation, and use your signals appropriately. Don’t send them to all Harvard, Stanford, Duke type programs. Do research on the current residents to see where they went to school (tier medical school and location). As I said before some programs will have strong bias towards geographic region while others will have strong bias towards tier of medical school. This is what gets your foot in the door with the interview. Then you just need to have a good interview day and come across as someone who the faculty would enjoy being around for 4 years. You’re doing all the right things and asking the right questions though, but just use my recommendations as an outline for how you should approach it to maximize your chances of matching. In your case though I wouldn’t be applying to any HCA programs. You can definitely match at a mid or upper tier program, but just do your research on what the programs are looking for

 

[Dr. Anonymouss]

My God I would never stand a chance these days. All programs would send me pre-DISqualification letters.

Everyone's mother, father, and brother want to do anesthesiology now. How the times have changed.

 

[GassYous]

I matched at a program I sent a silver signal, don’t stress. I will say I only received 1 interview from a program that I didn’t signal and received 9 interviews from programs that I did signal. I applied to about 40-45 in total. My application was similar to yours although yours is better. I had 260 step 2 and 4 ortho publications. I made the switch to anesthesia my 3rd year of medical school.

My biggest piece of advice would be to use your signals appropriately. Some programs have bias toward geographic region or towards school prestige. Best way to identify this is by looking at the list of current residents to see where they went to medical school and what types of medical schools they went to. I wouldn’t stress as much about the gold and silver as I would about knowing which programs you should be sending your 15 signals to.

Are you kidding me
I had a 250/255 and sent out maybe 20 applications and went on 12 interviews after applying to mostly "top" programs and a few regional ones.

 

[mdo1738]

Are you kidding me
I had a 250/255 and sent out maybe 20 applications and went on 12 interviews after applying to mostly "top" programs and a few regional ones.

Similar here. I had 247/252, I forget the exact numbers but applied to all the “top” programs and some regional ones. Got an interview invite at every single place I applied to except one (wtf Texas Tech). Nowadays I guess I would have ended up SOAPing into pediatrics.

 

[PressorPrincess]

Are you kidding me
I had a 250/255 and sent out maybe 20 applications and went on 12 interviews after applying to mostly "top" programs and a few regional ones.

Wow, I mean 247 or 250 for Step 1 is an excellent score though right? But yes, the advice my counselors give our school is Anesthesia applicants should have what an ortho/derm/plastics applicant has minus a gap year for research in terms of competitiveness. Don't know how true that is but it's what I'm told.

 

[NicholasPavona]

Wow, I mean 247 or 250 for Step 1 is an excellent score though right? But yes, the advice my counselors give our school is Anesthesia applicants should have what an ortho/derm/plastics applicant has minus a gap year for research in terms of competitiveness. Don't know how true that is but it's what I'm told.

🤯