Chances at Top 30 IM?

[mikamed]

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Hi everyone! I am looking for any advice on my program list and how to use my signals. I've been having a really hard time figuring out signaling, because I've seen posts from people who applied IM in previous years who had a very low interview yield from their signals, but received interviews from top programs without a signal.

Disclaimer: I am honest to god NOT on here for validation or to brag in any way. I know my stats are strong for IM, but I can't help but feel uneasy because I am coming from a low-tier USMD school and really want to match into specific top 20 academic IM programs in California or New York, which are pretty much the two most competitive locations. I'm also couples matching with a partner going into a relatively competitive specialty, which adds another layer to the process. It feels like no program can really be considered a "safety," and I'm afraid that I might be applying to and signaling too many "reach" programs.

School: Low-tier USMD

Step 1: Passed first attempt

Step 2: 270+

Grades: 6/6 Honors

Research: 3 manuscripts (2 as first-author). ~7 poster/oral presentations.

Leadership/Mentorship: decent

Service: decent

Programs I'm considering:
UCLA - Gold
Stanford - Gold
UCSF - Gold
UCSD - Silver
UC Irvine - Silver
UC Davis - Silver
University of Washington - Silver
UCLA Harbor - Silver
Cedars - Silver
USC/LAC - Silver
OHSU - Silver
Scripps Clinic/Green - Silver
Kaiser SF - Silver
Cornell - Silver
Icahn at Mount Sinai - Silver
Kaiser LA
Kaiser Santa Clara
Santa Clara Valley
Kaiser Oakland
Columbia
Keck
NYU
Mount Sinai
Zucker Hofstra (Northwell)
SUNY Downstate
SUNY Upstate
UCLA Olive View
WashU
Mayo Rochester
Mayo AZ
UNC
UVA
Mass Gen
U of Colorado
U of Utah

Geo: Pacific, Middle Atlantic, undecided on third

Please be nice; I'm genuinely very stressed about this. I would really appreciate any advice on how I should use my signals. Is my list too top-heavy? Suggestions for additional programs with good fellowship opportunities are also welcomed. Thank you!

 

[Nontrad_FL_LGBT]

The advice I've heard about couples matching is to essentially do whatever the one applying to something more competitive needs. If your main priority is to stay together, rank the same programs or at least programs in the same cities as your partner's top choices. If your main priority is to get into the best program, rank whatever your heart and advisors suggest and realize you may be separated.

 

[NotAProgDirector]

You can couple match without disclosing this to programs. It's optional -- you can tell them, or not.

Depending on how many interviews / ranks you both have, if you rank all possible combinations, you can't do any worse than matching separately (and have full control of the outcome options). The NRMP limits you to 300 ranks, so once you have enough ranks it becomes impossible to rank all combinations. Number of combinations is ((a+1) * (b+1)) - 1 where a and b are the number of ranks for each person. Assuming equal numbers, this exceeds 300 when someone has 17+ ranks.