For recently matched seniors...please give us your stats!

[Brian Griffin]

Advertisement - Members don't see this ad

Since M3s are soon to start the process of applying to residency, I thought it would be a good idea to get some sense of the "stats" of recently matched seniors. It would be awesome if you could provide us with some information (as little or as much) as you would like to give. A possible format to consider:

1. Where did you match?
2. Where you go to medical school? (you can say top 10 or middle tier or whatever if you would like)
3. Step 1/Step 2 scores
4. Are you AOA?
5. Did you do an away rotation at the place you matched?
6. Any other significant information? MD/PhD student, Year-off research (HHMI, Doris Duke, etc), publications, etc.


THANKS!

1. Mid-tier program in Philly - #2 choice
2. Mid(?)-tier allo school in Philly (different place from where I'm headed)
3. 239/250
4. No AOA... somewhere in the top 1/3 of class though... missed the cutoff 🙁 Good pre-clinical grades, more average clinical grades (a few honors, mostly high passes.... actually my lowest grade (pass) was in my 3rd year medicine clerkship... kind of an unfortunate fluke, I had it in the beginning of 3rd year... high pass in 4th year medicine sub-I)
5. No away at the place I'm going
6. No pubs but a few posters and oral presentations at small conferences. I'm interested in primary care.

Based on my stats, I was told by my advisors that I was a fairly competitive applicant and encouraged to apply to many high-tier programs... and I got turned down for interviews at all but a few. Looking back... I'm pretty sure that not having a stellar grade in my 3rd year medicine clerkship weeded me out automatically for a lot of interviews. I'm noticing that out of the people who all say they did really well in this process, even the people who aren't AOA, most of them had honors in medicine. Anyway, after I had made it to the interview, some people asked me about my medicine grade, but no one seemed too concerned once we talked about it.

Also my application was VERY primary-care oriented... my personal statement, my research and activities all involve primary care, etc... probably in the minority... I think programs either loved it or hated it (just my personal theory). But in the end, I matched at a program that I think fits my personality very well, and I'm happy! I know I don't want to go for a competitive fellowship, so it really didn't matter for me to go to the biggest name place I could. I'm happy to be staying in Philly too 🙂

 

[chitown82]

this is really helpful. can more people who matched (this year or in years past) post? maybe this thread is worth a sticky...

 

[t33sg1rl]

1. Local community hospital (#1 choice)
2. Top 40 school
3. 241/260
4. No AOA, made top half of my class but not top third
5. Yes
6. Tons of research, of which I hated every second

My point in posting this is that you shouldn't worry about where you can match. Worry instead about finding a program that's a good fit for you and your career goals. I had a long and painful meeting with my school administrator people about where I planned to apply. They pulled up an Excel spreadsheet of previous IM'ers from my school with stats and where matched and pointed out the people with numbers similar to mine who'd matched at top IM programs and tried to push me into applying to academic programs. If you're a good applicant, don't be tricked into thinking you should go to a research/fellowship oriented "top" IM program if you don't want to do the research/fellowship thing. There ARE good community programs and I'm confident that my future program is going to give me really excellent preparation to do private practice general medicine. Unfortunately, this information is hard to come by... I didn't find any way to gauge community program training quality outside of rotating through, but aways do really tell you what you need to know.

 

[dukeblue01]

1. BWH (2.5 yrs ago)
2. Top 25 Med School in South
3. 263/250
4. Junior AOA
5. Yes
6. Good research with 5 clinical research publications includes 1 first author and 1 first author publication in press
Lots of ECs, community service, med school committees etc.

 

[gutonc]

1. OHSU (#1 choice, got "why not us" letters from 2-4, all of which are "higher ranked" programs) 2.5y ago.
2. Low-mid tier state med school in the NE.
3. 220-something/240-something...but I didn't take Step 2 until well after rank lists were due.
4. Senior AOA
5. No away...the place I did an away ended up being my #11 (of 11)!
6. FWIW, I do have a PhD; essentially no ECs other than being on the board of a non-profit arts group which I got asked about constantly, a couple of middle author publications.

Far and away the right place for me. Could not have been happier. Could have easily matched at a "higher ranked" program but chose this program b/c it was the right fit for me.

 

[Saladin MD]

1. Local community hospital (#1 choice)
2. Top 40 school
3. 241/260
4. No AOA, made top half of my class but not top third
5. Yes
6. Tons of research, of which I hated every second

My point in posting this is that you shouldn't worry about where you can match. Worry instead about finding a program that's a good fit for you and your career goals. I had a long and painful meeting with my school administrator people about where I planned to apply. They pulled up an Excel spreadsheet of previous IM'ers from my school with stats and where matched and pointed out the people with numbers similar to mine who'd matched at top IM programs and tried to push me into applying to academic programs. If you're a good applicant, don't be tricked into thinking you should go to a research/fellowship oriented "top" IM program if you don't want to do the research/fellowship thing. There ARE good community programs and I'm confident that my future program is going to give me really excellent preparation to do private practice general medicine. Unfortunately, this information is hard to come by... I didn't find any way to gauge community program training quality outside of rotating through, but aways do really tell you what you need to know.

Thanks. I appreciate this post.

 

[MasterThespian]

Thanks. I appreciate this post.

I wanted a relatively benign program in a certain geographic location with solid training with interesting patients. More prestigious university program next door, very rigorous/great training, but also more malignant in terms of hours/call schedule. I'm 40 yrs old and a brand-new Mom, you know?

Stats-
1. The Methodist Hospital, Houston
2. Baylor COM
3. 254/267
4. AOA nominee, didn't make final cut
5. No, but I know the hospital well and it is excellent- will see lots of pathology

 

[Tigerz_Fan]

Bump

 

[carter]

1. Mid-Top Tier University based program in the northeast (#1 choice)
2. Caribbean School
3. 252/262
4. N/A
5. No pubs. One poster presentation pending in which I was 5th author. Nothing serious.

 

[ranmyaku]

1. Mid-Top Tier University based program in the northeast (#1 choice)
2. Caribbean School
3. 252/262
4. N/A
5. No pubs. One poster presentation pending in which I was 5th author. Nothing serious.

What exactly is a "mid top tier university program in the northeast?"

 

[dragonfly99]

it might be Dartmouth...I'm just guessing.

 

[GIDoc9898]

1. Top tier program
2. Low/mid- tier med school
3. 248/262
4. AOA
5. No away; No pubs, several ongoing projects; excellent LORs all from attendings previously at institution at which I matched

 

[mirrortest7]

1. Very good academic program in the Midwest (may not be called "top tier" by many who are into those lists) - #1 choice
2. Same place
3. 258/268
4. No AOA at my school
5. No aways
6. 2/3 honors, 1/3 high pass (honors in med III and sub-I). Very strong letters, but none from "big names". Multiple 1st author posters/presentations at national conferences, one 1st author pub, another 1st author pub submitted. Good deal of EC's.

 

[rackd8ball]

1. Hopkins
2. Hopkins
3. 261/??? We take Step 2 in our 4th year
4. AOA awarded at graduation; didn't show up on application
5. No aways
6. All honors except for Neurology (first rotation) and OBGYN (it was OBGYN). Year off for research. Six publications in basic science, including one first author; 3 abstracts at the AHA 2008 meeting, including 1 oral presentation. No EC's.

 

[lankysudanese]

1. Michigan (#3 choice)
2. Hopkins
3. 265/251
4. No idea. AOA awarded at graduation in our school
5. No aways
6. pass in basic medicine (basically gave chief resident hell for his sub-par medical knowledge, and it ended up on my evals). HP in peds/obgyn. Honors in Surgery, Neuro, Psych.
Plenty of clinical research. No publications though. Some EC. Strong LORs from leaders in future subspecialty.

basically, basic medicine grade and publications are the most important parts of an application.

 

[TexasTwoStep]

Thanks to all the M4s for sharing their stats as it has really been helpful. If possible, could we have some more of the M4s with step 1 scores of 200-230 chime in as well. Thanks again and good luck to you guys during residency.

 

[drphysicianMD]

1. Beth Israel Deaconess (#1 choice!)
2. Top 50
3. 250s/260s
4. Not AOA
5. No aways
6. Honors in Medicine, Medicine Sub-I and 2/3 of clerkship grades. 4 abstracts, 1 national presentation, 2 article publications. No amazing ECs.

 

[JoyfulMD]

1. Cornell (not #1 on ROL but delighted with it and relieved not to get #1).
2. Generic school that nobody ever hears about, but my first choice for MD and I had a great four years there.
3. 220s/230/Pass (CK and CS not available before ranking).
4. Not AOA.
5. International away in medicine - Honors.
6. Honors in about 8/15 MS3/MS4 rotations (2 of the Honors did not show up on transcript before ranking; Honors in medicine sub-I and high pass in medicine clerkship). Med school performance: 50th percentile MS1/2 and top 15% MS 3/4. Approx. 16 publications. Multiple research awards for the past 9 years. Otherwise, nothing special - I just love the field.

 

[IMdilemma]

1. Beth Israel Deaconess (#1)
2. Top 20 according to USNWR
3. 249/240
4. AOA
5. No aways
6. Honors in all clinical rotations minus family med. 2 first author publications. Minor EC's. Interviewed at all 14 places I applied to (including Hopkins, MGH, etc).

 

[JDAWG07]

1. MGH
2. Hopkins
3. 266/? - just took and awaiting scores
4. No idea. AOA awarded at graduation in our school
5. No aways
6. Mostly Honors, including in sub-I and medicine basic, HP in surgery, E-med , and ambulatory med

One 1st author pub in engineering with conf presentation from undergrad. 6 mos basic science research in med school at one of the biggest labs at Hopkins (even though I left well before project completion, the LOR I got from the PI was stellar and honestly, probably singlehandedly made my application), one more project started in basic science with pub and conf abstract still pending.

EC's - Albert Schweitzer Fellowship for volunteer mentoring of inner city high school kids, distance running, playing guitar

 

[phishman10]

1. UNC Chapel Hill (#2 but thrilled about the program and almost glad not to get number 1)
2. Middle tier allo in Philly
3. Step 1- 230 and Step 2- 242
4. Are you AOA? Nope, about top 25% in class
5. Did you do an away rotation at the place you matched? No
6. Two research projects with no publications, honored most third year rotations including Medicine and Sub-I in fourth year.

I was able to get almost all the interviews I wanted at many top programs (Duke, Wash U, UAB, UVa etc.) and was very pleased with the overall process. I believe that honoring in clerkships is vital for top programs, especially in the medicine clerkship and sub-I. It made a big difference for me, since I know I got several interviews over other people from my school based solely on this fact. I ended up ranking mostly on gut feeling and location. Good luck to everyone for next year.

 

[FatPigeon]

I believe that honoring in clerkships is vital for top programs, especially in the medicine clerkship.

Yea...this is what everyone seems to agree upon, and I think program directors everywhere need to do a good bit of reasoning into why the hell this is given so much weight. I hate it, and it's absolutely driving me mad. It's a totally subjective grade in many places...and in certain instances you can do NOTHING to ensure that you'll get honors.

Case in point: My senior resident simply doesn't like me. I don't know if she hates her life or what it is, but what I'm rather sure about is that she made up her mind on day one to torture, interrupt, and conscend to me on a major level to make my whole clerkship experience a huge nightmare. Now, with her evaluation being about 1/3 of my final grade, I feel pretty helpless. I honored several other things with glowing evals, but I'm sure this girl wants to crush me...

Now...The idea that one person who isn't impressed with me can ruin my entire vocational life... That her evaluation alone can doom me to High Pass and bring my entire set of interviews down from Tier 1 to Tier 2-3.... Reasonable? No, it's !@#@ing ridiculous. Who let this become such an important thing?

 

[muscles]

I wouldn't go so far to say that she "can ruin your entire vocational life" is entirely accurate - a senior resident doesn't have that much power.

If she is as unprofessional as you say, I would consider speaking with your attending - be reasonable but tell him this rotation is important to you, you want to do well but you have concerns about the team dynamic. You could also consider speaking with your course director.

Also, not honoring a clerkship is not the end of the world and it won't preclude you from obtaining interviews at "tier-1" programs (whatever that means - I assume your talking about the harvards, hopkins, san frans, etc...). LOR's, USMLE, research are all important as well. If the overall resume shows that you are a qualified applicant, then you will be fine.

 

[asmallchild]

Also, not honoring a clerkship is not the end of the world and it won't preclude you from obtaining interviews at "tier-1" programs (whatever that means - I assume your talking about the harvards, hopkins, san frans, etc...). LOR's, USMLE, research are all important as well. If the overall resume shows that you are a qualified applicant, then you will be fine.

I had the opposite experience when it came to my own application.

I missed out on "prestigious" or "tier-1" PRELIMINARY year programs because I hadn't honored my 3rd year medicine clerkship.

 

[BGriffin]

I had the opposite experience when it came to my own application.

I missed out on "prestigious" or "tier-1" PRELIMINARY year programs because I hadn't honored my 3rd year medicine clerkship.

I agree with this. You will have a much smaller chance of obtaining interviews at MGH, BWH, UCSF, UPenn, Hopkins, and so on if you don't have honors in your 3rd year medicine clerkship (or have the school as a home institution). I actually don't know of anyone who did get those particular interviews without honors in IM, but my sample size is limited to those at my med school. Perhaps you would need some special things, such as a phd/multiple pubs/LOR from famous faculty/great ECs to compensate for the non-honors.

 

[Clemson Doc]

What a downer of a thread. Based on this, you need 240+ on Steps 1 and 2, AOA and/or stellar publications, and honors in most if not all clerkships to be competitive at the top programs. I realize that those programs are the top programs for a reason, but I can't believe that those are absolute requirements to match there. It seems that much more goes into the application than that, especially since only several medicine programs have firm cutoffs for screening purposes.

 

[Orange Man]

What a downer of a thread. Based on this, you need 240+ on Steps 1 and 2, AOA and/or stellar publications, and honors in most if not all clerkships to be competitive at the top programs. I realize that those programs are the top programs for a reason, but I can't believe that those are absolute requirements to match there. It seems that much more goes into the application than that, especially since only several medicine programs have firm cutoffs for screening purposes.

I think the point is that the best of the best programs in the U.S. can have everything they want in an applicant: junior AOA, high board scores, honors, pedigree of med school, publications, PhDs, good looks, personality, a lack of red flags. If you don't have all of these things, you're less likely to end up there. You might be one of the 450 that gets an interview, but not one of the 40 that gets the position. Medicine might not be as competitive as derm, but if you want to go to the best programs in the U.S., you need to have it all. It's not that surprising.

 

[Clemson Doc]

I think the point is that the best of the best programs in the U.S. can have everything they want in an applicant: junior AOA, high board scores, honors, pedigree of med school, publications, PhDs, good looks, personality, a lack of red flags. If you don't have all of these things, you're less likely to end up there. You might be one of the 450 that gets an interview, but not one of the 40 that gets the position. Medicine might not be as competitive as derm, but if you want to go to the best programs in the U.S., you need to have it all. It's not that surprising.

So you don't accept the popular notion that if you are invited for an interview, you are a competitive applicant who is considered qualified for that program?

 

[Orange Man]

So you don't accept the popular notion that if you are invited for an interview, you are a competitive applicant who is considered qualified for that program?

That's true, but I believe the issue is that you under-estimate the level of competition you are about to face if you are invited to those places for interview (and I hope you are). You will never have seen excellence like this before and (in case you know yourself to be an amazing interviewer and don't want to hear this), your contemporaries are actually NICE people, and as driven if not more driven than anything you've seen. Keep in mind how hard it was to get into medical school, and how you wanted this more than anything. That hardest part is over. You WILL be an internist somewhere and you'll do well. Does it really matter in the grand scale of things where you go? Again, top places want top scores and accolades. There should be no shocking surprises here...

 

[kenshin1]

So you don't accept the popular notion that if you are invited for an interview, you are a competitive applicant who is considered qualified for that program?

It really bothered me on the interview trail when comments like the above or the even more explicit "your interview offer reflects that we like you enough to match. The interview day is more about whether you like us". This sentiment (which I heard several times) is pretty clearly something of a falsehood at the competitive programs.

 

[KYLove]

I'll play the game, but I'm PRELIM, however that much counts:

1. MGH
2. Kentucky
3. 230+/250+
4. no AOA
5. No Aways
6. Honors in Medicine
7. Lots of research - multiple pubs

I agree with the last post. For competitive programs, you are totally on audition during the interview. Naturally you should learn as much as you can, but getting there for the interview is just the first step. I honestly believe I had no chance at this program without the interview, which I felt extremely good about. In fact, I'd say the interview was the most important part, considering that the other applicants probably all kick my a** in stats and pedigree.

 

[Tigerz_Fan]

bump

 

[anthroguy]

is there more than one mid-tier allo in philly?

 

[ceftazidime]

1) Shands Hospital/Univ of Florida - Gainesville
2) Osteopathic medical school
3) 574/596 COMLEX, 218 USMLE
4) Yes, I am an American Osteopathic Association (AOA) member. (j/k. DOs are not eligible for AOA status)
5) 2-week away rotation at above-mentioned program
6) Honors in Medicine
7) No research published. M.S in Pharmacology.

 

[Gibbles]

1.Rated the Eighth Best Place to live in the U.S. by U.S. News as of 2009
2.Lower Tier Medical School
3.237/258
4.No, but top third of class
5.No
6.One year of Bacteriology research experience prior to medical school with E. faecalis. Three poster presentations total including one hospice project during med. school. Research used in 2-3 publications. Certified paramedic prior to medical school.

 

[GI girl]

I was wondering which USNWR list everyone is refering to because I want to use the best guide? Is it the "best medical school list" or one that I need to order a subscription to in order to access?
thanks!

 

[CardsXX]

These posts humble me...Thanks for sharing.

 

[cfdavid]

These posts humble me...Thanks for sharing.

I'm happy for all the good scores here. But, there's definitely selection bias going on. Even though this forum is "annonymous", many people know at least a couple people from their schools. So, it's highly unlikely that you'll see people with more average stats posting out of concern that their cover could be blown/people they know would have some personal info they might not want advertised.

Now, if you score 99/99, why the hell not!

Just my 2 cents.

cf

 

[Pkboi24]

Wow, this thread is killing me. I'm too late for AOA and I didn't do research in med school. I guess the top NYC prog is out of the question...

 

[IMhappy]

Wow, seeing these posts is a bit disheartening. But congrats to everybody that matched at such prestigious institutions.

 

[howelljolly]

Wow, seeing these posts is a bit disheartening. But congrats to everybody that matched at such prestigious institutions.

Your timing is a bit off.

 

[tarlovcyst]

We need to get some of the non-AOA seniors to post their stats.

 

[Ariee]

Your timing is a bit off.