Have not heard from most programs

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.

glaados

Full Member
7+ Year Member
Joined
Oct 21, 2014
Messages
17
Reaction score
0
I applied to over 40 programs (couples matching), have only heard back from 14 so far. I am an AMG, step 1 in the 250s, come from a pretty good school. Mostly HP in 3rd year, H in sub-I. No red flags as far as I am aware. Is something wrong with my application, or is this to be expected?
 
I think this is an extremely competitive year. 250s/260s/AOA only got me 11 out of the 30 "top 40" programs I applied to.
 
I think this is an extremely competitive year. 250s/260s/AOA only got me 11 out of the 30 "top 40" programs I applied to.
Is not just this year. This has been the trend for a couple years now.

OP I just looked at your invites posted in the other thread and it looks like you have some solid ones. Reading between the lines I'm assuming you are actually asking why you didn't get top tier interviews and the simple answer is that you're missing at least one variable. You have to have at least two of these four to be considered:
- step 1 score > 240-250 depending on the other variables
-top med school
-top quartile or AOA
-honors in IM clerkship
That being said you have a bunch of solid interviews and will absolutely match at one of them
 
Is not just this year. This has been the trend for a couple years now.

OP I just looked at your invites posted in the other thread and it looks like you have some solid ones. Reading between the lines I'm assuming you are actually asking why you didn't get top tier interviews and the simple answer is that you're missing at least one variable. You have to have at least two of these four to be considered:
- step 1 score > 240-250 depending on the other variables
-top med school
-top quartile or AOA
-honors in IM clerkship
That being said you have a bunch of solid interviews and will absolutely match at one of them

Absolutely agree. Actually the concern is over couples matching - we have only 5 "overlapping" interview invites at this point. Additionally, there are many not quite top tier programs I have not yet heard from either.
 
Absolutely agree. Actually the concern is over couples matching - we have only 5 "overlapping" interview invites at this point. Additionally, there are many not quite top tier programs I have not yet heard from either.

Sounds like it's time for you and your SO to start sending out some emails to programs that gave one of you an invite and not the other or nearby programs. Be careful though because if one person isn't competitive enough for the program you might not get an interview and hurt the other's chances there because the PD would be concerned that you wouldn't rank the program highly without your SO also having an interview there. (that last part is just conjecture)
 
I applied to 60+ programs being a weaker candidate (step 1 in the 200s but from a name brand med school) and also doing the couples match (partner not in IM, but with a much stronger app and step scores 30-50 points higher than mine, haha). I've received 21 interviews (mostly community, 5-6 university), 6-8 rejections, and also haven't heard from the vast majority of them.

We applied to Boston, NYC, Chicago, Philly, DC, NorCal, SoCal very broadly (I would apply to a good mix of 4-5 programs in each place), and we also applied to a bunch of smaller cities where it was more like if I don't get into the university program we won't really consider the city (Emory is a good example for Atlanta...this is mainly because although I'm ok with community programs, I don't want it to be any random community hospital just for the location).

So far, we have had overlaps (some with 2-3 interviews) at NYC, Chicago, Philly, and NorCal. But it's been fairly hard at the smaller cities. A lot of the "mid-tier universities" (GWU, Maryland, Tufts, BU, USC...etc.) really haven't been panning out for me. I'm OK with community programs, but I (and my adviser) are surprised at the difficulty this year. I thought I was over-applying in September, but now I feel like I'm barely getting to the sweet overlap spot.

We've emailed a bunch of PDs recently...nothing has really worked except this one really nice PD at a community program is going to interview me just for the sake of my SO getting the university program invite next door. We'll see how it goes.
 
Top