Help me decipher school advice

[FamMedBound]

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Hey All! I’m being told by one advisor (heavily involved in fam med) that I’ll get interviews wherever I apply and to only apply to 15 residency programs max, while being told by another advisor (academic success, non-fam med) to apply to at least 50 to make sure I match.

Stats:
-US MD, newer school, current MS4
-No failures / retakes preclinical or clinical
-All positive clerkship remarks
-3 fam med letters, 1 psych letter
-Many extracurricular showing underserved, geriatric, family med interest; long non-traditional work experiences, cool life story
-Step 1: 203
-Step 2ck: 236
-Step 2cs: pass
-planning to apply Midwest, heavily Michigan and Wisconsin

Do I really need to apply to 50 programs??

Thanks much for feedback!

 

[FamMedBound]

I would do like 20-25, and you could probably get away with 15. We have an extremely similar profile with regards to test scores, ECs, med school, and location and I had a very successful application cycle with that number. I suspect your academic success advisor just doesn't realize what a buyer's market FM is for US grads compared to pretty much every other specialty lol. If you're nervous, you can always apply to more but have a list of programs that you can withdraw from/turn down interviews at as the interviews start rolling in so you can focus on the programs that are really the best fit for you.

The AAFP conference recommendation for US grads last year was apply to 15, interview at 10, rank 8, and AAMC's Apply Smart tool puts the point of diminishing returns at about 19 programs for US MDs with your step 1 score.

Thank you!! This confirms what I was thinking I just really needed to be sure I wasn’t missing anything. I appreciate the time you spent replying!

 

[brianmartin]

no, no need to apply to 50 programs. Max 20, more like 15