I'm a third year med student planning a match strategy. I have a 191 step one and want to do anesthesia; I know I'll need lots of "back-ups"/low-mid tier schools on my list...My question is, what are those schools? Esp in the Southeast...but really anywhere...TIA
Check out the FAQ "sticky" threads at the top of this board. They also include a link to a very subjective "
Top Programs in Anesthesiology" thread. By no means should you exclude any program from your application because it is listed as a good program. I think they interview more people and are less selective than you think -- especially the ones that made even the "third" tier in that list.
First, make sure anesthesiology is really what you want to do. You won't know until you do a rotation at your home hospital.
Hiring (and residency match) decisions are made with emotion ("I like this person") and justified by facts afterward ("This person has decent grades/boards/etc"). This means you can get around your board scores by demonstrating to people that you are someone they will like working with.
Away rotations are a great way to do this. If you are able to rotate away and are fairly confident you're not the type of student that people won't like (i.e. you know you're a fairly inoffensive and nice person), choose one or two programs you'd really like to be at (whether they are a "reach" or not) and apply NOW (and I mean THIS week) for away rotations before they fill up. Even if you are still choosing between two specialties, you can still do this -- apply for aways to both specialties and just cancel one after you decide.
All else being average or good, I had one glaring weakness in my application and that was my grades. I barely honored anything and I, ahhh, flunked both history-taking and physical diagnosis and had to remediate them.
😀 I did away rotations, seemed to really "fit" in the department culture at one of the programs where I rotated (which was a "reach"), told them I liked it and wanted to come, and in the end found myself matched there.
The hiring and residency match process is very subjective. Take advantage of that by giving them a chance to like you, apply broadly and I think you will probably, without a doubt, match somewhere -- if not even match "better" than you think you should.
