How competitive am I for Pediatric Programs?

[Swanky]

I am just trying to gauge how many Pediatric Residency programs I should be applying to and if I am applying to programs that are out of my reach.
USMD -decent Midwest Medical School
Step1: 242
Step 2: Pending (9/14 release)
Research: 3 publications + 1 poster presentation
Volunteer: Okay nothing spectacular
Top 25% of my class

I am currently planning on applying to 20 programs. Many of them seem to be on the more competitive end, Univ Washington (Seattle), Northwestern, Colorado, Columbia, UTSW, Michigan, Vanderbilt etc. Should I be applying to more programs? And should any additional programs be less competitive

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[SurfingDoctor]

Overall, you look in pretty good shape to me (especially if your Step 2 score is higher, which it usually is). It has been a while since residency for me, but I think I applied to about 20 and interviewed at about 8 or so. Based on the stats you gave, you should be able to match without any issues.

Edit:
As far as less competitive programs, there are great programs out there that aren't Top 20 or whatever. You find them mostly by word of mouth. Is nice to have non-Top 20 programs on your list 1) for safety reasons, it is just nice to have a more sure bet 2) you never know when you'll find a diamond in the rough (ie, the most competitive programs might not be the right fit for you).

 

[redstorm18]

As far as less competitive programs, there are great programs out there that aren't Top 20 or whatever. You find them mostly by word of mouth. Is nice to have non-Top 20 programs on your list 1) for safety reasons, it is just nice to have a more sure bet 2) you never know when you'll find a diamond in the rough (ie, the most competitive programs might not be the right fit for you).

Would you mind giving a few if you have any in mind? I would love to know this sort of thing. Thanks!

 

[SurfingDoctor]

Would you mind giving a few if you have any in mind? I would love to know this sort of thing. Thanks!

I wish I had a list to give you, but I don't. I think the way to find out though is if you know residents, fellows, attendings at your medical school, ask them where they went for training and also where they interviewed and what they thought about those places, you will get a sense. Most people rank programs based on geographic location, so find someone who did training in the geographic region your interested in to get a better sense. For instance, if you want to be in Southern California, there's CHLA, but there is also UCLA and UC Irvine which are great programs too.