How far down rank list?

[BeddingfieldMD]

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Do current residents or others on the forum have a sense of how far down the rank list most folks are going these days for anesthesiology? I think the stats show that among AMGs, near 80% get one of their top 3 picks. But that's for all specialties, including things like derm, ortho, ENT, etc., so I was wondering how anesthesia usually plays out, assuming you're an "average" candidate in terms of numbers and such. Any ideas?

p.s. I'm asking this because as I make my rank list (with advanced and categoricals, I'm ranking 16 currently), I'm wondering if it really even matters that much what I rank 13 vs 14, for instance. I feel like I'm an average to above-average candidate and have a good mix of programs, so it seems doubtful that I'd *really* have to go down that far...but who knows?

 

[Camel]

Probably not terribly helpful coming from another person in your shoes, but my sense of it is that you are correct, "who knows?" So, rank the programs that you would be willing to go to (rank EVERY program that you would rather be at than be without a position next year) and hope for the best. It doesn't cost you any more to rank the 16... if you only want to rank 13 of them because you'd rather not go to the other 3 at all, then don't rank those 3.

Best of luck... I hate the waiting game but we've no choice.

 

[lfesiam]

Probably not terribly helpful coming from another person in your shoes, but my sense of it is that you are correct, "who knows?" So, rank the programs that you would be willing to go to (rank EVERY program that you would rather be at than be without a position next year) and hope for the best. It doesn't cost you any more to rank the 16... if you only want to rank 13 of them because you'd rather not go to the other 3 at all, then don't rank those 3.

Best of luck... I hate the waiting game but we've no choice.

My impression last year (not based on stats).

Most get #1. >50%

Most don't get down below #5.

Be prepare for surprises though! Some of my friends didn't match Anesthesiology last year. Rank them all unless you would rather scramble!

Match day is a beautiful day. Definitely one of the most memorable moments of medical school.

REMEMBER, getting your number 1 is the icing on the cake. A cake is a cake. Delicious by itself. The real accomplishment is being able to match period. Good luck everyone!

 

[SukaNeNauka]

Why do u think some of your friends failed to match ? Anything we can learn from their mistakes ?

 

[lfesiam]

Why do u think some of your friends failed to match ? Anything we can learn from their mistakes ?

Respecting their privacy, I will refer you to a great book on this topic 😀

 

[BeddingfieldMD]

Oh, certainly I was planning on ranking everything that I would be at all happy with. There are only a couple programs that I am considering not ranking. But sometimes I just feel like my time could be spent better while splitting hairs between programs #12 and #13 on my rank list, as it seems like hardly anyone ends up going down that far.

Thanks for the responses, though. Indeed, the thrust of my question was whether a decent majority of typical candidates for anesthesia from good schools tend to get one of their top 3 picks, their top pick, top 10, etc.

 

[relaxedMD]

What is an average candidate interviewing in Anesthesiology? Is it Scores >85, one research pub, good letters, great interviews? I think this profile is evolving and improving every year.

Look at last years match outcomes. That publicaiton should give you a good idea of how long your rol should be to give you a successful match. It is pretty accurate. I looked at match outcomes for the last 3 years before I started dropping programs from my ROL.

My decision to leave programs out of the ROL was very personal. I had many reasons to leave programs off my ROL. I kept a pretty thorough excel spreadsheet of pros and cons on all the programs I looked at. A major deciding factor was location - if I couldnt see myself living in that town, I wasnt interested in ranking it.

My opinion, if you are an average candidate rank as many as 10, and you should match.

Strong candidates dont need more than 4 or 5 on their ROL. But that would make any good student nervous I think.

Good luck with the process.

rlxdmd

 

[SukaNeNauka]

Does anyone know if the same match stats hold true for osteopathic med students applying to anesthesia ? I wonder how far down the rank list they go ? Of course it is somewhat dependent on the strength of application...

 

[Colba55o]

For what its worth, I'll give my stats (I matched last yr)
Top 25 med school
step 1- 230
step 2- 238
gpa 3.2ish-3.4ish? dont remember
no recent publications,
matched #6 out of 17 programs

I know I suck @$$ and that 95% of people match top 3 but at least I got a spot somewhere. I actually felt like a total failure on match day because it seemed like everyone matched at their number 1 and I went so far down my ROL, which is ironic because only a month earlier I was terrified that I wouldnt match at all.

Perspective changes a lot when your on the other side of the fence

I actually don't even know anyone who (admits to) matching below #4 on their list.

 

[DScully]

matched #6 out of 17 programs...because only a month earlier I was terrified that I wouldnt match at all.

Thanks for sharing the experience! Sometimes it just feels too unreal to me when everyone gets matched at their top 3 choices...

Anyway, just out of curiosity (if you don't mind), what made you doubt that you might not have matched since obviously, you were at least able to rank 17 programs?? I'd imagine that you must have got at least 8 or 10 interviews in order to rank 17 programs (advanced and categorical combined)...

 

[Camel]

For what its worth, I'll give my stats (I matched last yr)
Top 25 med school
step 1- 230
step 2- 238
gpa 3.2ish-3.4ish? dont remember
no recent publications,
matched #6 out of 17 programs

I know I suck @$$ and that 95% of people match top 3 but at least I got a spot somewhere.

Well blah. I definitely do not have your stats. Out of curiosity, were your top 6 programs all top tier programs or average/good programs (I know that's subjective, but I mean in general)?

 

[shift_roro]

For what its worth, I'll give my stats (I matched last yr)
Top 25 med school
step 1- 230
step 2- 238
gpa 3.2ish-3.4ish? dont remember
no recent publications,
matched #6 out of 17 programs

I know I suck @$$ and that 95% of people match top 3 but at least I got a spot somewhere. I actually felt like a total failure on match day because it seemed like everyone matched at their number 1 and I went so far down my ROL, which is ironic because only a month earlier I was terrified that I wouldnt match at all.

Perspective changes a lot when your on the other side of the fence

I actually don't even know anyone who (admits to) matching below #4 on their list.

When you say #6, do you mean 6th choice institution, or are you including categorical and advanced programs as separate contiguous ranks?

 

[Colba55o]

To answer your questions:

The programs I didn't match at: Columbia, Penn, MGH, NYU UPitt in that order. So I'm speaking in terms of institutions not categorical vs advanced. If you separate my ROL w/o respect to institution I think I actually matched 9 or 10 out of 24 or something like that?

No matter how many interviews you get there will always be some self doubt. When I finished step 1 I saved all my books because I was sure I had failed it and would have to retake it.

In all honesty I matched at the program that was best suited for me, and I really think I only liked NYU more. I was ranking strictly by name/reputation and things worked out for the best because I really couldn't have seen myself at most of those places I ranked higher.

Keep in mind I did not tell any programs that I was going to rank them first, and only sent thank-you cards to about half of them. I was not particularly drawn to one specific place, so showering one program with profuse amounts of post interview "please rank me to match" love notes was not on my agenda.

 

[bigdan]

Colba -

I think your honesty and candor are exactly what folks need to hear. While "statistically" a high percentage match in the top three places on the rank list, there are still folks that don't.

As medical students from my school have asked me, I tell them to rank all of the places that they could see themselves being happy at for the entirety of the residency. Ya never know.

If anyone is at all interested in anecdotes, we had a guy in my graduating class that was one of our two Junior AOAs, 250+ step I, and applied in Psychiatry. Ranked nine places. Scrambled after not matching. Who knows why. But it can happen.

Good luck to all - this will be over soon!

dc

 

[ucla41]

statistically speaking if you have 14 ranks on your list and are a us allopathic student you have a 100% match....and yes to clarify, if you rank both an advanced and categorical program at the same institution that is 2 ranks...

the tough part of all this is that you don't really know how a program thinks you interviewed...i'd assume most people interview relatively well....

 

[AnesthesiaNY]

colba - thank you for sharing. we all really appreciate it!

 

[amyl]

scrambling is very tough. rank every program that you would rather go to then end up NOT DOING ANESTHESIA, which for me was a fate worse than death so i ranked every place I interviewed at. i stressed about the bottom of my rank list too. thankfully for me it did not matter and I matched at my number one. i wish you all my kinda luck ;-)
sam is right, cake is cake -- you are all going to be a part of the best medical specialty ever invented so that alone is a reason to celebrate. if you don't agree with me now on that sentiment you will when you are rounding for five hours as an intern on some medicine rotation. the first day you step into the OR you will be super happy whether its mans best hospital or east B.F. university.
good luck guys -- the only thing you should be sweating now is what to drink yourself into a stupor with 🙂 have some fun. recharge your batteries. blow off some steam. residency is tough.

 

[darkmansaad]

and the obligatory anesthesia MS4 IMG chime in begins....

so once ranking begins does the status of the student play any weight? Or is that an issue that is mainly dealt with as far as getting the interview? I guess any easy way of asking this is that does the anti IMG bias persist after getting the interview or will the rank solely be on how the student does on the interview itself? I am not the paranoid type but the amount of interviews I have got with my CV has made me one........

 

[shift_roro]

Programs will most likely rank based on the entire application, so unfortunately being an IMG will be a disadvantage (all else being equal). That said, they wouldn't have invited you for an interview if they didn't think you were academically qualified, so as long as you interviewed well, you should still have a good chance of matching. 🙂