How many prelim/transitional, advanced, and categorical to apply?

[megan1010]

So how many programs is it recommended to apply for prelims, transitional, advanced, and categorical?

This sounds like it will be a hectic interview season. I figured I will apply to both prelims and transitionals, although I kind of am more interested in a transitional year if I'm being honest. I'd prefer a categorical program so definitely going to apply to those where I can, and then obviously advanced positions, but I'm struggling coming up with a good breakdown of how much to apply to each one.

What are others doing for this cycle or have done in the past? Any suggestions? I'm working on narrowing down a list this month. Any input would be appreciated. Thanks!

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[ScawtyDawg]

It really depends on your overall application (stats, scores, CV, research, etc). The magic interview number for matching PMR seems to be ~11 and typically at least half that number for prelims (medicine or TY). Although I know some people matching with less and not matching with more. I know the trend nowadays is to over-apply to programs and then cancel interviews, but this really causes significant undue strain on the system as a whole, so I would advise against this. From what I've seen the lower end is ~25 PMR apps with probably the same number of prelims (for competitive applicants); on the higher end it would be double that (which was the case for me personally).