Current M2 at a Top 10 med school in the midwest. Assuming I get a decent Step 1 score, do well in clinical rotations, and have some publications come application time, how much of a boost will coming from a T10 med school with a T10 derm department provide?
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How Much Does Coming From a Top 10 Med School/Top 10 Derm Program Help With Matching?
- Thread starter eyejust
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You’ll get a 53.6% boost.
In all seriousness though, it will help in the sense that you will get good research experiences and hopefully good letters of recommendation from well known faculty in the field. But there’s a lot more that goes into matching.
In all seriousness though, it will help in the sense that you will get good research experiences and hopefully good letters of recommendation from well known faculty in the field. But there’s a lot more that goes into matching.
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Massively. Never underestimate prestige
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yeah, it'll definitely help. tough to quantify and it probably varies by program... being successful at a top-tier institution infers that someone is probably a good candidate, plus the likely research experience and good home program associated with a top-10 school help as well.
having said that, I've interviewed residency candidates with great scores from great schools, and my program has decided not to rank them due to personality issues or other "red flags" on interview day.
having said that, I've interviewed residency candidates with great scores from great schools, and my program has decided not to rank them due to personality issues or other "red flags" on interview day.
In my opinion it helps, but not as much as you think.
As others have stated the real help is that such places have more opportunities for things that do help (research, etc.). But you still actually have to do those things.
As others have stated the real help is that such places have more opportunities for things that do help (research, etc.). But you still actually have to do those things.
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I think it does help, though there are also disadvantages of coming from a top program as well. Every program is different, but there are conscious and unconscious biases that application reviewers have when looking at your application. Medical school institution attended is one of them (positive or negative). I personally know of some programs that highly value students from "top programs" - you can usually see this reflected in the list of medical schools attended by current residents. Having said that, there also disadvantages for some students from top programs. In particular, derm is a popular specialty among top schools and you do end up "competing" with other (often stellar) applicants from your medical school for those precious interview invites.
yeah, it'll definitely help. tough to quantify and it probably varies by program... being successful at a top-tier institution infers that someone is probably a good candidate, plus the likely research experience and good home program associated with a top-10 school help as well.
having said that, I've interviewed residency candidates with great scores from great schools, and my program has decided not to rank them due to personality issues or other "red flags" on interview day.
What kind of red flags are you referring to?
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sorry, i'm not going to go into specifics. I was trying to caution that even the best looking candidates on paper sometimes aren't liked much after interview day.What kind of red flags are you referring to?
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It helps quite a bit.
In my case, I graduated from a University of Texas medical school. I matched in a categorical internal medicine residency at Yale and later in my MS4 year did a dermatology rotation and decided to go through the match again. I had to interview for derm spots in the middle of my intern year in Connecticut (that sucked). Anyway, I fortunately was offered an open spot outside the match. When I showed up on day 1 of derm residency the Chairman introduced me as “from Yale” even though I’m a Texas guy. Personally I think the blue chip name had something to do with my selection.
Later I helped go through the applications for interviews at our program. I remember comparing an applicant from Harvard vs a guy from University of Mississippi. The Mississippi guy’s board scores were way higher so he was chosen over the Harvard guy. But, all in all, prestige does play a big part and Program Directors and such get dazzled like anybody else at fancy names.
In my case, I graduated from a University of Texas medical school. I matched in a categorical internal medicine residency at Yale and later in my MS4 year did a dermatology rotation and decided to go through the match again. I had to interview for derm spots in the middle of my intern year in Connecticut (that sucked). Anyway, I fortunately was offered an open spot outside the match. When I showed up on day 1 of derm residency the Chairman introduced me as “from Yale” even though I’m a Texas guy. Personally I think the blue chip name had something to do with my selection.
Later I helped go through the applications for interviews at our program. I remember comparing an applicant from Harvard vs a guy from University of Mississippi. The Mississippi guy’s board scores were way higher so he was chosen over the Harvard guy. But, all in all, prestige does play a big part and Program Directors and such get dazzled like anybody else at fancy names.
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how do you find spots outside match?It helps quite a bit.
In my case, I graduated from a University of Texas medical school. I matched in a categorical internal medicine residency at Yale and later in my MS4 year did a dermatology rotation and decided to go through the match again. I had to interview for derm spots in the middle of my intern year in Connecticut (that sucked). Anyway, I fortunately was offered an open spot outside the match. When I showed up on day 1 of derm residency the Chairman introduced me as “from Yale” even though I’m a Texas guy. Personally I think the blue chip name had something to do with my selection.
Later I helped go through the applications for interviews at our program. I remember comparing an applicant from Harvard vs a guy from University of Mississippi. The Mississippi guy’s board scores were way higher so he was chosen over the Harvard guy. But, all in all, prestige does play a big part and Program Directors and such get dazzled like anybody else at fancy names.
You can see above that I decided to do derm late...after I already matched into internal medicine. So I interviewed during that intern year. Three outside-the-match spots came open while I was an intern and I had two offered to me. I was called to interview for another spot that came open at another program that I wanted to attend but there were four applicants and the interview was a week away so I had to turn it down (I took a bird in hand, essentially). Of the two that offered me a spot, one was in Manhattan and they had a derm spot but the catch was the subsidized resident housing was full. So I took a spot at a good program down South.
So, derm spots often come open for the following year. I was in play for three of them: one because it was a program that secured funding for an additional resident at the last minute and two because they had incoming residents that decided not to show up for their PGY-2 derm positions. It happens. One of these very spots was turned down by one of my med school classmates. She was a great applicant but decided to marry an anesthesiology resident and be a housewife.
The catch is that MS-IVs can’t take them because they still have an internship year to complete. Since I was applying as an intern I got two offered two great spots that I never would have in the regular match. My two fellow derm residents were both valedictorians of their respective medical schools, while I was AOA and a good applicant I was outside the top 10% of my med school class. That’s because there was a much smaller applicant pool I was competing with (other interns and research folk).
So, how do you find them? Apply widely across the country and be available for the next calendar year (ie already in your internship or already completed one).
So, derm spots often come open for the following year. I was in play for three of them: one because it was a program that secured funding for an additional resident at the last minute and two because they had incoming residents that decided not to show up for their PGY-2 derm positions. It happens. One of these very spots was turned down by one of my med school classmates. She was a great applicant but decided to marry an anesthesiology resident and be a housewife.
The catch is that MS-IVs can’t take them because they still have an internship year to complete. Since I was applying as an intern I got two offered two great spots that I never would have in the regular match. My two fellow derm residents were both valedictorians of their respective medical schools, while I was AOA and a good applicant I was outside the top 10% of my med school class. That’s because there was a much smaller applicant pool I was competing with (other interns and research folk).
So, how do you find them? Apply widely across the country and be available for the next calendar year (ie already in your internship or already completed one).
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You can see above that I decided to do derm late...after I already matched into internal medicine. So I interviewed during that intern year. Three outside-the-match spots came open while I was an intern and I had two offered to me. I was called to interview for another spot that came open at another program that I wanted to attend but there were four applicants and the interview was a week away so I had to turn it down (I took a bird in hand, essentially). Of the two that offered me a spot, one was in Manhattan and they had a derm spot but the catch was the subsidized resident housing was full. So I took a spot at a good program down South.
So, derm spots often come open for the following year. I was in play for three of them: one because it was a program that secured funding for an additional resident at the last minute and two because they had incoming residents that decided not to show up for their PGY-2 derm positions. It happens. One of these very spots was turned down by one of my med school classmates. She was a great applicant but decided to marry an anesthesiology resident and be a housewife.
The catch is that MS-IVs can’t take them because they still have an internship year to complete. Since I was applying as an intern I got two offered two great spots that I never would have in the regular match. My two fellow derm residents were both valedictorians of their respective medical schools, while I was AOA and a good applicant I was outside the top 10% of my med school class. That’s because there was a much smaller applicant pool I was competing with (other interns and research folk).
So, how do you find them? Apply widely across the country and be available for the next calendar year (ie already in your internship or already completed one).
I see, so basically, you applied broadly and when these programs happened to have open spots for the following, they contacted you for an interview? There is no central database/forum/spreadsheet that posts these positions for all to see?
I see, so basically, you applied broadly and when these programs happened to have open spots for the following, they contacted you for an interview? There is no central database/forum/spreadsheet that posts these positions for all to see?
Maybe the derm residency program directors have a spreadsheet but I really doubt it. The programs get tons of applicants and they can pull out the ones that are already in an internship and contact those applicants to interview. In my case I had already interviewed at those two that offered me a spot. They just called me before the match happened. I accepted and pulled out of the match. At no time did I know any outside-the-match positions were available until they called me.
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