How to choose safety programs?

[DWB]

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How do you choose "safety programs" in med peds?
I feel like in IM or peds one can get a better idea, but just because most med peds programs have such limited spots for every program choosing a safety school is a risky business. I also heard that if your stats are too good for a program, they won't even bother interviewing because they assume that you won't come to their program anyways.
How did you choose your safety programs?

 

[mercaptovizadeh]

How do you choose "safety programs" in med peds?
I feel like in IM or peds one can get a better idea, but just because most med peds programs have such limited spots for every program choosing a safety school is a risky business. I also heard that if your stats are too good for a program, they won't even bother interviewing because they assume that you won't come to their program anyways.
How did you choose your safety programs?

This is true (about lower tier programs not even inviting to interview if they think you're not serious); one way to offset it might be a personalized and specific email outlining what draws you to the program (e.g. the location is great because your family lives 1 hr away). I think if you go at enough interviews and rank enough programs you should be safe. There are no shoe-ins, but if you're an excellent medical student, then you should have a reasonable number of good or excellent programs interested in you and should match at one of them.