Important to keep "safety" programs on interview/rank list to ensure matching?

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ManUfan

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I'm sorry for how stuck up this title sounds. I am applying IM and I am very fortunate to have 13 interviews so far. I applied very broadly due to a lower step 1 (but a pretty solid clinical performance) and have come away with a mix of 5 community and 8 academic programs. I'm really excited to interview at every one of these places - and I think they are all strong programs that each have their own merits - but I'm a little concerned that I might have to start being more selective about which interviews to attend as more invites come in, or perhaps schedule over pre-existing interviews.

I've started to make a rough "rank list" of programs in my head as a result and basically there are 3 community programs that I feel not as enthusiastic about, in comparison to the rest. Would it be a bad idea to cancel interviews at these programs if necessary? I want to match, first and foremost, and so I'm a little reluctant to let any interviews go and in particular, to let interviews go at places where my app might stand out a little bit more.

Basically, I'm not sure if it's important to have a "balanced" rank list when it comes time to submit. For instance, say I were to get 13 interviews at dream/reach programs alone. Would it be safe to interview at/rank only those programs? Or should I be sure to keep at least some "safety" programs on my list as well (as in programs where my stats are a little more typical of the residents that they usually end up with).

Tldr; should you make sure you interview at, and rank a mix of programs (in terms of competitiveness) to assure matching? Or is number of ranks really the only thing to worry about?

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You shouldn't go interview at places you aren't really interested or at least curious about - it's a huge expense to get to places and you will be wasting their time as well as your own. Most people don't have unlimited $$$ to travel all over the country, so if you have some ability to cut programs since you've got a large amount of interviews and you feel comfortable with it then do it! It's very smart to apply (and then rank, if you like them) to a mix of programs with regards to competitiveness - you might be pleasantly surprised by some places. But you should choose to interview at the programs of lower competitiveness that you are interested in.

Honestly, this is sort of common sense. Also - if you really hate a place after you interview and really do not want to be there then don't rank it... there are few exceptions to this rule.
 
So, as I said, I am curious about all these places. I did not at all mean for my question to read as: "should I interview at places I dislike." I agree that the answer to that question is an obvious "no." What I meant was, given that we can only visit so many programs, should we be careful to not cancel ALL of our less competitive program interviews because it's important for our rank list to have a range of competitiveness, and not just for it to be long.

Thanks for answering my question though!
 
I'm sorry for how stuck up this title sounds. I am applying IM and I am very fortunate to have 13 interviews so far. I applied very broadly due to a lower step 1 (but a pretty solid clinical performance) and have come away with a mix of 5 community and 8 academic programs. I'm really excited to interview at every one of these places - and I think they are all strong programs that each have their own merits - but I'm a little concerned that I might have to start being more selective about which interviews to attend as more invites come in, or perhaps schedule over pre-existing interviews.

I've started to make a rough "rank list" of programs in my head as a result and basically there are 3 community programs that I feel not as enthusiastic about, in comparison to the rest. Would it be a bad idea to cancel interviews at these programs if necessary? I want to match, first and foremost, and so I'm a little reluctant to let any interviews go and in particular, to let interviews go at places where my app might stand out a little bit more.

Basically, I'm not sure if it's important to have a "balanced" rank list when it comes time to submit. For instance, say I were to get 13 interviews at dream/reach programs alone. Would it be safe to interview at/rank only those programs? Or should I be sure to keep at least some "safety" programs on my list as well (as in programs where my stats are a little more typical of the residents that they usually end up with).

Tldr; should you make sure you interview at, and rank a mix of programs (in terms of competitiveness) to assure matching? Or is number of ranks really the only thing to worry about?
I've seen this question before, and the advice on SDN has been to rank a mix of programs.

If you overapply and get interview offers from 12 reach programs, 12 appropriate programs, and 12 safety programs, but then only interview and rank your 12 reaches, it is asking for a heap of trouble.

Man, it's gotta feel real awkward to turn down a reach so you can go interview at a safety, though :-/
 
I'm sorry for how stuck up this title sounds. I am applying IM and I am very fortunate to have 13 interviews so far. I applied very broadly due to a lower step 1 (but a pretty solid clinical performance) and have come away with a mix of 5 community and 8 academic programs. I'm really excited to interview at every one of these places - and I think they are all strong programs that each have their own merits - but I'm a little concerned that I might have to start being more selective about which interviews to attend as more invites come in, or perhaps schedule over pre-existing interviews.

I've started to make a rough "rank list" of programs in my head as a result and basically there are 3 community programs that I feel not as enthusiastic about, in comparison to the rest. Would it be a bad idea to cancel interviews at these programs if necessary? I want to match, first and foremost, and so I'm a little reluctant to let any interviews go and in particular, to let interviews go at places where my app might stand out a little bit more.

Basically, I'm not sure if it's important to have a "balanced" rank list when it comes time to submit. For instance, say I were to get 13 interviews at dream/reach programs alone. Would it be safe to interview at/rank only those programs? Or should I be sure to keep at least some "safety" programs on my list as well (as in programs where my stats are a little more typical of the residents that they usually end up with).

Tldr; should you make sure you interview at, and rank a mix of programs (in terms of competitiveness) to assure matching? Or is number of ranks really the only thing to worry about?

it depends...are you an AMG, DO, or IMG? if the former, then you are m/l fine with having 13 programs to rank...however if you are an IMG or DO then you need to go to all of those interviews and try to get a few more...more like 15-20 givens you a good margin of error..it allows you to not rank some places and still have a good number on your rank list.
 
I am at a US school. Also, to aProgDirector, thanks for weighing in. I didn't want my ego to run away with me simply because I'd gotten some good invites but I suppose you are right.
 
I'm sorry for how stuck up this title sounds. I am applying IM and I am very fortunate to have 13 interviews so far. I applied very broadly due to a lower step 1 (but a pretty solid clinical performance) and have come away with a mix of 5 community and 8 academic programs. I'm really excited to interview at every one of these places - and I think they are all strong programs that each have their own merits - but I'm a little concerned that I might have to start being more selective about which interviews to attend as more invites come in, or perhaps schedule over pre-existing interviews.

I've started to make a rough "rank list" of programs in my head as a result and basically there are 3 community programs that I feel not as enthusiastic about, in comparison to the rest. Would it be a bad idea to cancel interviews at these programs if necessary? I want to match, first and foremost, and so I'm a little reluctant to let any interviews go and in particular, to let interviews go at places where my app might stand out a little bit more.

Basically, I'm not sure if it's important to have a "balanced" rank list when it comes time to submit. For instance, say I were to get 13 interviews at dream/reach programs alone. Would it be safe to interview at/rank only those programs? Or should I be sure to keep at least some "safety" programs on my list as well (as in programs where my stats are a little more typical of the residents that they usually end up with).

Tldr; should you make sure you interview at, and rank a mix of programs (in terms of competitiveness) to assure matching? Or is number of ranks really the only thing to worry about?

This is all great advice so far but remember that you can rank up to 20 programs on your ROL, and then after that there is a fee to rank more.
 
This is all great advice so far but remember that you can rank up to 20 programs on your ROL, and then after that there is a fee to rank more.
and if you have gone to more than 20 (though how i dunno!) interviews, then it gives you wiggle room to not rank some places...but if its an uber competitive specialty, then its worth the money to rank >20 than risk not matching...but then if you have 20 places TO rank =, then the likelihood of not matching is slim...depends on how paranoid you are i guess! :)
 
I am at a US school. Also, to aProgDirector, thanks for weighing in. I didn't want my ego to run away with me simply because I'd gotten some good invites but I suppose you are right.
then you should be fine...though my advice is still to go on as many interviews as you can... you never know what you may find...a program on paper that looks fantastic may turn out not to be for you...and a program that you thought was not so great may turn out to be the perfect one for you!
 
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