Is it going to be difficult for me to match?

[uhmocksuhsillen]

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I've been fortunate to land 10 interviews at quality, sought after programs in good locations. I would imagine there are many well-qualified applicants who would like to go to these institutions. I keep hearing programs don't have to go very far down their rank lists anymore....so aren't I competing against more top of the line candidates than if I had gotten some interviews at worse, lower tier programs (so far they arent showing me love)?

Will this affect my odds of matching? Should I apply to some more lower tier programs in hopes I get interviews there?

 

[Old&InTheWay]

Take a look at this data: Tableau Public

How many programs did you apply to? If you were to get one more interview and fall into the "11-15 contiguous ranks category" you would have a 97% chance of matching. I would not be terribly concerned if I were in your shoes.

 

[clausewitz2]

I've been fortunate to land 10 interviews at quality, sought after programs in good locations. I would imagine there are many well-qualified applicants who would like to go to these institutions. I keep hearing programs don't have to go very far down their rank lists anymore....so aren't I competing against more top of the line candidates than if I had gotten some interviews at worse, lower tier programs (so far they arent showing me love)?

Will this affect my odds of matching? Should I apply to some more lower tier programs in hopes I get interviews there?

I mean, it depends somewhat on exactly which schools make up your interviews - if they are only the creme de la creme where you are really competing against the same 50 top applicants who are getting interviews at all of them this season then it might be reason to worry. If even a few of them are less fancy, you are almost certainly fine.

If you are an applicant qualified for the super competitive programs the real low tier programs are not wasting their interview slots on someone who is very unlikely to end up there. slots are a precious resources. Our program to date has ~750 applications from US grads alone. We simply cannot interview them all, even all the ones who seem fine on paper and aren't obviously delusional. Triage is needed.

 

[FlowRate]

We interview around 100-150 people. About 30-50 of them are in the cohort that interview at most other similarly ranked programs. There will be spots left over for the people not in that cohort. Also, top candidates don't always base their decisions on prestige. In some regards, I think being the most qualified applicant relaxes some of the pressure to "achieve" a prestigious residency match, because they know they could match anywhere, if they wanted to. Two of the most impressive people I've interviewed ended up going to CHA (excellent community training in line with their interests) and Maine (from there.)

 

[Mad Jack]

You should be fine

 

[DokterMom]

Of the lower-tier programs that haven't invited you -- Are there any in particular you're interested in for reasons other than the generic quality of training? For example, near your home town, family members, preferred locale?

It might be worth writing to them listing specifically why you're interested in their program and that you hope they will keep you in mind in case of an opening.

 

[ridethecliche]

We interview around 100-150 people. About 30-50 of them are in the cohort that interview at most other similarly ranked programs. There will be spots left over for the people not in that cohort. Also, top candidates don't always base their decisions on prestige. In some regards, I think being the most qualified applicant relaxes some of the pressure to "achieve" a prestigious residency match, because they know they could match anywhere, if they wanted to. Two of the most impressive people I've interviewed ended up going to CHA (excellent community training in line with their interests) and Maine (from there.)

CHA is Harvard affiliated and ranked pretty high. It may not bring about alarm bells in the average person in the street, but they have a pretty solid reputation overall. N'est pas?

 

[FlowRate]

CHA is Harvard affiliated and ranked pretty high. It may not bring about alarm bells in the average person in the street, but they have a pretty solid reputation overall. N'est pas?

I don't disagree that it's relatively highly ranked and a great institution (again, especially for those into community psychiatry and/or psychodynamic psychotherapy.) My point was more that it's not the first thing you think of when you think "most prestigious" or try to predict where "top 1% step 1 and 2, excellent extracurrics and LORs, highly ranked med school, super cool person" will go.

 

[notdeadyet]

We interview around 100-150 people. About 30-50 of them are in the cohort that interview at most other similarly ranked programs.

This. There are about 50 or so applicants that interview at most of the top 10 programs. That means that most of even the top programs match most of their list from folks NOT of those 50 superstar applicants.

If you have an interview invite, you have a very real shot. No one is wasting their time on residency selection committees. And many of these 50 folks wind up lower on the list than the folks who consider themselves lucky to be there.

And many of us now on these selection committees were the underdogs who were surprised to be invited, much less match at the programs at which we are now faculty. And guess who many of us pull for.

Apply early and broadly and be genuine in how you present yourself and you will likely have a solid shot anywhere you interview.

Best of luck to all of you.