~*~*~Med-Peds 2015-2016 Match Results~*~*~

[tantacles]

Hey, everyone! Similar to the IM forum, I thought we would start a 2015-2016 match results page. Format below! Feel free to update on Friday.

Also, I know this is very similar to the spreadsheet I've been advertising, but it's meant to be more of an anecdotal account and less of a data crunching exercise.

School:
Step Scores:
Grades:
Research:
AOA:
Rank:
Interview Invites:
Rejections:
Other:

Matched (+ # on ROL):

Advice:

Best of luck to all!

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[tantacles]

Note: I applied to Med-peds and medicine. If it had med-peds, I applied to it. I have another post in the IM forum for my medicine results.

School: Low tier MD, midwest
Step Scores: Step I: 248; Step II CK: 237 (not visible pre-interview); Step II CS: Pass (not visible pre-interview)
Grades: B's and C's first and second year. A in Surgery, Medicine, Family, Psych. B in Neuro, OB/Gyn, Peds, and EM
Research: 3 years of basic before med school with 2 publications, significant clinical research (Mostly HIV) in medical school with 4-5 posters
AOA: No
Rank: Top 50% of class.
Interview Invites: Loyola, UIC, Rush, Cincinnati, Indiana, HUP/CHOP, Brown, UNC, USC, Case UH, Minnesota, MCW, DMC, Stony Brook, Case Metrohealth, Beaumont
Rejections: BWH/CHB, MGH, Yale, UChicago, Duke, UCLA, UCSD, Vanderbilt, Michigan, Pittsburgh, Maryland, Colorado, Hopkins, Grand Rapids/MSU, Georgetown
Other: Couples match

Matched (+ # on ROL): #3 (Case Western)

Advice:

-First and foremost, if you are couples matching and you or your partner receives an interview at an institution that you applied to, do NOT wait. You AND your partner should immediately send an e-mail to the program directors of your respective programs requesting an interview for the other partner. This shows initiative on the part of both you and your partner, and it netted me some interviews in both med-peds and medicine that I probably wouldn't have received based solely on stats and institution (Penn, Columbia, UNC, USC, and more). It may not work in every situation, but if it doesn't, it won't hurt your partner if they still choose to go on the interview.

-Apply to more programs than you need and cancel interviews rather than applying to too few. My partner and I each applied to over 50 programs total and ended up with >30 interview invitations each. We canceled a ton of interviews, and it was great to have that choice. Some of our classmates were struggling to have enough interviews because they bound themselves geographically or otherwise.

-If you are at a lower tier program, try to go to an upper tier program and get an excellent letter of recommendation. I did not get an interview from the away I did, but I got an amazing letter that was mentioned at every interview and likely contributed to some of the great interviews I received.

-The residency program itself is not the only piece of the puzzle, and it's a good idea to think outside of "this program is more prestigious" when making your decision unless you know you must be in academic medicine in a competitive specialty. Those intangibles are what will make residency tolerable, so it behooves you to look carefully at location, fit, and patient population (if you only like rich white people, Columbia probably isn't the place for you, for example!) to determine where you actually belong. Some more prestigious and higher on USNWR programs took a nosedive on my list because the environment just wasn't what I was expecting.

-Apply to some safeties in your immediate region if there are any. I applied to 6 Chicago programs (and many Chicago-adjacent), none of which made it into my top 10 (I want to leave Chicago), just because they cost me nothing to interview at besides a day off of work.

 

[anriar]

School: Large state school in Midwest
Step Scores: Step 1: 233, Step 2 CK: 258, CS: Pass (all visible with initial ERAS)
Grades: Preclinicals were all Pass, Clinicals: Peds, Family, Surgery: Pass, IM, Neuro, Psych: High Pass, OB/GYN: Honors. Sub-Is: MICU, PICU, Honors in both.
Research: Public Health Research, 2 publications during med school
AOA/GHHS: No/Yes
Rank: Middle quintile
Interview Invites: Baylor, Baystate/Tufts, Detroit Medical Center, Greenville Health Systems, Indiana University, Jackson Memorial, Medical College of Wisconsin, Medical University of South Carolina, Ohio State University, Penn State, University of Cincinnati, University of Maryland, University of Massachusetts, University of Rochester, University of South Florida, William Beaumont Hospital
Rejections: Brigham and Women's, Brown University, Georgetown University, Johns Hopkins, Mass Gen, UCLA, University of Chicago, University of Colorado, University of Michigan, University of Minnesota, University of North Carolina, University of Pennsylvania, Vanderbilt University, Yale-New Haven
Other: Have an MPH

Matched (+ # on ROL): Matched at #6

Advice: Get that TSA precheck before interview season starts. Find a credit card with good airline points and put Step 2 on it.

Keep an open mind going on interviews. My last interview I didn't really want to go on, but my wife convinced me to give the program a chance and now it's number 2 on my rank list.

 

[URHere]

School: Top 50 school, West Coast
Step Scores: Step 1: 229, Step 2 CK: 253, Step 2 CS: Pass (Step 1 and CK visible with initial submission)
Grades: Preclinical: mostly H, Clinical: NH in Peds, OB/Gyn, IM, and Surgery, H in Psych, Family, Sub-I, and ICU
Research: MS and PhD (different fields), 3 1st author basic science pubs, 2 mid-author pubs, 12+ posters and presentations, clinical trial experience
AOA: No
Rank: Top 50%
Interview Invites: Indiana, Cincinnati, Minnesota, Maryland, Virginia Commonwealth, Tulane, Miami, Rochester, UAB, Baystate, Colorado, Vanderbilt, UCSD, MCW, Maine, USF, Christiana
Rejections: UCLA, Baylor, UT Houston, Duke, UNC, MGH, BWH, Penn, Brown, Pitt, U Chicago (Waitlist), Case, Ohio State (Waitlist), Michigan, Georgetown, Yale, UIC
Other: PhD, Random geographic ties (West Coast, East Coast, and Mid-West), tons of volunteer and curriculum development work.

Matched (+ # on ROL): Matched at #1 (Cinci)

Advice:
-It is hard but not impossible to schedule interviews geographically. Almost all Med-Peds programs list planned interview dates on their websites - I was able to make a master-list and then determine which interview dates meshed well with those of geographically-similar programs on my list. Ultimately, only one of my interviews was completely out of the way, and I was able to rent cars and drive between several programs.

-Med-peds is an interesting mix when it comes to paying for hotel accommodations. In my experience, 1/3 covered everything, 1/3 covered a fraction (applicant might pay ~$50 for a hotel), and 1/3 covered nothing. Plan your finances accordingly.

-A handful of programs require 2 day interviews. The second day usually ends early, but this can still be a pain for scheduling.

-If you are interested in global health, be aware that different programs set very different guidelines for international rotations. Some allow 4+ months abroad, others allow no more than 1 month away from the home program. You may be able to get this information from current residents or the PD before the interview if you know this could be a deal-breaker for you.

-Med-peds waitlists don't seem to move much. Be cautiously optimistic.

 

[andrek82]

School: Low tier state school, northeast
Step Scores: 1: 223; CK: 241; CS: Pass
Grades: all pass except HP in surgery years 1 to 3. Honors in public health and rural medicine (school specific program, 9 months of 3rd/4th year); HP in PICU AI, adult ID.
Research: 5 years drug development before med school. 1 first author study in med school, but after rank order list was due so noone knows about it.
AOA: no
Rank: 45th percentile-ish
Interview Invites: Buffalo, Baystate, Christiana, Maine Medical, Maryland, Newark Beth Israel, Rutgers
Rejections: BWH, MGH, Rochester
Other: MS in chemistry. Limited applications due to family circumstances.

Matched (+ # on ROL): yes, #1 (Buffalo)

Advice: I had a rough time in the first couple years for lots of reasons. If this is what you want, go for it anyways. Work hard, and you'll find that third and fourth years are easier to stand out. I had strong letters that helped open some doors; the rest is up to you.

 

[zany_brainy]

School: Somewhere in the East (DO)
Step Scores: USMLE Step 1 ~260, USMLE Step 2 CK 270s
Grades: Mostly A's and a couple B's in the first 2 years, A's in all 3rd year rotations, Honors/A's on my sub-i's
Research: None
AOA: No
Rank: Top 5
Interview Invites: Albany, Baystate, Brown, Buffalo, Case Western Metrohealth, Case Western University Hospital, Christiana, East Carolina University, Geisinger, Loyola, Newark Beth Israel, Ohio State, Penn State, Rutgers, Stony Brook, Univ of Cincinnati, ,Univ of Illinois Peioria, Univ of South Florida (I didn't attend a few of these)
Rejections: Rochester, Maryland, MUSC, Duke, UTSW
Silence (Didn't hear back from/ ignored by): Baylor, Univ of Texas Houston, UMass, UMiami/Jackson Memorial, Georgetown, UPMC
Other: A few extracurriculars, nothing fancy.

Matched (+ # on ROL): #1 USF

Advice (moreso for DO applicants)
- Just a little rant on the "silence" row above. I wish programs would reject applicants instead of ignoring them. Some of those programs are in areas that are far away from where I currently live and it would make scheduling/travel plans a lot easier if programs sent us rejections.

- Apply broadly, especially as a DO. The goal number of programs for my rank list was 12-15. I had no idea how many interviews I'd get, so I applied to 25-ish.

- IMO auditions are not necessary, but I recommend doing at least a peds inpatient sub-I and an IM inpatient sub-I at teaching hospitals. Work really hard on those rotations to try to net great letters. A couple of my letters were mentioned at most of my interviews.

- Keep an open mind when going on interviews. My final rank list was a lot different from the list I had in mind at the beginning of the season.

- Like @tantacles mentioned in his/her advice above, don't focus too much on prestige when applying, going on interviews and working on rank lists. Most med-peds programs are solid, especially because the curriculum is strict. I'm a firm believer that you will get great training in most med-peds programs in the country. How I felt I fit with faculty and residents ended up being one of the most important things when creating my rank list.

- Most of my interviews were fairly relaxed. However, it's still a good idea to prepare with friends before going on interviews especially if you aren't experienced with job interviews.

- It might be a good idea to have some career plan in mind when going on interviews. It can help when creating rank lists. For example, if you're dead set on a competitive fellowship, it may not be a great idea to highly rank a program whose alumni mostly end up in primary care (that doesn't mean you can't get into fellowship from a program like that).

- Have fun!

- Feel free to PM me with questions.

 

[Celerity]

School: Top 20 state school (MD)
Step Scores: 229/247/P
Grades: Preclinical: A's, B's, 1 C, Clinical: All B+, except for A in IM,
Research: Published before med school,
AOA: lol...
Rank: 3rd Quartile
Interview Invites: Albany, Baystate, Buffalo, East Carolina University, Univ of Illinois Peioria, Univ of South Florida, University of Miami, Medical College of Wisconsin, University of Massachusetts, William Beaumont Hospital, UTSW, UT-Houston, LSU (Shreveport and NO), OU-Tulsa, Mississippi, Kansas, UAB (impressive!!), Mizzou, Kentucky, Kalamazoo, Metrohealth, Nebraska, Arizona, South Alabama, Detroit Medical Center, UMKC, Colorado (nice people), Chapel Hill, University of Tennessee (good BBQ)
Rejections: Baylor (snobby email), Hopkins (duh..) Duke, Rush, Harvard (no surprise), Loyola, Rochester, Vandy, University of Maryland,
Other: On every interview I was told over and over that my LOR and PS were the best ever

Matched (+ # on ROL): #6, large academic program

Advice:
I was told that there was no way I'd match into med peds 2/2 my grades and board scores. I was also told that I wouldn't match into an academic program. If you want med/peds, then go for it. Just have a back up plan in case you dont get interviews by mid to late Oct.

Apply very broadly. I applies to 66 programs.

DO NOT LISTEN TO POST INTERVIEW COMMUNICATION! It's all lies. Drill this into your brain.

Feel free to PM with questions.

 

[glotris173]

School: Mid tier private school
Step Scores: 258 /266 / Pass
Grades: Pass /fail for the first 2 years. Honors in IM, Peds, subI
Research: 1 first author pub, couple posters
AOA: nope
Rank: top quartile
Interview Invites: Yale, Brown, Penn, UChicago, UIC, Rush, UCLA, UCSD, USC, Baylor, UTSW, Tulane, Duke, Cinci, Georgetown, Stony Brook, Rutgers, Vandy
Rejections: MGH, Brigham, Pitt, UNC, U Michigan
Other: Global health experience, prior military, (supposedly) excellent LOR. Gold humanism. Also an MPH.

Matched (+ # on ROL): #9, internal medicine at Columbia (first IM program ranked)

Advice:

-Cover your *** and cross apply to medicine and/or peds haha. I struck out on 8 med peds programs and matched at the first IM place I listed, a place more academically prestigious than many of the med peds programs I ranked ahead of it. I only interviewed at two IM programs, but I am very grateful that I did. It seems to me that med peds is an order of magnitude more competitive than either medicine or peds. There were a lot of terrific candidates everywhere I interviewed, and most programs have only 4-6 spots. Don't get your heart set on any one place.

-I have nothing but good things to say about every place I interviewed for med peds. There are a lot of wonderful, caring people who are in med peds and it bodes well for the future of the profession. Most were also able to see both adults and children in their daily practice. Most places are happy to have you go into either subspecialty or primary care, with a few outliers (Hopkins).

-As other posters have mentioned, post interview communication is a formality and means nothing.

-Evaluate the peds side most carefully. There are a lot of places with great medicine programs, but not as many with excellent peds. If you are interested in subspecialty work, consider one attached to a children's hospital.

Feel free to hit me up with questions, and good luck!

 

[HamletPrinceofDenmark]

School: Mid to Mid/High Tier State School (Penn State University)
Step Scores: Step I: 216, Step II: 247, Step II CS (Pass)
Grades: Pass in first two years (had to remediate 1 class), High Pass-Honors in Clinical Years
Research: 3 published papers from undergrad (1 primary authorship), 1 longitudinal research project in med school that had poster presentation, 1 Grand Rounds Lecture
AOA:no
Rank: low 1/3 to 50% in 1st two years, 50% to 75% in last two years
Interview Invites: Christiana/Jefferson, University of Kentucky, Geisinger, Penn State Hershey, Baystate, UMass, Rutgers, Georgetown, MUSC, VCU, WVU, Case/Metro, Louisville, U of Buffalo, Detroit Med/Wayne State, Ohio State, Maine, ECU/Vidant, Newark Beth Israel, Albany, Beaumont
Rejections: Vanderbilt, MGH, UNC, Loyola, U of Michigan, Rochester, BWH/BCH, Maryland, UPMC, Johns Hopkins, Stony Brook, Duke, Cincinnati (waitlist), Brown, Case University, Hurley, Indiana, Rush, U of Chicago, U of Illinois, UPenn, Yale
Other: couples match, tons of extra-curricular/volunteer/leadership roles

Matched (+ # on ROL): YES!!! #4, Penn State/Hershey (YAY!)

Advice:

As stated above, be aggressive with asking for interviews where your significant other received them if couple's matching. I received some just because my wife asked for their program to contact mine. I also contacted to show interest which worked a few times.

Be strategic in who you get letters from. A personal letter is great and they can probably write a lot on your behalf because you got to know them better. However, a letter from a physician who has "professorship" status can go a long way, especially if he/she attends a lot of meetings and is well known in the academic community. You can always ask for more letters than needed because every program has a different requirement in what time of letters they want (1 chair/2 chair, 3 personal, 2 chair and 2 personal, etc.). This could also be done by getting a great letter from someone on an away rotation also.

Never trust post interview communication. Seriously, don't do it.

As you can see above, I did not start off so hot in medical school but as the clinical years started, I really picked it up and started to excel in comparison to my peers; thus, if you work hard, you can make yourself more competitive.

Definitely look at the acuity and critical-ness of the peds population. Medicine is generally the same in most places.

Apply very broadly!!! I applied to 43 places. Don't discount a place just because of it's location, it might surprise you.

Above all, I think my rank list came down to 4 things: 1. can a program get you where you want to go afterwards. 2. Will your spouse be happy (important in couples matching)/do you have a good support system. 3. Do the residents get along/are they happy. 4. Is the Program Director supportive/will he be your advocate to help you succeed/do you click with him/her. I am lucky that I matched into a place where I know all of these to be true.

If you have any questions, please PM me, especially if you want to know about Penn State Hershey (home program), it truly is a great program. The residents/program here are the whole reason I decided Med-Peds in the fist place.

 

[mercaptovizadeh]

-Cover your *** and cross apply to medicine and/or peds haha. I struck out on 8 med peds programs and matched at the first IM place I listed, a place more academically prestigious than many of the med peds programs I ranked ahead of it. I only interviewed at two IM programs, but I am very grateful that I did. It seems to me that med peds is an order of magnitude more competitive than either medicine or peds. There were a lot of terrific candidates everywhere I interviewed, and most programs have only 4-6 spots. Don't get your heart set on any one place.

I would like to second this advice. The process at the top programs is incredibly competitive because we are talking about 4-6 spots at institutions that routinely have 40+ IM and 20+ peds spots. Do not be shy about applying in parallel to IM or pediatrics, any more than a derm applicant would about having an IM back plan. The process is idiosyncratic, the PDs have peculiar things they are looking for (I suspect that at this point anyone who does not have AOA and honors in both IM and peds has slim chances at the very top programs), regardless of your board scores, ECs, etc. They have such a great selection before them that they can afford to be extremely picky, which is quite a shame. The large IM and peds programs are large enough to have more flexibility but also to be more reasonable and not implement such demands. Good luck!

 

[tantacles]

I would like to second this advice. The process at the top programs is incredibly competitive because we are talking about 4-6 spots at institutions that routinely have 40+ IM and 20+ peds spots. Do not be shy about applying in parallel to IM or pediatrics, any more than a derm applicant would about having an IM back plan. The process is idiosyncratic, the PDs have peculiar things they are looking for (I suspect that at this point anyone who does not have AOA and honors in both IM and peds has slim chances at the very top programs), regardless of your board scores, ECs, etc. They have such a great selection before them that they can afford to be extremely picky, which is quite a shame. The large IM and peds programs are large enough to have more flexibility but also to be more reasonable and not implement such demands. Good luck!

I have to agree with this. I was squeamish about parallel applying to IM at places where I applied med-peds, but I really should have applied IM at every place I was super enthusiastic about. They really didn't care, and these PDs know that they have small classes. The PD's will talk, and if you love a place, you can ask to be ranked for both just because you love the institution, and in hindsight, I might have done that for my number 2 if I had known how this would turn out.

 

[Celerity]

..... The process is idiosyncratic, the PDs have peculiar things they are looking for (I suspect that at this point anyone who does not have AOA and honors in both IM and peds has slim chances at the very top programs), .....

I wholeheartedly agree with this. The med/peds application and interview process seems more idiosyncratic than other residencies such as IM or Peds. Also, most every PD I talked to had something specific to their program they are looking for. But one overarching question on all of my interviews was "why med/peds and not IM or peds?" You need to articulate why you want to do this and the answer is not "well... I like adults and children and just couldn't make up my mind." For me, I wanted to do a combined oncology fellowship and focus on transitional care. Others wanted to do combined pulm and take care of kids with CF since that population is living longer now. Others wanted to do combined endo. Interestingly, there was a lot of people that wanted to do combined ID.

To be able to articulate this means that you have to have a plan with a vision. So think hard about that before you write your PS and go on interviews.

.....The PD's will talk, ....

This is also another thing I noticed. The med/peds community is very small with respect to the other specialties. Most of the PDs and PCs know each other. What you do and say and one interview can get around. So be consistent.

 

[ArsèneLupin]

I have to agree with this. I was squeamish about parallel applying to IM at places where I applied med-peds, but I really should have applied IM at every place I was super enthusiastic about. They really didn't care, and these PDs know that they have small classes. The PD's will talk, and if you love a place, you can ask to be ranked for both just because you love the institution, and in hindsight, I might have done that for my number 2 if I had known how this would turn out.

Yea I would have not felt safe without dual applying. One small caveat, was that I dual applied to 5 institutions and only received both interviews from two institutions. the rest were only the Med Peds invites( two of them after sending an interest email(s) for the MP programs. ).

 

[ArsèneLupin]

School: South/Southeast State School
Step Scores: Step 1/2: 245-255
Grades: Preclinicals had 3 C's, Small number of A's and Mostly B's(think 4th quartile), Honors in FM, P's in Everything else but 97th percentile in IM and Peds NBME.(School is H,P,F). 4th year was all P/F
Research: 9 items on ERAS. Published AHA abstract and national meeting presentation. Everything else was small posters and abstracts.
AOA: Lol no
Rank: Barely 3rd quartile.
Interview Invites:Red is Cancelled/Did not attend ~ 26MP( UTSW, UTH, Baylor, LSU-NO, Tulane, UAB, UTenn, Louisville, USF, UMiami, Duke, MUSC, Mizzou-Columbia, UMKC, UIC, OSU, Loyola, UNMC, MCW, Case Western Univeristy Hospitals, Univeristy of Arizona, Indiana, Utah, OU OKC, Baystate), ~15 IM
Rejections: UMinn, UMich, CU, Rochester, UCLA(loved this rejection email), UCSD, Vanderbilt, UNC, MGH(loved their x3 message), BWH, Cincinnati, UChicago, UPenn/CHOP, Yale
Other: 1 away, 1 second look. Both at places in the South/Southeast. Bilingual fluency in other language. Ranked ~24 programs

Matched (+ # on ROL): #1 (South/Southeast program)

Advice:
I played the numbers game. Applied to a bunch of places so that I could for sure match IM or MP if i ended up doing a straight rank( Final rank list was mixed bag). My aim was to get into an academic program with good peds and/or IM so that fellowship was still open. I picked bigger programs and fewer smaller programs(UNMC, MUSC,Utah). I also looked where past graduates of my school had either matched MP or matched categorical IM or peds.

Location was one of the bigger parts of me matching(Spouse) hence my IM application to their/my home/ or near / or Spouse agreeable area to live(Beach or big city didn't hurt ). But at the same time i was reasonable when sending out the initial eras application. This was a job hunt and I made sure i applied to enough places so that a job would be the outcome. Every place i visited with the exception of maybe one i could see myself living there which made ranking easy and hard(Loved everywhere)

Away/second look/Letters: Without divulging too much, I think these were absolutely important for me matching to the program I did. Put a face to a name and/or showed dedication to program/field. I also sent a letter of interest to three programs I hadn't heard from, which resulted in two interviews ( ended up being in my top 3 ), so don't be shy in sending a letter in october/nov if you are radio silence from a place(s) you really want to evaluate.

Interviews: all super conversational and chill. No pimping or grilling. Loved everyone i interviewed with. Loved visiting all programs and saw myself super happy matching there with but a small fingerful of programs. I loved all the PD's i met along the trial. MP is a special field with great people that matched my personality.

Scheduling: I tried to plan ahead before i applied and used FRIEDA/program websites to find out when places start interviewing and made a spreadsheet of the date range, dates if available, and day of the week. this helped to see which programs had dates that could conflict, only offered in a small batch of time, or when to give up hearing from a program if last date was too close. I grouped as many interview i could near each other( Texas with Texas, Midwest with Midwest, Chicago with Chicago, Florida with Florida, etc). i did most of my colder places in the earlier part of the cycle, and most of my warmer places during the winter, which made for agreeable travel. Having a Chase Sapphire Plus card and getting wise to buying tickets with points from airlines is a must have skill for multi-month traveling. Only started cancelling interviews once I got tired of flying out, so the programs that had dates in January tended to start dropping off. In the beginning, I tried to frontload my interview as much as possible to leave buffer room for future invites to programs i wanted. Be flexible though. PC are also open to helping you reschedule dates, just call and ask if a problem comes up or you find out you can schedule two cities or nearby places in at good times near each other.

Ranking: It came down to location, strength of med peds program and presence, the PD, the residents, and how strong the peds side was. Programs that I ranked lower had weaker peds("good medicine programs are a dime a dozen, great peds programs are gems to find"-Mentor). But overall it came to fit. ROL: was a mixed bag. the goal was to make a list that any in the top 11 would have left me jumping for joy. Sent letter of intent to top program and strong letter of interest to 2-3. No one but one replied saying positive things but anything far from definitive. Trust no one though and have contingency plans set up(Back up specialty, high volume app, networking)

Overall: Interview season was long. From early Oct to late Jan is exhausting. Plan your 4th your schedule accordingly. Programs paid for or part of the cost 2/3 of time, I was only left with the whole bill at a handful of places.
Part of me thinks I went overboard, but the practical part of me says this isn't the time to cheap out and be lazy.
I matched to a dream program. Only regret is not doing better in preclinicals to help with some of the application anxiety, but that worked itself out. I look forward to seeing some of you again and meeting you at future NRMPA meetings

 

[togaedere]

School: Mid- to low-tier midwestern school with med-peds program (which is how i got the idea in the first place)
Step Scores: 257/251/Pass
Grades: H in Ob/Gyn, Neuro, Psych, IM, peds. S+ (our version of HP) in Family, Satisfactory in Surgery (yuck). No M4 grades available to programs.
Research: not really much to write home about. I participated in a few projects and am like zillionth author on one poster, but no actual publications to speak of.
AOA: no
Rank: top 25% to 33% i believe
Interview Invites: Case UH, Minnesota, Maine, Louisville, UIC, Utah, LSU-New Orleans, UMass, Brown, Baystate, UT Southwestern, UNC, Hopkins, Cincinnati, DMC-Wayne State (all attended). Did not attend: Rush, Hurley-Flint, Rutgers, MCW
Rejections: Baylor, BWH/BCH, Duke, MGH, Newark Beth Israel, Tulane, Michigan, Penn/CHOP, Pittsburgh, Vanderbilt, Yale. Most of them were silent rejections.
Other: only applied to med/peds programs. Have a lot of volunteering, leadership roles, Gold Humanism, worked really hard on my essay to communicate that i am interested in a career in med peds primary care.

Matched (+ # on ROL): yes, #3 (Baystate)

Advice:

--I really do not think that I fully grasped how competitive med-peds was until match day. I mean, it makes sense. The programs are small. Literally every single person I met was a rock star. But I still think I took things a little casually and assumed I would rank at my 1 or 2. I'm stoked about matching, I think my program will fit me really well and there were really clear reasons why I ranked it 3 that I am excited about. At the same time, I do believe that the top programs have their pick of well-rounded applicants who have all kinds of experiences and abilities. Thus, very competitive match process!

--This may be a silly realization, but research may actually be a bigger factor than advertised. I was asked at my top two programs to explain my involvement in one project on my CV. The project I have to believe was not as robust as compared to others (because it's frankly just not). I can't ever know if this was a factor in not matching there, but it's something I think about, especially when I read about who matched at those programs. However, research is not a huge focus of mine, and I would not suggest that people get involved in things they don't have a heart for/aren't interested in just to pump up an application. But to match at the big programs I do think this is a big part of the picture. Therefore, I would recommend if the big programs are a goal, get a research mentor early. I would definitely emphasize this for students who go to schools comparable to mine (mid to lowish tier), as the top places typically take students from the top places.

--Take what you hear from your interviewers with a pound of salt. If they are really impressed with your application, that's great! But don't take that to mean anything about your likelihood of matching at said institution. Same thing as mentioned in other posts regarding post-interview communication.

--I did not do any away rotations. If i got a life redo, I'm not sure I would personally (don't really work for me), but in advising a student, I would probably put this in the things to consider. I think there's definitely value in doing them if you're interested in a place you consider a reach, especially for the LOR aspect as mentioned above. This is something I had not previously considered. I also have a classmate who did one at a nearby top-tier institution and got an interview there after the rotation.

--The biggest advice I have for this whole process is to not let things define you, or get you down. Med school is hard, and it's very stressful trying to be perfect throughout. Do the best you can, have an open mind, and enjoy the process. This got away from me a few times but I'm ultimately happy with how things worked out! Have people in your life who are supportive and give good advice. Med-peds is competitive at the top but there's still tons of room for people who apply broadly and with an open mind.

 

[Sister Mary Patrick]

School: Lower-tier state school (Midwest)
Step Scores: 229, 247, Pass (all available to programs with initial application)
Grades: I passed through the first two years (school does P/F). Received H in OB/GYN, psych, research elective, peds; P in all others (school does H/P/F).
Research: Two research projects, neither one published or presented prior to application or interviews
AOA: No
Rank: 25 - 33% of class (?)
Interview Invites: Rochester, Buffalo, ECU, Case Western Metro, Loyola, MCW, UI-Peoria, Indiana, UTSW, UT-Houston, Kansas, Nebraska, Minnesota, Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, Arizona
Rejections: 14 (6 rejections, 6 silence, 2 waitlist)
Other: Professional experience prior to medical school

Matched (+ # on ROL): Yes! (#3)

Advice:
There's already a lot of great advice above, so I'll try to not repeat anything.

To offer a different perspective, I applied only to M-P programs. I worried about this initially, as I didn't think I was a very competitive applicant. I wrestled with this quite a bit, and ultimately came to the decision that I was all-in on Med-Peds. Maybe it was more risky than I realize even now, but I never once wished I had more options. I would have been happy to match anywhere in the top half of my rank list.

I agree with the above posts to say that post-interview communication from programs means nothing. That being said, I think it's a good idea to send some sort of communication (email or hand-written note) to programs where you hope to match, whether it's your top choice or top 5. There are a lot of stellar people applying for the same spot as you, so reminding the program leadership that you exist and enjoyed your interview day there could potentially go a long way.

Interview season can be exhausting, especially if you're not geographically located near the majority of M-P programs. At first, it's fun and exciting and awesome. Somewhere near the end, you start to wonder if anyone would notice if you wore yoga pants instead of your suit pants. I met a couple people on the interview trail doing 20 or more interviews, but it wouldn't be something that I personally recommend.

If there's a program that you really have your heart set on, don't schedule it as your very first interview. Get your feet wet in other programs, if possible, to prepare you for what these interviews are going to be like.

If you had asked me at this time one year ago where I wanted to end up, my answer would have been completely different from the way things shook out. IN A VERY GOOD WAY. The place that I was expecting to be my #1 choice ended up being #9 on my match list. Keep a very open mind when interviewing, but probably even more so when applying. I didn't apply to some programs because I didn't think I had a chance at those places and, frankly, was afraid of being rejected.

Good luck! I really feel like I found my people when I was interviewing, and you'll know what this means once you get out there, too. I doubt anyone ever takes up the offer, but please PM me if you have any questions.

 

[andrek82]

I really feel like I found my people when I was interviewing, and you'll know what this means once you get out there, too.

This is really true. There was only one other student in my class applying med-peds, and I thought it was interesting but coincidental that we tended to approach problems in a similar way compared to even the folks set on the categoricals. Then I hit the interview trail and realized that med peds attracts a certain type, and they really are fantastic!

Edit-for fat fingers

 

[ArsèneLupin]

Good luck! I really feel like I found my people when I was interviewing, and you'll know what this means once you get out there, too. I doubt anyone ever takes up the offer, but please PM me if you have any questions.

Yup this was my reaction on the trail. It was like a home coming almost. I loved everyone I met. The crude way me and another applicant put it was
"We're too Internal Medicine for pediatrics and we are too Peds for Internal"

 

[URHere]

If you had asked me at this time one year ago where I wanted to end up, my answer would have been completely different from the way things shook out. IN A VERY GOOD WAY. The place that I was expecting to be my #1 choice ended up being #9 on my match list. Keep a very open mind when interviewing, but probably even more so when applying. I didn't apply to some programs because I didn't think I had a chance at those places and, frankly, was afraid of being rejected.

I want to second this. Before interviews, I thought I had a good idea of my top 3 programs. By the end, those programs were numbers 8, 9, and 11 on my list. My ultimate number 1 was barely on my radar until I visited and fell in love with it, and I wouldn't have even applied to my number 4 and 5 programs if my advisor hadn't yelled at me back in August. You won't necessarily realize exactly which things are important to you before you start on the trail. For me, weak/small peds was a dealbreaker and this single-handedly dropped two of my "dream" programs to the bottom of the list. For others, clinic or patient population became really important. You kind of figure it out as you go.

Good luck! I really feel like I found my people when I was interviewing, and you'll know what this means once you get out there, too. I doubt anyone ever takes up the offer, but please PM me if you have any questions.

Yes. Absolutely yes. As someone coming from a school without Med-Peds, I really wasn't 100% sure that I made the right choice by applying to this specialty until I met everyone (current residents, PDs, fellow applicants) on the interview trail. It's like finding your people. That reassurance alone was *almost* worth the cost of interviews.

 

[tantacles]

I want to second this. Before interviews, I thought I had a good idea of my top 3 programs. By the end, those programs were numbers 8, 9, and 11 on my list. My ultimate number 1 was barely on my radar until I visited and fell in love with it, and I wouldn't have even applied to my number 4 and 5 programs if my advisor hadn't yelled at me back in August. You won't necessarily realize exactly which things are important to you before you start on the trail. For me, weak/small peds was a dealbreaker and this single-handedly dropped two of my "dream" programs to the bottom of the list. For others, clinic or patient population became really important. You kind of figure it out as you go.



Yes. Absolutely yes. As someone coming from a school without Med-Peds, I really wasn't 100% sure that I made the right choice by applying to this specialty until I met everyone (current residents, PDs, fellow applicants) on the interview trail. It's like finding your people. That reassurance alone was *almost* worth the cost of interviews.

Getting to meet you and @togaedere was definitely one of the highlights of my interview season!


Large dogs

 

[togaedere]

See you at NMPRA! Or somewhere else!

Getting to meet you and @togaedere was definitely one of the highlights of my interview season!


Large dogs

 

[tantacles]

See you at NMPRA! Or somewhere else!

Nmpra is definitely happening. I would never miss a chance to travel to sf! Maybe we can all share a room?


Large dogs

 

[scottpilgrimversus]

School: New east coast medical school
Step Scores: Step I: 265; Step II CK: 258 (not visible pre-interview); Step II CS: Pass (not visible pre-interview)
Grades: Pass/fail system (received the equivalent of honors in basic sciences, clinical sciences, and problem-based learning during my first two years of school; received honors in internal medicine, pediatrics, and psychology during third year)
Research: 4 years of basic in undergrad with 2 publications, 3 years of research in medical school with 1 poster presentation
AOA: No
GH: Yes
Rank: Top 10% of class
Interview Invites: Cincinnati, UPenn, Johns Hopkins, Duke, UNC, UCLA, UCSD, Colorado, Brown, Yale, Maryland, Georgetown, Ohio State, Minnesota, VCU, MUSC, UAB, SUNY Stony Brook, Miami
Rejections: BWH/CHB, MGH
Wait List: Vanderbilt, Baylor

Matched (+ # on ROL): #2 (Cincinnati)

Advice:

- As someone who kept a meticulous excel file comparing the various programs with which I interviewed, I suggest that you throw the numbers away and go with your gut!