# of Interviews to Match

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Coastie

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Opinions? Statistics?

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that depends on a lot of factors. Just for fun, assuming your an avgerage canidate applying to 12-15 places, interview/rank 8-10 and you should match somewhere. This is just an opinion I have no facts to back it up.:)
 
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furthest back Ive ever seen someone fall back on their rank list AND still match was 8 places. So I think 10 is a good number. If you can match on 10 or 12, you probably won't match.
 
Opinions? Statistics?

It really depends on how competitive you are... the more competitive, the less programs you'll need to rank, however, it also depends on which programs you are applying to, the more competitive the programs, the more likely you'll want to rank more programs.

I think if you rank 10 places, you have like a 95% of matching somewhere. Of course this could all be hearsay.
 
Like almost every student, I interviewed at more places than I needed to match at. I got real tired of interviews by mid december and started cancelling the remaining interviews. In fact, I was already planning on moving to Texas. I almost cancelled my interview at Columbia but decided to go anyway because I was doing an ER rotation in New York. I unexpectedly liked the program, ranked it first and matched there.

So don't skimp on interviews...go to the ones that you may actually end up liking. But don't overdo it because it's a waste of money and people's time.
 
Thanks for the responses.

The thing is, re: interview burnout, we've got prelims PLUS anesth interviews.

How many prelims are needed for a prelim match? I'm sitting @ 4, hoping the # is only 6-8...
 
I had a question about interviewing at competitive programs. Without trying to sound super humble here, I seem to have gotten many interviews at some really competitive programs, and I dont know why. I am a DO student, with great board scores, good letters (albeit from unknowns in the field), but the rest of my application is just plain average. I am kind of scared because at least 7 or 8 of the 15 programs I plan on interviewing at are pretty darn competitive. UMich, UPitt, UIowa, Case, CCF, Mayo Jax to name a few. I also have interviews at less competitive but solid and maybe desireable programs as well (ie. Loyola, UWisc, Penn State, Henry Ford). I think I interview ok, but I really am wondering if I should try and score some more interviews at less desireable programs to stack the bottom of my rank list. Anyone have any opinions here? Is 15 interviews enough if at least half are super competitive? Am I being ******ed?

I think I just may need to get drunk...........
 
Ketafol,
I think you and I are somewhat the same guy.
 
I had a question about interviewing at competitive programs. Without trying to sound super humble here, I seem to have gotten many interviews at some really competitive programs, and I dont know why. I am a DO student, with great board scores, good letters (albeit from unknowns in the field), but the rest of my application is just plain average. I am kind of scared because at least 7 or 8 of the 15 programs I plan on interviewing at are pretty darn competitive. UMich, UPitt, UIowa, Case, CCF, Mayo Jax to name a few. I also have interviews at less competitive but solid and maybe desireable programs as well (ie. Loyola, UWisc, Penn State, Henry Ford). I think I interview ok, but I really am wondering if I should try and score some more interviews at less desireable programs to stack the bottom of my rank list. Anyone have any opinions here? Is 15 interviews enough if at least half are super competitive? Am I being ******ed?

I think I just may need to get drunk...........

you can pitch in a couple "saftey" interviews. However if you are already landing a poop load of interviews at decent places then, sorry to break it to ya, you are competitive. Make sure you base interviews on your perceived interest in the program, not on your perceived ability to match at said program. Also choose your cities wisely. A great program in a location where you will be miserable isn't going to be that great for you.

I guarantee you will be turned off by a few places you thought would certainly be high on your rank list and vice versa.

15 interviews is plenty. You will be toast after about 8 of em. You will blow (hopefully just figuratively :laugh: ) on your first one.
 
Ketafol,
I think you and I are somewhat the same guy.


I'm in the same club as you guys, other than the fact that I am also couples matching.

Not sure how many less desirable programs to interview at. I have a whole bunch of offers I haven't scheduled yet.

Green912, I go to school with you and smgilles.
 
I'm in the same club as you guys, other than the fact that I am also couples matching.

Not sure how many less desirable programs to interview at. I have a whole bunch of offers I haven't scheduled yet.

Green912, I go to school with you and smgilles.

This whole process is just bizarre....how can I get invites from CCF, Mayo, Dartmouth, and MGH.....but not Iowa?
 
This whole process is just bizarre....how can I get invites from CCF, Mayo, Dartmouth, and MGH.....but not Iowa?

dude, i will trade you mgh for iowa. i'll even throw in a uab for your ccf. :)
 
I'm in the same club as you guys, other than the fact that I am also couples matching.

Not sure how many less desirable programs to interview at. I have a whole bunch of offers I haven't scheduled yet.

Green912, I go to school with you and smgilles.

Hey Mista,
Let me guess, your better half is applying to Peds. I'm here in Philly right now, taking the PE tomorrow. As far as the interview intives goes I can't complain. Although, none of the DO programs that I applied to have contacted me, but I'm not too broken up about it.

later
 
This whole process is just bizarre....how can I get invites from CCF, Mayo, Dartmouth, and MGH.....but not Iowa?


Yeah i was going to comment about "safeties". Dont really know that you can call any decent program a "safety," because each program looks for different things in an applicant. Your situation demonstrates this well.
 
www.nrmp.org/matchoutcomes.pdf

http://www.aamc.org/matchoutcomes

Check those out. They link to the same pdf file. Basically if you rank ~10 programs or more, then you have a great chance at matching somewhere.

What's a bit more concerning to me is the high, high unmatched rate for people applying for a transitional year...
 
I applied to 14 anesthesiology programs and have so far recieved 9 interviews invites. I'm planning on going to half of those programs that I applied to (seven interviews in all for anesthesiology). I think if you're a semi-competitive applicant (Step I>225 with high GPA/lots of honors), I really don't think you need to go on more than that based on the analysis of last years applicants (see previous links). I'm also assuming a US allopathic grad.

I'm hoping to score an advanced spot so I'm looking at doing a bunch of prelim and transitional interviews, too. I have six lined up so far--I just can't afford much more or fit much more into my schedule!
 
When people say rank 10-12, do they mean rank 10-12 different programs or would an advanced and categorical at the same program count. For example, if I ranked 6 programs advanced and categorical spots, that would technically count as 12. So should we rank 10-12 different programs or just 10-12 spots overall? Thanks.
 
When people say rank 10-12, do they mean rank 10-12 different programs or would an advanced and categorical at the same program count. For example, if I ranked 6 programs advanced and categorical spots, that would technically count as 12. So should we rank 10-12 different programs or just 10-12 spots overall? Thanks.

I'm no expert but I'm pretty sure that refers to ~10 different programs. Regardless, I'd rank everywhere that you're willing to do your residency.
 
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