Official 2012-2013 IM Residency WAMC (What Are My Chances) Thread

[charizard28]

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I dont work for those people. And thanks for your constructive opinion. You must be a great person.

Greetings

 

[Vanquish]

Hey everyone,

Need some help getting a rough idea where I stand. I haven't yet created a full list of programs because I want to know where I stand first due to being an IMG.

Stats:
U.S citizen IMG, graduated from a not well known Non-carribbean school in end of 2010.
Step1 - 244
Step2 - 250
CS passed
ECFMG Certified ; All exams were passed on 1st attempt.

Have 4 months of clinical experience in E.D of University affiliated hospital , chicago in 2012.
2 months E.D experience at same place in 2008.
2 week rotation in Anesthesiology at NU in 2008.

I am currently interested in the chicagoland area and more familiar with the local hospitals.

Ideally would like to match to a University Hospital anywhere except the west coast (I dont have the california letter, nor do I want to go there)

Was thinking: Rush, Loyola, UIC, Northshore, St. francis/Resurrection, Advocate system, Cook county, maybe NU???

I know NU is a real far stretch but just wanted to throw it in for laughs.

Whats your take JDH or anyone else for that matter?

 

[gutonc]

Hey everyone,

Need some help getting a rough idea where I stand. I haven't yet created a full list of programs because I want to know where I stand first due to being an IMG.

Stats:
U.S citizen IMG, graduated from a not well known Non-carribbean school in end of 2010.
Step1 - 244
Step2 - 250
CS passed
ECFMG Certified ; All exams were passed on 1st attempt.

Have 4 months of clinical experience in E.D of University affiliated hospital (Northshore), chicago in 2012.
2 months E.D experience at same place in 2008.
2 week rotation in Anesthesiology at NU in 2008.

I am currently interested in the chicagoland area and more familiar with the local hospitals.

Ideally would like to match to a University Hospital anywhere except the west coast (I dont have the california letter, nor do I want to go there)

Was thinking: Rush, Loyola, UIC, Northshore, St. francis/Resurrection, Advocate system, Cook county, maybe NU???

I know NU is a real far stretch but just wanted to throw it in for laughs.

Whats your take JDH or anyone else for that matter?

NU is indeed an enormous stretch...lots of AMGs with your stats don't get interviews there. But what's a few bucks in the grand scheme of things? The rest of your list looks fine. Not sure where else you'd be interested in but there are tons of mid-tier Univ programs out there.

 

[gutonc]

I dont work for those people. And thanks for your constructive opinion. You must be a great person.

Greetings

You asked a question, you got an honest answer. If you wanted somebody to lie to you to make you feel better, you should have stated that in your post.

 

[jdh71]

Hello, I would like to hear a honest advice without bitter and hating issues. Im a IMG that needs visa graduated in 2008. Im applying to Internal Medicine this current match, and I would like to know if you would recommend use mededits to strenght my application. I had repeat the first year of med school in my country because of family problems during that year. My scores are the next ones: Step 1/197, Step 2ck/219, step 2cs/2nd attempt, I have done observership for 3 months in University hospital and got 3 US LORs from here, I have also a LOR from important known doctor in England from this year, currently doing research in Internal medicine for about 2 months in University hospital. I would like to know what you advise me to do, I really want to match into an Internal medicine residency, and is necesarry i purchase this mededits think? I hope someone or many can advise me what to do. Good Luck to everyone

Honest advice?

You are going to have an extremely hard time finding a position in the US with your scores, regardless of anything else you may have done.

 

[jdh71]

Hey everyone,

Need some help getting a rough idea where I stand. I haven't yet created a full list of programs because I want to know where I stand first due to being an IMG.

Stats:
U.S citizen IMG, graduated from a not well known Non-carribbean school in end of 2010.
Step1 - 244
Step2 - 250
CS passed
ECFMG Certified ; All exams were passed on 1st attempt.

Have 4 months of clinical experience in E.D of University affiliated hospital (Northshore), chicago in 2012.
2 months E.D experience at same place in 2008.
2 week rotation in Anesthesiology at NU in 2008.

I am currently interested in the chicagoland area and more familiar with the local hospitals.

Ideally would like to match to a University Hospital anywhere except the west coast (I dont have the california letter, nor do I want to go there)

Was thinking: Rush, Loyola, UIC, Northshore, St. francis/Resurrection, Advocate system, Cook county, maybe NU???

I know NU is a real far stretch but just wanted to throw it in for laughs.

Whats your take JDH or anyone else for that matter?

Agree. NU is out. Unfortunately your application screams, "I wanted to do something else, but will you please take me into medicine" which may turn some PD's off. Though, they need to fill those chicago area programs with warm bodies regardless, so you've got a good shot, but you'll need to apply to ALL of them, including the community programs and go on any and all interviews. Also consider MCoW in Milwaukee - it's close to Chicago and at least as of a few years ago would consider Carib grads.

 

[ICmyFuture]

State School
Step1:240s
1-2year grades: mostly P
3year grades: All HP (even Med which sucks), top half of class
Research: 2 years of college research, one year between college and medical school
2 months of IM research between 1st and 2nd year with poster presentation and abstract; research and pending pub in a ROAD specialty (fell in love with IM on my 3rd year rotation toward the end of the year and decided I wanted to work harder and make less $$$😎)
Other: Solid letters, will have peeps call schools for me, if that even makes a difference

Schools I thought about applying to: WashU, OHSU, All CAli Uni schools minus UCLA and UCSF, Baylor, UTSW-Austin, UT-San Antonio, UC-boulder, UNC, UVA

I also wanted to know if you guys had any ideas of other schools I should apply to. I'm looking for solid University programs for potential fellowships and somewhere warm ( Nothing in New England).😀

 

[gutonc]

State School
Step1:240s
1-2year grades: mostly P
3year grades: All HP (even Med which sucks), top half of class
Research: 2 years of college research, one year between college and medical school
2 months of IM research between 1st and 2nd year with poster presentation and abstract; research and pending pub in a ROAD specialty (fell in love with IM on my 3rd year rotation toward the end of the year and decided I wanted to work harder and make less $$$😎)
Other: Solid letters, will have peeps call schools for me, if that even makes a difference

Schools I thought about applying to: WashU, OHSU, All CAli Uni schools minus UCLA and UCSF, Baylor, UTSW-Austin, UT-San Antonio, UC-boulder, UNC, UVA

I also wanted to know if you guys had any ideas of other schools I should apply to. I'm looking for solid University programs for potential fellowships and somewhere warm ( Nothing in New England).😀

I don't see any reason why you shouldn't apply to UCLA...you're potentially competitive there. Also, while Austin is cool, the program there is basically a community program.

You could add:
Utah
AZ
UWash
UNM
Maryland
Emory

Frankly there are a bunch of others but these kind of jumped out at me.

 

[NewYorkDoctors]

Ahead of time I want to say I'm sorry if I come across as an ultra-trigger happy gunner who wants to use SDN as a personal method of preening.

I am from NYC and I attended a middle Pennsylvania medical school and I would simply really like to go back to NYC.

Step1: 255
Step2: 270

Honors in IM, peds, psych

Sparkling recommendation letter from IM Chairman

Middle tiered medical school (possibly low tiered, i don't know how to find out)

Honors in first Sub-I (though Im not sure how much that plays a role)

4 clinical/basic science research experiences, with 2 poster presentations.
But no big medical journal publication or anything really good like that

AOA status is pending because my school is new and has not established its chapter yet.
But I have been assured that I will likely be retroactively awarded at some time in the future.

Ideally, I'd like to go to NYP-Cornell. But there are so many other excellent programs out there.

Any possible admissions officers out there who might be able to give me hope? (or give me a steady dose of reality?)

 

[gutonc]

Ahead of time I want to say I'm sorry if I come across as an ultra-trigger happy gunner who wants to use SDN as a personal method of preening.

I am from NYC and I attended a middle Pennsylvania medical school and I would simply really like to go back to NYC.

Step1: 255
Step2: 270

Honors in IM, peds, psych

Sparkling recommendation letter from IM Chairman

Middle tiered medical school (possibly low tiered, i don't know how to find out)

Honors in first Sub-I (though Im not sure how much that plays a role)

4 clinical/basic science research experiences, with 2 poster presentations.
But no big medical journal publication or anything really good like that

AOA status is pending because my school is new and has not established its chapter yet.
But I have been assured that I will likely be retroactively awarded at some time in the future.

Ideally, I'd like to go to NYP-Cornell. But there are so many other excellent programs out there.

Any possible admissions officers out there who might be able to give me hope? (or give me a steady dose of reality?)

You'll have no problem getting interviews anywhere in NYC (Columbia is a possible exception but H in IM and SubI and your Step scores probably put you in their interview pile). You'll definitely get interviews everywhere else (Cornell, Sinai, NYU, Monte) and would likely have no problem getting interviews at the other "top" programs in the NE (the Harvards, Penn, Hopkins, etc).

Whether you'll actually want to go to any of those programs once you interview there is a completely different story though. But you'll definitely get to interview.

 

[NewYorkDoctors]

Thank you for the quick response.

This is encouraging. I will have to make the proper preparations for interviewing in the near future.

 

[gutonc]

Thank you for the quick response.

This is encouraging. I will have to make the proper preparations for interviewing in the near future.

You could probably wait until you submit your application at least.

 

[kl323]

Hello,

Didn't get a reply from my post yet. Hoping I can get some feedback. I have a good idea of places I want to apply to. But I'm not sure if I applied to enough programs. My advisor suggested 20+. But I'm not sure what else to add in there.

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showpost.php?p=12847635&postcount=98

Thanks again!!

 

[ICmyFuture]

I don't see any reason why you shouldn't apply to UCLA...you're potentially competitive there. Also, while Austin is cool, the program there is basically a community program.

You could add:
Utah
AZ
UWash
UNM
Maryland
Emory

Frankly there are a bunch of others but these kind of jumped out at me.

Thanks for the reply. I appreciate the other suggestions. I love Austin but what you say about their program is true. Every advisor I have spoken to tells me not to go there with my stats. Once the medical school is built it will be better( with fellowships to follow) but I can't take that risk at the present if I want to do a fellowship right after residency. Any other places you could be suggest would be great.

 

[jsr52]

Stats
Undergrad: Cornell
Med school: top 50

Step 1: 243
Step 2: just took it was getting 250-260 on practice exams, CK in Oct

AOA: Not sure. Honored half of third year. All of second year. Only 1 honors first year, but in top 15-20% of my class.

Clinical Grades: Honors Medicine (90 on shelf), Honor Psych, Honors Ob, High pass Peds, High Pass Primary Care, Pass Surgery

Extracurriculars: Volunteer at student run clinic, Volunteer to mentor inner city youth and teach them science. Volunteer to teach incoming MS1's physical exam skills and act as their standardized patients for 1st year exams.

LOR: 1 from Chief of Staff Internal Medicine at VA, 1 from Primary care doc that facilitated my small group teaching sessions for 2 years, and was my attending for primary care rotation. 1 from department head, and likely 1 from our GI program director who I will be doing research with this month.

Research: Have written IRB proposal, 1 poster presentation, will be getting 4-5 publications this month in GI research.

Red Flag: DUI in 2009 (this was a misdemeanor), explained the situation on ERAS, was unable to fight charges and I had just graduated and had to begin a summer job. My hope is program directors will see that I have a strong application, and no one is perfect. Obviously Columbia won't though.

Programs: Desire is to be in NY with future plans to go into GI, any programs I need to add?

NY
Albert Einstein
Mt. Sinai (Reach)
NYMC
Mamoides (don’t know much about this program)
SUNY Downstate
SUNY Stonybrook
North Shore Long Island Jewish (Grandmother died here, don't they owe me a spot?)
Lennox Hill (safety)
Columbia (Reach)
Cornell (Reach, hoping Cornell undergrad helps here)
NYU (Doing an Away rotation here in Gastroenterology, should I go talk to the IM program director?)
St. Lukes (safety)

NJ
UMDNJ


CT
UCONN
Yale (Reach)


PA
Drexel
Upenn
Temple
Thomas Jefferson

MA
Beth Israel
BU
Brigham Womens
Mass Gen
Tufts

Thanks in advanced.

 

[surge55]

This is for someone I know:

U.S citizen IMG (Ross), graduated 2012; applied last year with this app and did not match:
Step1 - 199/81 (2nd attempt, 175 on 1st)
Step2 - 193/78
CS passed 1st attempt
All Honors/A's in clinicals except a HP/B in cardio; 3+ GPA in pre-clinical years.
ECFMG certification was pending, now is finalized since she graduated.
no research; some leadership stuff in med school

she got three interviews in FM but lost out on some spots - one place gave away all but two spots in prematch, another only had a few spots to begin with, and the third was a program that had DO students ranked ahead of her.

over the past year she took a job working with mentally disabled people as well as is working on a research project (data collection, interpretation) for PCOS with an endocrinologist. probably won't make a paper though.

will she fare any better this year? any advice? apply to psych or peds? she would have taken step 3 but was advised by many not to. I am not sure if this was good advice.

 

[SaltedCaramel]

Hi guys! So I go to a mid-tier school in the Midwest, and am looking to match to a top academic NYC program. I'm also probably going to apply to a few other places in the NE, along with Chicago and Houston. Wondering what my chances are at the top tier programs in these locations with my stats, with definite fellowship plans for the future.

-Step 1: 231
-Step 2 CK: 240
-3rd year core clerkships: all Good/Pass, except medicine which I honored (I tried soo hard to get HP in all of them, but somehow didn't even manage that...wondering if the lone honors in medicine makes it seem as if I only tried hard on that rotation? Hopefully the comments on Dean's letter will dispel this perception if it exists.)
-2 basic science research experiences in med school, and am also currently working on an IM chart review project (also wondering if the timing makes it seem if i'm only doing it for residency apps...will be continuing it well into fourth year though). Nothing published.
-LORs: 1 from the IM Clerkship director at my school, one from my FM attending and one peds heme/onc attending. I wish I had an additional IM LOR or two by now, but the one attending I had for more than 1.5 weeks during my rotation, who agreed to write me a letter way back in January never followed through. Will be counting on my upcoming medicine AI to secure hopefully at least 2 IM LOR's.
This is my very preliminary list. They all seem like reaches for now, I need to do more research before developing my list of safeties.

Columbia
Cornell
NYU
MSSM
Montefiore

MGH
Brigham
BU

Baylor
UTSW

U of Chicago
Northwestern
UIC

What kind of an applicant am I?

 

[KRichards62]

-Step 1: 231
-Step 2 CK: 240
-3rd year core clerkships: all Good/Pass, except medicine which I honored (I tried soo hard to get HP in all of them, but somehow didn't even manage that...wondering if the lone honors in medicine makes it seem as if I only tried hard on that rotation? Hopefully the comments on Dean's letter will dispel this perception if it exists.)
-2 basic science research experiences in med school, and am also currently working on an IM chart review project (also wondering if the timing makes it seem if i'm only doing it for residency apps...will be continuing it well into fourth year though). Nothing published.
-LORs: 1 from the IM Clerkship director at my school, one from my FM attending and one peds heme/onc attending. I wish I had an additional IM LOR or two by now, but the one attending I had for more than 1.5 weeks during my rotation, who agreed to write me a letter way back in January never followed through. Will be counting on my upcoming medicine AI to secure hopefully at least 2 IM LOR's.
This is my very preliminary list. They all seem like reaches for now, I need to do more research before developing my list of safeties.

Columbia
Cornell
NYU
MSSM
Montefiore

MGH
Brigham
BU

Baylor
UTSW

U of Chicago
Northwestern
UIC

What kind of an applicant am I?

Solid applicant. Although you should still apply, your chances at Columbia, MGH, and Brigham are slim. Conversely, you can definitely do better than places like UIC, Montefiore, and BU. Think about broadening your geographic restrictions a bit, there are lots of great programs out there.

 

[jdh71]

Stats
Undergrad: Cornell
Med school: top 50

Step 1: 243
Step 2: just took it was getting 250-260 on practice exams, CK in Oct

AOA: Not sure. Honored half of third year. All of second year. Only 1 honors first year, but in top 15-20% of my class.

Clinical Grades: Honors Medicine (90 on shelf), Honor Psych, Honors Ob, High pass Peds, High Pass Primary Care, Pass Surgery

Extracurriculars: Volunteer at student run clinic, Volunteer to mentor inner city youth and teach them science. Volunteer to teach incoming MS1's physical exam skills and act as their standardized patients for 1st year exams.

LOR: 1 from Chief of Staff Internal Medicine at VA, 1 from Primary care doc that facilitated my small group teaching sessions for 2 years, and was my attending for primary care rotation. 1 from department head, and likely 1 from our GI program director who I will be doing research with this month.

Research: Have written IRB proposal, 1 poster presentation, will be getting 4-5 publications this month in GI research.

Red Flag: DUI in 2009 (this was a misdemeanor), explained the situation on ERAS, was unable to fight charges and I had just graduated and had to begin a summer job. My hope is program directors will see that I have a strong application, and no one is perfect. Obviously Columbia won't though.

Programs: Desire is to be in NY with future plans to go into GI, any programs I need to add?

NY
Albert Einstein
Mt. Sinai (Reach)
NYMC
Mamoides (don’t know much about this program)
SUNY Downstate
SUNY Stonybrook
North Shore Long Island Jewish (Grandmother died here, don't they owe me a spot?)
Lennox Hill (safety)
Columbia (Reach)
Cornell (Reach, hoping Cornell undergrad helps here)
NYU (Doing an Away rotation here in Gastroenterology, should I go talk to the IM program director?)
St. Lukes (safety)

NJ
UMDNJ


CT
UCONN
Yale (Reach)


PA
Drexel
Upenn
Temple
Thomas Jefferson

MA
Beth Israel
BU
Brigham Womens
Mass Gen
Tufts

Thanks in advanced.

The DUI is going to be a problem. Even if you've explained yourself to the program, you still need to be able to get a "training license" (each state has a different name for this, but it's all the same thing). What the state board will require you to do in these situations is often unclear, and things will probably be fine provided you play ball; however, the DUI could delay your starting which may be something that a program does not want to deal with and will likely knock you out of contention for any top 10 or even top 20 places (everything else being equal . . . why mess with it, nothing personal). I'd still apply, but realistically have no expectations about getting interviews.

With all of that said there are plenty of really great places that will take a chance, provided that is your only red flag because it sounds like your application is otherwise really good.

 

[jdh71]

This is for someone I know:

U.S citizen IMG (Ross), graduated 2012; applied last year with this app and did not match:
Step1 - 199/81 (2nd attempt, 175 on 1st)
Step2 - 193/78
CS passed 1st attempt
All Honors/A's in clinicals except a HP/B in cardio; 3+ GPA in pre-clinical years.
ECFMG certification was pending, now is finalized since she graduated.
no research; some leadership stuff in med school

she got three interviews in FM but lost out on some spots - one place gave away all but two spots in prematch, another only had a few spots to begin with, and the third was a program that had DO students ranked ahead of her.

over the past year she took a job working with mentally disabled people as well as is working on a research project (data collection, interpretation) for PCOS with an endocrinologist. probably won't make a paper though.

will she fare any better this year? any advice? apply to psych or peds? she would have taken step 3 but was advised by many not to. I am not sure if this was good advice.

That's just too low a step score coming out of Ross to be given serious consideration at many places. She should apply, psych, family, neuro, and community IM.

This is the dirty little secret about the Carib schools. It's a BIG gamble.

 

[jdh71]

Hi guys! So I go to a mid-tier school in the Midwest, and am looking to match to a top academic NYC program. I'm also probably going to apply to a few other places in the NE, along with Chicago and Houston. Wondering what my chances are at the top tier programs in these locations with my stats, with definite fellowship plans for the future.

-Step 1: 231
-Step 2 CK: 240
-3rd year core clerkships: all Good/Pass, except medicine which I honored (I tried soo hard to get HP in all of them, but somehow didn't even manage that...wondering if the lone honors in medicine makes it seem as if I only tried hard on that rotation? Hopefully the comments on Dean's letter will dispel this perception if it exists.)
-2 basic science research experiences in med school, and am also currently working on an IM chart review project (also wondering if the timing makes it seem if i'm only doing it for residency apps...will be continuing it well into fourth year though). Nothing published.
-LORs: 1 from the IM Clerkship director at my school, one from my FM attending and one peds heme/onc attending. I wish I had an additional IM LOR or two by now, but the one attending I had for more than 1.5 weeks during my rotation, who agreed to write me a letter way back in January never followed through. Will be counting on my upcoming medicine AI to secure hopefully at least 2 IM LOR's.
This is my very preliminary list. They all seem like reaches for now, I need to do more research before developing my list of safeties.

Columbia
Cornell
NYU
MSSM
Montefiore

MGH
Brigham
BU

Baylor
UTSW

U of Chicago
Northwestern
UIC

What kind of an applicant am I?

You're a pretty good applicant honestly. Though, I think MGH, Brigham, and Columbia pass You've got a shot at most of the others I think - though U of Chicago can be rather picky and usually goes with Chicago talent first (if you're from Chicago, then you've got a shot).

Consider expanding your program list a bit to get a few more safety style places. Perhaps, Tufts, Brown, Yale, UT Houston. Loyola, and Rush.

 

[IMreshopeful]

Hopkins might take a look - I don't want to say you're a slam dunk, but I think they may send an invite. At least I think your app will make it past the step 1 screen, and the rest will depend kind of on the batch of applications they get this year I reckon.

You're fine for basically everywhere else - maybe too fine. Make sure you write in your personal statement to these places about wanting to stay in the DC/Baltimore area so that way these places don't reject you based on your app being "too good" than what they normally get to match at their program. If they don't think they will be serious considerations they'll reject you.

Thanks dude - sending you a PM with further more specific q's so as not to clog up the message board

 

[gold&black2005]

:eats popcorn:
:sees trap:
:no dice:

🙂

You're a pretty good applicant honestly. Though, I think MGH, Brigham, and Columbia pass You've got a shot at most of the others I think - though U of Chicago can be rather picky and usually goes with Chicago talent first (if you're from Chicago, then you've got a shot).

Consider expanding your program list a bit to get a few more safety style places. Perhaps, Tufts, Brown, Yale, UT Houston. Loyola, and Rush.

 

[Pineappleyum]

DO student looking to enter an MD residency
-Step 1: 200
-Step 2 CK: 232
-3rd year core clerkships: all A's except 2 B's
-1 research project in college, Nothing published.
-LORs: 3 from IM, FM, peds...they should be good, but no program directors
-lots of good leadership experience and volunteer work

I am looking to specialize after residency, (not 100% sure in what), endocrine, rheumatology, heme/onc possibly. I will be doing a couples match with my husband, and I have a baby at home, so location is limited to NJ,NY,Phila or Chicago.

can anyone recommend "safe" programs?
I feel like my list comprises only "reach" programs so far...

NY/NJ/PA area:

UMDNJ – RWJ
UMDNJ – RWJ (camden campus)
UMDNJ – Newark
UMDNJ – SOM

Albert Einstein – Bronx
Albert Einstein – LIJ*
Albert Einstein – Beth Israel
St. Luke’s Roosevelt*
SUNY stonybrook
SUNY syracuse*
North shore university hospital (Mangasset) , LIJ
Winthrop university hospital
NY hospital queens
Lennox Hill
Maimonides medical center program


Penn State University
Temple University
Thomas Jefferson University
Upenn
Albert Einstein
Drexel

Chicago area:

Rush
University of Illinois - Chicago
Loyola
Northshore
St.Francis/Resurrection
UIC
Advocate system
Cook county
SIU


Honesty appreciated. thanks

 

[gutonc]

DO student looking to enter an MD residency
-Step 1: 200
-Step 2 CK: 232
-3rd year core clerkships: all A's except 2 B's
-1 research project in college, Nothing published.
-LORs: 3 from IM, FM, peds...they should be good, but no program directors
-lots of good leadership experience and volunteer work

I am looking to specialize after residency, (not 100% sure in what), endocrine, rheumatology, heme/onc possibly. I will be doing a couples match with my husband, and I have a baby at home, so location is limited to NJ,NY,Phila or Chicago.

can anyone recommend "safe" programs?
I feel like my list comprises only "reach" programs so far...

NY/NJ/PA area:

UMDNJ – RWJ
UMDNJ – RWJ (camden campus)
UMDNJ – Newark
UMDNJ – SOM

Albert Einstein – Bronx
Albert Einstein – LIJ*
Albert Einstein – Beth Israel
St. Luke’s Roosevelt*
SUNY stonybrook
SUNY syracuse*
North shore university hospital (Mangasset) , LIJ
Winthrop university hospital
NY hospital queens
Lennox Hill
Maimonides medical center program


Penn State University
Temple University
Thomas Jefferson University
Upenn
Albert Einstein
Drexel

Chicago area:

Rush
University of Illinois - Chicago
Loyola
Northshore
St.Francis/Resurrection
UIC
Advocate system
Cook county
SIU


Honesty appreciated. thanks

With the exception of Penn and RWJ, I don't think there are any real reach programs on your list. I would add SUNY-Downstate and Westchester to the NYC-area list, There are also a bunch of low tier community programs in PA, CT and NJ that are close to NYC (look them up) if you're looking for more safety places.

 

[geese]

Hey guys, I'm also applying for IM this year. Credentials are as follows:

Canadian Citizen
2011 Caribbean Graduate (low-tier Caribbean med school)
ECFMG certified
step1: 92/222
step 2 ck: 90/212
step 2 cs: pass
step 3: 78/203
USCE
US LOR's
Lots of volunteer experiences
All exams passed first attempt, even passed both my Canadian Boards (if that makes any difference)

Unfortunately I didn't match last year in fact I had 0 IV's. Later I found out that I had made a mistake in my application. This was my fault for not reading instructions and knowing beforehand on how to complete the myeras application thoroughly.

Well anyways 1 year has passed since then and I was fortunate enough to get an internship/externship with one of the local Family Doctor's here in Toronto which I'm still currently working at (been about 1 year now).

Just wanted to know what my chances of matching would be? I'm open to apply anywhere and as many programs as possible (except Cali, NY, and Texas) as our school does not fit the state criteria. I'm a bit scared and nervous after not matching last year and getting 0 IV's that's why this time around I'm trying to take all the precautions I can.

So do you guys think I have a chance? Or should I apply to Family Medicine? And/or for back-up, even though my true passion is Internal Medicine.



Thanks for any advice!

 

[gutonc]

Stats
Undergrad: Cornell
Med school: top 50

Step 1: 243
Step 2: just took it was getting 250-260 on practice exams, CK in Oct

AOA: Not sure. Honored half of third year. All of second year. Only 1 honors first year, but in top 15-20% of my class.

Clinical Grades: Honors Medicine (90 on shelf), Honor Psych, Honors Ob, High pass Peds, High Pass Primary Care, Pass Surgery

Extracurriculars: Volunteer at student run clinic, Volunteer to mentor inner city youth and teach them science. Volunteer to teach incoming MS1's physical exam skills and act as their standardized patients for 1st year exams.

LOR: 1 from Chief of Staff Internal Medicine at VA, 1 from Primary care doc that facilitated my small group teaching sessions for 2 years, and was my attending for primary care rotation. 1 from department head, and likely 1 from our GI program director who I will be doing research with this month.

Research: Have written IRB proposal, 1 poster presentation, will be getting 4-5 publications this month in GI research.

Red Flag: DUI in 2009 (this was a misdemeanor), explained the situation on ERAS, was unable to fight charges and I had just graduated and had to begin a summer job. My hope is program directors will see that I have a strong application, and no one is perfect. Obviously Columbia won't though.

Programs: Desire is to be in NY with future plans to go into GI, any programs I need to add?

Without your red flag, you're a lock to get interviews at most of those places. I don't know that anybody can tell you how the DUI is going to change your chances but you need to know that this will be a problem basically forever, with every licensing body, every credentialing body, every hospital...forever.

So you need to get on top of it now (if you haven't already) and be prepared to volunteer for any sort of impaired physician or diversion program available. If you've already dealt with this with your med school (and if you haven't, you should now) you need to have somebody ready to vouch for you when programs start asking.

 

[Mellow Monster]

Thanks to those providing opinions, it's much appreciated.

Step 1: 257
Step 2: not taken yet
School: Top 20
Clinical grades: H in psych, family med; HP in IM, neuro, peds, OB; P in surgery
Research: 2 posters at a national conference
LORs: par for the course I'm guessing

Curious what programs you all think I'd be competitive at. I realize I have a slim chance at the tippity top, but what about the remainder of the "top 20"? For example, michigan, mayo, chicago, stanford, ucla, ucsd, etc? I also welcome suggestions on which programs to apply to--I'm fairly open geographically.

Thanks again for the advice.

 

[KRichards62]

Thanks to those providing opinions, it's much appreciated.

Step 1: 257
Step 2: not taken yet
School: Top 20
Clinical grades: H in psych, family med; HP in IM, neuro, peds, OB; P in surgery
Research: 2 posters at a national conference
LORs: par for the course I'm guessing

Curious what programs you all think I'd be competitive at. I realize I have a slim chance at the tippity top, but what about the remainder of the "top 20"? For example, michigan, mayo, chicago, stanford, ucla, ucsd, etc? I also welcome suggestions on which programs to apply to--I'm fairly open geographically.

Thanks again for the advice.

You'll get an interview to nearly everywhere you apply based on step score and med school alone. No AOA or honors in medicine hurt your chances for an interview at the "big 4", but I'd say the odds are better than slim. Other suggestions off the top of my head: Penn, Columbia, Mt. Sinai, Cornell, Pitt, Yale, Wash U, Duke, UAB, Vandy, UVA, UNC, Emory, UTSW, UW, OHSU

 

[jdh71]

Without your red flag, you're a lock to get interviews at most of those places. I don't know that anybody can tell you how the DUI is going to change your chances but you need to know that this will be a problem basically forever, with every licensing body, every credentialing body, every hospital...forever.

So you need to get on top of it now (if you haven't already) and be prepared to volunteer for any sort of impaired physician or diversion program available. If you've already dealt with this with your med school (and if you haven't, you should now) you need to have somebody ready to vouch for you when programs start asking.

Oh. The DUI changes chances, believe me.

 

[gutonc]

Oh. The DUI changes chances, believe me.

It definitely changes it...the question is how much.

 

[DrVanNostran]

Hi guys! So I go to a mid-tier school in the Midwest, and am looking to match to a top academic NYC program. I'm also probably going to apply to a few other places in the NE, along with Chicago and Houston. Wondering what my chances are at the top tier programs in these locations with my stats, with definite fellowship plans for the future.

-Step 1: 231
-Step 2 CK: 240
-3rd year core clerkships: all Good/Pass, except medicine which I honored (I tried soo hard to get HP in all of them, but somehow didn't even manage that...wondering if the lone honors in medicine makes it seem as if I only tried hard on that rotation? Hopefully the comments on Dean's letter will dispel this perception if it exists.)
-2 basic science research experiences in med school, and am also currently working on an IM chart review project (also wondering if the timing makes it seem if i'm only doing it for residency apps...will be continuing it well into fourth year though). Nothing published.
-LORs: 1 from the IM Clerkship director at my school, one from my FM attending and one peds heme/onc attending. I wish I had an additional IM LOR or two by now, but the one attending I had for more than 1.5 weeks during my rotation, who agreed to write me a letter way back in January never followed through. Will be counting on my upcoming medicine AI to secure hopefully at least 2 IM LOR's.
This is my very preliminary list. They all seem like reaches for now, I need to do more research before developing my list of safeties.

Columbia
Cornell
NYU
MSSM
Montefiore

MGH
Brigham
BU

Baylor
UTSW

U of Chicago
Northwestern
UIC

What kind of an applicant am I?

I would add more apps. The P's in your other clerkships will be a factor IMO. I would add a few more of the NYC programs, Rush, Loyola, and whatever east coast programs you like. In my opinion, once you drop out of the top tenish programs, name starts to mean less and training/happiness trumps.

 

[gutonc]

Hi guys! So I go to a mid-tier school in the Midwest, and am looking to match to a top academic NYC program. I'm also probably going to apply to a few other places in the NE, along with Chicago and Houston. Wondering what my chances are at the top tier programs in these locations with my stats, with definite fellowship plans for the future.

-Step 1: 231
-Step 2 CK: 240
-3rd year core clerkships: all Good/Pass, except medicine which I honored (I tried soo hard to get HP in all of them, but somehow didn't even manage that...wondering if the lone honors in medicine makes it seem as if I only tried hard on that rotation? Hopefully the comments on Dean's letter will dispel this perception if it exists.)
-2 basic science research experiences in med school, and am also currently working on an IM chart review project (also wondering if the timing makes it seem if i'm only doing it for residency apps...will be continuing it well into fourth year though). Nothing published.
-LORs: 1 from the IM Clerkship director at my school, one from my FM attending and one peds heme/onc attending. I wish I had an additional IM LOR or two by now, but the one attending I had for more than 1.5 weeks during my rotation, who agreed to write me a letter way back in January never followed through. Will be counting on my upcoming medicine AI to secure hopefully at least 2 IM LOR's.
This is my very preliminary list. They all seem like reaches for now, I need to do more research before developing my list of safeties.

Columbia
Cornell
NYU
MSSM
Montefiore

MGH
Brigham
BU

Baylor
UTSW

U of Chicago
Northwestern
UIC

What kind of an applicant am I?

No offense, but I think you're aiming a bit too high and need to temper your list with a lot more reach-able programs. You'll probably get interviews at half of those places but Columbia, Cornell, NYU, MSSM, Brigham, MGH, UC and NW are total stretches. I would guess that more than half of their applicants have your stats PLUS more research, better overall clinical grades (although the H in IM helps you a lot), maybe AOA and/or a PhD, etc. I'm not saying you shouldn't apply to those places, this whole process is a lot less scientific that you'd like it to be. But you need to be prepared.

Places I would add in regions you're thinking about:
UMDNJ-RWJ
TJU
Temple
Brown
NSLIJ/Hofstra
Stony Brook
Rush
Loyola

Also, friends don't let friends go to UTSW.

 

[erasIM2013]

x

 

[gutonc]

hey guys, new to this forum. will be meeting w/my advisor regarding list but would love feedback from you guys...

med school: top tier
step 1: 238
step 2 CK: awaiting score
preclinical : pass
clinical : 1/2 H, 1/2 HP (H in IM, H IM sub i)
research: 5 pubs ( 2 papers, 3 abstracts, NO first author)
letters: 1 research, 2 IM attendings, i think they will be strong but hey who knows
EC: some interesting things, have gone abroad twice...

from the west coast and would like to match there for family reasons

list:
OHSU
UW
Stanford
UCSF
UC Davis
UCLA
UCSD
UC Irvine
USC
Cedars – Sinai
UCLA – Olive View
UCLA – county harbor
UCLA – VA greater LA
UCSF – Fresno
Scripps
Santa clara valley med

any feedback would be helpful! thank you and goodluck to everyone.

With those stats, pick the first 10 on your list and call it a day. If Stanford and UCSF say no, throw apps at Scripps-Green, SB Cottage, CPMC, SCVMC and maybe Utah and AZ just to round things out.

 

[BGriffin]

If you're from ucsf or stanford with those stats, there is no reason to bother applying to places like scripps, ucsf fresno, or santa clara valley unless you're a complete sociopath which is not likely since you got honors in 1/2 your rotations. The top 10 from that list will more than suffice, as gutonc said.

hey guys, new to this forum. will be meeting w/my advisor regarding list but would love feedback from you guys...

med school: top tier
step 1: 238
step 2 CK: awaiting score
preclinical : pass
clinical : 1/2 H, 1/2 HP (H in IM, H IM sub i)
research: 5 pubs ( 2 papers, 3 abstracts, NO first author)
letters: 1 research, 2 IM attendings, i think they will be strong but hey who knows
EC: some interesting things, have gone abroad twice...

from the west coast and would like to match there for family reasons

list:
OHSU
UW
Stanford
UCSF
UC Davis
UCLA
UCSD
UC Irvine
USC
Cedars – Sinai
UCLA – Olive View
UCLA – county harbor
UCLA – VA greater LA
UCSF – Fresno
Scripps
Santa clara valley med

any feedback would be helpful! thank you and goodluck to everyone.

 

[erasIM2013]

If you're from ucsf or stanford with those stats, there is no reason to bother applying to places like scripps, ucsf fresno, or santa clara valley unless you're a complete sociopath which is not likely since you got honors in 1/2 your rotations. The top 10 from that list will more than suffice, as gutonc said.

thank you for the feedback. i am applying to all of those places because i go to school on the east coast and just want to make sure i end up on the west coast, as many people with great stats want to enjoy the california sunshine. i think i will keep that list and judging by my interview offers decide how many to attend. i have a question about the application (cant find a good timeline on ERAS) - when should LORs be in by? i am hoping to have my application in by 2nd or 3rd week of august .

 

[LumberJack]

Med school: Top 30, whatever that means (US News & World Report)
Applying in: Categorical Internal Medicine

Step 1: 240
Step 2: Taking CK in mid-September

AOA: Not sure. I guess that means "no" at this point. Top 25% per my transcript, though.

Clinical Grades: Hon/Pass/Fail system. Honors in IM, peds, FM, Surg, Neuro. Pass in psychiatry and OB/GYN.

Preclinical Grades: Pass/Fail system. Passed everything.

LOR: Chair letter, 3 great letters from IM faculty, 1 outstanding letter from peds faculty.

Research: Lots of research experience in grad school, but no peer-reviewed pubs. Just a single editorial piece in a so-so journal. Med school research is currently underway.

Other: I have an MPH degree and worked as an epidemiologist for a while before I decided to apply to med school. Married, no kids. Social person. I have a beard. Sometimes wear cowboy boots with my scrubs.

Programs: Overall I want to attend a program that offers very rigorous clinical training in general medicine but also puts me in a good spot for fellowships. Right now my career thoughts include critical care, cards, ID, and hospitalist. So pretty broad. Here are my current thoughts on programs, in no particular order:

University of Alabama at Birmingham
Emory
Vanderbilt
UT Southwestern
Baylor
UT Houston
Washington University in St. Louis
University of Colorado Denver
Tulane
Louisiana State University in New Orleans
Duke University
Wake Forest
UNC
UVA
U Penn
University of Pittsburgh
University of Chicago
Northwestern

I know I'm not the most competitive applicant for the following, but I plan to apply just to see what happens: MGH, BWH, JHU.

I really appreciate any feedback you guys might have based on your own experience. Everyone have a great night.

 

[BGriffin]

I didn't realize you weren't in med school on the west coast. It is possible that some places in CA might not think you're serious about them if you're at a top east coast med school. In that case, if you don't get an interview, I would call them and tell them your situation, that you really want to be in CA, they could change their mind. And you are right, being a little conservative and overapplying is better than underapplying and not getting enough interviews. Apps are cheap compared to the flights to the interviews. I'm pretty sure you will do fine regardless.

thank you for the feedback. i am applying to all of those places because i go to school on the east coast and just want to make sure i end up on the west coast, as many people with great stats want to enjoy the california sunshine. i think i will keep that list and judging by my interview offers decide how many to attend. i have a question about the application (cant find a good timeline on ERAS) - when should LORs be in by? i am hoping to have my application in by 2nd or 3rd week of august .

 

[jdh71]

Med school: Top 30, whatever that means (US News & World Report)
Applying in: Categorical Internal Medicine

Step 1: 240
Step 2: Taking CK in mid-September

AOA: Not sure. I guess that means "no" at this point. Top 25% per my transcript, though.

Clinical Grades: Hon/Pass/Fail system. Honors in IM, peds, FM, Surg, Neuro. Pass in psychiatry and OB/GYN.

Preclinical Grades: Pass/Fail system. Passed everything.

LOR: Chair letter, 3 great letters from IM faculty, 1 outstanding letter from peds faculty.

Research: Lots of research experience in grad school, but no peer-reviewed pubs. Just a single editorial piece in a so-so journal. Med school research is currently underway.

Other: I have an MPH degree and worked as an epidemiologist for a while before I decided to apply to med school. Married, no kids. Social person. I have a beard. Sometimes wear cowboy boots with my scrubs.

Programs: Overall I want to attend a program that offers very rigorous clinical training in general medicine but also puts me in a good spot for fellowships. Right now my career thoughts include critical care, cards, ID, and hospitalist. So pretty broad. Here are my current thoughts on programs, in no particular order:

University of Alabama at Birmingham
Emory
Vanderbilt
UT Southwestern
Baylor
UT Houston
Washington University in St. Louis
University of Colorado Denver
Tulane
Louisiana State University in New Orleans
Duke University
Wake Forest
UNC
UVA
U Penn
University of Pittsburgh
University of Chicago
Northwestern

I know I'm not the most competitive applicant for the following, but I plan to apply just to see what happens: MGH, BWH, JHU.

I really appreciate any feedback you guys might have based on your own experience. Everyone have a great night.

You'll get plenty of interviews from programs on that last above. Maybe MGH.

 

[jackets5]

Caribbean student
Step1:222
Step 2 ck: should be back in a weeks, CS pending as well
3rd year: honors IM, family, psych, ob/gyn. Pass surgery, peds
4th: IM sub-I honors, CICU honors ( lower upper tier program with LOR)
Research: in progress but have nothing exciting to put on application.

Programs have a preliminary list of about 90 programs

Ideally want a university program but a large community program with attached fellowships would be good as well.

AZ: u of A, banner, maricopa, st Joseph's, mayo
CT: Bridgeport, norwalk st Raphael's, Uconn
DC: Georgetown, Washington hospital, GW, Howard
GA: Emory, more house, Atlanta medical center
Fla: all except UF-Gainesville and USF
NJ: umdj, Rwj, all community's in north jersey w fellowships about 7 or 8
Penn: temple, Drexel, Jefferson, penn hospital
NC: UNC, wake forrest
Il: pretty much all Chicago area program except UC and NW
SC: all 3 programs
VA: evms, VCU, carillon clinic
Maryland: hopkins bay view/Sinai, Maryland

There are more community programs. But out of university may add new Mexico, UAB, Dartmouth Advice suggestions?

My ideal top 3 would be
1) university of Arizona
2) Emory: huge huge reach but one of my LOR writers is faculty at Emory in a different specialty and a good friend of mine did his residency at Emory and is now on the IM faculty there.
3) Mayo- Scottsdale

 

[gutonc]

Caribbean student
Step1:222
Step 2 ck: should be back in a weeks, CS pending as well
3rd year: honors IM, family, psych, ob/gyn. Pass surgery, peds
4th: IM sub-I honors, CICU honors ( lower upper tier program with LOR)
Research: in progress but have nothing exciting to put on application.

Programs have a preliminary list of about 90 programs

Ideally want a university program but a large community program with attached fellowships would be good as well.

AZ: u of A, banner, maricopa, st Joseph's, mayo
CT: Bridgeport, norwalk st Raphael's, Uconn
DC: Georgetown, Washington hospital, GW, Howard
GA: Emory, more house, Atlanta medical center
Fla: all except UF-Gainesville and USF
NJ: umdj, Rwj, all community's in north jersey w fellowships about 7 or 8
Penn: temple, Drexel, Jefferson, penn hospital
NC: UNC, wake forrest
Il: pretty much all Chicago area program except UC and NW
SC: all 3 programs
VA: evms, VCU, carillon clinic
Maryland: hopkins bay view/Sinai, Maryland

There are more community programs. But out of university may add new Mexico, UAB, Dartmouth Advice suggestions?

My ideal top 3 would be
1) university of Arizona
2) Emory: huge huge reach but one of my LOR writers is faculty at Emory in a different specialty and a good friend of mine did his residency at Emory and is now on the IM faculty there.
3) Mayo- Scottsdale

I think your Step 1 score puts you at a bit of a disadvantage for some of the upper tier programs on your list. A quick look at some of the programs lists of current residents shows that many of them (UNC, Bayview, UAB, Maryland) don't have any Carib grads. Others like Emory and Dartmouth don't publish their residen lists but I would be surprised if they have more than 1 or 2 superstars in their groups (Emory is more likely since it's a much larger program than Dartmouth) and I don't remember any IMGs when I interviewed at Dartmouth but that was more than a few years ago so things may be different now.

Aside from those massive reach programs (which you're clearly aware of), your list looks pretty good and you'll probably find a spot at one of those places.

 

[jackets5]

I think your Step 1 score puts you at a bit of a disadvantage for some of the upper tier programs on your list. A quick look at some of the programs lists of current residents shows that many of them (UNC, Bayview, UAB, Maryland) don't have any Carib grads. Others like Emory and Dartmouth don't publish their residen lists but I would be surprised if they have more than 1 or 2 superstars in their groups (Emory is more likely since it's a much larger program than Dartmouth) and I don't remember any IMGs when I interviewed at Dartmouth but that was more than a few years ago so things may be different now.

Aside from those massive reach programs (which you're clearly aware of), your list looks pretty good and you'll probably find a spot at one of those places.

When you say "upper tier" on my list which ones do you mean? Only reason Emory is on the list is because of the people who are inside the program and willing to help out. UNC because I rotated there getting a LOR fRom the department head of the sub specialty that i rotated on.

Do you have any info on the Chicago program university except UC, NW and UI-Chicago ( step 1 cutoff is 230) and the better community programs. For example cook county doesn't appeal to me because its 100% IMG and all are non-US citizen IMG's

 

[jdh71]

Caribbean student
Step1:222
Step 2 ck: should be back in a weeks, CS pending as well
3rd year: honors IM, family, psych, ob/gyn. Pass surgery, peds
4th: IM sub-I honors, CICU honors ( lower upper tier program with LOR)
Research: in progress but have nothing exciting to put on application.

Programs have a preliminary list of about 90 programs

Ideally want a university program but a large community program with attached fellowships would be good as well.

AZ: u of A, banner, maricopa, st Joseph's, mayo
CT: Bridgeport, norwalk st Raphael's, Uconn
DC: Georgetown, Washington hospital, GW, Howard
GA: Emory, more house, Atlanta medical center
Fla: all except UF-Gainesville and USF
NJ: umdj, Rwj, all community's in north jersey w fellowships about 7 or 8
Penn: temple, Drexel, Jefferson, penn hospital
NC: UNC, wake forrest
Il: pretty much all Chicago area program except UC and NW
SC: all 3 programs
VA: evms, VCU, carillon clinic
Maryland: hopkins bay view/Sinai, Maryland

There are more community programs. But out of university may add new Mexico, UAB, Dartmouth Advice suggestions?

My ideal top 3 would be
1) university of Arizona
2) Emory: huge huge reach but one of my LOR writers is faculty at Emory in a different specialty and a good friend of mine did his residency at Emory and is now on the IM faculty there.
3) Mayo- Scottsdale

Agreed. List looks realistic for the most part. The honor in IM should help.

 

[gutonc]

When you say "upper tier" on my list which ones do you mean? Only reason Emory is on the list is because of the people who are inside the program and willing to help out. UNC because I rotated there getting a LOR fRom the department head of the sub specialty that i rotated on.

Primarily the ones I named. I mean, look at their current resident lists (you should do this for all of the Univ programs you're applying to) and see if they have any Carib grads in any of their classes...the ones I mentioned do not. As far as how those programs rank amongst each other, many (myself included) would argue that UAB is a much better program than Emory and UNC is probably better as well. I'm not arguing that you shouldn't apply to these programs, just that I think your connections are going to be a lot less helpful than you hope...but I could be wrong.

Do you have any info on the Chicago program university except UC, NW and UI-Chicago ( step 1 cutoff is 230) and the better community programs. For example cook county doesn't appeal to me because its 100% IMG and all are non-US citizen IMG's

You should definitely apply to Rush, Loyola, UC Northshore and the rest of the community programs in and around Chicago, including Cook County. Application time is not when you should be skimping and trying to save money (and face). You should maximize your chances to get 10-15 interviews by maximizing the number of programs you apply to. I'm not saying apply to 100+ but 50-60 isn't a bad number.

In the end I will refer you to the 2012 Match results which showed that US-IMGs had a match rate of <50% last year. Do everything you can to put yourself on the right side of that curve.

 

[gutonc]

Posting for a user who wishes to remain anonymous

Med School Rank: I think we're usually somewhere between 40 and 60, school in the upper midwest
Step 1: 210-215
Step 2: Both pending, will take in aprox 1 month
AOA: No
Grades: HP in medicine 3rd year, mix of HP and P otherwise. Hoping for an H in my medicine subi. Probably not ranked all that highly in my class, but they haven't really told us.
Research: Small project in an unrelated specialty summer between m1 and m2, no pubs
Extracurriculars: Some involvement in my state medical society, some random student org stuff
LORs: Currently at least 1 M3 letter, 1 M4 letter from subi, chairman's letter, can't decide what I'm doing for the fourth.

I'm going to school in the upper midwest, planning on applying to my home program, maybe 1-2 others in the state here, some of the more academic programs in Chicago, and programs back home in CA. I'd really prefer a more academic program, esp one with opportunity to teach, but not sure how that would interplay with my desire to be closer to home.

California Pacific
Kaiser San Fran
Kaiser Santa Clara
Kaiser Oakland
St Mary's
Stanford
UC Davis (probably best case scenario realistically)
UCSF (pipe dream, but i'll spend the $20)
UCSF-Fresno

UC Irvine
UCSD
Scripps Clinic/Scripps Green Hospital Program
Scripps Mercy Hospital Program

Loyola
Northwestern
Rush
University of Chicago
University of Illinois/Advocate Christ

+2-3 in the state my med school is in.

Ends up being just over 20 total. Should I add more? Think I have any chance at any of the remaining academic so-cal programs? I can't speak any Spanish and if I'm going to end up at a community one, I'd definitely prefer nor-cal. Ditto with gambling on even applying to UCSF/Stanford.

 

[SaltedCaramel]

No offense, but I think you're aiming a bit too high and need to temper your list with a lot more reach-able programs. You'll probably get interviews at half of those places but Columbia, Cornell, NYU, MSSM, Brigham, MGH, UC and NW are total stretches. I would guess that more than half of their applicants have your stats PLUS more research, better overall clinical grades (although the H in IM helps you a lot), maybe AOA and/or a PhD, etc. I'm not saying you shouldn't apply to those places, this whole process is a lot less scientific that you'd like it to be. But you need to be prepared.

Places I would add in regions you're thinking about:
UMDNJ-RWJ
TJU
Temple
Brown
NSLIJ/Hofstra
Stony Brook
Rush
Loyola

Also, friends don't let friends go to UTSW.

Yup, I know most of those are reaches for me, and I'm looking to develop my list of safeties...thanks for the suggestions. You're the second person who suggested Brown as a safety...I would have thought it'd be a reach for an applicant like me?

Oh, and what's wrong with UTSW?

 

[LumberJack]

You'll get plenty of interviews from programs on that last above. Maybe MGH.

Thanks, JDH. Anyone else have an opinion or suggestions for programs I may be overlooking?

 

[geese]

Hey guys, I'm also applying for IM this year. Credentials are as follows:

Canadian Citizen
2011 Caribbean Graduate (low-tier Caribbean med school)
ECFMG certified
step1: 92/222
step 2 ck: 90/212
step 2 cs: pass
step 3: 78/203
USCE
US LOR’s
Lots of volunteer experiences
All exams passed first attempt, even passed both my Canadian Boards (if that makes any difference)

Unfortunately I didn't match last year in fact I had 0 IV's. Later I found out that I had made a mistake in my application. This was my fault for not reading instructions and knowing beforehand on how to complete the myeras application thoroughly.

Well anyways 1 year has passed since then and I was fortunate enough to get an internship/externship with one of the local Family Doctor's here in Toronto which I'm still currently working at (been about 1 year now).

Just wanted to know what my chances of matching would be? I'm open to apply anywhere and as many programs as possible (except Cali, NY, and Texas) as our school does not fit the state criteria. I'm a bit scared and nervous after not matching last year and getting 0 IV's that's why this time around I'm trying to take all the precautions I can.

So do you guys think I have a chance? Or should I apply to Family Medicine? And/or for back-up, even though my true passion is Internal Medicine.



Thanks for any advice!

Any thoughts at all guys??? I could really use some advise. Do I have any chance at IM or should I just focus on FM?

 

[gutonc]

Another anonymous post:

Med school: Top 1/3 according to US News & World Report

Step 1: 225
Step 2 CK: 271

AOA: No. Rank is top 10% of class for third year

Clinical Grades: 3rd year: Honors in Psych, IM, Surgery, Peds, OB/GYN, Emergency Medicine. High Pass in Neuro and Family

Preclinical Grades: Half and half honors and pass (Honors/Pass system)

LOR: Who knows, everyone thinks their LORs are going to be fantastic

Research: None.

Other: Non-traditional who worked prior to returning to medical school. Lots of non-peer reviewed research publications from this job.

Programs:
Cornell
Mt. Sinai
Tufts
Emory
Vanderbilt
Hopkins Bayview
U of Florida
U of Miami
Duke
UNC
OHSU
U of MD
Scripps
UCLA
Baylor
UTSW
Univ. of Pitt
Tulane
UVA
Univ. of Colorado