An anonymous posting . . . nice match
--Board Scores: Step 1: 217, Step 2: 223
--AOA and class rank: Not AOA probably in middle of the class
--Reputation of medical school: (top 10, top 25, etc): NOT top 50
--Research: poster presentation, case report, performance imp project, no pubs
--Honors in clerkships: A's in most clerkships, including medicine
--# and where you did away rotations: 1 but not somewhere I really wanted to go, just did it for fun
--# of programs you applied to: approx 35-- applied broadly/randomly and to lots of reach schools. Didn't get bigger names like UAB, OHSU, Colorado, Emory, Vandy, Duke, Michigan etc
. FWIW classmates with similar stats +/- a few points were able to snag interviews to a couple of those places, but then didn't get invites to some places I did
--Where invited for interviews: Florida, MUSC, MCG (didn't go), USF (didn't go), Miami(didn't go), Tulane, Cincinnati, Case Western, Ohio State, Clev Clinic, Wake Forest, Kentucky, Indiana, Louisvillle, Georgetown, Dartmouth, Utah
--Where matched: University of Utah
--Matched at what number on rank list: 1
--Anything that helped your app: (ie: a phone call to a program, big-wig letter of recs, MD/PhD, other degree, SDN Forum, etc): From my interviews it seemed like my LORs made quite an impression-- excellent letters from IM program chair and PD of another specialty
Good letter from IM PD. Personal statement was a hit although that was probably just a good convo starter more than anything else. Overall, I worked hard during my 3rd year and it paid off with strong letters-- had several people comment/quote letters during the interview and some even said it compensated for less than stellar board scores.