Official 2016 IM Match Results!!!

[buonassezia]

Please contribute to this helpful community by posting your Match results!

Let's restore the rep of our new generation of internists (v understandable cynicism) with a good showing! If you want some anonymity but are still willing to post, the moderators will probably be willing again to post on your behalf if you PM. Good luck, all!

Same format as previous years:

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

Matched (+ # on ROL):

Advice:

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[buonassezia]

*

 

[jesok]

In anticipation, a promise (will update, like the idea so copied from above)

School: Top 123
Step Scores: Step I ~ 250, Step II CK ~ 260, CS Pass
Grades: a mix. H in sub-i, HP in IM clerkship, H in away elective, a couple other H's
Research: lots of basic science, several poster presentations, one oral presentation, paper in the works, big time PI wrote a letter
AOA: No
Rank: no idea
Interview Invites: UVA, Penn, JHH, Jefferson, Maryland, Emory, Vanderbilt, Temple, Duke, UNC, Yale, Cornell, Tufts, Bayview
Rejections: The typical (BWH, MGH etc..), did not apply midwesst or west coast at all

Matched (+ # on ROL): #2 - in an attempt to maintain some anonymity I'll just say it was either Duke or Penn. Very excited!!

Advice: (i believe this to be good advice regardless of where I match)
-Clerkships are very important but it is not the end of the world if you don't H medicine
-My biggest piece of advice is to participate in things you are passionate about and work hard in those things (for me it was only a couple of things) and your application will not only be strong, but you'll be more passionate when you talk about it (over and over again).
-to piggyback off this point - take time to think about the specifics (field, type of program, specific faculty track, specific goals within a field) of you want for a career. Having a vision and a plan is important, even if you change your mind. I think participating in things that you care about will eventually enlighten you about what type of physician you wish to become.
-be a nice and humble person (for many reasons)
-once it comes time for interviews, if you have additional interests (global health, research, knitting) make sure you make it known that you'd like to meet with people within those fields - a lot of programs will ask about this, but if not, you can always reach out. It is not only important when it comes time to make a decision but it also reinforces your interest in a program

 

[urbanclassic]

School: Mid-Tier
Step Scores: Step I: 250; Step II CK: 260; Step II CS: Pass
Grades: Honored most of first 2 years and 3 high passes. Passed Fam Medicine. Honored IM and OB/Gyn; HP everything else.
Research: None
AOA: Yes
Rank: Top 10% of class.
Interview Invites: MGH, UCSF, Duke, Mayo, UPenn, Columbia, Cornell, WashU, UTSW, University of Washington, University of Michigan, Northwestern, Vanderbilt, Tulane, BCM, UTH, UTMB, Methodist-Houston, Baylor-Dallas, Scott and White... I think there were others, don't remember.
Rejections: Standford, John Hopkins, BWH, Beth Isreal... Probably more, don't remember

Matched (+ # on ROL): MATCHED to my #2! I'm so excited! I honestly believe I fit in more with the people in my #2, loved everyone I met that day. My #1 was only that because of location. I was constantly telling people I would be 100% happy if I matched to either of my top 2! I'm so happy! Yay!

Advice:
-Don't freak out if you don't have research and want to go to a big/top program. It worked out fine for me. I would say just have everything else on point. Amazing letter's of rec, extracurricular/leadership positions/volunteering, good scores.
-For internal medicine interviews, they are very relaxed. The most stressful part for me was just the constant traveling. The actual interview day was not that bad... And this is coming from someone is very shy and awkward at times.

 

[tantacles]

Note: I applied to Med-peds and medicine which is why I have such a short list. If it had med-peds, I applied there instead. I have another post in that forum if you're interested.

School: Low tier MD
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: Columbia, Montefiore, BU, Cleveland Clinic, Dartmouth, WashU, UVM, Jefferson, Beth Israel NY, Advocate Lutheran General Hospital (IL), Henry Ford
Rejections: BIDMC, Tufts, Cornell, Sinai, NYU, U of Washington, OHSU, UCSF, Stanford, Emory, Mayo
Other: Couples match

Matched (+ # on ROL): Case Western Med-peds (#3!)

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.

 

[Happyocean2]

******

 

[gutonc]

Almost 3 hours since results came out and a grand total of 1 (frustratingly vague) response. I predict <30 people will post actual results this year. Gets worse and worse every year.

 

[throwaway1939]

School: low tier midwest
Step Scores: 262/269 Step 1/Step 2
Grades: HPs/Hs preclinical, Hs in everything but psych/ob 3rd year; did not do any aways, letter writers from within school system.
Research: MS prior to med school, nothing in med school
AOA: AOA candidate, not AOA
Rank: top 15%
Interview Invites: attended : JHH, Duke, WashU, UVa, UPMC, U Colorado, U Iowa, tOSU, OHSU, UIC, Loyola, Rush, UofC, Brown, Mayo, invited but did not attend : BU, BIDMC, Vandy
Rejections: BWH, MGH, UWash, UCSF, UNC, Yale

Matched (+ # on ROL): #7 U Colorado; mostly happy about this, was not expecting to drop down so low however. It's not a question of interviewing skills. I've literally batted 1.000 since graduating college, and I've interviewed for jobs at Sandia National Labs, two different pharm companies, two graduate programs and 1 medical school. Was offered the position at each interview.

Advice: Work hard, apply broadly and do your best to beef up your application. Academic IM is competitive; don't listen to the general advice out there saying that IM is not competitive. Not competitive at low tier universities/community programs, but the top 50 or so programs are more selective. I'm surprised how low I went, but at the same time, I recognize that my list was pretty competitive, especially for someone from my school. Lack of research in medical school hurt me more than I thought it would. I highly encourage anyone thinking of applying university IM to get as much research experience as possible. Go to the best medical school you can, especially if you have high ambitions. That said, I'm more than happy to match at U Colorado! After some reflection, I'd much rather be done now than going through medical school, even if I didn't match at my first choice.


EDIT: After some reflection, I think a combination of three things held me back, two of which were in my complete control. Not pursuing research in medical school and then applying to research heavy programs was not ideal. While aways in general are not worth it for IM, I think my application would have benefited from getting LORs from different university systems rather than our small-time community hospital. IMO, those two things held me back more than my school's reputation.

 

[Aequanimitatis]

Simply wanted to say to the MANY (gutonc ) who will post here later tonight and tomorrow -> congratulations!!!

Welcome to what is a wonderful world of Internal Medicine and beyond. Hard to believe that your class (2016) will be starting internship in 3 short months. Enjoy it and put the onus on us (the 2015ers) to teach you what you need to know when you hit the wards with us.

 

[medtemp89]

School: Low-Mid Tier Southeast MD
Step Scores: 259/270 Step 1/Step 2
Grades: 4.0
Research: None
AOA:Yes; Also GHHS
Rank: 3rd in class
Interview Invites: Attended: UVA, UNC, Emory, UAB, U of Louisville, Mississippi, Brigham and Women's, Wash U, Northwestern, UTSW, Vanderbilt. Canceled: MUSC, Baylor, USC, VCU, U of Kentucky, Indiana, U of Cincinnati, Ohio state, U of Florida, UTHSC, Mayo (Florida), Tulane, Iowa, (and a few others)
Rejections: Penn, University of Chicago, MGH, Hopkins, Duke

Matched (+ # on ROL): Washington University (#2); very happy!

Advice:
-Apply broadly (try not to limit yourself to one particular region); you will be surprised which programs you end up liking.
-Having research will significantly help you, but is not completely required to get into a good program. However, I was asked about it on about half my interviews (most of these being the better programs on my list), and not having it will probably keep you out of some programs. If you don't have much, work hard to make it up in other areas.
-Most interviews are very easy (especially compared to med school interviews), and they will mostly be selling their program to you. Most common Qs were "tell me about yourself" and "why do you want to come here?"

 

[IM88]

School: Not top 40
Step Scores: Step 1 260+, Step 2 270+
Grades: All honors
Research: 6 papers, 1 book chapter, 8 abstracts (all middle author); All from undergrad, year off before medical school, and summer between MS1-MS2
AOA: Yes
Rank: Top Quintile
Interview Invites: MGH, BWH, UCSF, Penn, Michigan, Duke, Northwestern, UCLA, UCSD, Cornell, Stanford, BIDMC, Yale, Mt. Sinai, UTSW, Vanderbilt, Emory, Maryland, Brown, Boston University, Tufts
Rejections: Hopkins, Columbia, University of Washington, University of Chicago

Matched (+ # on ROL): #1 PENN!

Advice:
-While obvious, academic programs care a lot about leadership, research and teaching/education in addition to patient care - try to demonstrate passion for these areas in your personal statement and ERAS descriptions.
-Programs that really stood out to me had very well established program leadership (eg. Penn, Brigham, UCSF have had their Program Directors for >15 years). They really seem to care about residents (otherwise they wouldn't stick around for so long) and have been able to set up a strong culture within their program.
-Interviews were universally laid back, and the medicine resident/attending interviewers were all friendly and happy people.
-I didn't do any aways, but worked with the department chair and vice chair on electives at the beginning of MS4. These letters (+ a research letter) were mentioned at my interviews.
-Top academic medicine residencies are competitive, despite what your deans may tell you.
-Apply broadly and then decline interviews. Between applying in September and ranking in February a lot can happen in terms of geographic preference, so it's best to not artificially limit yourself in the beginning.

 

[thismedicinelife]

School: Mid-Tier
Step Scores: Step I: 230s, Step II: 260s
Grades: H/HP split, (HP in Medicine)
Research: QI posters, but nothing great
AOA: No
Rank: Top 50% of class.
Interview Invites: BU, USC, UCLA-Harbor, Maryland, Montefiore, NYU, RWJ, Jefferson, Temple, Northshore-LIJ, Cedars-Sinai
Rejections: UW, GW, Georgetown, Stanford, UCLA, Cornell, Columbia, U Chicago

Matched (+ # on ROL): USC (#1)

Advice:
- Interviews are really laid back, usually conversational
- Meet with the residency PD/aPD at your school, they were an awesome resource as I made my rankings, and got general advice
- Don't get swept up in post-interview communication, just leave it alone, and stop making yourself more anxious
- Find out what's important to you and follow that..for me, I wanted an academic program, and location preference and wanted to go somewhere new, hence USC and California. Otherwise, I would have stayed at my home program which I really loved the people, program leadership, fellow residents, etc...but just felt I needed a change, more for my personal life.

Thanks for all the people at sdn that gave me advice and helped as well.

 

[ArkansasMed]

Congrats to all that matched! I am sure some are happier than others, however, realize that wherever you matched, it is the best fit for you.

I wish everyone the best. Please make sure to enjoy your life and live it up before you start. Dont prep before, it doesn't help.

 

[coconutwater16]

Med School: Mid to Low Tier school in NE
Step 1: 241
Step 2: 240
Class rank: At the mean
MS3: Honors in Peds/Neuro/Family Medicine HP: IM & Psych P: Surgery & Ob/Gyn
Sub-I: Honors
LORs: 3- good to strong
Research: 0 pubs/abstracts; 2 research experiences (each lasting about 2 months) during medical school
Future Plans: Clinician (GI >>Hospitalist)
Red flags: None

Applied to:
RWJ, Drexel, Jeff, Temple, UPMC, UPenn, BU, Tufts, UMass, Cleveland Clinic, Ohio State, Case Western, NYU, Montefiore, Mt Sinai, St. Lukes Roosevelt, Lenox Hill, Columbia, Cornell, NSLIJ, Downstate, Stony Brook, NYMC, GW, Georgetown, Brown, UVA, UMaryland, Yale, Duke, UNC, Emory, Vanderbilt, USC, Cedars- Sinai, UCLA, UCSF, Baylor

IVed: RWJ, Drexel, Jeff, Temple, Monte, St. Lukes Roosevelt, UMary, Stony, Downstate, NSLIJ, Lenox Hill
Did not attend: USC, Cedars-Sinai
Matched: RWJ

I really do not have concrete advice. My only advice is things tend to work out. This whole process is hyped up and it is completely drawn out and painful. Also just be a good person, be very likeable, be good-hearted.

Things will be alright.

 

[nfh21500]

School: Osteopathic school in the south
Step Scores: USMLE I: 231 USMLE II: 236 COMLEX I: 590 COMLEX II: 670
Grades: Mostly honors, pass in OBGYN, high pass in peds
Research: Three abstracts, one publication, several posters
AOA: SSP (DO equivalent, kinda)
Rank: top 10%
Interview Invites: Cleveland Clinic, Emory, Einstein philly, St Lukes Roosevelt, U Iowa, U Miami, Montefiore, Lenox Hill, Beaumont, Henry Ford, Penn Hospital, LSU, Drexel, methodist houston, temple, legacy emanuel , etc
Rejections: A lot. Baylor, U Maryland, UNC, OHSU, Yale, U Wash, Loyola, Tufts, BU, Wake forest, U Michigan, UC Irvine, the list goes on

Matched (+ # on ROL): Henry Ford, #1!

Advice:
So I did couples match with my husband who did the SF match. No traditional couples match here! We had to play the game city by city. I was able to get at least one program in each of the cities he had an interview, most I had two.
This is doable. Someone else said it, but if you are in the same position, as soon as your partner gets an interview somewhere, immediately email your program at the same institution. We both got countless interviews that way. People care about relationships!!
As soon as he matched in Michigan, I hounded all the remaining programs in the area, and ended up getting a fourth interview up there giving me a nice cushion for match day.
Shoot for the stars. Now is not the time to save money, its a drop in the bucket in the long run. So many of my classmates and friends applied way above what they thought they could do, interviewed, and matched. Risk it all, put yourself out there, and I think you will be surprised!

 

[imresapp]

School: School for Regular-type People
Step Scores: 260s/270s
Grades: All H first two years, fairly even mix of P, HP and H clinical years. Honors in IM rotation and on MICU subI.
Research: Very lame poster presented from a basic science M1 summer research project that had utterly imploded without any usable data resulting.
AOA: Yes
Rank: Top 15%
Interview Invites: OHSU, UWash (off waitlist), Virginia Mason, U of Utah, Providence St Vincent, UW Boise, Legacy/Good Sam (Portland), Providence Portland, UCSD, Loma Linda, U Colorado.
Rejections: UCSF (Actually just applied for kicks to see if I could get an invite. Turns out no haha.) Stanford I withdrew from in mid november but that might have been a silent rejection.

Matched (+ # on ROL): #1 OHSU !!!!!!!!!!!!

Advice:
-I was super duper regionally biased, for family reasons and stuff. There's a lot of great community IM programs in the pacific NW (and only a couple university based ones) so that made up most of my ranklist.

-Emails to PDs can potentially get you interviews. I sent one email to a good community program expressing my particular interest (and regional bias) in roughly November after I had noticed on SDN and elsewhere that they had already sent out a number of invites. Direct to the PD in my case but in retrospect the PC may have been a safer start. Got the invite the next day.

-My clinical grades actually came up in a few interviews, one interviewee was like "what happened to your grades?". I went to a school that had a strict ~15% cutoff for Honors, and I never really cracked the code for how to get attendings to check the all-important 5/5 instead of 4/5. As a result I got a lot of Passes. I explained this briefly but didn't dwell on it for fear of looking like an excuse-maker. PDs are smart enough to realize that clinical grade scales vary massively between schools, and even though it came up a couple times I don't think it was viewed very negatively.

-All through med school I was convinced that a particular program would be my number 1 rank, only to have my very last interview (in Mid-january) end up completely changing my mind. I felt bad because while I hadn't sent the initially-favorite program an "I'm ranking you number one" email I had said things to that effect during my interview. It was true at the time! But that's the point, things may change so don't send a love letter to your number 1 program until you've completed your last interview and you're sure they're your number 1. I felt a little lousy for changing my mind but I would have felt way worse if I had pulled the trigger prematurely on a "ranking you #1" email.

-That being said, I do think those "you are my number 1" emails matter. Programs want to get residents who are a good fit and are passionate, and one way to do that is to give a slight edge to those who will rank you first. It's probably a very small effect, and yeah a lot of PDs have been burned in the past which diminishes the amount of stock they put in such correspondence, but it still has some value. I don't recommend sending "ranking you highly" emails because there is no clear definition of "highly" apart from "not the first."

-I did not send thank you notes or emails. On occasion I'd respond to thank you emails from interviewers, but those were not very common in my experience. No real "advice" on this front but just know that you don't NEED to send them if you don't want.

-Lack of research didn't seem to hurt me for my purposes, but I'm sure it would help with the tippity-top tier schools.

 

[MGBarkdsale]

This forum was very helpful to me throughout the residency application process, so thanks to everyone who contributes! I couples matched, so hopefully this will be helpful to someone going through the same thing next year. My partner applied to EM and we really had no idea how the process would go. His stats were 227/258 (step1/2), lots of research, mostly high pass in clerkships but H in both EM rotations. We applied to 50+ programs at the advice of his adviser. This ended up being way too many and I canceled/withdrew from most of the programs by mid-December.

School: Mid-upper tier midwest state MD
Step Scores: 255/257/pass
Grades: all honors in core clerkships besides EM, H in Sub-I
Research: one 2nd author pub from undergrad (basically none)
AOA: junior
Rank: not sure
Interview Invites: I'll just include the high points...
Attended: UWashington, OHSU, UCSF, UC Davis, UCLA, UCSD, UUtah, UColorado, UMinnesota, Mayo, UChicago, Northwestern, Vanderbilt, Stanford
Declined: UMichigan, WashU, BIDMC, UNC, UVA, Brown, Dartmouth, Indiana, UCincinnatti
Rejections (mostly just inferred through silence): MGH, BWH, Penn, UPMC, Emory, JHU

Matched (+ # on ROL): UWashingon! (#3 combined, would have been my #1 without the couple's match)

Advice:
-The couple's match complicates things quite a bit. In retrospect applying to 50+ programs was excessive but we didn't really know what to expect. I wouldn't have gone to 19 interviews if I could go back, however I got invites earlier than my partner, and most of the interviews I would have canceled I attended early on.
-We had a lot of luck interviewing programs where only one of us had heard anything. Our strategy was both of us emailing our respective programs which resulted in at least 2-3 more interviews. Its worth it, there's really nothing to lose!
-We also had good luck scheduling interviews within a day or two of each other, both by stalking interview broker and many emails/phone calls to coordinators. Many were very helpful and understanding.
-While couples matching is stressful, I'm very grateful it exists, and in the end you get to spend the next few years of training with the person you care about the most! When you think of it that way it makes negotiating the rank list much easier.
-If anyone has any couples-match specific feel free to PM me.

 

[BobRoss]

.

 

[Docforthepeeps]

School: Low-Tier MD
Step Scores: High 230's/ Low 250's/pass (Step 2 CK visible before MSPE release, CS released early Feb before ranking)
Grades: Honors in 5 core rotations (including IM, 3 High pass), Honors medicine Sub-I
Research: 4 pubs (2nd author, Nth author x3), 9 posters (mostly before med school, 1 in med school), HHMI summer fellowship M1 year
AOA: no
Rank: Yr 1/2 (top 50%), Yr 3/4 (25%)
Interview Invites: applied to 53 programs, invited to 25, attended 20
Highlights: JHH, Baylor, OHSU, Bayview, USC, U Minnesota, U Maryland, U Iowa, Indiana, Wake Forest, Montefiore
Rejections: Tons incld all top tier midwest, all top tier West coast, NYC big 4 (- Columbia), Emory, UVA, Vandy, UNC, UTSW
Matched: #2 Baylor !! I'm extremely excited and grateful to have matched at my #2. Looking forward to moving down South

Advice:
Academic IM is competitive no matter what they say especially if you're from a lower tier school.

# School name matters a ton, granted I wasn't the most impeccable applicant, but have friends from other upper tier programs with similar stats but much less research who IV'ed at most places I got rejected from
#Research also helps a lot even if it doesn't result in a 1st author pubs. I think I got IV invites at some of my reach programs based on my research
# I did my Sub-I early and worked extremely hard and rocked it, which, resulted in an amazing LOR that was mentioned at almost every interview. I think a strong Sub-I letter can be helpful once you obtain an interview in terms of influencing how they rank you
# Also, I had an interesting/unique hobby listed that was brought up at many of my interviews and if its something that you truly enjoy doing, ppl will see your passion come through and can help you shine
# Take your Step2's early. Just get it out of the way and enjoy life. No need to prolong the inevitable. However, I did take my Step2CS in late November as I really suck at standardized pt encounters so I did take 3 wks to prepare before taking it to make sure I pass. But if you have a good track record, just get it done
# Aways are useless and a waste of time and money for IM ( got rejected from one while I was there)
# Do not follow my idiocy and apply to 50+ programs if you have similar stats . Be kind to your wallet and think if you really wanna work & live at some of the places you are planning to apply

Believe in yourself. Feel free to apply broadly and apply to some reaches but be realistic in your expectations. Do realize that the SDN data is significantly right skewed & that you'll be a good enough Doc with the training at most academic IM programs (but since you're reading this on SDN, alas...)
Good luck!

 

[intern16]

Have to post this to give hope to the non-Step 1 superstars of the world...

School: Top 30
Step Scores: Step I: 200s, IICK: 240s, IICS: pass
Grades: Honors in sub-I, neuro, peds, ob/gyn, psych; HP in others (including IM)
Research: 2 years between college and med school that yielded 1 middle author pub and 2 posters
AOA: No
Rank: Middle of the class
Interview Invites: Cornell, BU, Dartmouth, Maryland, UPMC, Minnesota (off waitlist), Michigan, Wisconsin, Case, Cincinnati, VCU, UIC, Louisville, Vanderbilt, Emory, MUSC, UCLA, Utah
Rejections: Lots. I applied to 50 university programs all around the US

Matched (+ # on ROL): #2! Very excited.

Advice:
-If you have a low Step 1 score, chin up and apply broadly because it's difficult to know what to expect. I was not limited by geography, which was nice. If I had been, I probably would have applied to a greater range of program caliber. Aside from the West coast being difficult to crack, I did not feel a regional bias when it came to receiving interviews.
-Research experience probably helped me.
-Agree with previous poster that aways are probably not helpful.

Best of luck!

 

[reca12]

School: Top 25 located in Midwest
Step Scores: Step 1 240s / Step 2 CK 250s (released in November) / Step 2 CS passed first attempt (released in December)
Grades: All honors, including medicine Sub-I, except 1 HP in family medicine clerkship
Research: One first-author review article, two posters at national conferences, a few other local oral presentations and posters, was getting ready to submit an original article
AOA: No
Rank: Top quartile
Interview Invites:
EAST - MGH, BIDMC, UPenn, Yale, Brown
MIDWEST - Michigan, UChicago, Northwestern, UPMC, Case Western/University Hospitals, Cleveland Clinic, UW-Madison
WEST - UCSF, Stanford, UCLA, UW, OHSU, UColorado, Scripps Green
SOUTH - UVA, Emory, Vanderbilt
Did not attend

Rejections:
Duke, WUSTL, BU, JHH, BWH

Matched (+ # on ROL):
#2 - Stanford

Advice:
- I didn't get the Stanford interview invite at first, so I emailed the program coordinator with why I wanted to come and that I had family in the area. The PD sent me a really nice personal email with an invitation within a few days. SO IT DOES NOT HURT TO TRY! This was the only program that I tried this with, but I figured I had a shot since I was getting interviews at comparable places.

- I had no ties to the West coast on my application but was invited to all the schools that I applied to out there. If you have a strong application, you will get invites.

- I would say >240 Step 1 and pretty much all honors (or close to it) to interview at the big places.


- Post-interview communication:
- I did get contacted from one of my East coast programs saying that I was ranked on their list to likely match with them if I wanted to come there. Super flattered. Great program, just didn't end up being the region I wanted. PM me if you want to know which one.
- My home PD contacted my #1 program to say they were my #1.
- I contacted one of my Stanford interviewers with one of those "ranking you highly" emails mid-season, because my interviewer suggested it was a good idea if I was serious about coming and that he would pass that on to the PD. In retrospect, this was kind of risky considering I could have ended up ranking it lower, but I knew that it was a program I really wanted to come to regardless of the rest of the season. I ended up lobbying for Stanford the most, and I matched here, so hey, worked out! Do I think all these emails helped show how much I wanted to go? Absolutely. Do I think it changed things on their end? I have no idea. I hope people don't stress too much about sending something or not. Just let the match work for itself.

 

[gutonc]

Also, while the epic posts are interesting, feel free to just post your result if you like.

 

[Anon1138]

School: Mid-tier MD
Step Scores: Step 1 High 240s, Step 2CK Low 260s, Step 2 CS Pass
Grades: Good, not outstanding
Research: 3 articles, one second author and the others co-author. Multiple poster presentations, mostly as first author.
AOA: No.
Rank: 2nd Quartile
Interview Invites: Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, Kentucky, Indiana, Louisville, Ohio State, Cleveland Clinic (declined), UNC, Hopkins, UAB, Tufts, Georgetown, Wake Forest, Mayo (MN), WashU
Rejections: The usual. Yale, BIDMC, MGH, BWH, Vandy, Northwestern, Pitt, all West Coast programs, U Maryland, Duke, Penn, etc.

Matched (+ # on ROL): #7 Ohio State

Advice:

You sure you want advice from me? I feel like I've obviously screwed something up (hence landing so far down my list), but at the same time I'm glad that spot #7 on my list was still a really solid program that I will most likely be very happy at. I'm in a glass case of emotions right now.

Post-interview communication: I did none. I think this may have been a mistake.

Interviews: All relaxed, except for one session of fifteen minutes. All were generally conversational and friendly. I identified specific areas I wanted to ask questions about from reviewing the programs online and tried to make sure all were answered by the time the dinner + interviews + further information sessions were done.

Fun: You should go have some. I got to do some great traveling on the interview trail, including seeing parts of the country I had never been to before. It was a really cool experience!

Best wishes to those of you reading this in the future!

 

[ShuperNewbie]

.

 

[HelpPleaseMD]

Time for some of us normals to post


edited per user request

 

[SnowDoggy44]

School: Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences
Step Scores: Level 1 - 580s; Level 2 540s. No USMLE.
Grades: GPA 3.21; 2 Honors, 2 High Satisfactory out of 9 graded rotations
Research: 2 listed publications/presentations on ERAS
AOA: No Sigma Sigma Phi (AOA equivalent)
Rank: 39th percentile
Interview Invites (24):

ACGME (11): U Nebraska, U Kansas, U South Dakota, Creighton, OU-Tulsa, KU-Wichita, U Missouri, Saint Louis Univ, Gundersen Lutheran (La Crosse), Cook County/Rush Univ PCIM, Mercy-St Louis
Dual Accred (1): Lutheran General Hospital (Park Ridge, IL)
AOA only (3): Parkview Medical Center (Pueblo, CO), Oklahoma State Univ, Mercy-Des Moines
Did not attend (9): Houston Methodist, U Illinois-Peoria, Aurora Medical Center (Milwaukee), U Mississippi, Riverside Healthcare (Kankakee, IL), Plaza Med Center (Fort Worth), Mercy-Oklahoma City, Franciscan St James (Olympia Fields, IL), Freeman Health (Joplin, MO)​

Rejections (3): Loyola-Chicago, Univ of Illinois-Chicago Advocate Christ, Doctors Hospital (Columbus)
Didn't hear from (17): 7 University programs and 10 others

Matched (+ # on ROL): Lutheran General Hospital #1 WOOO!

Advice: Go with what your gut tells you. Have others read your PS and give recommendations. Be yourself on the interview trail, make sure you have some things in mind to talk about that make you interesting and unique.

 

[throwaway1451]

School: Osteopathic (DO)
Step Scores: USMLE- 245+/230+ COMLEX - 690s/ 640s
Grades: 3.4, equivalent of honors most clinical inlcuding IM
Research: M1/2 summer research at school with national presentation, no journal pubs
AOA: (SSP)-didnt apply
Rank: top half
Interview Invites: UIC-Christ, UC-Northshore, Cook County, Rush, Rush PC, UMass, Maine Med Ctr, Baystate, St. Vincent, St. Elizabeth, Indiana U, Lahey Clinic, Einstein Philly
applied ACGME only:
Rejections: Loyola, UIC, BU, Tufts, MGH/BID/BW, Dartmouth, UVM, Brown, Georgetown, GW, U Penn, Jefferson, Drexel

Matched (+ # on ROL): UMass #1- thrilled!

Advice: As above. Specifically for DO- do the best you can in preclincals but realize that no one cares unless you are top or bottom 10%, take both boards-heard many more people regretting not taking it than vice versa, do your sub-i early and get LORs from people in leadership positions, especially from MD institutions if you are applying mainly ACGME. Emailing programs doesn't hurt, got a few invites after doing this although there is no way to know if it helped. IM is easy to match somewhere but hard to match well. Be as competitive as you can, and connections can really help. Best of luck to all future applicants and congrats to my fellow M4s. It's an amazing feeling to match!

 

[Cardiomaster41091]

School: Mid-tier state school in the Midwest
Step Scores: Step 1 260 / Step 2 CK 265 / Step 2 CS passed first attempt (all obtained before/around-the-time-of ERAS submission)
Grades: All honors, including medicine Sub-I and MICU
Research: A few other local oral presentations and posters, no published abstracts/papers
AOA: Yes
Rank: Top quartile
Interview Invites:
EAST - Columbia, BIDMC, Yale, George Washington, UNC
MIDWEST - UChicago, Northwestern, UIC, Rush, WashU
WEST - Stanford, UCLA, Cedars-Sinai, UCSD, UW
SOUTH - Vanderbilt, UTSW, Emory, UAB
Did not attend

Rejections:
JHH, MGH, UCSF, BWH, Duke, Penn, UPMC, Michigan, NYU, Mt. Sinai, Cornell

Matched (+ # on ROL):
Stanford! (#1)

Advice:
- Apply broadly and let programs know you are interested in them before/during/after the interview. It doesn't hurt to show interest.

- My application screamed Midwest, but I was able to get interviews from the West and East coast (although East was kind of harsh to me, but that's okay). If you have a well-rounded application, you can do big things.

- Obviously the name of the school matters, and my school name doesn't carry the weight of a Top 40 school, but I was able to do some other things (grades, scores, strong personal statement that was mentioned during interviews) to get my application noticed. I think research would have been the cherry on top for the top 6 or 7 programs that shut me out.

- Getting interviews can feel like a total crapshoot, but what that really implies is that it isn't all about the grades/scores. People in my school got interviews from the places I was rejected from, and I got some that they didn't, so it can all feel like a gamble.

- Don't need to send thank you notes, but post-interview communication can work! I messaged saying I was strongly interested in a few programs (all but one replied), and I sent a #1 email to Stanford, which was well-received and I got a nice (but not concrete) reply.

 

[liberah]

Long time lurker, contributing as this forum has helped me significantly during application cycle (though it has also given me paroxysms of anxiety).

School: Top 20
Step Scores: Step 1 ~230, Step II CK ~260, CS Pass first attempt
Grades: All H's with exceptions of HP in FM and P in Ob/Gyn
Research: Two papers, one oral presentation at national meeting, and one poster presentation
AOA: No
Rank: ?? Still haven't been able to decipher code words in Dean's letter
Interview Invites: BIDMC, U Washington, Duke, U Michigan, Wash U, UPMC, U Chicago, NYU, U Colorado, UAB, UNC, Hopkins Bayview etc.
Rejections: Penn, JHH, UCSF
Matched: #1 BIDMC! Very excited.
Advice: (based on n=1)
1. Don't be too discouraged even if your Step 1 score is not spectacular. You should have realized by now that SDN data is right-skewed, as noted by previous poster. This is kind of like how "the average Yale man, Class of '24, makes $25,111 a year"- impressive if you account for inflation, but what does it actually mean? (As an aside, I recommend Huff's How to Lie with Statistics as light reading when you're bored.)
2. Apply broadly!
3. Meet with the PD at your home program, preferably early. Mine helped tremendously in making initial list of programs to apply to, and also my rank list.
4. Interviewers read your recommendation letters. Mine were repeatedly brought up during interviews, particularly the one from a well known faculty member. Make sure you get good ones! (When you ask for a rec letter, don't just ask if person can write you one, but specifically whether person can write a strong letter)
5. If you have research, be prepared to discuss it frequently, especially if your list is academic-program heavy.

Best of luck to future applicants!

 

[frondslikethese]

School: State school in top 50
Step Scores: Step 1 & 2 > 260
Grades: All H's
Research: Minimal research, with two posters and no publications
AOA: Yes, junior
Rank: Top 5 in class
Programs applied to: 27
Interviews offered (22): Home program, BIDMC, BWH, Duke, Kaiser SF, MGH, Northwestern, Cornell, OHSU, Stanford, UCSF, Colorado, Michigan, Minnesota, UNC, Rochester, UVA, UWash, Wisconsin, Vanderbilt, WashU, Yale
Rejections (5): UCLA, UCSD, Mt. Sinai, UPenn, UChicago

Interviewed at 12 schools.
Matched: BIDMC, #1!

Notes:
1. Coming from a lesser-known school with minimal research, I was unsure which interviews I would receive, especially from the vaunted "Big Four." I was pleasantly surprised with the results! I guess it shows that it is theoretically possible to make the prestige jump without research if everything else is pristine.

2. I assumed that MGH, BWH, and UCSF would be #1, #2, and #3 on my list. They ended up, in no particular order, as #3, #5, and #10. As a state-schooler from fairly humble origins, at various points in the process I felt tremendous pressure to put prestige first. For myself, I ultimately realized that I could accomplish my career goals from any program on my list, but that only certain programs would best suit my temperament and personal goals.

3. If you have a good relationship with your home PD, great. But their information may be out of date, or they may be biased in a million different ways. Get as many opinions as you can and filter them for yourself.

4. Get a credit card with a big sign-on bonuses, and if possible recruit your parents to do the same. I got two Southwest cards (50k points each) which covered all of my airfare. If I stayed in a city for multiple nights I used hostels for the non-interview nights. I walked or took the bus whenever possible. I spent around $2000 all-in to interview coast to coast, so it is possible to do things on the (relative) cheap if you'd like.

5. Try to have fun. Enjoy the food and booze, and enjoy your fellow applicants. After hearing horror stories from my neurosurgery friends, I am thankful for the chill nature of the internal medicine trail. Looking forward to the next step and meeting my BIDMC colleagues!

 

[lostovers23]

School: Unranked US MD
Step Scores: USMLE- Step1/2: 250s CS: Pass
Grades: Honors in everything except HP is psych and P in neuro
Research: A few publications pending at the time, 2 accepted original research papers, numerous poster presentations at national/regional conferences and an oral presentation at a national conference.
AOA: No
Rank: Top quartile
Interview Invites: Columbia, Cornell, NYU, Mt. Sinai, Monte, Jefferson, Cedars Sinai, NSLIJ, BI-NYC, LHH, St Lukes Roosevelt, Newark UMDNJ, UNC, Temple, Tufts, Baylor, Brown
Rejections: UPenn, BID, B&W, MGH, UCSF, Stanford, UCSD, JHH, Duke, Yale
Matched (+ # on ROL): NYU-#1!

 

[buonassezia]

School: Top 20
Step Scores: 250s, 240s, Pass
Grades: About 1/2 H (H given sparingly)
Research: several papers and posters, none first-author
AOA: No
Rank: 2nd quartile
Interview Invites: Emory, NYU, Sinai, Yale, UTSW, Wisconsin, Colorado, UPMC, Mayo, UVA, Brown, Montefiore, Dartmouth
Rejections: The usual, plus UNC, UCSD, Baylor, Tulane, Michigan, Hopkins-Bayview, Chicago, UCLA

Matched (+ # on ROL): Wisconsin (#2)!

Advice:
- Upfront, invest the extra few $$ to apply wherever you may be interested. It can be very difficult to predict where you will and won't be invited to interview. You may also be very surprised by which programs you happen to love on interview day! Be open and apply broadly.
- Make use of the opportunity to reflect on your values, ideal learning environment, and best path to becoming the kind of a physician and person you truly want to become. Find the environment best-suited to your goals. Listen to yourself, and find your own voice and values amidst the cacophony of everyone else's visions for you. Go somewhere you will thrive.
- Give yourself the richness of choice by applying broadly to middle-tier programs in addition to top tier, no matter your credentials. It feels great to have a list brimming with strong programs where you would be happy to match, rather than one or two top places followed by a slew of unhappy back-ups.
- Personality seems to matter a lot once you get to the interviews. Got a lot of post-match day love from other programs to the tune of they wished I'd matched there. These were excellent places where I was likely middle-of-the-road academically but really clicked with everyone in person.
- Remain enthusiastic, open, humble, interested throughout the interview trail. Find things to like about every place. Make an effort to demonstrate your interest, poise, and friendliness throughout the day, through both your speech and body language. You don't have to be a ham or uber-outgoing, but I think it goes a long way to ask thoughtful questions, show nonverbal cues of involvement in the conversation, and demonstrate genuine interest in getting to know the residents and interviewers as individuals.
- I didn't send a #1 email or communicate much with my top program post-interview, as I worried too much about committing to a #1 and then changing my mind. In retrospect, this was probably a mistake, and may have made the difference between matching and not matching there… who knows?
- Otherwise, movement away from post-interview communication is real. Don't obsess over these things too much (I know it's hard). Look for somewhere that will be upfront and honest with you or refuse to engage in the game. Refuse to let a program yank you around like a bad fling. This character likely permeates everything in the residency.

 

[rosenthal89]

School: Low tier US MD
Step Scores: Step 1: high 240s, Step 2: low 250s, CS pass
Grades: A in all 3rd year clerkships except for B's in psych and peds; A in subI
Research: 2 undergraduate middle author papers, 1 poster presentation in med school, did a year of research between undergrad and medical school
AOA: yes
Rank: top quartile
Interview Invites: UCSF, Utah, UVA, VCU, Wash U, U Colorado, OSU, Temple, SLU, IU, U Minn, Jefferson, Tufts, Baylor, UAB, UC Davis; waitlisted at OHSU (and actually got off the waitlist, but real life happened); did not attend U Cinci, UTSW, UNC, UT Houston
Rejections: BWH, MGH, BIDMC, JHU, UW, UCLA, UCSD, USC, Vandy, UPenn, UMaryland, Emory, Boston U, UPMC (some outright rejections, some silent..can't honestly remember which was which)

Matched (+ # on ROL): VCU (#2)!!!!!!!!!!!! Extremely excited and grateful!

Advice:
- Go into every interview with an open mind - I was surprised by which programs I ended up loving and which ones I ended up not liking as much. I chose to rank based on gut/geographic location.
- Account for flight delays or cancellations and don't squeeze two interviews together where you wouldn't want to miss that second interview if something happened
- I started using the name tag holder I got at interviews to carry my driver's license and credit cards for easy access during travel
- Watch how much you eat. I took interview season as vacation time, and now I'm paying the price in the gym. But oh man...free food is fantastic!! Probably didn't help that I also scooped out good restaurants and dessert places in most cities...


Thanks SDN for carrying me through yet another application process! (This girl has no plans for fellowship so I hope that's it....)

 

[ElJo44]

School: MD state school, mid-tier
Step Scores: 1: 240s 2ck: high 260s 2cs: pass
Grades: H- medicine, neuro, psych, surgery, peds HP- family, ob/gym, sub-I (oops)
Research: poster from undergrad, med school research with oral presentation but no pubs
AOA:yes, senior
Rank: top quartile or something, idk
Interview Invites: unc, tufts, bidmc , Baylor, wash u, u Cinci, Utah, Colorado, Arizona, Georgetown, Rush, nwern, Uic, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, OHSU, Tulane
Rejections: everywhere in California, u Chicago, u Washington, mass gen, bwh, Vanderbilt

Matched (+ # on ROL): #1: wash u!!! Loved this place, so proud to have matched here!

Advice:
- apply broadly. I was surprised by some of my interview invites! Don't undersell yourself, but make sure you have a mix of programs of different competitiveness levels. Don't let imposter syndrome hold you back!
- be honest with how many interviews you can do/ are actually excited about and cancel accordingly
- I didn't really get questions about my research or lack thereof. Don't let lack of research limit your application! - Overall IM interviews are very chill. Prepare, but do not obsess. Unlike med school interviews, this is a two-way street.
- rank based on your true preference. It's ok if you rank a "prestigious" program below a "mid tier" program if you know you'd be happier at the mid tier
- have fun during interview season! I had never really travelled by myself and I met so many awesome people and saw some beautiful places. Try to stay with friends and get a Southwest credit card to save $$.
-GO TO THE PRE-INTERVIEW DINNERS. That's where i got the most sense of how well I fit in on interviews.

Congrats everyone who matched! And if you are going for IM next year, best of luck! Match Day was one of the most fun days of my life for sure.

 

[Elixir6]

School: Mid tier state school, MD/PhD
Step Scores: 240s, 260s
Grades: H's for clinicals, except Peds
Research: One first author, many 2nd author, + 1st author review
AOA: No
Rank: Not the best... the grading scale changed after I came back for PhD which hurt my rank big time
Interview Invites: Colorado, UCSD, OSU, Case, CCF, Cincinnati, Cornell, Mayo, UTSW, Baylor, Rochester, Tufts, Jefferson, Minnesota
Rejections: A crushing number

Matched (+ # on ROL): #1, Mayo - I am absolutely ecstatic. Really liked the research opportunities and the people were super nice. Institution seems to have given the program endless support and cash so that resident education is not second to the volume of patient care.

Advice: My advice for people who are not US citizens/permanent residents is that you are at a bigger disadvantage than you think even if you graduate from a US medical school so don't get your hopes up. I was a little disappointed getting rejections from places I expected to get interviews from because I thought I was equivalent to a US grad. PhDs aren't worth much these days, and don't forget the average creeps up 2 points each year while you are at the bench, so don't think MD/PhD is going to give you the boost everyone promised - those days are over. Despite the initial unhappiness with rejections, I was very happy with what I saw at just about every program I interviewed at and I felt I would do well at any of them.

If you desire a competitive residency and/or academic career, my ultimate advice is that IM is getting more competitive again so have a positive work ethic and work hard in med school, and don't think for a second that you won't have to work hard in residency. It's so obvious which residents know their **** and are going to good fellowships because they work hard vs the ones just coasting through.

 

[dospac]

School: DO
Step Scores: USMLE: 239/250, COMLEX 607/545, COMLEX PE Pass
Grades: mix of pass/high/honors, only high passed my imed clerkship
Research: 1 undergraduate first author paper in an online journal
Volunteer: did a mission trip in Kenya for 1 month between the summer of 1st and 2nd year
AOA: nope
Rank: top quartile
Interview Invites: Albert Einstein-Philly, Christiana, Cleveland Clinic-Ohio, Drexel, Georgetown, GW, IU, Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania Hospital, UF-Gainesville, UMass (attended all of them)
Rejections: so many but I'll list some of the more DO friendly ones that I was hoping to get interviews from: Temple, Cooper, Penn State, UVM, RWJ, Wake Forest, Rutgers-NJMS, UConn, UMinn, VCU (these last two I was waitlisted but never got an interview)

Matched (+ # on ROL): IU!(#4) Loved the program on my interview, it was my #2 for the longest time but I got some interviews late in the season that were closer to home and got cold feet about moving away so I dropped it to #4. Overall still pretty happy with the way things turned out.

Advice:
- It's tough out there as a DO but definitely doable. You should apply broadly. I applied to 46 ACGME (a few reaches but mostly middle tier and some backup community places) and 4 AOA programs. Now is not the time to be cheap. I probably should've applied to more lower tier university places since I only got 11 ACGME interviews. Also, I didn't get a whole lot interviews from the schools around my hometown which kind of surprised me, but I think that's just because academic internal medicine is getting more competitive every year.
- I took it pretty easy during fourth year. However I think that doing an early sub internship (mine wasn't until January) or a rotation at a university setting and getting a nice LOR from it would've helped me. I think that if I had both of these things I might have gotten some more interviews.
- If you are serious about ACGME programs you need to take the USMLE. One of my interviewers at a university hospital explicitly told me that the COMLEX is garbage (and she herself was a DO) and was glad that I had taken the USMLE so that I could be more easily compared to the MD applicants.
- I contacted multiple programs during the process, was able to get 3 interviews out of them (1 community and 2 university), so it's worthwhile to do that. I however did not send the "you're my #1" email, which may or may not have helped me.
- Neurotically waiting for interviews and all the traveling during the season is grueling, but the interviews themselves are pretty easy. Enjoy the free food at the pre-interview dinners! Be yourself and use the whole interview process as an opportunity to see if you'd be happy there for the next 3 years.
- Any DO's out there feel free to PM me with questions about the whole process.
- Congrats to all who have matched, I wish you all the best of luck!
- I'm a long time lurker so just wanted to say many thanks to everyone on this board, especially jdh and gutonc! I look forward for more guidance when begin to apply for fellowship!

 

[gutonc]

Here are a bunch of anonymous ones in one post.

Would prefer to post anonymously, thanks for your help:

School: Top 25
Step Scores: Step 1/2: 260+
Grades: All As/Honors
Research: Many publications, some presentation
AOA: Jr.
Rank: 1
Interview Invites (26 total): BWH, MGH, JHH, UCSF, Penn, Columbia, Duke, Mayo, Stanford, UW, WashU, UChicago, Northwestern, Home institution, etc.
Rejections: Cleveland Clinic

Matched (+ # on ROL): #1 - BWH

Advice:
1. Most programs are moving away from post-interview communication. Even if you're ranked to match, you may not hear anything.

2. Enjoy the interview trail. Make jokes and be yourself. Some of my friends had a similar or better application than mine, and are great/fun people to be around but I think they took the overly formal approach during the interview and this may have hurt them.

3. Let faculty know where you want to go. They may offer to make a call on your behalf, and I think this can help tremendously.


School: low tier NE
Step Scores: 212/232/pass
Grades: all P 1st-2nd yr; H in IM and medicine sub-I; HP surg and peds; P the rest
Research: case report, poster and some experience from a couple of years before med school
AOA: nope
Rank: not sure, probably near the middle
Interview Invites: umaryland, brown, dartmouth, temple, miami, new mexico, uvm, usc, nslij, uconn, arizona, lahey, louisville (did not attend), couple of community programs
Rejections: bu, bid, umass, tufts, gw, georgetown, emory, musc, drexel, colorado (waitlisted then rejected), utah, tulane, maybe a couple others

Matched (+ # on ROL): #1 Maryland!!!

Advice:
-I contacted a couple of programs where I didn't initially get interviews, which netted me an interview or two
-school rep and step 1 obviously matter a lot but improvement on step 2, great letters, and excellence on clinical clerkships certainly helped me
-send thank you notes after you interview, it's polite, takes 2 minutes, and is never going to hurt
-apply broadly, interview invites can be fickle
-good luck!


School: DO school
Step Scores: Step 1/2 230's/240's, Level I/II/CS 570/610/pass
Grades: a few B's and a C first year, straight A's after that
Research: 1 abstract 1st year
AOA: SSP (DO equivalent)
Rank: top 20%
Interview Invites: UTSA, OU OKC, Baylor, OU Tulsa, Scott and White, UTMB Galveston, KU, UofC NorthShore, UAMS
Rejections: UChicago, Northwestern, UIC, Loyola, UTHouston, Baylor Dallas, UTSW, WashU, UAB

Matched (+ # on ROL): #1 - OU OKC! So pumped!

Advice: The program I matched at doesn't get much love on here, as many mid-tier programs don't (whatever the hell these "tiers" even mean). Don't be afraid to follow up and see why you haven't received correspondence, OU said they received 3000 applications this year, double what they usually get. So letting programs know you're interested helps you stand out more instead of being a needle in a haystack.

Get good grades, do a sub-I early and work your butt off to get a good LOR mine was talked about a lot on my interviews, you'll be fine. And go to a program because you actually like it there not just bc it's highly regarded. I think a couple of the programs I interviewed at are higher "ranked" (don't think there are actual reliable rankings) than OU but I felt it was the best fit for me, congrats to everyone else that matched!

School: Mid-tier NE
Step Scores: 230s/240s/pass
Grades: all P for clerkships (not good), H in several sub-I’s.
Research: 9 pubs, several presentations
AOA: not a chance
Rank: bottom 50%
Interview Invites: (15, in order of my rank list) UIC, Loyola, Brown, Hopkins-Bayview, Harbor-UCLA, Scripps Mercy, Vermont, Rochester, Providence SV, Utah, CPMC, SCVMV, Rutgers-RWJ, UNM, Baylor-Dallas
Rejections: (60) Dartmouth, Jefferson, Tufts, UC Irvine, Maryland, Minnesota, UNC, Wisconsin, Wake Forest, Virginia Mason, Providence, Scripps Green, KP LA, KP Fontana, many others. Most never sent an official rejection (see 2016 Rejection thread).

Matched (+ # on ROL): #1 UIC


Thoughts:

• As a reapplicant switching specialties: My prior advisors recommended only applying to one specialty at a time, which I did last year. In hindsight, I’d rather have applied to both last year. This year, I only did IM. My IM advisors didn’t feel my history would hold me back much. Didn’t come up much in interviews despite being obvious from my record. But my advisors were definitely overly optimistic in forecasting the number of invites I’d get, and I’m not sure if this contributed.
• Apply broadly is an ambiguous phrase. For some people this means 30 programs. I applied to 75, and I don’t regret it. If I’d followed my advisors’ recs directly, I’d have had many fewer invites—like a classmate did. I didn’t know where I would shake out among programs, and I ended up surprised by the pattern of invites.
• Medicine interview days are shorter and less antagonizing than some specialties. Prepare lots of questions because IM interviewers are always asking if you have more questions, rather than grilling you.
• There are strong community programs in decent locations that get overlooked. I’m glad I considered them. Several impressed me and gave me west coast options near family that I wouldn’t have had otherwise.
• My earliest invite came around 4:30 AM and my latest after 10 PM (Eastern time). Set a unique notification tone for ERAS emails on your phone so you don't get locked out of your first choice interview dates.
• Didn’t send any thank you letters. The majority of the programs I interviewed at emphasized that they refrain from post-interview communication.
• I don’t think emails of interest hurt, but they didn’t help in my case either (0/3 interviews at places I emailed).
• I was never completely sure about my match list. Was happy at most places, but didn’t fall in love with any one more than the others.
• It’s just good to be done with being a med student.

 

[imhopeful2016]

Thanks to all those who posted this year -- happy to pass along my experiences:

School: Top 25 MD
Step Scores: 260+ Step 1 (released right away) / 250+ Step 2 CK, Step 2 CS pass (released February)
Grades: Honors in all but peds
Research: Ortho poster at national meeting, first-author ortho papers pending.
Other: I had significant volunteering/teaching experiences the summer after 1st year in lieu of any research activity.
AOA: no
Rank: unknown, but my IM class this year was very strong. I'd put myself somewhere around #10 amongst IM applicants.
Interviews: UW, Duke, Michigan, NW, Stanford, UCLA, Vanderbilt, BIDMC, U Chicago, UNC, Yale, UVA, UW Madison, CWRU, CCF
Rejections: BWH, MGH, Hopkins, UCSF, UTSW, Penn, Wash U, Columbia, OHSU

Matched (+ # on ROL): #1 U-dub babyyyy

Advice:
- The interview season was very humbling. My PD and Dean assured me I'd interview wherever I wanted based on my Step 1 score, so I was initially disappointed when some of the traditional big programs didn't come knocking. I think my minimal research may have played a role, but one can never really tell. There were so many applicants on the trail (and from my own program) who were total all-stars, so I'm not surprised you basically need to check every box and then some if you want a spot at the big 4.
- If you are a good candidate for a program and haven't heard from them after the first wave of interviews go out, email early. I sent a quick email to a PD at a major program and explained that I was serious about going there for X, Y, and Z reasons, and I got an interview the next day.
- Have fun. The interview trail was a blast. I made a bunch of friends after seeing people at multiple interviews. I exchanged emails with those whom I clicked with and whom I thought were looking for the same things in programs that I was looking for. I kept in contact with them and compared notes on different programs throughout the season.
- Go with your gut. UW was the only program where I did not take down a single note on interview day. All day I kept thinking to myself, "man, I really really want to train here."

Ultimately, I feel very blessed for the opportunity to train at the UW and am looking forward to getting started in Seattle this July!

 

[slickwilly16]

School: MD state school unranked
Step Scores: under 220 (step 1) under 250 (step 2)
Grades: HP FM, IM, peds, Psych, neuro. P OB, surgery
Research: not published. Several research experiences from college and Med school
AOA: nope
Rank: 50%ile
Interview Invites: (alphabetical) Brown, Carolinas, Dartmouth, Georgetown, Louisville, Maine, Mississippi, MUSC, New Mexico, Tennessee, Texas A&M, Vermont, Virginia tech, UF, USF, Wake
Rejections: Utah, UAB, Colorado, OHSU, Miracle whips and mayos, others

Matched (+ # on ROL): #1!! Not going to say the name but I was thrilled

Advice
My LORs were great and were mentioned several places. If you're a mediocre applicant make sure you have someone who can go to bat for you. I really think this helped me.

Don't be afraid to call or email to show interest.

Apply broadly!! I actually applied to over 50 schools and I'm so glad I did. You never know who may be interested by your application so just cast as wide a net as possible.

Just because you think your stats are too low for a place doesn't mean you shouldn't apply. You may be surprised with what offers you get!

Be nice, friendly, and normal during interviews (duh).

I didn't do any away rotations and I'm glad I didn't. I know several ppl that did and ended up not going to the place they rotated for various reasons.

If you have mediocre step 1 scores, don't lose hope for step 2! UWorld is your best tool and use it like crazy! I really attribute my major improvement to that.

Agree with the above poster who said go with your gut!!!

Good luck and thanks SDN for the help!

 

[medstudent20162016]

I have used this forum to get advice, but not much of a poster. Wanted to post my experience and hope it helps someone.

School: DO school
Step Scores: 250/246, 600/700, PE pass
Grades: mostly H
Research: 1 second author publication from undergrad research, couple posters
AOA: SSP
Rank: not sure
Interview Invites: UMass, Uconn, Temple, NJMS, Rochester, UVM, Baystate, Maine Med, Lahey, Cooper, Albany, few other community programs
Rejections: Yale, Boston Med, Tufts, Dartmouth, UPitt, Georgetown, George Washington, RWJ, Drexel, Thomas Jeff, Brown, few others

Matched (+ # on ROL): #1 UMass

Advice:
Do well on the steps, plan to take USMLE as it will help get some interviews, if you want to go to a place that does not take many DOs it may help to do a sub-i there (not the case for UMass- takes about 4-6 DOs/yr)

 

[Vandelay Industries]

.

 

[throwaway23859123]

School: DO school in the South
Step Scores: 550s/550s, low 230s/230s
Grades: HP or high pass in everything but psych
Research: None
AOA: No
Rank: 50th percentile
Interview Invites: Buffalo, Albany, Drexel, MCG, SLU, MSU, Metrohealth, Tennessee, Mercer, USA, Wright State, Advocate Lutheran General, UC Northshore, Geisinger, Lenox Hill, bunch of other community programs
Rejections: Lots... basically every other university program lol.

Matched (+ # on ROL): Univ of Tennessee! #1 for me.

Advice:
-Apply broadly, especially as a DO. Best to choose from the interviews that you want to go to and have a good sized ranked list vs. being picky and not getting enough interviews.
-Take both USMLEs
-Don't decline interviews because you think you have no interest living there. You never know if you will change your mind after the interview!
-Be yourself and enjoy the interviews.
-Send a letter of intent to the program you will rank #1. I feel like this may have helped me, but definitely not hurt my ranking.

 

[rd31]

School: Top 40 MD
Step Scores: Step1: 250s Step2: 261 CS: Pass
Grades: No preclinical grades. All Honors in 3rd and 4th year clerkships
Research:1 case report, 1 basic science paper. QI Research leading to posters and presentations
Other: Traditional applicant. Some research here and there, one great extracurricular working in the community. Solid LORs.
AOA: Yes
Rank: Not Ranked but top 10%
Interview Invites: UCSF, Penn, Duke, Wash U, Columbia, Northwestern, Vanderbilt, Mount Sinai, Stanford, Cornell, BIDMC, NYU, Emory, Yale, Einstein/Montefiore, Jefferson, Georgetown, GW, NS/LIJ, Rutgers,
Rejections: MGH, BWH, JHU

Matched (+ # on ROL): #1, One of the top NYC schools

Advice:
-As said before, academic IM is becoming increasingly competitive. Will always be a crapshoot at some of the more competitive programs
-Know how strong of a candidate you are. I had a pretty good idea of where I wanted to end up, but applied all over the country to see what was out there. Most programs towards the top are very similar and it's not worth spending the money to travel if you're fairly certain you won't go there, no matter how good the name is.
-Rankings are good to a certain extent, but find the school that is the best match/fit for you. Location was one of the most important factors for me.

The way your post is written makes it pretty obvious that you're going to Columbia. Congrats

 

[rokshana]

The way your post is written makes it pretty obvious that you're going to Columbia. Congrats

or mount sinai or cornell or nyu...

 

[aafisahar]

kinda bummed about my match, but figured I should pay it forward.

School: ?mid-tier state school
Step Scores: Step 1 - 241, Step 2 - 260s
Grades: P preclinical, mostly HP 3rd year, H in IM
Research: onc case report, 1 lit review, 2 posters
AOA: no
Rank: don't know
Interview Invites: UMinn, UWisc, UIC, Loyola, Rush, UofC, SLU, OSU, CCF-OH, some community programs
Rejections: too many

Matched (+ # on ROL): #9/12 - SLU

really surprised at how low I went. I thought my #1 loved me, told my mentor that I was "a lock to match". My #2 and #3 both sent unsolicited(!!!!) emails saying that I was ranked to match. I was mentally prepared to match within my top 3, fairly devastated at how far I fell down.

- Interviewing was fun, but is extremely stressful especially with multiple back to back interviews.
- Have fun, but don't trust anything until you get the Match envelope.
- Do your best in medical school, IM is getting pretty competitive, even at mid-tier university programs. My mentor and my school advisor both suggested applying to 15 programs which is frankly too low. I ended up applying to >40. Don't discount safety schools.
- Obviously contacting programs didn't work for me. Trust no communication because there is no incentive for PDs to tell the truth.
- Try not to be geographically restricted.

 

[HelpPleaseMD]

s

kinda bummed about my match, but figured I should pay it forward.

School: ?mid-tier state school
Step Scores: Step 1 - 241, Step 2 - 260s
Grades: P preclinical, mostly HP 3rd year, H in IM
Research: onc case report, 1 lit review, 2 posters
AOA: no
Rank: don't know
Interview Invites: UMinn, UWisc, UIC, Loyola, Rush, UofC, SLU, OSU, CCF-OH, some community programs
Rejections: too many

Matched (+ # on ROL): #9/12 - SLU

really surprised at how low I went. I thought my #1 loved me, told my mentor that I was "a lock to match". My #2 and #3 both sent unsolicited(!!!!) emails saying that I was ranked to match. I was mentally prepared to match within my top 3, fairly devastated at how far I fell down.

- Interviewing was fun, but is extremely stressful especially with multiple back to back interviews.
- Have fun, but don't trust anything until you get the Match envelope.
- Do your best in medical school, IM is getting pretty competitive, even at mid-tier university programs. My mentor and my school advisor both suggested applying to 15 programs which is frankly too low. I ended up applying to >40. Don't discount safety schools.
- Obviously contacting programs didn't work for me. Trust no communication because there is no incentive for PDs to tell the truth.
- Try not to be geographically restricted.

school advisors really have no idea what they are talking about. seems like you had bad luck though.

 

[IMreshopeful]

Anyone who matched at a solid mid to upper mid tier want to share so as not to make other applicants feel inadequate?

 

[blub1212]

School: MD
Step Scores: Step 1 - 210, Step 2 - 246
Grades: P preclinical, one H M3, (Almost all H M4, but none of that was on my application)
Research: None
AOA: ROFL
Rank: don't know
Interview Invites: University of Wisconsin-Madison, Virginia Commonwealth, University of Cincinnati, Kansas University, Hennepin County, Medical College of Wisconsin, University of New Mexico, Creighton, University of Nebraska Medical Center, University of Missouri-Columbia, University of Chicago-NorthShore, University of Iowa-Des Moines
Invited but didn't Attend: Wright State, Providence St. Vincent (Portland), Southern Alabama, St. Josephs (Phoenix), University of Minnesota (life happened on this one...)
Rejections: I applied to 52 programs (good mix of community and University), so.... a lot. Only got 2 hard rejections: Colorado and OHSU, the rest were silent

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

 

[gutonc]

Some more anonymous stuff:


School: low-tier state school
Step Scores: Step 1 250s, Step 2 270s
Grades: A’s in all of M1-M3
Research: 4 pubs, 4 poster presentations, 1 book chapter
AOA: yes
Rank: top 10%
Interview Invites: Vanderbilt, BIDMC, UFlorida, USF, UW, UNC, Yale, UPenn, Jefferson, UAB, MUSC, UT Houston, Mayo Jacksonville, Baylor (didn’t go), Carolina’s med center (didn’t go), Emory (didn’t go), UTMB (didn’t go)
Rejections: BWH, Pitt, Icahn Mt. Sinai (NY), NY Presbyterian, Duke, GW, Georgetown, Northwestern

Matched (+ # on ROL): Vanderbilt, #1!

Advice:

-Agree with advice given previously…would add:

-be nice to others on the interview trail- there is literally no point to not helping out someone else. I got stranded at the wrong airport and a fellow interviewee drove me to the other airport. Same thing goes for helping out your classmates.

-One of the mistakes I made when ranking (at the start) was asking way too many people for opinions. Stick to the people who know you most. In the end, talking to my mom after each interview proved most valuable because she could tell which ones I was most excited about when the lines all blurred for me at the end.

-Don’t turn down interviews until you get at least the minimum of the safety net- which I made at 11 based on prior NRMP data.

-I personally did a rotation during the month of march- it's been a great way to keep my mind off of everything and was a nice distraction.

-Use your faculty mentors and talk to people who have graduated from your school at the places you’re applying/interviewing/ranking- they’ll be the most honest about fit for you.

-I ended up doing a second-look at Vanderbilt because it was the first program I had interviewed at and I wasn't sure about my initial opinion. Turned out, I got a chance to sit down with the PD for 30 minutes- something not afforded on the interview day. It wasn't expected but it may have helped up my chances, especially coming from a lower tier school. I also let them know that I was ranking them #1.

-I did 2 aways and got a great letter of rec from one of them, from a well known program (the 2nd was too late in the season). I think this helped me out since I came from a lesser known school. I also am fairly positive I wouldn't have been given an interview at the place where I did an away had I not met the PD in person-he was initially skeptical based on my lower-tier school! It ended up being in my top 3 and I was grateful for the opportunity!

School: Top 50
Step Scores: Step 1 250s, Step 2 260s
Grades: All As/honors
Research: Various pubs and presentations, not all in IM
AOA: Yes
Interview Invites: Emory, Vandy, UVA, UNC, BIDMC, Dartmouth, BU, BWH, MGH, JHH, NW, UChicago, Penn, UPMC, Yale, Brown
Rejections: Duke (silent)

Matched (+ # on ROL): BWH (#1!)

Advice:
1. Limit the number of interviews you attend. You will feel exhausted by the end of the interview trail. If you know a program will be relatively low on your list and have enough interviews already, don't waste their interview slots or your time/money/energy.

2. If you're interviewing at a program you like in a location you're unfamiliar with, leave yourself an extra day to explore the area - it could make a difference.

3. Attend pre-interview dinners, and read between the lines. You really will get the most candid information (positive or negative) in this context.


School: NOT NIH top 40. State School
USMLE Step 1: 228 / USMLE Step 2: didn't have / USMLE CS: pass
Research: 1 first author pub, 2 middle author pubs and many other abstracts/posters
AOA: nope
Class rank: 2nd quartile
Honors: H psych and medicine subI; HP IM, OBGYN, Peds, surgery, family

Specials:
My LORs might have been pretty good. At one interview day, some big name attending (his name was on a room we had a conference in) told me my chair's letter made it obvious he wanted to keep me at my home institution, and that he was going to fight to get me. I don't know how much of it was smoke and mirrors, but it was definitely nice to hear since I had no idea what was in any of my LORs. Also for ECs I had a LOT of leadership and service with a lot of recognition for it all. I feel like this helped pull me out of the mire of applicants. I've heard time and time again residencies don't give two craps about extracurriculars so I should let those go and focus on crushing step 1. I chose to keep these activities anyways because I wanted to. They made me happy and kept me sane in med school. But really, nothing else about my application (except maybe my research) is all that remarkable so I feel like this had to play a role *somehow*.

Interviews received: Harbor UCLA, UCLA Olive View, LAC+USC, Yale Waterbury, Baylor, Hopkins Bayview, UChicago,
Rejected from: the usual suspects (UCLA, Stanford, UCSF, Northwestern, the Boston three)

Result: I ended ranking Bayview, Baylor, UChicago, USC, and the UCLA-lites - in that order. However, I dual applied into another specialty and IM and ranked a few of those programs before I started ranking IM programs, and ended up matching into that specialty instead. I did find out that I had a pretty good shot at matching into at least a few of these programs, and I genuinely would have been thrilled about any of them.

First off, a HUGE thanks to those who have contributed for several years without getting (too) tired of answering the same questions. I really appreciated this website throughout the application process, especially when even my most neurotic thoughts/questions were voiced and answered.

And on that note, for future applicants, keep hope and don't let the n=1 stories scare you. Negative bias is a powerful thing, but there are just as many positive outcomes with the Match. They just aren't as memorable / terrifying. Do you too have an average step 1? 93.9% of allo seniors who submitted ROLs matched last year. Matching will (very likely) happen. This isn't applying to med school all over again. The odds are better and you don't need to apply quite as insanely. Don't be cocky, but don't be afraid to shoot for your dreams.

 

[HelpPleaseMD]

guess I shouldn't be surprised seeing 270s on steps anymore