Official 2024-2025 Allergy & Immunology Application Thread

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SummerSquash said:
Upcoming applicant, anyone concerned at all about job market for non-city locations? For example less populated portions of the northeast or midwest? Would appreciate any insight if anyone has info about job market for areas such as those.
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There are not alot of allergy jobs in non-city locations. I guess it depends what you mean by "non-city." I heard someone say one time that it takes about a population of 100,000 people to support an allergist. That seems about right. You don't really see allergists in rural or semi rural locations. Perhaps if the town itself is decent sized, say maybe 30-50,000 but has a catchment area that increases the relevant population. I don't know about all the specific areas. The northeast seems more population dense in general in terms of geography, whereas the midwest can have miles and miles of land between towns or a string of very small towns all 20-30 miles apart. Your best bet is probably to google the towns you are thinking of and see if they have an allergist. My guess is you'll find scattered solo practices or a big multispecialty clinic that might have one allergist. In areas that are served by a large health system that has multispecialty clinics, you might find that an allergist has a clinic one day a week in different smaller towns. You might also find that a private group based out of a larger city might have a satellite office in a neighboring smaller town where an allergist goes for one or two days a week. However, if some allergist has created a niche in a town like say St. Cloud, MN, they probably would just hire a midlevel if they need to expand a little. Realistically, you'd probably either need to find an allergist nearing retirement or be willing to go start your own practice and see if you can capture the market share.

Now if by "non city" you mean suburbs....well, yeah A/I thrives in the burbs. The market seems to have gone in waves even since I started following it, which is only since med school. Job postings seem to increase in late winter or early spring because they are probably targeting graduating fellows. Cold calling is still a thing. If you know the geographic area you want to work in, start reaching out to every practice in the area as early as possible. Starting a practice is still a viable option in A/I, although might be a little harder for a new grad since your academic fellowship probably isn't gonna be great about teaching you about the business side of things. The new grads (in any field) that start businesses after training have a leg up, either a parent/family member that is a PP doc or at least someone close to them who knows how to run a business. You would have to be pretty savvy to just walk out of fellowship and successfully start your own business from the ground up.
 
Agree that it is quite early but the anxiety is real knowing that other applicants have 5+ interviews while it is silent over here. Will hold on to hope as others have said above
 
Immunepotential said:
You are not alone my friend! Let’s hope for the best🤞🏻
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Theresilientone said:
Agree that it is quite early but the anxiety is real knowing that other applicants have 5+ interviews while it is silent over here. Will hold on to hope as others have said above
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People with over 5 interviews likely applied to a ton of programs (60-70+). There are a lot of programs who havent sent invites yet. How many did you apply to?
 
Deecee2DO said:
People with over 5 interviews likely applied to a ton of programs (60-70+). There are a lot of programs who havent sent invites yet. How many did you apply
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I initially applied to 37 but then freaked out and added a lot more. I don't think the ones I added last week counts though as programs likely will not re-download applications but wanted to give it a shot.
 
Theresilientone said:
I initially applied to 37 but then freaked out and added a lot more. I don't think the ones I added last week counts though as programs likely will not re-download applications but wanted to give it a shot.
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I applied to 42 because those are the only places I would be happy living. As a young single male i would not be happy living in a rural area with nothing to do and would rather reapply in worst case possible scenario until i got one of the 42
 
Are you all that are currently applying PGY-2 or 3? I’m finding mixed information.
 
Anyone else not gotten a single thing on Thalamus yet? I'm starting to wonder if my Thalamus is even working...
 
Is UPenn as well known for medicine e.g. A/I as it is for other stuff? Like does the "Ivy" still hold weight?
 
drobgyn32 said:
Is UPenn as well known for medicine e.g. A/I as it is for other stuff? Like does the "Ivy" still hold weight?
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Allergy doesnt have tiers per se like IM but more so different programs are known for different things (ie UCSD for angioedema, Sinai for food allergies, Duke for PID). Also, prestige in A/I doesnt really mean anything unless you want a career in academics. Overall, with that said UPenn is VERY strong in A/I, a research powerhouse and still carries a prestigious name in the A/I world as well as societal prestige. Not just because its Ivy though (for example Brown and Dartmouth are probably not on the same level as say MGH BWH or UPenn for A/I when it comes to research pedigree/academics). Just my 2 cents interacting with people in the field. One would need to have a very competitive application to interview there for A/I and a good amount of research I presume.
 
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How is the application season going for everyone? I can't tell if all the super competitive people are answering the posts on the google sheet page because sounds like everyone has like 10+ interviews.
 
Jocelyn1324 said:
How is the application season going for everyone? I can't tell if all the super competitive people are answering the posts on the google sheet page because sounds like everyone has like 10+ interviews.
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No i dont think everyone has more than 10. Reddit always self selects for the highly competitive applicants and usually not representative of the norm or avg population of applicants imo. People with high numbers of interviews are more likely to report them. Realistically most people with 7 or more invites match fine based on previous years and talking with my mentors. I mean just look at the Step threads everyone and their mother seems to have 260s on reddit but we both know this is not real life its just reddit 🤣
 
Do we know last years number needed to match? I had trouble finding it on the NRMP outcomes report.
 
What's the lowest you've heard that anyone match on their rank list?
 
drobgyn32 said:
What's the lowest you've heard that anyone match on their rank list?
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not sure but i know someone last year matching at their last rank idk how common that is but stats wise NRMP says 55% match in their top 3. I think it’s hard to match your number one because of how small the specialty is and how little spots there are. anecdotally I feel like matching in your top five is relatively likely.
 
Deecee2DO said:
No i dont think everyone has more than 10. Reddit always self selects for the highly competitive applicants and usually not representative of the norm or avg population of applicants imo. People with high numbers of interviews are more likely to report them. Realistically most people with 7 or more invites match fine based on previous years and talking with my mentors. I mean just look at the Step threads everyone and their mother seems to have 260s on reddit but we both know this is not real life its just reddit 🤣
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Thanks, that actually makes me feel a lot better! 265 applicants is such an insane number. I wonder if COVID has anything to do with this and a shift to an outpatient speciality?
 
Jocelyn1324 said:
Thanks, that actually makes me feel a lot better! 265 applicants is such an insane number. I wonder if COVID has anything to do with this and a shift to an outpatient speciality?
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Good im glad it could provide some reassurance! Allergy is an attractive specialty for so many reasons haha lifestyle, income, happy patients etc so im not surprised in the rise. if it was 1 yr of prelim followed by 3 years of A/I id imagine it wiuld be near derm competitive. Best of luck to you with interviews this cycle!
 
Has anyone else interviewed at Mayo Clinic Rochester or U of Colorado/National Jewish (Adults) and have any thoughts such as schedule, call, work life balance, etc on those programs? thank you!
 
Is anyone able to comment on how high of an impact it is to have an oral abstract presentation at the AAAAI conference? Also how much of an impact is an acceptance to the Chrysalis Project? Thank you!
 
SummerSquash said:
Is anyone able to comment on how high of an impact it is to have an oral abstract presentation at the AAAAI conference? Also how much of an impact is an acceptance to the Chrysalis Project? Thank you!
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Both will be advantageous to your app. Chrysalis can help a lot. Research in A/I is important (A/I is a research heavy field). presenting at meetings also shows interest in the field and can really help your app. I would say the 3 most important things are where you went to residency (prestige/name), who you know/your letters, and research output. Board scores are helpful if you absolutely murdered them (250+ Step 1 or for the new generation in the P/F world 260+ Step 2) other than that they dont really help all that much and can hurt you a bit if theyre like super low
 
Feeling pretty nervous, ready as **** for this to be over with.
 
Congrats to those that matched! You all picked the right field.

Yes it was a blood bath, allergy seems to be getting more and more competitive.
 
Deecee2DO said:
Matched my #9 but im pretty satisfied! haha bloodbath this year 69% match rate
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Oh man congrats! How many programs did you rank? Any recommendations for an US img from a community program regarding getting access to research?
 
Legend of Link said:
Oh man congrats! How many programs did you rank? Any recommendations for an US img from a community program regarding getting access to research?
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I ranked 14. Granted many of them were very prestigious academic driven programs so im sure many people ranked them high but what I would say is apply to every single accredited program and rank every single program u interview at. Its insanely competitive-there are people on the spreadsheet with like 12-13 interviews who didnt match. Take every interview you can get. small field with limited spots when ur competing for like 1-2 spots some of this comes down to luck even if you have a flawless app
 
Deecee2DO said:
I ranked 14. Granted many of them were very prestigious academic driven programs so im sure many people ranked them high but what I would say is apply to every single accredited program and rank every single program u interview at. Its insanely competitive-there are people on the spreadsheet with like 12-13 interviews who didnt match. Take every interview you can get. small field with limited spots when ur competing for like 1-2 spots some of this comes down to luck even if you have a flawless app
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Congratulations on matching! I'm an IM intern interested in A/I. I know it is a bit early, but I was trying to see which programs accept IM vs only accepting peds applicants. Is there a list somewhere on the internet that has that info? I have been searching but no luck, and even when going to certain program fellowship websites it can be difficult to find.
 
Very few programs limit their incoming fellows by peds or IM only. Those that do often have separate pathways in the same program. You can find fellowship details on their websites or by emailing their coordinators. I haven't looked in a long time but you used to be able to find info like this on FREIDA.
 
How does one rank competitiveness of allergy programs ( like how we did for residency on frieda, match a resident etc. that had data and stuff)?
Honestly I just wanna match somewhere and open to move in at any part of the country
 
Legend of Link said:
How does one rank competitiveness of allergy programs ( like how we did for residency on frieda, match a resident etc. that had data and stuff)?
Honestly I just wanna match somewhere and open to move in at any part of the country
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There isnt a rank but some programs are more prestigious than others for different things. Think Duke for peds immuno, Sinai for food allergy, UCSD for mast cell. Any program will train you to be a good allergist it comes down to fit. However, in the academic world I think most fellows/allergy attendings would agree that BWH NIH National Jewish Penn Hopkins are all around some of the best from an academic/research standpoint but it depends on what you want to do with your career. If you want to do private practice like myself lol where you go for allergy training literally doesnt matter the only time it kinda matters is if you want to practice in California it would be in your best interest to do your allergy training in California (from the PP standpoint training in the area you want to practice helps). For academics, prestige/name sorta matters to an extent ie if you want to have a research career and publish/innovate the field/make a name for yourself youre probably better off coming from a place like Hopkins or Stanford than say Penn State or Rutgers despite all four training you to be an excellent and competent allergist
 
Deecee2DO said:
There isnt a rank but some programs are more prestigious than others for different things. Think Duke for peds immuno, Sinai for food allergy, UCSD for mast cell. Any program will train you to be a good allergist it comes down to fit. However, in the academic world I think most fellows/allergy attendings would agree that BWH NIH National Jewish Penn Hopkins are all around some of the best from an academic/research standpoint but it depends on what you want to do with your career. If you want to do private practice like myself lol where you go for allergy training literally doesnt matter the only time it kinda matters is if you want to practice in California it would be in your best interest to do your allergy training in California (from the PP standpoint training in the area you want to practice helps). For academics, prestige/name sorta matters to an extent ie if you want to have a research career and publish/innovate the field/make a name for yourself youre probably better off coming from a place like Hopkins or Stanford than say Penn State or Rutgers despite all four training you to be an excellent and competent allergist
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I second this! The fellowship match is much more about finding a good fit for your career and life goals than it is about prestige alone. I turned down a few interviews at prestigious places because I realized that PP was more the route I wanted to choose and I knew based on their reputation that I wouldn’t rank them highly due to my career goals.
 
Sorry, may be I asked the question in a wrong way. What I meant to say is I actually want to find out programs that are 'non prestigious' and focus on those mostly so that I have a higher chance of matchig. I'm just scared of going unmatched as allergy was the third most competitive specialty this cycle
 
Are there any Allergy/Immunology physicians perhaps in academics or on the fellowship side willing to chat with a non-traditional applicant?

I can provide some background via PM

Appreciate it! 🙂
 
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