haha all I have to say is wow. Youll match at one of the bolded programs. Probably one of the best IM apps Ive ever seen in my life. Add Yale Sinai NYU Emory. Maybe Tufts Georgetown GW or Jeff for a safety based on your preference after researching those programs
Maybe just have one safety school in one of those cities you are applying to like Boston or Philadelphia.
I would scotch basically all of the safeties minus maybe Vermont, UConn, UMass and Stony Brook; add in Hopkins, Georgetown, maybe Maryland/Minnesota/GWU. If you want another safety how about Cincinatti? UVa, WashU and Mayo are all right in your wheelhouse but if those areas are a dealbreaker for you then don't bother; on the other hand, might be worth at least sending out an application, seeing if you get an interview and hearing them out if so. I thinkyou'll get a few top 20 interviews (some combination of UChicago, Michigan, UPMC, NYU, UPMC and Yale if I had to guess) and will match either with one of them or certainly with one of your targets. AOA would help your cause of course.
This all sounds good! Thank you so much for the advice! Should I apply to all the top 30 and shoot my shot? I really am fine with any location, nothing can be worse than where I am from haha.
If you're not picky about location, then yeah, go ahead and throw on Mayo/WashU/UVa. I'd add in Vanderbilt, Duke, UNC, Emory, UTSW, UCLA, UCSD, Stanford, UCSF, UWashington and UColorado too; with the exception of Stanford/UCSF/UCLA these would also very much be in your range.
I’m just gonna have to hope I get AOA this time around 😭
Your reaches are all in your wheelhouse. Extreme reaches are simply just reaches. AOA and top tier med school always helps but you clearly have wverything else so I wouldnt be surprised if you matched somewhere in the T25 if you interview well
I think you'll most likely match with the list you provided but yes, I think you should apply to more programs. For a west coaster my additions would be UCSD, UCLA, Colorado, OHSU and Washington at a minimum. Probably would also throw on Michigan, Yale, NYU, UNC. Add a couple target-safeties too: you don't seem to have any strong geographic preference so I'd say some combination of BU/Tufts/Georgetown/Maryland/Loyola/UIC/Minnesota. Maybe a couple of university programs in your favored cities (if you have them) that aren't listed above just for the sake of having a few true "safeties." Again I think you'd probably match with the list you gave but this process can be random and the consequences of not matching can be devastating.
Would the mayo AZ and FL, university of kentucky, univeresity of louisville, medical college of Wisconsin and Hopkins bayview be worth applying to as a safety?
With that application, I'll be surprised if they fall below 3rd (where I fell and most of my programs were the ones they applied to). I don't think it's as random as people say. Though I agree I would probably add at least SD, LA, Yale, UMich.
Yeah most of those places would certainly be safeties for you although honestly I don't think you need them. If you're open to Florida could consider UMiami and UWisconsin over MCW. But I think your list was very safety heavy to begin with. Unless the process has changed radically I don't see Loyola or Temple passing you up.
Appreciate all the advice! I tend to worry a lot lol. Will cut most of the safeties except the ones you thought were worth keeping. Didn't realize that a lot of the SUNY programs were a majority IMG, looked through residency explorer today and started narrowing down the list.
Baylor College of Medicine in Houston takes DOs so consider adding them on
Thank you! Will do! Would you say any programs on my list are way out of my reach and not worth applying too?
When people say Mayo what university is that? I always thought all the Mayos were the same prestige/rank.
There's Mayo, and then there's Miracle Whip...2 of them actually.
So Mayo is Rochester? AZ and FL are good just not MGH JHH tier? Thank you for explaning
I think that’s a bit of a stretch. Mayo az and fl are community programs with some academic connections to main campus. It’s more like mayo is top tier and the others are good community programs nowhere near the prestige and quality of training of most mid tier academic joints
I think you've got Texas covered. And didn't see anything off on your others programs. Good luck
Sounds good. Thank you!
Tiers look reasonable. Most of your reaches are true reaches but that’s fine. Could add/sub places like Pitt, Case Western, Cleveland Clinic, Cincinnati, Michigan (reach), Minnesota, OHSU, UC Davis if you want. I think you’re likely to match to one of your target programs and you need to do some soul-searching about geographic preferences, esp. prestige vs leaving the Midwest.
Thank you, very helpful!
What programs are you interested in? Make your own list and we can go from there.
You'll still match but you need to apply to a lot of places. What are your career goals? If you have any interest in fellowships that are competitive (Cards, GI, Onc, PCCM) you need to apply to university and community programs that have these fellowships; your best shots will be at places in the Southeast and to a lesser extent the Midwest.
I think you most likely match at one of your targets, if you do as well on Step 2 as your practice scores predict. Could definitely get a reach...but could also potentially drop down to the safety range (although I'd be suprised if Brown or UVa pass you up). Certainly for you it's worth the application fee at all the places you list.
Thank you, I really appreciate the insight.
You are a very competitive applicant. You should not have any issue getting interviews from those programs you are signaling. Mayo, UPMC, UTSW, UNC would not be considered reach programs for you
You are likely to be the rate limiting step in your career success, not the residency or fellowship program you go to. That said, connections, especially in academics, matter. And you get more and "better" connections at the bigger names than you would at a smaller place like Brown. Only you can decide how much that matters for you.
I note you specified Brown, what about Yale (which is like... 10 miles from where I grew up).
Yale is in another tier from Brown imo; it (Yale) probably loses most head-to-head battles with MGH et al but they compete for the same pool of applicants. Going there would not hold you back in any way (nor would Brown, for that matter).
Brown is in a different tier compared to Yale and the Harvard affiliated programs, and Columbia and Cornell, etc , etc. It’s a solid mid tier program that will more than likely be just fine for you. (Note that I did residency and fellowship at a “solid mid-tier program” that I chose for reasons other than just career prospects.
I'm so far out of the game that I'm not sure how helpful my opinion is. Also, this whole signaling thing both confuses and pisses me off.
My understanding of the signalling thing is that the gold = most interest, silver = less (but still interested, since you only have so many signals)? Imo for somebody like you using a gold on Rush is a waste and you should swap it with one of the silvers on your reach list (UChicago perhaps?).
Yeah I think giving a gold to one of MGH/BWH would be worthwhile. I'd give Mayo one of your silvers, you're already very competitive there. You should get interviews at UCSD and CC and OSU and Cincy without a signal so you might consider giving the rest of those signals to more competitive places like NW and UChicago.
Fellow IM applicant here. Your CV is really impressive. I'm in a similar boat with not understanding how to use signals. Have folks at your school offered any insight, particularly in their confidence in you obtaining interviews from places that you don't signal (especially your safety list)? Clearly your application will be viewed favorably everywhere. I've heard conflicting things (i.e. some PDs say no signal = no interview, whereas others will do a "holistic" app review).
Any recommendations for split between reach/target/safety ratio for signaling? And honestly unclear to me what my safety programs would be, T20s?
