Quantity of residency programs to apply to

[qwertyuiopasdf1234]

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Hi all!

I am a current M4 applying this cycle and was hoping for some insight on how many programs I should realistically apply to, especially if I am hoping to apply to top programs (with some safeties of course). Stats wise, I am 4th quartile in my class but got 25X on step2 which I am hoping will make up for my class rank. No red flags, and I have a few papers published. I don't want to overkill the application process but also don't want to delude myself into not matching!

Thank you all for your time!

 

[SunBakedTrash]

I applied to 20 and went to 10. That seemed pretty standard 15 years ago for what it’s worth.

 

[Bendak Starkiller]

I think your stats are good. My philosophy was to apply broadly and then cull at the interview scheduling stage. I think 20-25 applications is "safe" for a US MD with your stats. That said, even in a day and age of virtual interviews, it becomes very cumbersome to schedule them all and gets exhausting by the time you're on interview 11 asking the same questions you've been asking of a place that you're not really interested in. So, when you get to that point, schedule one or two of your middle tier choices early for practice, then your top picks, and then maybe some other places where you could see yourself in slots 6-10 or whatever.

I never want to give the advice to not apply broadly because weird stuff happens, but I speak from my own experience as an average US applicant that if you apply to 25 decent programs with a decent application, you're gonna get 23 interviews and be turning places down by the end. If you truly have 0 interest in going to a place and otherwise have a solid app without red flags, better not to waste everyone's time (including your own). Good luck!