Question... I just went to an interview this earlier this week and as I was talking with other students (fmg, do, Carib and American md students) I found that they all had more interview invites than I do. Should I be worried that I only have a few offers or should I just sit tight and wait?
Agree with above. Probably candidates jockeying for position trying not to look like the weak candidate in the bunch. Also see below for other possibility.
My stats
Top 1/3rd med school
People from 80% of medical schools think this
1st 2 yrs were strict pass/ no pass and I passed all courses
Schools with this policy do a disservice to top students
All high pass and 1 pass for 3rd year rotations ( but due to the pass I am in bottom 25%)
Depends on your school's grade distribution (grade inflation). If half the class gets Honors and you get a high pass, you are at best at the average level. Some schools give out very high percentages of Honors. High pass is equivalent to B's in most cases, though a few schools have different grade distributions. So it sounds as though you got mostly B's with one C if you translate it to that system. It also depends on what class you got the "C" in. A "C" in neurology does not equal a "C" in surgery.
Some schools include the shelf exam scores in the Dean's letter. Consistently low grades on those can be a marker for how well one does on standardized exams.
If getting a Pass in one class drops you to the last quartile, there is likely significant grade inflation. The quartile that you are in is much more telling than the actual grades you get because it is the equalizer in cases of grade inflation.
Great anesthesia review/letters.
Anesthesiologists are notoriously soft graders and give everyone a top score. In my mind, an A, or its equivalent, is automatic unless you really screw up.
Letters of rec are mostly the same and rarely have an impact.
Invites in 2 at very good california programs, 2 programs in Texas, 1 in NYC, 1 Kentucky, 1 in Virginia, 1 in upstate New York. Trust me I applied to very prestigious programs as well as "safety" programs... My advisor even commended me on not being a location or ranking *****.
It is important to know what the real "safety" programs are. Many smaller programs that are not well known are still very competitive because of local reputation. It is up to your advisor to make sure you have applied to real "safety" programs.
I have been rejected from Jefferson, UB, Temple and UCLA-cedars.
Not uncommon to get scattered and, seemingly random, rejections, yet acceptances from programs you didn't think you would get. It can be extremely unpredictable.
I applied to 40 programs ( with a wide variety of reputations) no location preference
I would think that would be an okay number as long as your ratios of competitive, average, and weak programs was well thought out and appropriate. For a bottom quartile student, I would tell my advisees to apply to a few highly competitive programs, but mostly average programs and several (8-10) safety programs.
From other people I heard that 75% of invites came in by the end of October last round and only a few beyond that.
Probably true. Possibly 80-85%. As people begin to cancel, a few spots will open up. Make sure your schedule is flexible.
This is the first year Dean's letters came out early, so invites went out even earlier than usual IMHO.
Not bad scores. Probably right at the average for those who successfully match into anesthesiology. I think the average a year or two ago was 228 for step I and 234ish for step II.
I only have 1 prelim medicine interview out of 12 apps and no surgery prelims out of 6 programs (all 18 are "no names"
Not completely sure, but I think prelim spots may offer a bit later than core program spots. I think many are still interviewing for those spots well into January.
No disciplinary action or red flags (other than the single pass in a required rotation which screwed up my ranking... But my school told me It was like a C in college) never failed a single thing.
That is a plus. One thing you did not mention is your dean's letter comments. The large majority of candidates
do not have any negative or lukewarm comments on their dean's letter. If you have even one comment that is not positive, you are an outlier already. If you have two or more, most programs will avoid. An example of a lukewarm comment might be "He was encouraged to make sure to show up on time for rounds." Translation is, he was frequently late (lazy). A blatantly negative comment such as "He had to be reminded to be respectful of other members of the team" or worse is extremely rare and can cost a person a spot. Based on your response to heron above, it would not be outside the realm of possibilities that you could have rubbed someone the wrong way during your clerkships. Although, to be fair, most feel a sense of security to be a jerk when they have the anonymity of the internet to hide them. So I doubt you would address anyone that way in real life situations.
Anyway nearly everyone else claimed to have more invites than me even DOs, FMGs, Caribbean students...
There are always a handful of stellar IMG's and carib grads that will get the majority of the invites passed out to that subset of candidates. You may have met them that day. There are many outstanding DO candidates and the ones who have good grades and good scores frequently get a large number of invites. You may have also met them that day as well. It sounds like it was an early (in the season) invite, so you probably saw many of the candidates who got very early invites because they passed the highest bars in the screening method (great grades and high board scores). As the interview season wears on and the better candidates become more selective, you will start to look more like the other candidates (average), which will be a good thing. There are a few candidates who are the total package and they will get the majority of the early invites. They will soon realize this (after having accepted "all" of them) and begin to cancel the interviews where they would prefer not to be.
Should I be worried or chill the heck out and realize I am about average and just sit tight
Not many variables you can change at this point, so I would just chill out and let it happen. It is getting a bit late to add other programs through ERAS and the return will not be great since most programs have already offered the majority of their interview spots. I feel like you are going to be fine. Good luck.
