Ranking Process

[anestheticman]

---

Members don't see this ad.

Hey, so I have twelve interviews so far plus a few more coming (knock on wood) that I will be interested in.... almost ready to start canceling some dates, but I am not clear on if I have the liberty to do that yet to guarantee matching:

I know that statistically I need to interview at 8-10 places to match based on the data, but I am curious about the following:

1- how many people does a program typically interview for each position? how many people will be at each interview date?
2- are there some that just blindly sent out tons of interview invites (the ones with tons of interview dates and tons of people on here interviewing, for instance) and if so, should i consider those less likely matches?
3- how many programs give you some idea of where you will be ranked post-interview and how do they usually do this?
4- if a program is not going to rank you, do they tell you? (or if they are going to rank you very low for some specific reason)
5- how many programs did residents on this forum interview with? how many is too many?

 

[Gern Blansten]

Hey, so I have twelve interviews so far plus a few more coming (knock on wood) that I will be interested in.... almost ready to start canceling some dates, but I am not clear on if I have the liberty to do that yet to guarantee matching:

I know that statistically I need to interview at 8-10 places to match based on the data, but I am curious about the following:

1- how many people does a program typically interview for each position? how many people will be at each interview date?
2- are there some that just blindly sent out tons of interview invites (the ones with tons of interview dates and tons of people on here interviewing, for instance) and if so, should i consider those less likely matches?
3- how many programs give you some idea of where you will be ranked post-interview and how do they usually do this?
4- if a program is not going to rank you, do they tell you? (or if they are going to rank you very low for some specific reason)
5- how many programs did residents on this forum interview with? how many is too many?

1-A rule of thumb for programs is to interview 10 for every position available. Varies at each program how many people there on a given interview date.
2-the bigger the program, the more invites. Therefore, they may have to go pretty far down their list to get all of their spots filled. So...I would not consider them less likely. Just depends on how things work out.
3-Programs will often send you feedback on how you may be ranked (or they may not). While this feedback can be nice, do not place all of your hope and trust in what you hear. The match can be very unpredictable. They may think you are ranked at a spot that will guarantee you a position based on historical match data. For instance, if a program historically goes to number 40 to fill 10 spots and they rank you #33, they may feel that it is a very high likelihood that you will have a position in their program if you wish to go there. If they fill all of their spots by #32, it makes them look like they were being deceitful, even if they had not intended to. So, bottom line, be careful about trusting promises. Many times they are being honest, but in the end, it is hard to be completely honest about something so unpredictable. On the other side, candidates frequently are deceptive about their interest level in programs. I prefer to make no promises, express genuine interest, and let the chips fall where they may.
4-most likely, they will not tell you if you are not going to be ranked. The only way you will know is if you don't match and they go unfilled through the match.
5-depends on how competitive your application is and how good you are at interviewing. My guess would be, above 220 on step I with a mix of A's and B's and a personality that does not turn people off, you would be fine to interview at 8-10 programs. There is no hard and fast rule. The NRMP states something to the effect that if you interview and rank 10 programs, you have a very high likelihood of matching. The confounding factor is that the weaker candidates may not get invited for very many interviews and so will not have the option of achieving the Holy Grail of 10 interviews. The answer to the "too many" question is best answered by you. If you are a very good candidate with good grades, good scores, and lots of invites, chances are, you will be fine with 10 or so. It gets expensive and you get tired of the process after a while. If you are interviewing at a program you like late in the season, it gets harder to show the same enthusiasm that you did earlier in the season(imho). If you have no intention of keeping an interview date, it is best to cancel it early so someone else can have the date. Just not showing up is rude and expensive for the program (hotel already paid for).

I hope this helps you. Good luck in the process.