Realistic residencies and the match

[slowbee]

Hi everyone,
I'm wondering if there is any good way/resource to gauge which residencies are within reach given one's numbers. Barring the very well known top-tier programs, I haven't really been able to find much about which programs are more competitive than others (or those that stress scores/cutoffs more). I'm not so much interested in ranking or tiers per se, but rather which ones I would be wasting my time and which ones I could feel pretty ok about getting an interview.
(Also if there's a previous thread that I've missed addressing this that's not ages old, please direct)
Thanks

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[Rutgers06]

Hi everyone,
I'm wondering if there is any good way/resource to gauge which residencies are within reach given one's numbers. Barring the very well known top-tier programs, I haven't really been able to find much about which programs are more competitive than others (or those that stress scores/cutoffs more). I'm not so much interested in ranking or tiers per se, but rather which ones I would be wasting my time and which ones I could feel pretty ok about getting an interview.
(Also if there's a previous thread that I've missed addressing this that's not ages old, please direct)
Thanks

Unfortunately there's no great universal resource that's out there. For me, the best resource was my home program's program director and speaking to people in the year above me who had matched into peds. In general for peds, the score cutoffs are relatively low and they seem to look at other things outside of step 1. Also, the top-tier programs aren't as competitive as people may think because of how big the programs are.

 

[twilightdoc]

Unfortunately there's no great universal resource that's out there. For me, the best resource was my home program's program director and speaking to people in the year above me who had matched into peds. In general for peds, the score cutoffs are relatively low and they seem to look at other things outside of step 1. Also, the top-tier programs aren't as competitive as people may think because of how big the programs are.

This is the time where your faculty advisor earns his/her keep. There are no sources, data bases, etc. that are particularly helpful in this process. "Institutional memory" by Peds faculty members or your Dean's Office re: which students matched where, what were their Board scores, grades, etc. is your best resource. And it is good to talk with several people at your institution, since most of us rely heavily on hearsay, rumor, etc. If you talk to enough people, you might even be able to piece together an accurate assessment of your "competitiveness". As was mentioned, most of the top-tier programs (based on US News, for what that is worth) tend to have a large house staff, and that might dilute the overall competitiveness.

 

[Irina73]

You can try looking at resmatchstats. All the data is self reported, but includes USMLE scores, publications, med school country, etc of the candidates. The data is broken down by specialty and by program. It shows the statistics of who got interviews at each program and who did not. Most people reporting data are IMGs. However, the site does not show who matched, only interview stats. The site went up last year, so there is only one year of data to look at.

Good Luck!