Medical Should I be worried about number of anesthesiology interview invites?

[AlteredScale]

I am an MS4 applying for anesthesiology residency. I have received 5 interview invites so far, and have accepted all of them.

-I applied to 24 programs, all categorical
-Step 1 224, Step 2 CK 258
-Top half of med school class
-All Honors/High Pass
-The only "red flag" on my application is two medical LOA. I addressed these in my personal statement. The only comments I have gotten about the leaves during interviews were to commend me on my tenacity and perseverance

I know this year is strange with COVID and applications being delayed, but I'm unsure of whether I should be nervous or not. Should I send out interest emails to programs I haven't heard from? Or should I bite the bullet and apply for transitional year programs? (The problem with that is that I have like no money...). Or should I just wait and see? I have no idea what is going with the programs...

TIA

Though very hard to provide good insight on this years application process, the 2018 NRMP PD's survey showed that most II's were sent in November. It's now December.

The number of contiguous ranks for MD students who matched into Gas last year was 15. Unmatched was 4.

I would send out interest emails to 1 or 2 programs that you are interested in.

Did you apply to advanced and categorical gas? Have you applied to prelim spots for the advanced spots?

If no, you should def start applying to some now. And/or consider applying to a backup specialty. You do not want to do this process again as a reapplicant. Go all in and take what you can get.

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[TheBoneDoctah]

Thank you for your response. I will apply to prelims/advanced spots tonight.
Do you have any idea what the problem is, meaning why I'm not getting more invites? I'm baffled - everyone told me my application was strong and I would be a good candidate...

You may be a little late to apply to even transitionals. I applied to 20 transitionals beginning of December last year (cause I got nervous as well in the ortho match) and got 2 interview invites. I had a 250+ Step, tons of research, etc.

Your Step scores are good for anesthesia...you may have applied a little heavy?

 

[TheBoneDoctah]

Thank you for your response. What do you mean by "a little heavy"? Do you mean applied to too many top programs?
I applied to a few higher up, and a few very low. I got several rejection letters from both, but none from the majority of places I applied, which are middle-of-the-road.

Yes, I meant you may have applied to more competitive programs.

 

[AlteredScale]

With the surge of applications and probably more stringent screening, it’s probably a) the multiple LoA and/or b) mediocre letters if you got through the primary screening with your scores.

 

[TheBoneDoctah]

Thanks for all your responses. I received another 5 invites this week - I guess they really were just running behind!

Woah! That is pretty late haha