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- Medical Student
Went ahead and withdrew my app from 7 programs today - no use waiting to see if I would get an interview if there's no intention to go...
I encourage others with full interview schedules to consider doing the same... save the program directors and coordinators some unnecessary work!
This is a great idea. This process is bad enough as it is without making more work for the poor coordinator. Ours looks so stressed! =(
I followed suit this morning and withdrew from some programs. Never thought I'd be in the position to do that!
if you do this keep in mind you do need to email them in addition to checking the box on eras. I was fortunate enough to be able to withdraw from a bunch of programs 2 weeks ago...but yesterday i got an interview from one of them. As apd noted in another thread... eras doesnt really notify them.
10? Is that the (average) magic number?
Yes. 99% of US medical grads who rank 10 programs match somewhere (but like 75% get their top 3). So you are supposed to go on 10-12 interviews so you can rank 10 (12 in case a couple rub you the wrong way so you don't want to go there)
A PD I recently spoke to said that it actually has been 92% match rate for the past 2 years. I also confirmed that EM applications are up 25-30% this year, and the applicants are reportedly much stronger than in years past. They think this year is a "spike" year. Reportedly, students are applying to many more programs as well. Also, there are reportedly an increased number of people couples matching in EM this year, which of course means more applications each for those individuals. I guess what I'm saying is, I don't know if 10 will still be the magic number this year...
Don't know where that PD got their data: according to the 2009 charting outcomes: http://www.nrmp.org/data/chartingoutcomes2009v3.pdf the number of US medical grads who ranked 10 or more programs clearly approaches 1. They don't give exact numbers but it's no where near 92. Maybe the PD meant overall instead of US medical grads who ranked 10 or more programs?
I agree there is a bit of a spike this year but there are also a bunch of new programs. Probably 30-50 new spots. The data someone posted in another thread said that as of 10/15 there were 2100 applicants up from 1800 last year.
All things considered it's just not THAT significant. It will probably be harder on FMGs and weak applicants but for the average or above average US medical grad 10 is still the magic number and the PDs I've chatted with agree - none feel that it's significantly more competetive this year. Slighly more competitive yes, more overall apps leading to a change in interview invites yes... but a significantly more difficult match? Unlikely.
And people applying to more programs cannot change the match. It can change interview invites but in the end everyone can only go one place so all that matters is the total number of applicants vs spots.
Rules on how many programs to rank for those couples matching, DOs and FMGs has always been different so that's irrelevant.
Both are programs I was SUPER excited about, but my husband isn't getting any action at all in terms of chicago area jobs, and I wanted to cancel several weeks in advance to allow plenty of time for other interviewees to be able to take the spots. No chicago for me 🙁 but I hope it works out really well for someone else!
Side note for my own curiosity- what's up with the UVA cancellations? I'd heard that was an awesome program and have it scheduled for after the holidays. Is it just because of the location? thanks!
Declined: Harvard x 2, BMC, Cook County, Kings County, NYU Pres, Denver, OHSU