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I've got a list of 53 programs right now... What kind of stats do you guys have?

My current list is 74, but after adding more/filtering some out, I'm probably going to end up applying for 80-90. I know that's more than most people are planning on applying to, but I consider myself an average/below average applicant, and I just want to make sure I match somewhere.

Step I:240, Step 2: taking in September
3 research projects - 1 ortho, no pubs
3rd year-mixed H/HP
normal volunteer stuff, not AOA

The residents (who do not know my Step 1 score) at the programs that I have rotated at have told me that 50-60 is pretty much the minimum nowadays if your main goal is just to match somewhere.

My current list is 74, but after adding more/filtering some out, I'm probably going to end up applying for 80-90. I know that's more than most people are planning on applying to, but I consider myself an average/below average applicant, and I just want to make sure I match somewhere.

Step I]
I call BS on 75% of this post.

My current list is 74, but after adding more/filtering some out, I'm probably going to end up applying for 80-90. I know that's more than most people are planning on applying to, but I consider myself an average/below average applicant, and I just want to make sure I match somewhere.

Step I]
I call BS on 75% of this post.

agree

personally I think its quite reasonable. If you have the means to apply to 70, then I think that is perfect. it all depends on each person individually. If I end up not matching, I will be kicking myself if I only applied to 30 high powered academic programs, when I could have applied to more and diversified my portfolio. Also I know its hard for people on orthogate to understand, but not everyone has a 250 step 1 and is AOA. I personally know 2 other folks that are applying to 80 programs simply as a function of blanketing the west and east coast. When they match will they regret it? No. Because matching is what matters.

I am applying to 82. I am couples matching and my dean said we need to bump up the number of programs we each apply to.

50-60 being a minimum is pretty ridiculous. I matched last year and applied to 28 (and I didn't have the crazy numbers you referred to). We had 9 guys applying for ortho spots and I don't think any applied to over 40 (8/9 matched). Personally, if you're applying to 90 because you're scared you won't match, I'd say you have about 40 programs too many on your list because odds are you won't be a candidate for them. Hey, it's your money though.

congrats on matching after applying to just 28 programs, you definitely beat the odds, especially with you not having the "crazy numbers".

My stats are as follows:
step 1 236
step 2 267
a few projects, none published
top quarter in class, not AOA

I applied to 60 programs the first time around and didn't match. I did an intern year and reapplied to approx 80 programs and still failed to match. I did not apply to any top programs, mostly middle to lower tier and community programs.

I'm posting this to help others, to make sure you don't have to go through what I did. Believe me, not matching absolutely sucks. It is soul crushing like non other.

The extra several hundred dollars spent in applying to more programs is nothing compared to the bullsh$t you have to go through if you don't match.. take it from me guys, I've been through it all before

and before anyone says that something must have been missing, believe me, I did everything right and played all the right games.. sometimes you just slip through the cracks

Man, that's terrible. I just think on average if you are realistic about your chances and realistic about what programs would not only interview you but actually accept you then you can really cut down on the number of programs you apply to, especially if you keep it regional (which most programs tend to do also). However, if you fail to match then all bets are out the window and applying across the country to most programs may be the way to go. I think I'm posting more for the readers out there who may be uncomfortable applying to only 30 or so programs compared to the 60-80 that others do.

I think it comes down to just applying to as many programs as you feel comfortable. I don't think there is any one answer to this. If you feel like you're a strong applicant, than I don't think that its outlandish to apply to less programs. You can always worry about those freakish situations where you won't match, but then where do you stop 60? 80? 150? You can always make the argument that you may not match with the number of programs that you apply to.

Some people are going to go about this application thing differently because of their stats, their overall confidence in their application, and just their nature of being a conservative or unconservative person. I think there isn't a huge amount of utility in using other peoples numbers to guide how many programs you're going to apply to.

There is definitely a floor as to the number of programs you should apply to and thats probably around 30-40, but other than that as we have seen on this thread so far the sky is the limit as to what people are willing to do to match.

While i certainly think that applying to programs that seem in your league or are in your region is smart; i have heard and read numerous accounts of people not receiving interviews at "safety" programs but receiving them a places they thought were long shots. With that level of variability i would rather increase the number of programs i apply to in order to allow for unexpected interviews. Everyone says that this process is unpredictable.

congrats on matching after applying to just 28 programs, you definitely beat the odds, especially with you not having the "crazy numbers".

My stats are as follows]

How many interviews did you get (and how many did you attend)?

What is the average number of applicants a program will interview?

What is the average number of applicants a program will interview?

This question is retarded for many reasons...

My current list is 74, but after adding more/filtering some out, I'm probably going to end up applying for 80-90. I know that's more than most people are planning on applying to, but I consider myself an average/below average applicant, and I just want to make sure I match somewhere.

Step I]
I call BS on 75% of this post.

I'm not sure what part of my post you think is BS, but I should probably clarify my original post. First of all, I know that I'm going overboard applying for 80-90 programs, but I would much rather apply to too many programs and be able to pick and choose among interview invites than to only get a handful of interviews and be sweating it until match day with the possibility of not matching at all.

I still believe that 50-60 programs is a minimum, especially for applicants with similar stats to mine, but I am probably swayed by the fact that a few of the residents that I have talked to did not match their first time around. I tend to be spooked easily.

I am applying to 82. I am couples matching and my dean said we need to bump up the number of programs we each apply to.

What is your significant other applying for just out of curiosity?

I am applying to 82. I am couples matching and my dean said we need to bump up the number of programs we each apply to.

What is your significant other applying for just out of curiosity?

OB

A number of you have sent me PM's asking variations of the same topic, so here's a bit more..

First time around, I received 13 offers but was only able to go to 10 due to conflicts. However, out of these offers, 3 were programs where I rotated and one was my home program. Supposedly, I had the "magic number" of interviews. I should note that out of those three away rotations, I bombed the first one, ie wasn't well informed, was late a couple times, and just didn't mesh well with the residents. I did really well on my next two rotations and received great LOR's. Residents at these programs had nothing but great things to say to me.

After I didn't match, I scrambled into a prelim surg position at a large academic center with a strong ortho program. At this program, I requested and received 3 ortho rotations, although only 2 of these were before the match. I did well on my ortho rotations, although I have to admit I wasn't well prepared for my gen surg rotations. My ortho program did not offer the support nor encouragement I was expecting, this was both disappointing and frustrating of course.

Turns out, my gen surg PD offer far better mentorship then any of the ortho attendings at this program. He advised me to at least consider a back up and recommended either gen surg or anesthesia depending on whether I still wanted to operate. He made it clear that the only reason I was not being actively recruited was because I was so focused on ortho that he knew I would jump ship as soon as an opening came around.

Second time around, I applied to approx 80 programs. I was much more discerning regarding choice of programs this time around. Unfortunately, in spite of great LOR's, applying as a graduate automatically weeds you out of some programs. I ended up with 10 interviews, of which I was able to attend 9. This was in spite of a stronger application.

I was offered a CA-1 position in pre-match at a great anesthesia program. I turned this down, hoping I would match into ortho. This didn't happen of course, I ended up in my #1 anesthesia program. Goes to show you how competitive us ortho wannabe's really are, I got into a great anesthesia program without doing a SINGLE anesthesia rotation either as a student or during internship.

Since I matched into a CA1 starting in 2011, I decided to do another internship during my year off, this time at a community surgery program. This way, I still have another year to look for ortho spots or to change my mind entirely and go into gen surg. Although it sucks doing this BS all over again, its much much easier the second time around.

Closing tips for those who didn't want to read my life story:

1) If you're worried about matching, think about what you want to do for the next year. Can you afford to continue medical school (as a 5th year)? Do you want to do research? Are you willing to bust your behind doing a prelim surg year?

2) If you didn't match, you really need to look at why you didn't match. Is it scores? (which you can't really improve), research? possibly a fluke?
This is also the time to find a supportive program. This may be your home program where they know you well. If you want to go somewhere else, try to find a program that has had reasonable success matching their prelims into their choice of careers.

3)Think early and carefully about a back up plan. Will you be happy doing anesthesia forever? Will you be happy giving up on your dream? Was ortho really your dream career or is it just something that you like but could be equally happy doing something else?

4)If you're still going all out for ortho and choose to do a prelim surg year, you need to really show up every single day. One off day, rubbing the wrong person the wrong way could nix your chances at that program.
As hard as it is, get involved with research.

Hope this helps guys, good luck