digitaldoc
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It's true that this year the competition is bizarre with many IM programs receiving more than 1,600 applications for their 20-30 seats and this is understandably disturbing !!
But hold on a minute here and think a moment from the Program Director's (PD) point of view - If you were a PD with a responsibility of making sure that none of your program seats go unfilled and received tons of excellent applications, how will go about it ? Within the current application system, you will work like this :
a. Obviously you will like to start with the best applicants - so you 'screen' all application with the most obvious parameter - the Scores. You invite the 100 people with , say , more than 96 on the steps.
b. You ask them to confirm dates for interviews - and soon find out that some are cancelling interviews - why ? That's coz' this year - almost ALL students with all sorts of scores have applied to ALL programs and on the other side ( I know a dude with 96 &99 who has applied to 100 programs each from IM, FP, Peds and Ortho !!) - ALL programs have been unintentionally choosing the SAME applicants in the 'screening' process. That's why on various forums you might have come across folks with 20-plus interviews and some none ! ALL-OR-NONE Phenomenon ;-)
c. As a PD, your nightmare has begun ! Well, you are happy that not everyone has cancelled their interviews to your program - but your 6th sense (and logic) tells you that these guys with great applications must also be interviewing - god knows how many places! How do you tackle that uncertainty ? - 1. Ask them during the Interview ! 2. Offer the Prematch 'bait' and see if they take it ;-) 3. Go back to your downloaded application in your ERAS software and call the next batch of applicants with slightly lower scores...
d. OK ! So you interviewed the 90s guys and many did not take the prematch ..and many looked eligible for higher-ranker programs - many would prefer a H1 and not that J1 which you wanted to give..and so on....your head gets cluttered with so much pessimism...but again , you got time on your hands...it is only October man ! and so send out interview invites to some more folks through November, December and Jan till you are reasonably sure that you got enough potential candidates who will consider your program!!!
So folks...sit tight, sympathize with the programs and give them time - the first round of interviews will be getting done and second round will begin with the score-barometers lowered with each round. There is always hope to hear about an interview call hope till the early weeks of Jan, when the PDs have to submit their candidate rank listings for the match :-)
Afterall - You only need that one special interview that will matter ! Worth a wait, ain't it ? 
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| Vtach
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Any idea why this trend of "over-applying"? I have applied to thirty programs and heard only from 5.
Are there more candidates in the pool this year or are the same number of candidates just applying everywhere?
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| digitaldoc
Topics: 35
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I think both reasons contribute - IMGs especially are applying everywhere - they dont wanna take chances in light of these 3 facts - : 1. they are aware of the increased competition due to laxity in visas this year for CSA...and 2. they are also aware of the fact that 98 - 99 scores amongst IMGs is now commonplace 3. Increased awareness in other countries which has resulted in IMGs finishing steps before completing med-school internships and are competing with students graduated 3-4 years before and now appearing for the match!
Reject letters to many of the people i have spoken to mentioned 1,600 to 1,800 applications ! -I also heard that Cook county hospital apparently had about 3000-plus applications for IM.
I happened to speak to a IM chief resident at a university hospital and he complained of a sudden crazy surge in applications this year for IM , a lot of IMGs
Bound to get tougher for IMGs each year ( AAMC recently published an increase in med-school admissions thru MCAT by 8 % in 2004 ). Lets wait and watch ....
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| IMGindian
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Digidoc, that is some very interesting and well thought out analysis that you've drafted. Wonder if you could make a decent article out of it and offer it to some journals or FA for the match. They might take it...
I thought [and still do] that ERAS charging up 25$ for each application after the 30th was ridiculous. There's hardly any material investment that they have to make in sending the application. It should just be a large server running 24 hrs a day and a program that sends the applications. But on the other hand it is also true that if this cost is lowered everyone will apply everywhere.
But ,the big but is, that there is one unassailable limiting factor - the time duration during which interviews are conducted - even if an applicant applies to 150 programs and gets 50 interviews he'll eventually have to cancel a large number of them, ultimately giving chance to ppl will weaker applications. The overall impact of this development will be an increase in the number of late interviews and that the PD will have to recruit more staff to screen the applications. Finally, the good thing is that the reasonablr guy who applies to 30 places where he has a good chance will end up getting the interviews sooner or later in the season. So my guess is one can refrain from joining the rat race of applying to more and more places - it simply adds to the logistic difficulties without any benefit to anybody overall - just longer ROLs on either side...
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| digitaldoc
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Well said IMGIndian...and thats the reason why programs are charged at a higher rate after the 30th choice, to discourage clogging of the system and making it ineffecient
That obviously has not been an impeding factor this year with people willing to spend rather than take a chance...a herd stampede effect.
Thanks for your comments - wish you good luck!
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| katzung
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digitaldoc nice blogspot,well done.
and well said,GL to all.
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| Bedlamite_David
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nice talking,lol
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| nashua
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everything said is so true ...i spent close to 1500$ for my applications and if i get into residency its worth it ...i guess more and more people have developed that attitude this year atleast ...
what worries me now is when i read all the posts where people having all the calls ultimately dont get matched ......cause its impossible to convince the prog director cause ur not decide d ur self and somewhere u still want to have alook at other progs ....i was intersted in every interview i got initiallu up until my count was 4 cause i thought it was going to be my last ..but now with an interview 3 days away i cannot convince myself i want to go and yes i dont think im interested in my first interview for sure  the more calls one gets the more chance of running that risk so i guess it really makes sense when u say "one interview is all that counts"
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| trishue
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nice post digdoc! i read this one USMLEFORUM too! anyways... it was a carefully done research and analysis on your part. CHeers!
I seriously don't believe in applying to 100 programs. (of diff specialties) I personally applied to 30 IM programs - and mostly strong community progs (which I know I will have a chance to get an interview!), and so far I have 9... ridiculous, or maybe just paranoid it may seem, I don't see the worth of applying to so many... My countrymen are also reasonable enough to limit theirs to (most would be 50) 30-50...
AMGs only apply to 10-20 (20 is already a lot!) hehe... but of course, they get the interviews first! hehe...
Kudos to everyone
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| njccmd2002
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I totally agree with Digital Doc, thats the reason things are going haywire. I really think 30 progs are enough. I myself applied to 30. However i still have not gotten one single interview. It kind of makes me sad, seeing people applying for more than necessary, clogging the system. Because it blocks the opportunities to all of us who dont have resources to clog the system. But hey, i dont blame them, as they say its all fair in war and love. Its just a matter of being patient. If it werent about the money, just simply charging higher for programs is not the wway to stop this. Limiting applications will. We have to choose wisely if we had only 20 choices.
Last year almost 32,000 applicants used eras system. An average of 300 to 500 dollars are being spent sy applicants. Hmmmmmm almost 16 million dollars. And just for an itsy bitsy server running 24 hours. Men. I supposed they have like 20 backups of the tapes, enclosed in titanium and platinum cases. Guarded by some kind superfreaky matrix technology security.
Its always all baout the money!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Its true I am not myself a 90's step scorer. I have my reasons, personal, not academic.
Step scores are now being a biased way of selecting candidates. All matters if u passed. My opinion and not trying to start anything. I always sish good luck to everybody.
There is always the scramble, or after that find a resident. All that matters is how the patients rate you, at the end of the road.
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| digitaldoc
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Can think of a paper on this later - but this analysis can definitely be used to break the ice with program directors and sympathize with them during the interviews...once they are in 
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| njccmd2002
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that is a great idea!!!!!!
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| ssandhu112
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well written digital doc,kudos to u, man.i totally agree with u.i think they should limit the total applications per person to 50.one should apply judiciously ,not go haywire applying to 100s of programs.i applied to 40 im prog,most of them mostly community programs,some univ ones and some bad programs too.i got 3 calls from univ ones,3 from good community ones and 3 from bad ones.but i really want to get into some good program.only GOD knows if i ll be successful.gl to u all
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| digitaldoc
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Good luck to you ssandhu112, the shot-gun application technique indeed is due to the lack of clear requirements from the programs side - and the pain of calling each program and asking about those..
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| digitaldoc
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So do u guys think ...we will have unfilled seats after the scramble this year ??
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| bbb
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There will always be scramble seats in one program or another! Good luck to all.
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| leftfoot
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NICE POST!!!! Digitaldoc! How did you come up with that hypothesis of yours! Simply ingenious!!... I have a feeling you are absolutely right! Well... I hope we all hear from some programs soon!
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| digitaldoc
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Hypotheses are deisnged to sound plausible - time will tell us if thats right 
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| md2besoon
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I applied to 135 programs, that was stupidity of the century...No inteview so far...Life stinks...
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| digitaldoc
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Naah...thats adaptation to circumstances
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| drrsm
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i applied to 30 ... and then when i saw how many everyone else around me applied to i figured i mite have to up my number of applications... but either way it less than the number most peeps have applied to ... i wish we had some way of limiting the apps! wud save everyone a lot of money and energy!
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| sga430
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i applied to 125 programs in psych. i am taking step 2 soon and didnt have the time to pick and choose and also i didnt want to take a chance. i dont feel like i am clogging up the system. i have only gotten 2 interviews so far based on my step 1 score. now since i flunked my nbme i will probably end up taking the step 2 in jan 15th. what should i do????
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| digitaldoc
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If u got Interviews based on step 1 alone - give step 2 CK by november end...so that ur scores arrive by dec. end and ecfmg certification comes by Jan end ...
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| sga430
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that was my original plan. but i got a 320 on the nbme 2day and i got to take the CS as well. also the usmle people take 2 weeks in the beginning of jan. what should i do. how long does the ecfmg cert take? i heard 10 days. right now i am thinkin of taking the exam jan 15, score comes feb first week well before the ranking starts.
with 320 on the nbme ( i took another nbme 5 days ago with 310) my chances of passing r low. also i have a cs course in a week and will take cs by dec 6th. i may prepone my cs. i dont know what to do. help!!!!!!!!!
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| digitaldoc
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Many programs are calling only those candidates with ECFMG certification and keeping others on hold..the faster u give the exam the better, i mean.for more interviews !
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