How many Neuro programs should I apply to? (Stats included)

[IonClaws]

Allopathic U.S. Med School (rising) Senior at newer med school in Florida

Step I: 218 (1st attempt)
Pre-Clinical Grades: Probably bottom quarter of class, not the worst but far from the best. Have
never failed anything.
Clinicals: Average, mostly B's. (School goes by A/B/C/F). Good comments from neurologist and neurosurgeon I worked with.
E/C: Co-author on one research article, first author on a review article.

Aways: Doing an away in October, applying for a bunch in August.

Red flags: Had to take a year off between second and third year. Did not fail anything. The story is I was accepted to an MD/PhD program, applied for and was granted a LoA from med school for it, accidentally missed the deadline for taking the Step I and was kicked out of the PhD part of the program for it, and couldn't revoke my LoA request from the med school. Ultimately my fault and will own up to it in PS.

I'm planning on applying to 27 programs at the moment, all categorical (the prelim year/adv ones seem like a real pain). About 9 of them seem like strong academic programs. Should I apply to more? Any other advice? Thanks

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[Thama]

Way too many. You're a US MD with averageish scores. As long as your list of programs isn't just all the top tier places you should be fine with ~10-12. Send a couple of applications to dream programs, a couple to places you would be surprised if you didn't match at, and the rest to places you think you would go to especially in your home region.

 

[Spinothalamic]

I was a strong applicant and applied to 19, including some safety net schools and several of the top-tier academic schools. Got 15 interviews, went on 10. I don't regret applying to that many or going on that many interviews.

My advice is to do what you are comfortable with. Sure, neurology isn't very competitive, but don't feel bad for applying to a larger amount of schools than most people, especially if nine of them are strong academic programs.

 

[Sitagliptin]

I was pretty middling in terms of stats, (had a higher step I score but not by much, no failures but not impressive grades, no gaps in my Med school career, had a few publications that weren't in neuro) and I applied to 40. I got interviews at 23, and went on 16. (Happy ending: I matched where I wanted to go and am a very happy intern). If you're worried about not matching, apply to a lot of schools. You already spent a lot of money on Med school. Now's not the time to be cheap. All that debt will be for nothing if you don't match, and it's much, much harder to match your second time around.

Also keep in mind that some "lower tier" programs often have preferences for people from their own states/immediately adjoining states, and you can end up not getting offers from schools like that, while actually getting invites from higher programs. Programs are deluged with applications, many of which seem identical, and there is probably some randomness in who they decide to interview. So the wise thing is to apply broadly and to many places. At least apply to enough to guarantee yourself going on 16-17 interviews.

Plus, I just noticed you were from a newer school in Florida. On a related note, it seems that UCF, one of those schools, is opening a new program. New programs being new, they tend to be less competitive. I don't think UF Jax, USF, or Cleveland clinic are horribly competitive either.

 

[MapleBrain]

You'll be a competitive candidate for the vast majority of the 100+ Neuro programs. Don't sell yourself short.

Allopathic U.S. Med School (rising) Senior at newer med school in Florida

Step I: 218 (1st attempt)
Pre-Clinical Grades: Probably bottom quarter of class, not the worst but far from the best. Have
never failed anything.
Clinicals: Average, mostly B's. (School goes by A/B/C/F). Good comments from neurologist and neurosurgeon I worked with.
E/C: Co-author on one research article, first author on a review article.

Aways: Doing an away in October, applying for a bunch in August.

Red flags: Had to take a year off between second and third year. Did not fail anything. The story is I was accepted to an MD/PhD program, applied for and was granted a LoA from med school for it, accidentally missed the deadline for taking the Step I and was kicked out of the PhD part of the program for it, and couldn't revoke my LoA request from the med school. Ultimately my fault and will own up to it in PS.

I'm planning on applying to 27 programs at the moment, all categorical (the prelim year/adv ones seem like a real pain). About 9 of them seem like strong academic programs. Should I apply to more? Any other advice? Thanks

 

[MapleBrain]

Don't know what happened to previous post.

You can certainly do better than the Florida programs mentioned above. Locally, apply to Miami. Outside the very competitive programs you have an excellent chance.