Official 2018-2019 Anesthesiology Residency Application Thread

[gray136]

You mean "thanks for doing the research I could have easily done and spoon feeding it to me?"

How are yall picking programs to apply to? I am only familiar with a few programs, trying to apply to around 40 DO friendly programs with 15 top, 15 mid, 10 "safeties." Any suggestions for safeties? Really no regional restriction. Should I apply to more?

1. I'll call a truce. In the future when somebody asks an innocent question and someone else is bothered by it, can they decide to just not respond, or say where to find the info in a nice way, or again not respond at all. In person i bet you guys are probs really friendly but not so much when anonymity is involved lol. hope im not sounding like a jerk myself now,

2. Idk fam. Im going through eras by state (East-coast some south) and saving programs i'd be interested in. There is really only so much we can learn from some places websites, Some are really detailed and some have jack squat. Ill probably be appling to 25-30 mid tier 5-10 top, 5-10 safety. But safety still being programs close to home that id still enjoy being at. You kinda killed med school though so i feel like you could apply literally anywhere man. I was told to apply to like 15-20, but im a paranoid brat so im totally aiming for 30-40 haha.

3. I though penn state was dope? No? i have no way of knowing but just assumed off what ive read from them.
4. good luck!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[NVO]

What I am curious is how do you know if a program is "mid tier" or "bottom tier?"

You mean "thanks for doing the research I could have easily done and spoon feeding it to me?"

Old thread:

I don’t have worries about matching itself, I know my step scores put me well within the matched DO’s according to the 2018 NRMP data.

I suppose a better question would be to ask what programs would I be wasting time and money applying to in my case.

I have no clue what’s considered upper or mid tier or where even to look to get that information, which is why I ask here. If there’s no comprehensive list or guidance you can give me I understand, I just figured it wouldn’t hurt to ask.

lol it hurts to ask i guess

 

[MightBeACylon439]

Also, if you leave here thinking you're the first person to facilitate this "discussion" you are sadly mistaken. I have tried it, there are numerous other threads from this year alone of people who have tried it, and if you look at subsequent years you will see that this is an ongoing discussion that as I said is not so easy to answer, with disagreement over what exactly constitutes low, mid and upper tier between the "real life attendings" on this forum.

Old thread:


lol it hurts to ask i guess

If you were paying attention you'd see I already drew attention to the fact that I tried what he is doing. Not only that but with your post you provide further evidence that he's not the first to try to facilitate this "discussion" and if he had done a simple search he would have been able to save himself some time, "snarky responses," and the need to be passive aggressive towards someone on a message thread that person is also following.

 

[gamerEMdoc]

Just found this in the EM forum. Hope someone else also finds this helpful

Im happy you found my advice on the EM forum helpful, and to a point Im sure there is generalizabilty to stuff like geographic bias, but I always council students to believe nothing they are told about how to match in EM from someone in another specialty, so I dont want people to think I have any idea how anesthesia screens their applications. Every specialty has its quirks and biases, and the best advice you are going to get is from program leadership from within the specialty you want to match in.

Best of luck all!

 

[UnoMas]

1. I'll call a truce. In the future when somebody asks an innocent question and someone else is bothered by it, can they decide to just not respond, or say where to find the info in a nice way, or again not respond at all. In person i bet you guys are probs really friendly but not so much when anonymity is involved lol. hope im not sounding like a jerk myself now,

2. Idk fam. Im going through eras by state (East-coast some south) and saving programs i'd be interested in. There is really only so much we can learn from some places websites, Some are really detailed and some have jack squat. Ill probably be appling to 25-30 mid tier 5-10 top, 5-10 safety. But safety still being programs close to home that id still enjoy being at. You kinda killed med school though so i feel like you could apply literally anywhere man. I was told to apply to like 15-20, but im a paranoid brat so im totally aiming for 30-40 haha.

3. I though penn state was dope? No? i have no way of knowing but just assumed off what ive read from them.
4. good luck!

I have heard the same thing about Penn State, I guess the big turn off is the location. Grads are happy, good rotation setup.
I think 45 is the sweet spot for me, like Jerkyll said, as a DO, I probably need a bit of a cushion


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile

 

[agent_purple]

A big consensus (over multiple programs) is the 1:2:1 ratio (Low Tier for YOU: Mid Tier for YOU: High tier for YOU)

Finding out mostly relies on board scores which is why you should be checking FRIEDA to see what the average scores are for each program.

If you're a osteopathic candidate, the FRIEDA site also tells you what % (if any) are D.O.s in the program.

EDIT: I'll also preface too that the board scores listed are pretty generic and I'm not totally sure about the accuracy of them. A lot (I would say 50-60%) will say they have a Step 1 220 minimum cut off, no minimum for Step 2, and the average Step scores are from 226-241. I don't know why this is so consistent across most programs (maybe they are default values and programs don't bother filling in the actual values).

 

[Dr.Jekyll75]

Hey guys unrelated to which program to apply to but I have a friend who is in an odd situation. So they are thinking about taking a step one in two weeks (they are a DO) to help their application. Their practice exams are in the high 210s Without studying and only took one UWSA. They think if they study for the next two weeks they can probably reach me at 220s. The question is , is it worth it? Because by the time applications go out it will probably be mid October at best when they get the results back.


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile

 

[UnoMas]

Hey guys unrelated to which program to apply to but I have a friend who is in an odd situation. So they are thinking about taking a step one in two weeks (they are a DO) to help their application. Their practice exams are in the high 210s Without studying and only took one UWSA. They think if they study for the next two weeks they can probably reach me at 220s. The question is , is it worth it? Because by the time applications go out it will probably be mid October at best when they get the results back.


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile

If they can really buckle down and study for the next 2 weeks, I would follow through with the plan. Taking the test September 8th means their score will come back September 26th, the 3rd Wednesday, granted no interruption in score release by NBME. It takes NBME a couple hours to send their score to ERAS. It will arrive before their Dean's letter is uploaded.

A lot of things can be done in 2 weeks, plus their clinical knowledge of 3rd + 4th years + Level2/Step2 should help. There's always the risk of failing it but personally I would take that risk over not getting enough interviews/going unmatched due to the lack of a Step 1 score. Plus, they can always cancel the test date if most recent practice test is not up to par.

Feel free to PM me for more details, I know someone who took Step 1 after 3rd year and did really well

 

[azygos the grey]

Just found this in the EM forum. Hope someone else also finds this helpful

How does this work if you're from let's say the midwest, but go to school on the east coast?

 

[UnoMas]

How does this work if you're from let's say the midwest, but go to school on the east coast?

This plan is going to sound a little sketchy but I think we have the option to assign different PS to different programs. I guess you can apply to both regions using that advice and add few sentences about wanting to move back to the Midwest in the PS that you are going to assign to the Midwest programs

 

[JDMcNugent]

Good idea or bad idea on applying only categorical and zero advanced?

 

[2buckchuck]

Good idea or bad idea on applying only categorical and zero advanced?

I did that. Had no regrets. Very few places offer only advanced spots. And moving a hassle.

 

[pocafx]

Good idea or bad idea on applying only categorical and zero advanced?

fine idea if you are mid tier applicant and gather enough interviews

 

[APA 32]

fine idea if you are mid tier applicant and gather enough interviews

What defines a mid tier applicant?

 

[Dr.Jekyll75]

What defines a mid tier applicant?

Large community or University affiliated but not directly is my personal definition


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile

 

[MightBeACylon439]

What defines a mid tier applicant?

Large community or University affiliated but not directly is my personal definition


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile

Jekyll he was asking what a mid tie APPLICANT is, not program.

and APA...thats the question isnt it? I would imagine it might boil down to something like Step 1 of <225 low tier, 230-240 mid tier, 240 upper tier; with the 225-230 falling in some weird unknown status that depends on the applicant.

I have no basis to make these claims from step scores, other than the fact that I stayed at a holiday inn express last night. So you may want to get alternate opinions as well.

 

[APA 32]

Jekyll he was asking what a mid tie APPLICANT is, not program.

and APA...thats the question isnt it? I would imagine it might boil down to something like Step 1 of <225 low tier, 230-240 mid tier, 240 upper tier; with the 225-230 falling in some weird unknown status that depends on the applicant.

I have no basis to make these claims from step scores, other than the fact that I stayed at a holiday inn express last night. So you may want to get alternate opinions as well.

Lol that was my question

 

[Dr.Jekyll75]

Lol that was my question

my bad yall maybe this helps ???

 

[azygos the grey]

is Loyola anesthesia program officially backing out ? i got a weird eras message about it

This showed up when I checked today

 

[Dr.Jekyll75]

Yes that was my screen as well . Quick question I saw someone say DMC is notorious for not sending peeps to fellowships. I haven’t heard that before , can whoever wrote that elaborate.


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile

 

[xClashx]

i heard DMC is a guinea pig for the acgme, and apparently the 80h rule, 28h max per shift rules dont apply to them.

 

[Psai]

What is my level of competitiveness?.

MD from Top 40 school in Calif
Step 1- 234; Step 2- 251
Honors in IM and FM; HP in the rest
Average letters
2 poster presentations
Below Average ECs

Would really like to match at one of the SoCal programs or an NYC program. I am also applying to all the Chicago programs, all the Miami programs, all the New Orleans, all the Boston programs, and all the Philadelphia. Do I have a good shot at matching at one of these locations?

Yes and probably a decent place too. Don't apply to all of those, I'm sure you'll match with even 10 applications as long as it's not just big 4/ucsf/stanford/ucla etc.

 

[Dr.Jekyll75]

i heard DMC is a guinea pig for the acgme, and apparently the 80h rule, 28h max per shift rules dont apply to them.

Good to know, I’ll ask someone there who’s a third year and get back to you on this . They never mentioned any of this to me. Their only beef was new inexperienced attendings


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile

 

[Belteshazzar19]

Has anyone else analyzed the UT Southwestern STAR data? (It was sent to the students at our school - it’s a survey of 2016 and 2017 applicants organized by step scores and where they were accepted and denied interviews and where they matched) It looks like even though some programs claim to have a “220 (or 230) cutoff,” there are students getting interviews with sub 220 step 1 scores. It makes me wonder how realistic any of these cut offs are.

Would you be willing to share the data here?

 

[lizzardd]

Would you be willing to share the data here?

Unfortunately I can’t, it’s in Microsoft Bi and password protected. Only way to access is thru my university log In. Apparently the data needs to be requested by your school to southwestern.

 

[lizzardd]

Good idea or bad idea on applying only categorical and zero advanced?

A colleague from last year did that and interviewed at 10+ programs. Happily matched to first choice.

 

[MightBeACylon439]

Unfortunately I can’t, it’s in Microsoft Bi and password protected. Only way to access is thru my university log In. Apparently the data needs to be requested by your school to southwestern.

Screen shot.

 

[tbone7471]

Screen shot.

Our school has access to this as well, but unfortunately it's a very involved, multi-sheet file (pretty much a souped-up, professionally done version of our google file) so there's not really a way to screenshot it.

 

[lizzardd]

Our school has access to this as well, but unfortunately it's a very involved, multi-sheet file (pretty much a souped-up, professionally done version of our google file) so there's not really a way to screenshot it.

I second this. But what did you think of the data? It really seemed all over the place. Two people with extremely similar score so getting entirely different interviews and rejections - and I even saw some people with step 1 <220 getting “big name” program interviews and some people with >240 not getting those interviews. Was really hard to extrapolate anything from it.

 

[nimbus]

I second this. But what did you think of the data? It really seemed all over the place. Two people with extremely similar score so getting entirely different interviews and rejections - and I even saw some people with step 1 <220 getting “big name” program interviews and some people with >240 not getting those interviews. Was really hard to extrapolate anything from it.

Letters, especially the dean’s letter.

 

[Psai]

I second this. But what did you think of the data? It really seemed all over the place. Two people with extremely similar score so getting entirely different interviews and rejections - and I even saw some people with step 1 <220 getting “big name” program interviews and some people with >240 not getting those interviews. Was really hard to extrapolate anything from it.

Probably from good schools/connections/awesome rest of app

 

[xClashx]

I am looking for any updates, or things they have heard about these schools
UMass
UConn
BostonU
Yale
Mount Sainai

Also, if you decide to go to a school with fellowships, as a resident, do you still get experience in the field of fellowships or do you see that the fellows tend to take all of those cases?

 

[Psai]

I am looking for any updates, or things they have heard about these schools
UMass
UConn
BostonU
Yale
Mount Sainai

Also, if you decide to go to a school with fellowships, as a resident, do you still get experience in the field of fellowships or do you see that the fellows tend to take all of those cases?

Fellows will take all the good cases. If you have enough and diverse cases there will be more than enough to go around and it's not like a cardiac transplant case is very different from a cabg but it may affect your education if there are a lot of fellows. The real problem is if your schedulers are lazy and give good cases to crnas or even srnas instead of residents.

 

[PillsburyDoughBoi]

I'm an MS4 from a low-mid tier MD school from the south. High 230s/high 250s step 1/2 respectively. Decent research/pubs, good letters, top 1/4 class rank.

To have a shot at getting interviews at any of the W coast programs (spec. Cali), do you guys recommend I mention some connections in the PS or no? I am applying broadly but would like to train on E coast or W coast and not midwest or south. Thanks in advance

 

[Indirect&Passive]

I am looking for any updates, or things they have heard about these schools
UMass
UConn
BostonU
Yale
Mount Sainai

Also, if you decide to go to a school with fellowships, as a resident, do you still get experience in the field of fellowships or do you see that the fellows tend to take all of those cases?

Hey all,

Joining the convo.
DO hoping to match somewhere in or close to Boston.
Interested in the programs mentioned above but also anyone know much about Lahey and Tufts?

 

[Dr.Jekyll75]

Hey all,

Joining the convo.
DO hoping to match somewhere in or close to Boston.
Interested in the programs mentioned above but also anyone know much about Lahey and Tufts?

Tufts is on my list and it’s DO friendly. Can’t remember If Lahey is


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile

 

[xClashx]

I am torn between whether or not if I should apply to advanced positions or not. It'd be a lot of work to then apply for prelim programs.

 

[PillsburyDoughBoi]

I am torn between whether or not if I should apply to advanced positions or not. It'd be a lot of work to then apply for prelim programs.

Ditto... anyone else have any thoughts on this?

 

[Indirect&Passive]

I am torn between whether or not if I should apply to advanced positions or not. It'd be a lot of work to then apply for prelim programs.

You interview for both at the same time. Don’t have to rank advanced when the time comes.
A few extra dollars and interviews seems worth it, as opposed to losing out on all those spots.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[xClashx]

id have to interview for prelims though, which sucks.

 

[d1vald]

Hi friends,

I am currently on my anesthesia rotation and decided to switch to anesthesia. I was hoping on asking for a letter next week and try to expedite as fast as possible. Would it be the end of the world if it’s not in by September 15?

 

[cartercarve]

Quick question, probably a dumb one.

How bad does it look if I only have 3 LORs? One of them is from anesthesia, the other from surgery, and one from IM.

Thanks!

 

[Dr.Jekyll75]

Quick question, probably a dumb one.

How bad does it look if I only have 3 LORs? One of them is from anesthesia, the other from surgery, and one from IM.

Thanks!

I asked the same question and was told that’s fine, only one place requires 2 letters and it was previously posted. If you’re published you could throw in a letter from your research director. If anyone has heard different, please comment.


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile

 

[xClashx]

I too will be applying with only 3 LORs from the start. I may get a second anesthesia letter when i finish my away in near end of oct.

 

[tbone7471]

Quick question, probably a dumb one.

How bad does it look if I only have 3 LORs? One of them is from anesthesia, the other from surgery, and one from IM.

Thanks!

Well, I sure hope it doesn't look bad because I'm in the same spot. I've got three right now. Maybe I'll get a fourth on my pain or OR anes month later. It'll be after the 15th though, and I'm not too concerned about it. Pretty sure a fourth is more of a cushion than a necessity. But idk, not like I've ever done this before ha

 

[agent_purple]

So I think Loyola simply discontinued their 'advanced' track since it does not seem to be there anymore, however their categorical slot is still open and doesn't seem to have any warnings or red flags.

 

[Steege305]

I am looking for any updates, or things they have heard about these schools
UMass
UConn
BostonU
Yale
Mount Sainai

Also, if you decide to go to a school with fellowships, as a resident, do you still get experience in the field of fellowships or do you see that the fellows tend to take all of those cases?

Re: Mount Sinai, what do you want to know?

 

[xClashx]

Re: Mount Sinai, what do you want to know?

I wanted to know what step scores are competitive. How is the residency overall in terms of case diversity (cards, peds, pain, vascular..ect.) Hours per week? How are didactic and teaching faculty? Any pros and cons of the residency?

Thanks!

 

[Omppu27]

Anyone applying to gas/CCM combined programs?

 

[leacott]

Applying to gas this year. Just found out that I failed step 2 CS.... crushed!
Average step 1 and step 2 ck scores. US med school.
Is step 2 cs fail a fatal flaw?