Is PD right?

[Confused]

I recently talked with the PD of my department.  He said that number of honors and step score were how you distinguished yourself and all that mattered in matching.  The interview just weeds out the weirdos.  Research doesn't count for much of anything.  Letters are generally generic.

Is that the overall sentiment?

[Guest]

(01-28-2017, 12:42 PM)Confused Wrote: I recently talked with the PD of my department.  He said that number of honors and step score were how you distinguished yourself and all that mattered in matching.  The interview just weeds out the weirdos.  Research doesn't count for much of anything.  Letters are generally generic.

Is that the overall sentiment?

I've heard the opposite. Step one and grades are important, but after a certain threshold, other factors matter more (ie. not a huge difference between a 270 and a 260). Letters and phone calls are the most important thing since NS is a small field. Research is very important at large academic institutes.

[Ventricles]

Every program will be looking at different things. Our program places a heavy emphasis on research, class rank, Step 1 scores. Yes, letters can be generic, but experienced program directors and chairmen know how to read between the lines. They know eachother personally and know how to read between the lines of most letters.

[Guest]

Cool. I agree with you guys. I was just really surprised when he said research didn't matter and that they rank based on number of honors in clerkship and step 1 scores. He even went as far as to say that nationally step scores are basically the matching criteria, and that you would have a hard time matching without a certain score. The interview and sub i just made sure you weren't weird.

Is it possible that my home program just isn't academic so all they care about are step 1 scores. It isn't what you guys would consider a powerhouse program...