Hey all, currently on a research year as i'm getting ready to apply to subis and prepare for the app cycle i'm trying to figure out where to aim for my subis.
Step 1 pass first try
Step 2: 270+
AOA
Clinical grades - all honors
Research - currently about 8 pubs mostly from undergrad but a couple from med school, with a total of about 25 research items. On a research year now where realistically I will have around 5-10 publications from the year and a handful more of presentations/abstracts.
Med school: lower-mid tier school in mid west, aiming for a coast.
For aways, I'm thinking of trying for 1 high tier program and 1 lower tier program both in my region of interest.
I know i'm in a pretty good place overall with my stats but I want to make sure I don't aim too high and end up possibly not matching because of that, especially coming from a lower-ranked med school. Also, i'm a little concerned that my research output this year will raise eyebrows since I keep hearing about people who pump out like 30 papers on their research year.
Basically, would it be a waste to shoot for a crazy top program (Pitt, MGH etc) for one of my subis?
Thanks!
I'm curious, why did you take a research year if you already had 25 research items which is considered competitive for matched applicants?
From an application standpoint - the overwhelming majority of them were before medical school and I had a smaller role in those projects (last authorship).
Personally I also just wanted a chance to delve into neurosurgical research without the responsibilities of clinical duties or studying taking that time away.
Wherever u want. Ur def competitive for most places, but as any other attending on this site will tell u, we interview at least 20-40 other applicants who have identical stats as urs. This isn’t a criticism, you’ve done just about everything that can reasonably be expected of an applicant, it’s simply the reality. I would apply broadly, to as many of the “reach” programs as u want, and see what happens.
Personally, my opinion is that despite what many students on here seems to think, MGH is not a “top” program by almost any objective measure (surgical volume, autonomy, national reputation of faculty, etc.). Pitt is, although the rumor mill says that it is a malignant program in recent years (who really knows), and they have lost several big name faculty in the past few years. I think a good move on ur part would be to spend an away at either Mayo Clinic in Rochester, or Cleveland clinic. Both are top program in my opinion, would provide valuable “name brand” recognition letters for u (which would still be useful on a coast) and would likely look favorably on ur application given ur Midwest Med school. That might provide u with a “safety” of sorts (as much as there is such a thing in this field). I would use ur other aways in coastal locations, in the location u hope to go to. Just my two cents.
What are the average publication numbers and step 2 scores for the mid tier programs like Rutgers, Indiana, etc.
Rutgers and Indiana (with Cohen-Gadol leaving) not mid tier programs. IU has another chair change, Rutgers lost 6 faculty and 2 residents this year and is on probation. Mid-tier on coast think Oregon, UCSD, Tufts, Brown, Northwell, Westchester, Maryland, North Carolina, USF.
(01-15-2024, 06:29 PM)Guest Wrote: Wherever u want. Ur def competitive for most places, but as any other attending on this site will tell u, we interview at least 20-40 other applicants who have identical stats as urs. This isn’t a criticism, you’ve done just about everything that can reasonably be expected of an applicant, it’s simply the reality. I would apply broadly, to as many of the “reach” programs as u want, and see what happens.
Personally, my opinion is that despite what many students on here seems to think, MGH is not a “top” program by almost any objective measure (surgical volume, autonomy, national reputation of faculty, etc.). Pitt is, although the rumor mill says that it is a malignant program in recent years (who really knows), and they have lost several big name faculty in the past few years. I think a good move on ur part would be to spend an away at either Mayo Clinic in Rochester, or Cleveland clinic. Both are top program in my opinion, would provide valuable “name brand” recognition letters for u (which would still be useful on a coast) and would likely look favorably on ur application given ur Midwest Med school. That might provide u with a “safety” of sorts (as much as there is such a thing in this field). I would use ur other aways in coastal locations, in the location u hope to go to. Just my two cents.
Thank you!
The SNS recommended only doing 2 away rotations if you have a home program, which I do. Would you say it would be ill-advised to only do my 2 aways in my desired coastal area, in a distribution that I mentioned in my original post? (one higher powered program and one "less reputable" program). Of course my #1 priority is matching but I also want to maximize my chances at ending up in my desired region.
I couldn't agree more with the person above. If you're a top tier student at a Midwest school, but without crazy basic science, you should definitely at least try and rotate at Mayo Clinic or Cleveland Clinic. They'll value your background and high stats, and like the person said above, once you spend time at either you'll quickly no longer want to go to an observational program on the coasts. Pick one of those and then whatever you want on the East/West coast for variety and to compare/contrast.
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