% invites/applications?

[sakomar1]

Hi all... Say, you applied to N programs and you received X invites prior to November 1st... Without revealing the actual numbers (although nobody prevents you from doing so), what is the ratio of invites/applications, local_invites/total_invites, waitlist/applications, and rejections/applications you received BEFORE November 1st? Good luck to everybody.

(myself)
Location: North-East
Invites: 25.39%
Out of these, from same region: 81.25%
Waitlisted: 3.17%
Rejections: 0

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[thelakeshow]

Region: Pacific
Total Invites/Applications: 32.5%
Waitlist: 0%
Rejections/Applications: 2.5%

 

[THE instiGATOR]

Region: SE
Invites: 38.9%
Rejections: 3.7%
Decision Pending: 57.4%

 

[Rook16]

Region: SE, MW
Invites: 35%
Waitlist: 0%
Denied: 3.8%



Good luck in November folks.

 

[hotlanta]

Im not sure why this is helpfull?

 

[sakomar1]

Just to get a rough estimate of a number of programs that issue invites early in a season (before Nov 1st) vs programs that wait until the official deadline (ie I have received 4 invites between 8 and 10 am this morning). Obviously it all depends on what programs each of us chooses to apply to, yet I think it is safe to assume that all of us apply to several top programs, a few local safety schools and a number of very good programs in between. While not perfect, the data tells you that 1/3 of programs from your list should have contacted you by now if your application is competitive enough...

 

[uclachris]

There are many confounders with this. For instance:

1) When was your ap complete?
2) Did your Dean send out the Dean's letter on hardcopy before Nov 1
3) Breakdown of Academic vs Community programs applied.
4) Breakdown between top tier, high middle, middle, low programs applied to
5) When you submitted your ERAS
​

I've applied to almost exclusively Academic programs and have heard back from 21% (though one is a community program). So saying 1/3 is kinda bogus because the more prestigious schools have just started sending out invites. I just hope I can get 10-15 strong interview invitations...

Back to the chart review...

 

[sakomar1]

Correct, but even if you add or take 10% to account for these discrepancies, you still get 23 to 43% estimate of the invites you should expect prior to Nov 1st depending on how high or low you apply. The difference between 25% and 35% is not that critical at this point, while the difference between 15% and 25% is... unless you applied only to top 10 schools. It's just a very rough estimate, nothing else. Also, if you follow Alloimmune or Lioness on the interview thread, it becomes clear that many strong programs issued at least some invites prior to 11/1.

 

[AlloImmune]

By the FRIEDA website, there are a total of 249 general surgery programs. Assuming that representatives posting on the interview thread have applied to all of these programs, then 51.8% of programs hand out interviews prior to November 1. Going by the last subjective list posted on SDN of the top surgery programs, it looks like about 14 of the "top 25" in terms of prestige handed out at least some interviews prior to Nov 1 (56%).

Given this, I tend to agree with UCLAchris and hotlanta the percentage invites that each applicant received may not be especially helpful. The number of early invites will likely depend entirely on the strength of the applicant and the composition of their list. Interestingly enough, everyone's stats listed appear to be consistently in the 25-35% range.

For what ever it is worth, my pre Nov 1 data is:

Region: SE, NE, MW, West Coast
Academic/Community: Almost exclusively academic (one exception)
Types of Program: primarily top-tier & high middle with some middle
ERAS submitted: Sept 1
App Complete: about two wks ago (darn that delinquent LOR writer)
Invites: 33%
Waitlist: 0%
Denied: 0%

 

[Entei]

Correct, but even if you add or take 10% to account for these discrepancies, you still get 23 to 43% estimate of the invites you should expect prior to Nov 1st depending on how high or low you apply. The difference between 25% and 35% is not that critical at this point, while the difference between 15% and 25% is... unless you applied only to top 10 schools. It's just a very rough estimate, nothing else. Also, if you follow Alloimmune or Lioness on the interview thread, it becomes clear that many strong programs issued at least some invites prior to 11/1.

Seriously... what? I'm not the brightest crayon in the SDN crayon box, but I really don't get the point of this thread. There are too many variables at play to draw such sweeping generalizations.

 

[njbmd]

There really isn't any point to this thread. The rule of thumb is that you need to get enough interview invitations (doesn't make any difference when they come) to have 10 to 15 solid interviews so that you can rank these places. The more places that you place on your rank list (and they place you high on their rank list), the better your chance of matching. Only ranking four places if you are a marginal candidate is risky.

Since most programs have a rank meeting on the day of each interview and one overall rank meeting after all interviews are done, it doesn't matter when you intervew as long as you are ranked highly by the program and you rank them highly.

 

[SLUser11]

Seriously... what? I'm not the brightest crayon in the SDN crayon box, but I really don't get the point of this thread. There are too many variables at play to draw such sweeping generalizations.

It's usually the people in no real danger of not matching that make threads like this, mostly to point out how great they are:

"hey everybody, let's post step 1 scores and interviews so we can find out how competitive we are. I'll go first: Step 1 260, interviews: Harvard, Hopkins, etc."

 

[sakomar1]

.

 

[zinjanthropus]

209 if you are talking about me.

maybe if people added their step 1 scores, class rank, AOA status, this would be a little more useful with a little more control for the confounding variables

 

[uclachris]

Well maybe we should also post our grades, class rank, personal statement, names of our LOR writers too! Or maybe even post our MCATs, SATs, GPAs, pet peeves, etc.

Just kidding.

This thread has no utility. Why? because one, once you get your interview, your foot is in the door. So does it matter what % of invites you get? No. What matters is crossing an absolute threshold of 10-15 interviews so that you can rank 10-15 places. If I applied to 33 programs (which I did) all I need is 30-50% interviews. If I applied to 70 programs, all I need is 15-25%. It's the absolute number since there are only so many interviews one can actually go to. Now granted, the most competitive applicants will have many more interviews and will be able to pick and choose where they will interview. My feeling is that it is nearly impossible to interview at more than 20 places.

Threads that would be of utility.
(1) Posting what residents from their program think of the programs you have been invited to.
(2) Fellowship placement of respective programs
(3) Overall pulse from people who have knowledge or visited the program (vis a vis how happy people are, teaching environment, etc.)

Of course the exact interpretation would be subject to debate, but at least then people could get a feel of places.

When I hear back from current interns and residents, I'll be more than happy to share what I find out.

C

 

[chk]

I agree with UCLAchris.....I'd like some feedback from the interviewees about the programs they interviewed at...