Mid-tier US MD
Step 1: Pass
Step 2: 276
Core clerkships: Pass/Fail
Anesthesiology Sub-I: Honors
AOA
Research: 7 published manuscripts, 7 submitted manuscripts, 6 published abstracts, 17 conference presentations; no published anesthesia specific research
Strong longitudinal volunteering/teaching
Geo prefs: pacific, south atlantic, east north central

Would appreciate thoughts on how ambitious I can reasonably be with my signals. Ideally, I’d like to use most of them on programs I’m genuinely excited about, including several higher-tier programs. My school generally recommends roughly 25% reach / 50% target / 25% baseline, which is what I tried to do here.

Do you think I have room to be more ambitious with this list, or does this seem like the right balance? My biggest concern is overreaching with too many signals and ending up without enough interviews at programs where I’d realistically have a strong chance of matching.