additional edits: loyola has 3 spots, U of C has 4, SIU has 2, MCW has 5

SIU has 3 as of last year

PD at Loyola said there's 4 spots this year

Absolutely. While reviewing applications, the residents and faculty note applicants they WANT to interview and then there are the so so applicants they still give the interview just in case/ curtosey/ etc. During the interview, I find it obvious the way the residents and such interact with the stellars that looked great on paper during the interview. As long as they aren't straight weirddo, I assume they will be ranking them highly. There is always that rare case of someone that is a weirdo and will drop down that list if that are just plain weird or doesnt seem like a fit

<Like the way residents interact with them during the downtime? That seems unlikely.

Very unlikely. Most residents don't know your application. If they are an interviewing resident, they probably have a limited application and don't know your scores.< It variues by program (some were blinded, others had scores/stats in front of them). However, at most programs there is no official rank list pre-interview that interviewers know about since they don't all meet together to make this list. They may each have their individual rank list generally based on their own interests and how it overlaps with the applicants they read about to prepare for the interviews but honestly there were plenty of interviewers who knew very little about me at both top and mid tier programs. Also, a lot of programs use a scoring system during interviews which is what makes their initial rank list which serves as a starting point during the rank meetings

< thought columbia was 5? <yes my mistake it's 5!

I can confirm a few residents and faculty that interviewed me were aware of my scores

<< thanks, will update