Is this year truly more competitive in terms of aways? Or is this the same every year?

sad that i still dont have aways, i m prob cooked :( i did a ry too.

i am sorry OP, at this point I would apply to everything (even if not ideal city or location) especially if they havent released, i would also apply to two week rotations and even think out of the box like orange park just opened theres on Clincian nexus, (look at the DO thread, Orange park is open and requires a step 2 score to apply and so if you test earlier than other applicants you could get a rotation purely by being early to submit) express interest (& email) places that far fewer people traditionally want to live at (ex: flint MI, mississippi, geisinger) these are wonderful programs but not everyone wants to live in these locations so i think sometimes they get fewer influx. also some of these people trying to switch away rotations might have commited to two rotations at the same time (hence, why they are trying to switch) you can try and snag a position this way if someone drops, maybe text them see if they are going to drop it and email the PC with interest make sure you have an app submitted. Where did you do your research year? does your ry mentor have any connections at insutitions they could reach out to ? half of the game is playing smart bc everyone is a good applicant

Is this year truly more competitive in terms of aways? Or is this the same every year?

feel like i didn't see this happen that much on the previous spreadsheet so im confused too

as someone who applied last year it def happened then too, people were buggin lol

thank you so much. im theOP and that made mefeel better.i honestly feel so stressed out bc i spent my whole med school chasing derm and it just fucking sucks that its like this but it felt good venting

100% understand the frustration and happy to help. im sure you are a stellar applicant so its time to play smart and play savvy, do the above and do what you can to set yourself up for success