Frustrations with Randomness of interviews?

Hey all,
Is it just me, or does it seem like the whole getting an interview thing, is almost completely random?

Like for instance, I get a great interview at a nice place...and then get denied at some "safe", not so competitive program? Then I get denied regionally, but then within my own region?

So basically, I have a bunch of interviews at nice places... that are very competitive, interviews at places that I never wanted to goto, and then denied from my safe schools? What gives?

I feel as if the folks who go over these applications are being totally arbitrary with their decisions, and they're based on who you are relative to the "stack" ?

Thoughts?

I completely agree, it is random. They have board cut offs, regional cut offs, and often times cut offs based on bad experiences with students from certain med schools. If you have some good interviews at nice places you can't really complain there are probably plenty of people reading this forum that would kill for a couple good interviews.

In the long run we probably shouldn't be applying to programs that we "never wanted to goto". It just overloads the review committees and is the reason that we don't get some of the programs we thought were safety schools. I'm just as guilty as everyone else though.

definitely.. I agree, and I've determined.. we're all dumb.

We're only hurting ourselves by applying to 50+ programs. It's rediculous. There should be a limit. In fact, there should be a limit for all residency applications. Imagine what life would be like if you could only apply to 25 programs? We would have to only go on a handful of interviews, it would cost a lot less, and would certainly be a lot less stressful!

definitely.. I agree, and I've determined.. we're all dumb.

We're only hurting ourselves by applying to 50+ programs. It's rediculous. There should be a limit. In fact, there should be a limit for all residency applications. Imagine what life would be like if you could only apply to 25 programs? We would have to only go on a handful of interviews, it would cost a lot less, and would certainly be a lot less stressful!

And the match rate would probably be just as high, if not higher.