Specialty coverage
We started with three of the most competitive surgical specialties — where the cost of a bad sub-I is highest and the existing free guidance is thinnest. More specialties roll out as mentor coverage builds.
The 6-phase structure
Every specialty playbook is organized around the same six phases — calibrated to when each decision actually matters, not when the textbook gets around to it.
Sample: Ortho · Phase 1 — Strategy
Here's what the first three lessons in Phase 1 of the Ortho track look like. The full track has six phases with 5–8 items each, plus red flags per phase, source citations, and stage-specific addenda.
Strategy — your sub-I list is the largest controllable variable in your match
Decide how many, where, and when before you decide anything else. Most ortho applicants do 2–3 aways; 4+ yields diminishing returns and reads as desperation.
2–3 aways, not 4+
Most ortho PDs publicly say 2–3 is the right count. Above 3 you signal you don't trust your home letters and you start to compete with yourself across rotations. Pick deliberately, not greedily.
Avoid July, aim August/September
July aways are dominated by new interns finding their footing — you get less attention, fewer cases, and a less coherent letter. August and September are the sweet spot. October aways risk LoRs landing after ERAS opens.
One reach, one realistic, one home-adjacent
A reach program for visibility, a target program where the rotation can directly produce an interview, and a third that's either home-adjacent or geographically convenient for letters. Stacking three reaches usually backfires.
Three more items in Phase 1: DO-applicant strategy, couples-match planning, and budget reality (~$2–4K per away). Plus the per-phase red flags PDs use to silently downrank applicants.
Unlock the full curriculum free →Why we're giving this away. Sub-I guidance is locked behind paywalled question banks, copyrighted textbooks, and word-of-mouth from people who happened to know the right resident. That's a market failure, not a moat. We'd rather you read this, decide we know what we're talking about, and trust us enough to let our algorithm match you with someone who's actually done your rotation.
What signup actually unlocks
The written curriculum is the table stakes. The bigger value is what plugs into it.
What this is, and what it isn't
Educational content. The Sub-I Academy is not a substitute for advice from your home program PD, your dean of students, or your specialty mentor. ERAS signaling rules and society guidelines change annually — verify against your match cycle. We cite sources where the guidance is reducible to a citation; where it isn't, we say so.
Not repackaged from copyrighted materials. The curriculum was rebuilt from primary society documents (AAOS, AAO-HNS, ACAPS, ASPS), open-access publications (PRS GO, JAAOS, OTO Open), and canonical textbook concepts cited with attribution — not lifted from UWorld, Janis textbooks, Greenberg, AJM PRISM, or other paid commercial materials.
Voice. Written like a recently-matched chief resident briefing you in a hallway. Clinical, tactical, direct. Not a marketing team's idea of what a curriculum should sound like.
Read the rest. Get matched. Free.
Sign up free, finish the playbook, and we'll surface a recently-matched mentor in your specialty within minutes. No credit card. No paid tier needed for students.
Unlock the full curriculum → How the matching works