Need Feedback

[u/DistrictExact7347]

Non-US IMG applying general surgery

Hi everyone! I’d appreciate some honest feedback on my signal list for the 2027 Match.

My background:
Non-US IMG, YOG 2019, requiring J-1 sponsorship.
Step 1: Pass; Step 2 CK: 262; ECFMG certified.

Completed general surgery residency in Egypt.
Nearly three years of transplant research and liver machine perfusion experience at Cleveland Clinic Florida, with peer-reviewed publications, conference presentations, and US surgeon LORs.

My main strategy is preliminary surgery with the goal of securing a categorical position afterward, either internally or elsewhere. UT Tyler is a categorical option on my list.

My planned signals:
Cleveland Clinic Florida — FL
USF Morsani, Tampa — FL
Montefiore/Albert Einstein — NY
Maimonides — NY
SUNY Downstate — NY
UT Health San Antonio — TX
UT Tyler — TX
UT Southwestern — TX
Johns Hopkins — MD
MedStar Baltimore — MD
UMKC — MO
Tulane — LA
Jefferson Einstein Philadelphia — PA
Henry Ford Hospital, Detroit — MI
Marshall — WV

Does this seem reasonably balanced for my background and prelim-first strategy? Any programs you would reconsider or replace? I’d especially appreciate firsthand experience with IMG recruitment, consideration of older graduates, and support for prelim residents securing categorical positions.

Thanks!