I am an upcoming M4 at a mid-tier midwest medical school who is hoping to do IM residency at a Boston or Connecticut university program. Problem is my step-1 score is below mean (but above 200). I rank in the middle of my class, but have multiple pubs and have honored my medicine rotation.

My question is which university-based programs should I look into that may consider me. Coming from out-of region and knowing the selectiveness of the Mass General / BWI / Yale names makes me wonder if applying to such programs is a waste of money. I plan to go for a few shooter programs but I am curious if anyone knows if it is realistic that I have a shot at the Tufts/ Lahey/ BU/ UMass/ UConn/ Brown programs? I feel that my school's IM dept does not deal with New England programs regularly and may not be able to provide me with insight. Any info about these programs would be helpful. Thank you for any serious responses.

I interviewed at all of the programs you inquired about except UConn, and you should have no trouble matching into one of those programs. The only thing I'd suggest is that if you decide you are interested in UMass or UConn to let them know of your interest if you don't hear from them after applying, b/c as an out-of-region US allopathic (I assume??) applicant with an impressive record, they may just assume you aren't really interested. UMass is a great program (in fact, I matched there!:)), but its' IM program reputation suffers a bit from perceptions about the location.

My favorite programs of those you mentioned were Brown, UMass, and BU, but the others are all solid. Other good IM residency programs up here:

Dartmouth-Hitchcock: beautiful area, great for outdoor activities, academically strongest program I interviewed at, gorgeous hospital. Not a great place for urbanites, single people to put it mildly. Patient population diversity questionable.

UVM (brr..cold): don't know all that much about it, turned down an interview, but beautiful area, near college campus, only one hospital, friend of mine is excited to be going there.

Tufts-Baystate: big hospital w/ L1 ER, great teaching faculty, good community presence, many Spanish-speaking patients. If you can deal with the fact that it's in Springfield MA, that you may be asked to admit on any given day (not just on call days), and would likely be the only US allo grad in the program, then you'll probably like it here.

Maine Medical Center: Portland looks like an AWESOME place to live, work with both UVM and UNECOM students, reportedly faculty are supportive and teaching excellent, can live reasonably right near the ocean. Social environment non-existent as nearly everyone is married with kids, o/n call q4 for 8 mo. of intern year, has not filled for past 3 yrs??

Good luck, and you are welcome to post or PM with any add. ?'s!