Anyone know of any average USMLE scores vs. residencies?

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FlushBB

Ok, I'm in second year and pretty much am getting the idea that Step 1 pretty much determines whether you will or won't get a residency (if you're an average student).

My question.... Is there a website with the average USMLE scores for types of residencies?

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Not sure if there's a website, but you can try checking the FAQ's of the individual specialties in the residency section of this forum. Most of them give you a good idea of what kind of scores you need to get a residency in that specialty.

Bottom line, though...just do the best you can. If you try to shoot for a certain score you'll probably wind up doing worse than you want.
 
FlushBB said:
Ok, I'm in second year and pretty much am getting the idea that Step 1 pretty much determines whether you will or won't get a residency (if you're an average student).

My question.... Is there a website with the average USMLE scores for types of residencies?

Not necessarily true. There are stories from our deans every year of people who matched into optho, ENT, derm, rads etc with low board scores and in the bottom third of the class. These people integrated themselves into whatever department they were interested in and then matched. It's not the best thing to count on, but just because you have low scores, doesn't automatically rule anything out. You can always do an extra year of research in the field which can also do wonders for those with low numbers. I think the best advice is to not worry about numbers (because the numbers are averages anyway and they never tell you the spread) and focus on doing the best you can, especially since you haven't even taken step I yet.
 
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They have the data, because our assoc. dean of student affairs just showed us the slide of step 1 and board matches and gpa and board matches yesterday. He said he would email them to us, if he does I'll post them. Most specialties had a mix of scores, but in ENT, Plastics, and Orthopaedic Surg you really had to be in 1st/2nd quarter GPA and 220+ to fair well.
 
FlushBB said:
Ok, I'm in second year and pretty much am getting the idea that Step 1 pretty much determines whether you will or won't get a residency (if you're an average student).

My question.... Is there a website with the average USMLE scores for types of residencies?

Hi there,
Average USMLE Step I score versus residency match is variable from institution to institution. In general, it is very difficult to match into the more competitive specialties with average scores but this does not mean you are an automatic match in a non-competitive specialty in some institutions.

The information you need is more along the lines of the average USMLE scores of the applicants of the specialties and departments that interest you. If you are a second year student, you need to get some clinical exposure to figure out what you want to do and then figure out where you might be competitive.

Derm is competitive everywhere. Orthopedic Surgery is competitive everywhere. Neurosurgery, ENT are competitive everywhere. Optho is competitive everywhere. It is probably going to be difficult to match into categorical General Surgery with average scores this year. Again, figure out what you want to do and then figure out a strategy to get where you want to be.

njbmd :)
 
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