COMLEX/USMLE help for aspiring student

[yasha83]

Hello everyone;

I am a current 2nd year student at NYCOM (DO), in wanting to pursue anesthesiology for some time now, I am at cross-roads in my medical education and am hoping for some perspective from the knowledgeable folk around here. I apologize if these questions are answered recently elsewhere, but i did not see recent posts on this topic....

1) I have heard conflicting statements on whether a DO need report his USMLE STEP 1 score on ERAS. If you don't need to, this would seem to take the potential backfire out of not doing well on USMLE, since it can be withheld....is this true?

2) With increasing competition for residencies in anesthesia, is it nearly necessary for a DO to take STEP 1 in addition to COMLEX to land a decent allo residency (assuming applying broadly, etc)

3) Is taking the STEP 2 a viable alternative to taking STEP 1 for a DO applying to allo programs?

4) How helpful is it to do 3rd year clinicals (medicine, surg. etc) at a hospital with an anesthesia residency, even if there is no anesthesia rotation per se, during 3rd year?

I know its alot, but help/advice on any of these q's would be greatly appreciated as i try to take some of the confusion out of my planning...Thank you all for your time.

-yasha

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[Carm]

This is a small sampling size, but we almost always look for Step 1 scores in our DO applicants. It mainly is just to compare applicants with a tool allos are familiar with.

There are probably others who will say that Comlex is all you need, but only taking it may close some doors. In fact, our DO residents were more adament than the rest about DO applicants taking step I.

 

[amyl]

you don't need to report the usmle scores if you are a DO. however, an average usmle score is better than an average comlex. take step one usmle. i think it will get you the most interviews. this year i have gotten much better interviews than my DO counterpart who only took the comlex. comlex only will close some doors.

 

[VentdependenT]

take usmle. Why would it matter where you did your nonanesthesia rotations?

 

[yasha83]

thank you for the input, guys & gals.

 

[flipcyde]

I took both Step 1 and Step 2 and did significantly better on the second one. It was commented on almost every interview. Take both.

Hope this helps!