Competitiveness in 2012

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.

monkey1234

New Member
10+ Year Member
Joined
May 9, 2012
Messages
7
Reaction score
0
Hey All,

I just received my Step 1 score of 232. Given that the national average has been steadily increasing (this year, the average is 222 with a standard deviation of 24), is such a score still competitive? I am almost certainly shooting for an IM residency. Your thoughts are greatly appreciated.

Members don't see this ad.
 
Last edited:
Edit to the above: I'm well aware that a 232 is competitive for IM, I was more wondering if it is competitive enough for the more exclusive IM programs. Thanks
 
What kind of fellowship do you want to do?
 
Members don't see this ad :)
Cardiology. I am just starting my third year rotations so I have no AOA/third year data, but I'm coming from a top 25 school, if that says anything.
 
Hey All,

I just received my Step 1 score of 232. Given that the national average has been steadily increasing (this year, the average is 222 with a standard deviation of 24), is such a score still competitive? I am almost certainly shooting for an IM residency. Your thoughts are greatly appreciated.

I got a 222 out of a crappy state school. I still managed to match into my top choice residency in neurosurgery. Out of 25+ interview offers. You'll be fine.
 
Not really, but med students with champagne wishes and cathing for dollars dreams still like to obsess over it.


Wasn't trying to paint that picture; I was just answering a question. Also, this post isn't about fellowship acceptance, I was more asking for people's opinions regarding the status of 230+ for competitive IM residencies in a year where Step 1 averages are historically high.
 
230 is not great. It's not bad though; If the rest of your apps are good and you interview well, you should land at a good program
 
Cardiology. I am just starting my third year rotations so I have no AOA/third year data, but I'm coming from a top 25 school, if that says anything.

Meh. It probably helps, but not too much.

I'd imagine more of it matters on how well you do in residency.
=================================
First, find hospitals where you think you can be happy and healthy for 3 years, and where you can learn a lot. MOST IMPORTANT!

Then, find the programs with a strong cardiology department. Rank these highly.

If you are about to start third year, just start wowing people and get good letters. Talk to as many residents as possible.

I think with your scores and all these things, you will get into a great residency!
 
3rd year grades that are high will help you >>a 240 on the steps for internal medicine. A crappy USMLE score would keep you out of the picky IM programs, but you don't have a crappy score. Your score is good but you should stop thinking about it for now. If you get a lot of honors grades in 3rd year, sit on the 230 and apply to wherever you want for IM. If you don't do great you could take the Step II early and try for 240's. Sucking up to important IM professors like the IM dept. chair or well known faculty during your 3rd year will help you >>10 more points on the USMLE. I totally didn't get this when I was a med student but it's totally true.
Many cardiology programs will not look at your USMLE scores at all, although some will. For those that do, 230 should be more than adequate unless you are perhaps talking about the top 1-3 programs in the country that might be able to be ridiculously picky about every aspect of someone's application...even for those, by the time you get to applying for cardiology they'll have a lot more other info so that even if they wanted to look at step scores, they'd probably look at Step2/3 more. A very small number of cards programs did request applicants to submit Step scores, but it's usually the less competitive ones (who may want help sorting through multitudes of similar-looking-on-paper applicants).
 
230 is not great. It's not bad though; If the rest of your apps are good and you interview well, you should land at a good program

Not great by SDN standards. :rolleyes:
 
Last edited:
what about pediatric cardiology fellowships? How competitive are they?
 
Cardiology. I am just starting my third year rotations so I have no AOA/third year data, but I'm coming from a top 25 school, if that says anything.

there are about 450 cardiology fellowship spots. The match rate for US grads was about 92% last year. If your home program is decent you'll find a cardiology fellowship spot. Besides 232 to very competitive for IM and only a very few would screen you out.


edit: I also don't understand how students who haven't done a single clinical rotation already know what fellowship they want to do... Don't even know why I sill waste my time here.
 
Last edited:
Really? You don't understand this? Do you understand that money is the major reason people go to medical school? If you run a simple google search on the highest paying specialties, this is your first result:

http://healthcareers.about.com/od/compensationinformation/f/TopPayDoctors.htm

I'm surprised this is news to anyone. You're naive enough to think that 2nd year med students, who wanted to go to the best colleges, get the best test scores, get into the best med schools, are also going to be, at least at first, also desire to qualify their career choices based on objective criteria, in this case earnings? Given that there is no USNews and World Report ranking on the best careers, the BLS is the next best thing for unimaginative people.

it's just not how I made my decision so if people do use money as a major driver (even early on) that is the wrong way to go about the process imo
 
it's just not how I made my decision so if people do use money as a major driver (even early on) that is the wrong way to go about the process imo

yup, if you use money as a guide to what you should do in life you are slowly effing yourself over to be a miserable d-bag. It doesn't matter if you make $1 million a year. If you hate your job then you hate your life. If you learn to love it and can tolerate/enjoy it well that is a different story.
 
Top