Finished up first year of med school and unsure how to feel about my performance

[13_Is_My_Favorite_Number]

Just finished up my first of medical school (Osteopathic) up north and ended with mainly B+ and some A-, putting my GPA towards around 3.58.

I know everyone says GPA and rank does not matter but with the USMLE going P/F, I'm not sure what PD's will shift their focus on while reviewing applications. I was hoping to get some clarity/ advice on this topic. I am currently interested in Anesthesia, and was wondering if this GPA was on track for a good Anesthesia application, or if it was considered low for this field.

Sorry if this type fo question has already been asked, I'm just a bit nervous thinking about it. Thanks in advance for all of the help!

Also, if you guys had any other advice on matching Anesthesia that would be great!!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[ReaDoc]

Another first year here, I've taken the advice of many past OMS' and completely shifted my focus to doing well on boards since Step 2/Level 2 still have a score. I figured it would be better to have a solid step 1/level 1 foundation for step 2/level 2 instead of focusing on the minutia of lectures mostly from the PhDs this year (no offense to them). I obviously skim the class material to ensure I pass but I gave up on wanting the first quartile and just focused on doing well on the boards that are still scored for us. Just my 2 cents on the discussions over GPA/class rank

I should also mention we moved to H/P/F which makes this easier but we still have a quartile rank. So YMMV.

 

[_DeBakey_]

This isn't undergrad anymore...

 

[RapidEyeMovementLearning]

Still doesn't matter. Clinical grades will have much more weight than pre-clinical. There is no standardization for pre-clinical exams and grading. PDs have no idea the quality of exams and how students are assessed across medical schools. Some schools don't even use NBOME exams/questions and just have garbage professor written exams to ensure people don't fail. The right thing to do is keep focusing on board prep, because everything weighs on Step 2 now, and the best way to prepare for that is a solid knowledge of Step 1 material.

 

[DrZoidbergDO]

Still doesn't matter. Clinical grades will have much more weight than pre-clinical. There is no standardization for pre-clinical exams and grading. PDs have no idea the quality of exams and how students are assessed across medical schools. Some schools don't even use NBOME exams/questions and just have garbage professor written exams to ensure people don't fail. The right thing to do is keep focusing on board prep, because everything weighs on Step 2 now, and the best way to prepare for that is a solid knowledge of Step 1 material.

theres really not much standardization for clinical grades either tbf

 

[Goro]

Just finished up my first of medical school (Osteopathic) up north and ended with mainly B+ and some A-, putting my GPA towards around 3.58.

I know everyone says GPA and rank does not matter but with the USMLE going P/F, I'm not sure what PD's will shift their focus on while reviewing applications. I was hoping to get some clarity/ advice on this topic. I am currently interested in Anesthesia, and was wondering if this GPA was on track for a good Anesthesia application, or if it was considered low for this field.

Sorry if this type fo question has already been asked, I'm just a bit nervous thinking about it. Thanks in advance for all of the help!

Also, if you guys had any other advice on matching Anesthesia that would be great!!

You're in a very good zone. Have a little faith in yourself!

 

[BoneWizard]

I think your preclinical grades would matter insofar as helping determine your class rank.

 

[MDMechEngr]

Why do most DO schools still have gpa while most MD schools are H and/or P/F? Do they not want their students to colaborate and help each other? Take the stress off of the insane compitition?

 

[Surgeon D.O.]

I'm a 2nd year and no expert (also not at the top of my class) but I really wouldn't put a whole lot of stock in getting a "A" vs "B".

Rather, really try to learn and retain as much as you can. I've seen many who did far better than I did in the first 2 years, struggling in dedicated because they were great at cramming for that 5 point quiz but did not think about the material afterward and now have to relearn it again.

At the end of day, I highly doubt pre-clinical GPA and class rank will be what stops you from pursuing what you want. If that were the case, we would be picking specialties after the first 2 years, before we even step foot into the hospital.

 

[DrZoidbergDO]

Why do most DO schools still have gpa while most MD schools are H and/or P/F? Do they not want their students to colaborate and help each other? Take the stress off of the insane compitition?

i mean i think class culture matters more than whether you're pf. my school is graded and ranked, but our class still helps each other out a lot

 

[Surgeon D.O.]

When I interviewed at one DO school the dean straight up said grades are one way to differentiate the weaker students from the stronger ones (along with boards) in order to help the strong students match into more competitive locations/specialties. I was quite surprised with how direct he was and saying "some of you will remediate a year and others won't ever make it to graduation."
Thankfully I'm at a true P/F MD school now.

That is a shame to hear. There will always be a bell curve with an above average, average and below average distribution but I'm not sure it's necessarily helpful to promote that culture the way the Dean did, med students are intrinsically competitive with each other without that.

The students who have what it takes will likely make it where they belong one way or another. I agree we can't all break 270+ and be in the top 5% of our class but there are many ways to Rome.

 

[ReaDoc]

When I interviewed at one DO school the dean straight up said grades are one way to differentiate the weaker students from the stronger ones (along with boards) in order to help the strong students match into more competitive locations/specialties. I was quite surprised with how direct he was and saying "some of you will remediate a year and others won't ever make it to graduation."
Thankfully I'm at a true P/F MD school now.

Wow, that's incredibly disheartening to read. I feel like my school at least tries to ensure students don't flunk out. I geniunely don't understand this mindset from a higher ed dean, especially one of a medical school.

 

[Kardio]

When I interviewed at one DO school the dean straight up said grades are one way to differentiate the weaker students from the stronger ones (along with boards) in order to help the strong students match into more competitive locations/specialties. I was quite surprised with how direct he was and saying "some of you will remediate a year and others won't ever make it to graduation."
Thankfully I'm at a true P/F MD school now.

Tbh I prefer that dean’s bitter honesty to sugar coated sweet nothings

 

[ohmanwaddup]

You're upset about a 3.5? My god dude. When has a 3.5 ever been considered bad?

 

[Redpancreas]

Just finished up my first of medical school (Osteopathic) up north and ended with mainly B+ and some A-, putting my GPA towards around 3.58.

I know everyone says GPA and rank does not matter but with the USMLE going P/F, I'm not sure what PD's will shift their focus on while reviewing applications. I was hoping to get some clarity/ advice on this topic. I am currently interested in Anesthesia, and was wondering if this GPA was on track for a good Anesthesia application, or if it was considered low for this field.

Sorry if this type fo question has already been asked, I'm just a bit nervous thinking about it. Thanks in advance for all of the help!

Also, if you guys had any other advice on matching Anesthesia that would be great!!

1. Anesthesia rotation feedback/LORs from there.
2. Clerkship rotation scores/feedback in MSPE.
3. Step 2 CK score

Just keep working hard. Step 1 material translates to Step 2 CK. The wards are their own game and unfortunately there's no way to really prepare for that aside from what your school exposes you to.

 

[Redpancreas]

Why do most DO schools still have gpa while most MD schools are H and/or P/F? Do they not want their students to colaborate and help each other? Take the stress off of the insane compitition?

Agreed, most the new schools/DO schools are using GPAs. Seems like an antiquated system. Who's even looking at these GPAs.

 

[MDMechEngr]

It's to help residencies compare their students. Many of them also mention what rank each student is, 51/100 e.g. Especially for newer/"low-tier" DO schools where historically the average Step 1 is <210 or and only a third of the class take it. Compare this to your typical USMD that averages 224-234 and it's easier to assume everyone is around that ballpark (when it goes P/F)

Never looked at it with the perspective that my school S1 average is 230 and S2 average is 245. I know that S2 avagerage will continue to be 245 if not higher after S1 goes P/F. I wonder what the actual S1 average would be at my school after P/F if it was graded? would think less than 230 b/c students will be more chill due to P/F.

 

[deleted1066189]

I just looked at MCAT scores and everyone thought the average would drop since libraries were closed but the average in fact went up by a whopping 2 points.

not surprising. /r/mcat makes it too easy for the overall average to creep, with abundant sharing of (free) resources, as well as fellow high scorers sharing tips and tricks.

Heck, I wouldn't have known about Anki without reddit, and it certainly helped my a** in studying