Help. Not a competitive student :(

[WhatIsGoingOn219]

Frustrated.
I'm a DO medical student. Taking 6 years to graduate.
Repeated a year. Remediated boards. Comlex 1 - F, 48x
Comlex 2CE 48X. I just got my Comlex 2 score back and am crushed. I got a 55X on my Comsae so I'm unsure how my score dropped so much on the real exam. I did over 5000 questions.

What advice do you have for me? How do I maximize my chances of matching FM? I will be applying across the US and only to community programs.

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[TableMD]

Apply broadly

join the AFP if you haven’t done so

go to the national conferences and speak to different program directors at places you will strongly consider

get a good letter from your family medicine program director And also get letters from family medicine faculty

In regards to community programs you should understand the family medicine is a little bit different in that the fancy university affiliated program may actually be less competitive, Not that you necessarily have to apply to those.

Chat with people who recently matched in family medicine and find out where they applied and see what advice they would have to offer about the programs that they looked at.

good luck

 

[WhatIsGoingOn219]

Thank you!

My top choice is actually a university affiliated community program. Had no idea those were considered less competitive! Could you elaborate please? How does competitive compare among community non-affiliated, community med school administered, community university-affiliated (these are the categories on AAFP residency search)?

Also, when people say to apply broadly, does that mean apply all over the country (bc that's how I'm interpreting it). I would rather not apply to rural residencies. Is that too risky?

 

[Ozone2552]

I will be starting at an FM program in Michigan this July. I, too, was not in the 250+ crowd (MD graduate), but did really well in my pre-clinical classes (top quartile) and honored all but two of my rotations/electives. I would not consider myself to be a "competitive" applicant by traditional standards and I was in a similar situation when I started to apply to programs. So if you feel like it, send me a private message and I would be happy to offer advice, give more details about my stats, or just listen.