As long as we're talking about Path competitiveness, I have a question for the wise Great Pumpkin and others-how helpful is research experience when applying for Path Residencies? I am concerned because I expect Path will be my strong preference for residency, and if I'm unable to get into a good Path residency I may consider other options such as research, industry, etc. Also I will be somewhat limited as to my program choices as my wife will be matching the year before me, and so I will be trying to match to a specific city (not sure which yet).
Grades: For various reasons my MS 1 grades were not good-a B average. Currently I am a MS 2 and making A's so far; I expect to make mostly A's this year. I'm not sure how the clinical grades will be. Maybe assume I will be in the 'middle' of my med school class for the last three years (MS2-MS4). So grades are definitely a weakness. I am at a top-20 but not top-10 medical school. Pathology interest at my school is high-I expect several of my classmates will also be applying to Path if this matters.
Research: I'm an MD/PhD student with a total of 14 publications-10 are from before medical school and not biomedically oriented (I'm assuming these don't count for much), 1 publication from my first research rotation in the MD/PhD program, and 3 from my thesis lab. Two of these are first author papers in relatively high profile but non-clinical journals (Nature and Nature Genetics). I think this is my strongest area, but I'm not sure how helpful it will be.
Scores: I'm an MS2 (thesis between 1st and 2nd year medical school) so I haven't taken Step 1 yet; usually I score fairly well on standardized tests (MCAT=38, although my Step 1 scores may be weaker as much of the MS1 knowledge has faded over the last four years, I'm trying to review it). I expect I should do at least "average" on Step 1.
Any thoughts on how much the research will help? I plan to squeeze in a Path elective as soon as possible in my third year, and I will do away rotations at my preferred Path programs if possible during 4th year. Any other suggestions?
Thanks for the input. Sorry for the long post/thread hijack, but I wanted to be as specific as possible.