Is it still early?

[ozzie20]

I have yet to receive an offer for interview, and the gas forums interview thread is already 7 pages long, so I'm wondering whether or not its time to start worrying about the app. Should i be calling to check the status of my app yet or not? Overall i thought i was a pretty good applicant, 93%tile on my step 2 (comlex, no usmle and i know that could be a drawback), honors in most of my rotations including surgery and anesthesia, and LOR's from Chief of anesthesia and Chief of Surgery amongst others. I've applied to plenty of programs, but so far nothing. Do most interview offers go out once the dean's letter is available or does that not really matter to the PDs?

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[GasPrincess]

Hey Ozzie,

I'm a newbie here, but I would say keep your head up. I think there are some programs out there don't wait to offer interviews until the MSPE. However, they do require a transcript. The minute my school sent in my transcript the interview offers started coming in...hopefully the trend will continue. Also, when did you submit your application? I know a lot of the people who are getting interview offers submitted ERAS on Sept 1st. Also, most programs usually have at least two rounds of interview offers. If you look at the thread from last year, people were still getting offers in Januaury. My school in particular will not send out offers until late October and early November to only 60 people. Gaaaahh! So to answer your question, I think it is still EARLY! So don't start worrying just yet! Everybody is freaking out too. We are all going to make it! The light is at the end of the tunnel. Good luck!

I have yet to receive an offer for interview, and the gas forums interview thread is already 7 pages long, so I'm wondering whether or not its time to start worrying about the app. Should i be calling to check the status of my app yet or not? Overall i thought i was a pretty good applicant, 93%tile on my step 2 (comlex, no usmle and i know that could be a drawback), honors in most of my rotations including surgery and anesthesia, and LOR's from Chief of anesthesia and Chief of Surgery amongst others. I've applied to plenty of programs, but so far nothing. Do most interview offers go out once the dean's letter is available or does that not really matter to the PDs?

 

[lane]

i applied to a generous number of programs, and according to the interview thread it appears that 60% of them haven't sent out any offers yet. no worries yet, mate

 

[mazinger]

I am having the same problem, I have applied to 57 programs and have 3 responses so far.. I think IMGs and DOs have to wait a little longer than US grads to get ivs...

 

[badgas]

I have yet to receive an offer for interview, and the gas forums interview thread is already 7 pages long, so I'm wondering whether or not its time to start worrying about the app. Should i be calling to check the status of my app yet or not? Overall i thought i was a pretty good applicant, 93%tile on my step 2 (comlex, no usmle and i know that could be a drawback), honors in most of my rotations including surgery and anesthesia, and LOR's from Chief of anesthesia and Chief of Surgery amongst others. I've applied to plenty of programs, but so far nothing. Do most interview offers go out once the dean's letter is available or does that not really matter to the PDs?

So you did not take USMLE step 1 either? If not, you may be in some trouble. People have put out the warning that no usmle means trouble MANY times on this board. Comlex is essentially worthless to allopathic programs. So if you want to know if the lack of usmle is hurting your application at this very moment, the answer is yes. Does it mean that you are not going to match? No. It really depends on what the chiefs actually said in your letters and if there are any other red flags on your application. As a DO who matched last year, I can tell you first hand that the people who did not match in my class were those who did not take the USMLE, regardless of what their COMLEX scores were. You are behind the eight ball. Here is what you need to do. Turn your pockets inside-out and add a bunch of programs in ERAS asap. Call a bunch of the programs that have had the chance to download your app and ask if everything is in. On the bright side, November 1st when the dean's letter comes out is another period of heavy interview offers. Good luck.

 

[VentdependenT]

I have yet to receive an offer for interview, and the gas forums interview thread is already 7 pages long, so I'm wondering whether or not its time to start worrying about the app. Should i be calling to check the status of my app yet or not? Overall i thought i was a pretty good applicant, 93%tile on my step 2 (comlex, no usmle and i know that could be a drawback), honors in most of my rotations including surgery and anesthesia, and LOR's from Chief of anesthesia and Chief of Surgery amongst others. I've applied to plenty of programs, but so far nothing. Do most interview offers go out once the dean's letter is available or does that not really matter to the PDs?

How many programs did you apply to?

 

[VentdependenT]

I have yet to receive an offer for interview, and the gas forums interview thread is already 7 pages long, so I'm wondering whether or not its time to start worrying about the app. Should i be calling to check the status of my app yet or not? Overall i thought i was a pretty good applicant, 93%tile on my step 2 (comlex, no usmle and i know that could be a drawback), honors in most of my rotations including surgery and anesthesia, and LOR's from Chief of anesthesia and Chief of Surgery amongst others. I've applied to plenty of programs, but so far nothing. Do most interview offers go out once the dean's letter is available or does that not really matter to the PDs?

How many programs did you apply to?

How'd you do on step I?

Where'd you do your anesthesia rotation?

 

[Salt Creep]

The light is at the end of the tunnel.

Hopefully it isn't a train.

I applied to 56 programs, have 6 responses (3 invites, 3 rejects). Submitted application around the 15th.

 

[ozzie20]

How many programs did you apply to?

How'd you do on step I?

Where'd you do your anesthesia rotation?

I just got an interview from a fairly good residency program.

Step 1 pretty good as well, 80%ile, honors on anesthesia, I know for a fact my LOR's are all excellent, and i applied to a total of about 34 gas programs.

 

[badgas]

I just got an interview from a fairly good residency program.

Step 1 pretty good as well, 80%ile, honors on anesthesia, I know for a fact my LOR's are all excellent, and i applied to a total of about 34 gas programs.

USMLE step 1 or COMLEX step 1? Programs will equal an 80 on COMLEX to an 80 on USMLE... which would make it around 200. No one understands how the two digit COMLEX score works but it is not in your favor. I would up the number of programs applied to into the range of previous poster if you have no USMLE and call to politely "check on the status" of your application. Calling without being pushy really does help.

Some DO friendly programs were SLU, MCV, Case, WVU and most chicago.

 

[powermd]

I have yet to receive an offer for interview, and the gas forums interview thread is already 7 pages long, so I'm wondering whether or not its time to start worrying about the app. Should i be calling to check the status of my app yet or not? Overall i thought i was a pretty good applicant, 93%tile on my step 2 (comlex, no usmle and i know that could be a drawback), honors in most of my rotations including surgery and anesthesia, and LOR's from Chief of anesthesia and Chief of Surgery amongst others. I've applied to plenty of programs, but so far nothing. Do most interview offers go out once the dean's letter is available or does that not really matter to the PDs?

The two digit USMLE score is NOT a percentile. It's simply your three digit score converted to a 100 point scale. To calculate the percentile you need to know the mean, standard deviation, and have an appropriate Z-score table do the conversion.

You can use this handy calculator here: http://davidmlane.com/hyperstat/z_table.html

Enter the mean, and standard deviation on your score report. For my step 1 score report, it was 215 and 21 (for "recent administrations" circa 2002). Click the "below" button, and enter your test score. The calculator will output some number between 0 and 1. That number x 100 is your percentile.

Apparently reporting of percentiles was phased out for USMLE step 1 in 1999:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USMLE_Step_1

 

[ozzie20]

I applied to 44 programs total, 34 gas.

I know the difference between the 2 dig score and %tile. I just gave my percentile b/c it seems easier to read and compare.

 

[VentdependenT]

I applied to 44 programs total, 34 gas.

I know the difference between the 2 dig score and %tile. I just gave my percentile b/c it seems easier to read and compare.

Bring copies of your comlex to the interview.

 

[ozzie20]

after calling a few places, most said they either hadn't gotten to my app yet, or that i had made the initial cut, and that they had to review further before offering an invite. Many said that the interview team won't reconvene until late october/early november. so far no rejections though, i suppose thats a relatively good sign.

 

[amyl]

does anybody (vent?) have a copy of the conversion they use to convert comlex to usmle?

 

[VentdependenT]

does anybody (vent?) have a copy of the conversion they use to convert comlex to usmle?

Nope. Never got one. Only was shown it during interviews when asked why I did so poorly on the Comlex. I got a >90th percentile on the damn thing. So I just brought my scores in and the interviewers were astonished how off their conversion chart was.

Ridiculous man. Totally ridiculous.


Ask the NBOME to send you one. If they can find it...

 

[amyl]

nbome claims there isn't one. any idea where i can track down this info?

 

[pgy13]

nbome claims there isn't one. any idea where i can track down this info?

They haven't given out that info for several years, so any chart that exists will be based on old tests and not necessarily accurate.

 

[RickKane]

This conversion equation was published in the Sept 2006 JAOA. Like most other conversions I have seen it grossly UNDERestimates USMLE scores. Take a look for yourself.

Scores on USMLE are predicted by the corresponding COMLEX-USA scores using the equations USMLE Step 1 = 67.97 + 0.24 x COMLEX-USA Level 1 (R2=0.68); and USMLE Step 2 = 102.2 + 0.18 x COMLEX-USA Level 2 (R2=0.46).

Exp USMLE(predicted) = 67.97 + .24(562) COMLEX

=202

I scored a 220..

What is worse the article suggests all allopathic program directors use this conversion.

 

[amyl]

Wow -- you found it. Thanks lots!

 

[ozzie20]

This conversion equation was published in the Sept 2006 JAOA. Like most other conversions I have seen it grossly UNDERestimates USMLE scores. Take a look for yourself.

Scores on USMLE are predicted by the corresponding COMLEX-USA scores using the equations USMLE Step 1 = 67.97 + 0.24 x COMLEX-USA Level 1 (R2=0.68); and USMLE Step 2 = 102.2 + 0.18 x COMLEX-USA Level 2 (R2=0.46).

Exp USMLE(predicted) = 67.97 + .24(562) COMLEX

=202

I scored a 220..

What is worse the article suggests all allopathic program directors use this conversion.

This has got to be one of the dumbest formulas i've ever seen. Suppose you're, oh i dunno, GOD. Lets say you're god and you get an 800 on comlex step 2, therefor not missing a single question. By this formula, the HIGHEST that you could ever score on the USMLE is a 246. BTW, this formula was made with an n=50 from ONE school's students in ONE class.

And i know this has been discussed before ad nauseum, just my 2cents.

 

[smgilles]

This has got to be one of the dumbest formulas i've ever seen. Suppose you're, oh i dunno, GOD. Lets say you're god and you get an 800 on comlex step 2, therefor not missing a single question. By this formula, the HIGHEST that you could ever score on the USMLE is a 246. BTW, this formula was made with an n=50 from ONE school's students in ONE class.

And i know this has been discussed before ad nauseum, just my 2cents.

You can score higher than 800 on COMLEX for I have seen it with my own eyes (846 to be exact), but yes you are correct about the converstion. This is why all DO's should take at least USMLE I if not USMLE II so they can be compared apples to apples and no one can question you.

I was told many, many times at a lot of the programs I interviewed at that taking USMLE I and II was the best way to bolster my application. Only Cleveland Clinic said they put most of their emphasis on COMLEX scores even if you took the USMLE.

 

[VentdependenT]

Whatever....point is just take the USMLE to avoid this problem.