Should you bother applying to top med-peds programs if you repeated a year?

[halcyon_]

Hi! Posting here because I realized this would probably be the best place to hear from folks. I have seen posts that competitive specialties (derm, ortho, etc) are kind of out of the question if you repeated a year due to not passing exams. I was wondering if people think this holds true for “top” residencies for med-peds, which in general is not quite as competitive and perhaps gentler to this kind of thing (the vibe I get from med-peds physicians is that they are not as concerned with prestige and are very down-to-earth)?

Also if there is a chance, what would really make the difference to convince PDs to accept someone who repeated a year due to academic reasons?

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[TelemarketingEnigma]

It will depend on the rest of your app. You are not out of the running for med peds by any means, you are right that MP tends to be more holistic than other specialties. but "top" residencies for med peds are still very very competitive (otherwise everyone would just try to backdoor their way into MGH or wherever via med peds...) so you will need to apply broadly (there's only so many med peds programs to apply to though).

If you have any med peds faculty at your institution, I strongly recommend meeting with them to review your resume and talk about chances. If none at your institution, NMPRA offers lots of resources and many of the PDs i've interacted with are willing to meet with students from other schools to give some initial guidance

 

[WheezyBaby]

Top programs are very competitive. The cost to apply is relatively low though, in the grand scheme of things anyway, if you think you have an otherwise exceptionally compelling application or life story