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Hello,
When you are in Med School, as most of you know, you take the USMLE STEP 1 board exam, which consequently determines where you will place in terms of residency. Other supplemental factors include letters of recc and interviews.
Well, I had some very specific questions in mind in the context of "will going to a higher ranked med school help me out in the long run?" I am looking down in the long run of my future by asking the questions now before I commit to some sort of agenda of where I will apply and commit to next year. Thus, I was planning on calling several of the top 20 medical schools and asking the following questions:
1.) What were the average USMLE Step 1 and Step 2 scores of your students?
2.) Specifically, I am interested in Dermatology, a field that I am currently doing clinical research in undergrad and have been passionate about based on personal encounters (my relatives who were burned victims and skin cancer patients). However, I realized very recently that it is perhaps one of the toughest residencies to obtain. So another question I planned on asking was "How many candidates applied to Dermatology on their match list and how many students were ultimately matched?"
3.) Another factor I was considering was whether the reputation of the school's departments, not the ranking of the school, may impact my chances of obtaining a residency spot. For example, NYU is not listed at the top of med school list, but its dermatology program is outstanding in the top 5. Thus, I would also call schools such as these and find out how their statistics fared out in the recent year.
Well, I suppose the expected answer I would be receiving from these forums is just to work hard and you'll get what you want, but at the same time, I realize that connections and subtle factors play a role in the residency process. I am currently doing very well in undergraduate and realize that my success is contingent on my hard work now, but may not be later on as luck/connections will play a bigger or rather essential role. Thus, I wanted your input on this issue of whether it would be appropriate to ask these questions to med schools. Or if you guys can recommend where I can find such info (because I can't find them on the internet), I would appreciate it.
Thank you.
When you are in Med School, as most of you know, you take the USMLE STEP 1 board exam, which consequently determines where you will place in terms of residency. Other supplemental factors include letters of recc and interviews.
Well, I had some very specific questions in mind in the context of "will going to a higher ranked med school help me out in the long run?" I am looking down in the long run of my future by asking the questions now before I commit to some sort of agenda of where I will apply and commit to next year. Thus, I was planning on calling several of the top 20 medical schools and asking the following questions:
1.) What were the average USMLE Step 1 and Step 2 scores of your students?
2.) Specifically, I am interested in Dermatology, a field that I am currently doing clinical research in undergrad and have been passionate about based on personal encounters (my relatives who were burned victims and skin cancer patients). However, I realized very recently that it is perhaps one of the toughest residencies to obtain. So another question I planned on asking was "How many candidates applied to Dermatology on their match list and how many students were ultimately matched?"
3.) Another factor I was considering was whether the reputation of the school's departments, not the ranking of the school, may impact my chances of obtaining a residency spot. For example, NYU is not listed at the top of med school list, but its dermatology program is outstanding in the top 5. Thus, I would also call schools such as these and find out how their statistics fared out in the recent year.
Well, I suppose the expected answer I would be receiving from these forums is just to work hard and you'll get what you want, but at the same time, I realize that connections and subtle factors play a role in the residency process. I am currently doing very well in undergraduate and realize that my success is contingent on my hard work now, but may not be later on as luck/connections will play a bigger or rather essential role. Thus, I wanted your input on this issue of whether it would be appropriate to ask these questions to med schools. Or if you guys can recommend where I can find such info (because I can't find them on the internet), I would appreciate it.
Thank you.