step 3 before residency for us img? will it help?

[drchandrasika]

Is it a wise strategy for a US IMG to take Step 3 before applying for residency, in order to make them more competitive for the match process? This is exclusively for US IMG's with US clinical experience who did not do so well on Step 1 but did a lot better on CK and passed cs on first attempt. Thanks

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[Phloston]

I had thought about that too at one stage, thinking why not just ace Step 3 to just further improve the app? But I had also read somewhere (as I can vaguely remember) that the vast majority of residency programs either don't want the applicant to have already sat Step 3 prior to matching, or in fact there are licensing reasons against sitting it pre-residency as well (something like only 5 states allow for Step 3 to have been taken pre-match).

The fact of the matter is, your previous step scores best predict your future ones. No AMG has Step 3 going into his or her match, and because the AMGs overall perform better on all of the other steps, a "high" Step 3 wouldn't mean anything coming from an IMG.

 

[drchandrasika]

Thank you Phloston. What about if you're trying to get either residency, licensure, or even both(residency+licensure) in one of those 5 states? Is it worth it then?

I had thought about that too at one stage, thinking why not just ace Step 3 to just further improve the app? But I had also read somewhere (as I can vaguely remember) that the vast majority of residency programs either don't want the applicant to have already sat Step 3 prior to matching, or in fact there are licensing reasons against sitting it pre-residency as well (something like only 5 states allow for Step 3 to have been taken pre-match).

The fact of the matter is, your previous step scores best predict your future ones. No AMG has Step 3 going into his or her match, and because the AMGs overall perform better on all of the other steps, a "high" Step 3 wouldn't mean anything coming from an IMG.

 

[Phloston]

Once again, I'm not even completely sure on the topic. I just vaguely recall having read somewhere something about that.

 

[LocutusofBorg]

Can anyone post evidence that Step 3 would prevent matching in certain states for USIMGs? That makes no sense whatsoever. If you are eligible to take it, go ahead and take it. Put yourself in the shoes of a program director: would you rather have a resident that may forfeit their spot due to the inability to pass this test, or one that already got a great score on it?

 

[Phloston]

Can anyone post evidence that Step 3 would prevent matching in certain states for USIMGs? That makes no sense whatsoever. If you are eligible to take it, go ahead and take it. Put yourself in the shoes of a program director: would you rather have a resident that may forfeit their spot due to the inability to pass this test, or one that already got a great score on it?

Nowhere in any of the above posts does anyone say Step 3 would prevent a match.

It's been the case that the vast majority of US states require that doctors are state-sponsored in order to sit the Step 3. But the state-sponsorship requirement has been discontinued, so IMGs can now sit the Step 3 whenever they want after medical school and completion of the other steps. http://www.usmle.org/announcements/?ContentId=124

But the catch is that we apply to residency while still in medical school, so it's impossible to have taken Step 3 prior to the match unless one is on a gap year. So unless you plan on taking a gap year or are already a practicing doctor, Step 3 as an "application boost" is out of the question.

If you do plan on taking a gap year, it must be for exceptional reasons (e.g., a baby, research, rare medical-related opportunity) in order for it not to be deleterious to your application. Even still, you're not expected to have taken Step 3. I could imagine, however, that the only way a gap year could be OK to take if not for the aforementioned reasons would be if you sat Step 3 during that break to demonstrate clinical competency come time for application (i.e., if you want to spend the year looking at volcanoes in Iceland, sitting Step 3 would show programs that despite your non-medical year off, you are more than capable of practicing medicine unsupervised).

 

[Phloston]

A document you may also find very helpful: http://www.fsmb.org/public/public-resources/state_specific

 

[jakeislove]

I've been told that Step 3 can help those with sketchy step histories get ranked.