Have I lost my shot at a residency?

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kecmd

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I am currently in the SOAP but it is not looking good. I graduated from a Caribbean school with a 3.2 GPA last May have not had a single interview during the 2012 or 2013 match seasons. The program where I did most of my clinical rotations liked me and I even got 4 of their faculty members to write me letters of rec but the program director told me my scores were just two low to be competitive. My Step scores were:

Step 1: 213
Step 2 CK: 190 (2nd attempt)
Step 2 CS: Passed on 1st attempt
Step 3: 191

In regards to step 2, I was going through a pretty hard time in my life and should have taken a leave of absence but for some reason thought I needed to try and salvage the match and ended up screwing myself. I took step 3 hoping it would show that my step 2 was a fluke but as you can see it wasn't stellar (even though I got a 220 on the UWorld practice test and 71% on the USMLE's practice test). Now that SOAP is almost over and my phone is not ringing nor are any offers coming in I am looking at another year away from medicine and a 3rd attempt at the match. Should I even bother? What could I possibly do with an MD without a residency? Would a year as a research assistant improve my chances?
 
kecmd said:
I am currently in the SOAP but it is not looking good. I graduated from a Caribbean school with a 3.2 GPA last May have not had a single interview during the 2012 or 2013 match seasons. The program where I did most of my clinical rotations liked me and I even got 4 of their faculty members to write me letters of rec but the program director told me my scores were just two low to be competitive. My Step scores were:

Step 1: 213
Step 2 CK: 190 (2nd attempt)
Step 2 CS: Passed on 1st attempt
Step 3: 191

In regards to step 2, I was going through a pretty hard time in my life and should have taken a leave of absence but for some reason thought I needed to try and salvage the match and ended up screwing myself. I took step 3 hoping it would show that my step 2 was a fluke but as you can see it wasn't stellar (even though I got a 220 on the UWorld practice test and 71% on the USMLE's practice test). Now that SOAP is almost over and my phone is not ringing nor are any offers coming in I am looking at another year away from medicine and a 3rd attempt at the match. Should I even bother? What could I possibly do with an MD without a residency? Would a year as a research assistant improve my chances?
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Sorry to hear about your situation. Unfortunately it's becoming progressively harder for Carib/foreign grads to match. I certainly would not recommend anyone to go to a Carib school, it's just too risky. Did you apply for residencies that are not very competitive?
Have you thought about preventive/occupational medicine? That's a residency that's usually a last resort for people who have an MD. No offense, I realize it's not ideal but I would consider it.
 
kecmd said:
I am currently in the SOAP but it is not looking good. I graduated from a Caribbean school with a 3.2 GPA last May have not had a single interview during the 2012 or 2013 match seasons. The program where I did most of my clinical rotations liked me and I even got 4 of their faculty members to write me letters of rec but the program director told me my scores were just two low to be competitive. My Step scores were:

Step 1: 213
Step 2 CK: 190 (2nd attempt)
Step 2 CS: Passed on 1st attempt
Step 3: 191

In regards to step 2, I was going through a pretty hard time in my life and should have taken a leave of absence but for some reason thought I needed to try and salvage the match and ended up screwing myself. I took step 3 hoping it would show that my step 2 was a fluke but as you can see it wasn't stellar (even though I got a 220 on the UWorld practice test and 71% on the USMLE's practice test). Now that SOAP is almost over and my phone is not ringing nor are any offers coming in I am looking at another year away from medicine and a 3rd attempt at the match. Should I even bother? What could I possibly do with an MD without a residency? Would a year as a research assistant improve my chances?
Click to expand...


What sort of residencies did you apply for? You won't get into anything like ortho, that's for sure, but you might have a shot at family medicine or psych, maybe even IM. I don't think being a research assistant will be beneficial, but if you can do a few observerships to keep your clinical knowledge updated, that may help to a certain extent.
 
Yeah, applying to a Caribbean school was one of the biggest mistakes of my life. I was going to take a year after undergrad to boost my MCAT score but my girlfriend at the time convinced me to go with her to the Caribbean. It was actually when her cheating on me and then leaving me for a friend (after 5 years together) that really messed me up for Step 2.

I applied to nothing but pediatric positions; about 70 programs last year and 85 this year. During the SOAP I had more free applications than there were available pediatric positions so I applied to some Family Practice, child neuro and transitional year positions. I looked into occupational medicine but I read that it requires an internship year.

Did a pediatric pulmonology observership and even got an offer for another letter of rec from the preceptor. When I called the program director (at the program my preceptor worked for) he said that I wasn't being considered because I didn't pass one of my exams on the first attempt. When I told the resident I worked with that she was confused because she didn't pass step 1 on her first try.
 
kecmd said:
Yeah, applying to a Caribbean school was one of the biggest mistakes of my life. I was going to take a year after undergrad to boost my MCAT score but my girlfriend at the time convinced me to go with her to the Caribbean. It was actually when her cheating on me and then leaving me for a friend (after 5 years together) that really messed me up for Step 2.

I applied to nothing but pediatric positions; about 70 programs last year and 85 this year. During the SOAP I had more free applications than there were available pediatric positions so I applied to some Family Practice, child neuro and transitional year positions. I looked into occupational medicine but I read that it requires an internship year.

Did a pediatric pulmonology observership and even got an offer for another letter of rec from the preceptor. When I called the program director (at the program my preceptor worked for) he said that I wasn't being considered because I didn't pass one of my exams on the first attempt. When I told the resident I worked with that she was confused because she didn't pass step 1 on her first try.
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It does require a year of internship but usually internships can be gotten even with step failures and sometimes as part of the program. I would suggest looking into some of the less competitive occupational med programs, there are some that have trouble filling and most are foreign grad friendly. Also I realize that you should not cry over spilled milk, but when you have a failed step, etc, I would have applied to more programs. There was someone who posted who had a similar situation with a failed step and they applied to 150 programs. I would not lose hope just yet, I would imagine you can still match, maybe someone should look over your app. While you are a Carib grad and do have a step failure, it's odd that you would not be able to match into *any* program.
 
I would certainly consider occupational medicine (at this point I just want to be able to pay my student loans) but what internships would you suggest I look into? I realize now that I am not competitive enough for peds so I am guessing family practice?

As for applying to programs, both years I applied to programs until I had literally drained my checking account and maxed out my credit cards. I would have gladly applied to every program possible but unfortunately cash was the limiting factor.
 
kecmd said:
Yeah, applying to a Caribbean school was one of the biggest mistakes of my life. I was going to take a year after undergrad to boost my MCAT score but my girlfriend at the time convinced me to go with her to the Caribbean. It was actually when her cheating on me and then leaving me for a friend (after 5 years together) that really messed me up for Step 2.

I applied to nothing but pediatric positions; about 70 programs last year and 85 this year. During the SOAP I had more free applications than there were available pediatric positions so I applied to some Family Practice, child neuro and transitional year positions. I looked into occupational medicine but I read that it requires an internship year.

Did a pediatric pulmonology observership and even got an offer for another letter of rec from the preceptor. When I called the program director (at the program my preceptor worked for) he said that I wasn't being considered because I didn't pass one of my exams on the first attempt. When I told the resident I worked with that she was confused because she didn't pass step 1 on her first try.
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man i know quite a few carribean girls and i feel bad for you. never trust no carribean girl. if youre looking for a good time, great. but dont wife one up.
 
I think it should be clear that applying for peds again is simply not going to work. I'm going to assume that you applied broadly to community based peds programs, and not the "big name" programs. If so, you''ve probably applied to most of them (if not all of them) and are not getting any nibbles.

A research assistant job probably isn't going to help much. To help, a research position needs to give you a chance to do research -- to get something published where you are the major author, something you can take credit for. Most paid research assistant jobs just have you do the grunt work, but you certainly can look.

If you decide to apply again next year, you need to apply to FM, psych, PM&R, and occ med. The latter two require a prelim year, and you'll need to apply to prelim surgery. You might decide not to apply to all of those fields. You should try to get some clinical experience this year, which is difficult. You'll need clinical experience in the above fields, if possible.
 
You should have gotten an NP or PA and then did a peds residency. It would have been cheaper, easier, faster and pay is eighty percent. But you went for the Carib MD ego. Medicine is a horribly masochist path to take for someone who is weak academically.
 
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naus said:
You should have gotten an NP or PA and then did a peds residency. It would have been cheaper, easier, faster and pay is eighty percent. But you went for the Carib MD ego. Medicine is a horribly masochist path to take for someone who is weak academically.
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That's a pretty harsh and mean thing to say when someone is down, don't you think? Don't kick someone when they are down. It's not the right thing to do.
 
kecmd said:
I am currently in the SOAP but it is not looking good. I graduated from a Caribbean school with a 3.2 GPA last May have not had a single interview during the 2012 or 2013 match seasons. The program where I did most of my clinical rotations liked me and I even got 4 of their faculty members to write me letters of rec but the program director told me my scores were just two low to be competitive. My Step scores were:

Step 1: 213
Step 2 CK: 190 (2nd attempt)
Step 2 CS: Passed on 1st attempt
Step 3: 191

In regards to step 2, I was going through a pretty hard time in my life and should have taken a leave of absence but for some reason thought I needed to try and salvage the match and ended up screwing myself. I took step 3 hoping it would show that my step 2 was a fluke but as you can see it wasn't stellar (even though I got a 220 on the UWorld practice test and 71% on the USMLE's practice test). Now that SOAP is almost over and my phone is not ringing nor are any offers coming in I am looking at another year away from medicine and a 3rd attempt at the match. Should I even bother? What could I possibly do with an MD without a residency? Would a year as a research assistant improve my chances?
Click to expand...

Did you try research? Honestly maybe even doing a PHD? If you got a residency in the middle of your Phd you could always postpone your Phd or pick it up where ever you re doing residency? If I was having a lot of trouble matching I think thats what I would ultimately do? Or like others have said apply to every FP,IM,Peds,Psych,Prelim surgery program out there just to get your foot in the door. Once you finish one residency or atleast a few years of it... it would be much easier to switch or do a peds residency if thats what you still desire..
 
naus said:
You should have gotten an NP or PA and then did a peds residency. It would have been cheaper, easier, faster and pay is eighty percent. But you went for the Carib MD ego. Medicine is a horribly masochist path to take for someone who is weak academically.
Click to expand...
That is incredibly helpful. Thanks
 
IamnotFreud said:
It does require a year of internship but usually internships can be gotten even with step failures and sometimes as part of the program. I would suggest looking into some of the less competitive occupational med programs, there are some that have trouble filling and most are foreign grad friendly. Also I realize that you should not cry over spilled milk, but when you have a failed step, etc, I would have applied to more programs. There was someone who posted who had a similar situation with a failed step and they applied to 150 programs. I would not lose hope just yet, I would imagine you can still match, maybe someone should look over your app. While you are a Carib grad and do have a step failure, it's odd that you would not be able to match into *any* program.
Click to expand...

Peds is about the least competitive specialty out there, and I'm saying that as a pediatrician, so I'm surprised you didnt match. Are you sure there arent other factors here besides the grades/test scores? Did you apply only to large urban programs?

I bet if you applied to all the small community peds programs you'd match somewhere. You can basically walk into many of those small non-academic peds programs as long as you dont have serious misconduct on your record or something.
 
aProgDirector said:
I think it should be clear that applying for peds again is simply not going to work. I'm going to assume that you applied broadly to community based peds programs, and not the "big name" programs. If so, you''ve probably applied to most of them (if not all of them) and are not getting any nibbles.

A research assistant job probably isn't going to help much. To help, a research position needs to give you a chance to do research -- to get something published where you are the major author, something you can take credit for. Most paid research assistant jobs just have you do the grunt work, but you certainly can look.

If you decide to apply again next year, you need to apply to FM, psych, PM&R, and occ med. The latter two require a prelim year, and you'll need to apply to prelim surgery. You might decide not to apply to all of those fields. You should try to get some clinical experience this year, which is difficult. You'll need clinical experience in the above fields, if possible.
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Thank you for the advice! I do not have any research experience so I have no idea how to go about getting into the field. There is a Children's Hospital in my area that is going to be starting a new peds residency program next year (or so it has been rumored). I saw they had opening for a research assistant so I thought that might help me get some research experience as well as get my foot in the door and make some contacts.

As for next years match, I am going to try again. Medicine really is the only thing I WANT to do with my life so if I have to take the longer, harder road and move into a residency/fields I don't really want then so be it. I am confused about what I should be doing for clinical experience. One program director I talked to last summer told me to get some experience but he mentioned that observerships were not really the way to go so I am at a bit of a loss as to what opportunities there are out there for an MD without a license. Someone mentioned that I have more options because I passed step 3 already but that doesn't seem right.
 
NRAI2001 said:
Did you try research? Honestly maybe even doing a PHD? If you got a residency in the middle of your Phd you could always postpone your Phd or pick it up where ever you re doing residency? If I was having a lot of trouble matching I think thats what I would ultimately do? Or like others have said apply to every FP,IM,Peds,Psych,Prelim surgery program out there just to get your foot in the door. Once you finish one residency or atleast a few years of it... it would be much easier to switch or do a peds residency if thats what you still desire..
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As I mentioned above, I am considering taking a research assistant job at a local children's hospital just because I have no research experience and thus no idea how to get into that sort of thing. Also that hospital is starting a peds residency soon so I thought it might get me in with the right people. As for residency, I will definitely be applying to more FP/prelim surgery/psych etc next year. I hate going that route because I hate the dishonesty of it. I am a terrible liar and I know it is going to be tough keeping a straight face when an interviewer asks me "Why do you want to be a psychiatrist?" Ultimately, this is my life and my career on the line so I guess I will do what I have to.

Thank you for your advice!
 
NRAI2001 said:
Did you try research? Honestly maybe even doing a PHD? If you got a residency in the middle of your Phd you could always postpone your Phd or pick it up where ever you re doing residency? If I was having a lot of trouble matching I think thats what I would ultimately do? Or like others have said apply to every FP,IM,Peds,Psych,Prelim surgery program out there just to get your foot in the door. Once you finish one residency or atleast a few years of it... it would be much easier to switch or do a peds residency if thats what you still desire..
Click to expand...
I also forgot to mention that I am almost done with an MBA with a concentration in Healthcare Administration. I only have three courses left to take but at the times they are offered I have to take 2 in the summer and one the first part of fall.
 
Socrates25 said:
Peds is about the least competitive specialty out there, and I'm saying that as a pediatrician, so I'm surprised you didnt match. Are you sure there arent other factors here besides the grades/test scores? Did you apply only to large urban programs?

I bet if you applied to all the small community peds programs you'd match somewhere. You can basically walk into many of those small non-academic peds programs as long as you dont have serious misconduct on your record or something.
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I was under the impression it wasn't that competitive either but the last two years all but a dozen or so so programs have completely matched. As for my record, if there is something wrong other than scores I have no knowledge of it and everyone is too polite to tell me. I have never been in trouble academically or with the law. I did most of my training at a rural teaching hospital in north Florida and even got four letters of rec from their faculty members (3 intensivist and 1 adolescent specialist). I was even on a first name basis with the program coordinator. When she emailed to notify me that they were not going to be extending me an interview she said "We all know you are more than board scores, but unfortunately with the new ACGME guidelines effective this July-we (and programs across the country) are having to look more closely at them." One of my letter writers (who is the director of their research department) even went to bat for me but they just couldn't look past my scores. I even thought that maybe since I had my step 3 out of the way and had more time to study for boards I would get a shot but it hasn't worked out that way.
 
Socrates25 said:
Peds is about the least competitive specialty out there, and I'm saying that as a pediatrician, so I'm surprised you didnt match. Are you sure there arent other factors here besides the grades/test scores? Did you apply only to large urban programs?

I bet if you applied to all the small community peds programs you'd match somewhere. You can basically walk into many of those small non-academic peds programs as long as you dont have serious misconduct on your record or something.
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Also, I stuck mostly to rural programs who had a record of hiring FMG's.
 
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If you really want peds, go for it, but apply more broadly next year, and go for mostly the community programs. Generally, pedes is not particularly competitive, so I'm surprised you didn't get interviews at any of the programs. But I would also apply to something less competitive as a backup, like family medicine or psych, and I would apply broadly in that field too. That way, you at least maximize your chances of matching into something. In my opinion, family medicine might be your best choice for a backup specialty as it incorporates general pedes into its scope of practice, unlike psych, PM&R, or occupational medicine.
 
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with your failed step, IMG status, and below average scores, even something like PM&R is going to be of your reach. PM&R filled 100% this year so its fairly competitive.

if peds is really something you want to do, you're going to have to make a lot of sacrifices when you apply next round. people have already suggested applying broadly. i think you need to be prepare yourself for doing residency in some rural/undserved community like south dakota or wyoming because the chances of you landing somewhere like california or in a big city is slim to none.

sorry man, don't mean to sound harsh but thats the truth. match is only going to get more competitive each year. good luck though
 
To naus: "You should have gotten an NP or PA and then did a peds residency. It would have been cheaper, easier, faster and pay is eighty percent. But you went for the Carib MD ego. Medicine is a horribly masochist path to take for someone who is weak academically."



You didn't have to throw out such harsh words. Remember that life is a circle and no matter how strong academically you are, there comes a time when you need a push of some sort, when things don't go the way you want and you just never know. You'll probably just laugh at this, I suspect but mark these words.
 
Pediatrics used to be fairly non-competitive, but within the last couple of years, it has become increasingly more and more competitive. It is no longer available as a back-up option. There are other fields which are slightly less competitive (based on current numbers), that you may want to consider applying to, such as FM, IM, Neuro, Path, and Psych. IM is actually similarly competitive to Peds, but it has 3X the amount of residency positions that Peds has, so you have statistically greater chance of matching just by sheer numbers. If you look at the NRMP Crystal Reports for 2008-2012 data http://www.nrmp.org/data/index.html :

In 2008, out of 2382 total Peds positions, 2295 filled, and 87 unfilled (96% fill rate)
In 2009, out of 2392 total Peds positions, 2326 filled, and 66 unfilled (97% fill rate)
In 2010, out of 2428 total Peds positions, 2383 filled, and 45 unfilled (98% fill rate)
In 2011, out of 2482 total Peds positions, 2437 filled, and 45 unfilled (98% fill rate)
In 2012, out of 2475 total Peds positions, 2443 filled, and 32 unfilled (98.7% fill rate)
In 2013, out of 2616 total Peds positions, 2606 filled, and 10 unfilled (99.6% fill rate)

For other specialities this year :
In 2013, out of 3037 total FM positions, 2914 filled, and 123 unfilled (96% fill rate)
In 2013, out of 6277 total IM positions, 6242 filled, and 35 unfilled (99.4% fill rate)
In 2013, out of 361 total Neuro positions, 345 filled, and 16 unfilled (95.5% fill rate)
In 2013, out of 583 total Peds positions, 562 filled, and 21 unfilled (96.3% fill rate)

Despite the increase in number of Peds positions, there was a much much higher fill rate and Peds almost completely 100% filled. The match was overall much more competitive for ALL specialties this year, due to all the new medical schools opening in 2009 (4 years ago) and increased medical school class sizes in existing medical schools.

I'd advise you to try your best to get US clinical experience in other specialities along with LOR's in those specialities to increase your chances of matching to those fields.
 
Couple quick things: Research assistant position /= research. You will be performing assays, cleaning glassware, etc but will it be publishing. Just a warning as someone who had a career in biology before medical school working my way up the research assistant path.

Pillow aPDs advice, that's truly all you need to hear. You need to save up, and so one last application over 80 places in each specialty that aPD suggested. Family medicine is the most obvious choice for you since they get to see kids, so I'd focus there. There are FM programs even now, who only take IMGs outside the match, so start looking into FM!
 
naus said:
You should have gotten an NP or PA and then did a peds residency. It would have been cheaper, easier, faster and pay is eighty percent. But you went for the Carib MD ego. Medicine is a horribly masochist path to take for someone who is weak academically.
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$hit man DO would have been the right choice. regardless, keep trying. I would say just apply to literally every program possible in primary care. literally. every program.
 
Second the above post, DO NOT GIVE UP as I am confident something will work out if you broaden your options and seriously apply to every single program. As for what to do in the interim to bolster your resume...I would consider charity work, peace corps, research that you will be 1st or 2nd author on, or (sorry to be vague) anything that will result in you making personal connections with a PD or higher ups in a given program you have a shot at...connections can be KEY!
good luck
 
naus said:
You should have gotten an NP or PA and then did a peds residency. It would have been cheaper, easier, faster and pay is eighty percent. But you went for the Carib MD ego. Medicine is a horribly masochist path to take for someone who is weak academically.
Click to expand...

... seriously dude? Go slap yourself please. I can't believe someone as heartless as you is even considering medicine as a profession. You're going to make terrible doctor.
 
Jessipeds said:
Pediatrics used to be fairly non-competitive, but within the last couple of years, it has become increasingly more and more competitive. It is no longer available as a back-up option. There are other fields which are slightly less competitive (based on current numbers), that you may want to consider applying to, such as FM, IM, Neuro, Path, and Psych. IM is actually similarly competitive to Peds, but it has 3X the amount of residency positions that Peds has, so you have statistically greater chance of matching just by sheer numbers. If you look at the NRMP Crystal Reports for 2008-2012 data http://www.nrmp.org/data/index.html :

In 2008, out of 2382 total Peds positions, 2295 filled, and 87 unfilled (96% fill rate)
In 2009, out of 2392 total Peds positions, 2326 filled, and 66 unfilled (97% fill rate)
In 2010, out of 2428 total Peds positions, 2383 filled, and 45 unfilled (98% fill rate)
In 2011, out of 2482 total Peds positions, 2437 filled, and 45 unfilled (98% fill rate)
In 2012, out of 2475 total Peds positions, 2443 filled, and 32 unfilled (98.7% fill rate)
In 2013, out of 2616 total Peds positions, 2606 filled, and 10 unfilled (99.6% fill rate)

For other specialities this year :
In 2013, out of 3037 total FM positions, 2914 filled, and 123 unfilled (96% fill rate)
In 2013, out of 6277 total IM positions, 6242 filled, and 35 unfilled (99.4% fill rate)
In 2013, out of 361 total Neuro positions, 345 filled, and 16 unfilled (95.5% fill rate)
In 2013, out of 583 total Peds positions, 562 filled, and 21 unfilled (96.3% fill rate)

Despite the increase in number of Peds positions, there was a much much higher fill rate and Peds almost completely 100% filled. The match was overall much more competitive for ALL specialties this year, due to all the new medical schools opening in 2009 (4 years ago) and increased medical school class sizes in existing medical schools.

I'd advise you to try your best to get US clinical experience in other specialities along with LOR's in those specialities to increase your chances of matching to those fields.
Click to expand...

The percent of programs that filled strikes me as an odd indicator for competitiveness. You really need to look at scores, % AOA, and other factors that show the quality of the candidates. Going by percentage filled alone, there's nothing to say that all of these candidates weren't competitive for anything else.
 
thesauce said:
The percent of programs that filled strikes me as an odd indicator for competitiveness. You really need to look at scores, % AOA, and other factors that show the quality of the candidates. Going by percentage filled alone, there's nothing to say that all of these candidates weren't competitive for anything else.
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Most certainly. If you look at *just* % filled, ignoring the tiny specialties, special tracks and combined programs, the most competitive specialties are Ortho, EM, and PMR (!). The least competitive is Radiology, which (PGY1+PGY2) only had a 94.31% fill rate, compared to 95.95% for Family Med.

Obviously that isn't the case by any other measure.
 
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To the original poster Never give up on your dreams. Maybe the programs that you applied for weren't the right programs for you.
 
Pediatrics is significantly, significantly more competitive than internal medicine or family medicine. If you're only two years out of medical school and are an American with no visa issues, you stand a chance of matching.

I helped a friend match this year whose step scores were similar to yours (though no fails). She was 6 years out of medical school and needed a visa. She matched in FM at her first choice. We tackled it very systematically: we went to the website of every single FM program in the country and read their minimum requirements; we eliminated any program at which she didn't qualify (i.e. no 'stretches.') Most want someone <5y out of med school, most want step scores >80 with no fails, but many-- MANY-- do not. She ended up applying to 170 programs at which she met criteria. The interview yield was low, but we prepped the hell out of her and she nailed her interviews (again harder for someone from a different country for whom English was not her first language).

You can see children as a FM doc, obviously. And there is so much flexibility in family medicine that you could even tailor your eventual practice towards primary pediatrics. I think switching your speciality would absolutely be the way to go.

As far as what to do with your time now-- find a medical school, any medical school, where you're currently living. Attach yourself immediately to a tenured professor with a research program. If you have ever worked in a laboratory, or earned a biology degree, see if you can glom on to a wet lab (this is the only kind of research which has the potential of paying you). Volunteer, premed style, at indigent clinics, health fairs, etc. Keep your eagle eyes peeled for any potential resume-shining opportunity. Arrange an observorship with a family doc to shadow; see if they'll let you do H&Ps/ patient presentations, etc, so you have a more meaty letter. Ideally in October you will have letters of rec from two of your preceptors in medical school (family doc + the best peds letter you have), your research mentor, and someone you'll work with clinically in the upcoming month. People are uninterested in 2-yo letters.

Learn how to sell yourself. Find a way to spin your mediocre academics without sounding glib. Practice interviewing. Honestly, I'm not sure exactly what advantage the MBA will convey, but surely you've learned how to 'brand' yourself in business school?
 
BlondeDocteur said:
Pediatrics is significantly, significantly more competitive than internal medicine or family medicine. If you're only two years out of medical school and are an American with no visa issues, you stand a chance of matching.

I helped a friend match this year whose step scores were similar to yours (though no fails). She was 6 years out of medical school and needed a visa. She matched in FM at her first choice. We tackled it very systematically: we went to the website of every single FM program in the country and read their minimum requirements; we eliminated any program at which she didn't qualify (i.e. no 'stretches.') Most want someone <5y out of med school, most want step scores >80 with no fails, but many-- MANY-- do not. She ended up applying to 170 programs at which she met criteria. The interview yield was low, but we prepped the hell out of her and she nailed her interviews (again harder for someone from a different country for whom English was not her first language).

You can see children as a FM doc, obviously. And there is so much flexibility in family medicine that you could even tailor your eventual practice towards primary pediatrics. I think switching your speciality would absolutely be the way to go.

As far as what to do with your time now-- find a medical school, any medical school, where you're currently living. Attach yourself immediately to a tenured professor with a research program. If you have ever worked in a laboratory, or earned a biology degree, see if you can glom on to a wet lab (this is the only kind of research which has the potential of paying you). Volunteer, premed style, at indigent clinics, health fairs, etc. Keep your eagle eyes peeled for any potential resume-shining opportunity. Arrange an observorship with a family doc to shadow; see if they'll let you do H&Ps/ patient presentations, etc, so you have a more meaty letter. Ideally in October you will have letters of rec from two of your preceptors in medical school (family doc + the best peds letter you have), your research mentor, and someone you'll work with clinically in the upcoming month. People are uninterested in 2-yo letters.

Learn how to sell yourself. Find a way to spin your mediocre academics without sounding glib. Practice interviewing. Honestly, I'm not sure exactly what advantage the MBA will convey, but surely you've learned how to 'brand' yourself in business school?
Click to expand...



Thank you for the advice! I am on the look out now for somewhere to do an FM oberservership. One of my preceptors in med school is a pulmonologist who does a lot of research and I planned to ask him about whether he or one of his colleagues need an assistant. As for my MBA, the healthcare admin concentration is teaching me about hospital budgeting, team management, and other various duties that a hospital administrator would need to run a facility so I would think it would help somewhat but maybe that is just wishful thinking. Either way thank you again for the insight!
 
kjamess said:
Sorry, that doesnt make any sense.
Click to expand...

Well, weren't 2000 out of 3000 total positions in internal medicine filled with IMG/FMG this year? This would make Peds much more competitive than IM.
 
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