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- Nov 23, 2018
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I'm in the middle of my 3rd year at a reputable academic MD program in the Western US. I've been considering urology during all of medical school and am at the point where I need to pull the trigger but am worried about my level of competitiveness going into my 4th year. Willing to apply very broadly but not wanting to apply with a significant risk of not matching. Would love some honest feedback.
Academics: My school is P/F for pre-clinical curriculum, though it does rank students. I ended up around the 60th-75th percentile in my class for pre-clinical grading. For clinical grades, I got a "High Pass" on all of my rotations. No "Passes" but also no "Honors." My evaluations were all very strong, my school was just stingy about doling out Honors and I missed about half of them but a matter of a few points. I passed Step 1 and am currently preparing for Step 2, debating whether or not I should submit the score or apply without.
Research: I have 5 urology-specific research experiences with 4 abstracts, 2 poster presentations, and no published manuscripts. Hoping to have a manuscript published (with myself as 1st author) by the time of my application submission but this is not a guarantee at this point.
EC's: I have an average amount of EC's, two of which being year-long leadership positions, one of which being a co-founder of a volunteer organization on campus.
LOR: I will have a strong LOR from a urology faculty member and a strong letter from the urology department. I assume I will be able to get another couple of letters from away rotations.
From now until application time, I will have a Step 2 score (hopefully 250+), a 1st author published manuscript in urology (hopefully), and an in-house sub-I, along with 2-3 away rotations completed.
What do you all think? I'd love to be optimistic but would rather be realistic and cut my losses now if it is too risky to move forward. There are a couple of other less-competitive fields that I am also interested in, but neither are easy to apply to as backups, so I would rather go all-in on one than play the risky balancing act.
Academics: My school is P/F for pre-clinical curriculum, though it does rank students. I ended up around the 60th-75th percentile in my class for pre-clinical grading. For clinical grades, I got a "High Pass" on all of my rotations. No "Passes" but also no "Honors." My evaluations were all very strong, my school was just stingy about doling out Honors and I missed about half of them but a matter of a few points. I passed Step 1 and am currently preparing for Step 2, debating whether or not I should submit the score or apply without.
Research: I have 5 urology-specific research experiences with 4 abstracts, 2 poster presentations, and no published manuscripts. Hoping to have a manuscript published (with myself as 1st author) by the time of my application submission but this is not a guarantee at this point.
EC's: I have an average amount of EC's, two of which being year-long leadership positions, one of which being a co-founder of a volunteer organization on campus.
LOR: I will have a strong LOR from a urology faculty member and a strong letter from the urology department. I assume I will be able to get another couple of letters from away rotations.
From now until application time, I will have a Step 2 score (hopefully 250+), a 1st author published manuscript in urology (hopefully), and an in-house sub-I, along with 2-3 away rotations completed.
What do you all think? I'd love to be optimistic but would rather be realistic and cut my losses now if it is too risky to move forward. There are a couple of other less-competitive fields that I am also interested in, but neither are easy to apply to as backups, so I would rather go all-in on one than play the risky balancing act.
