5th year + boards, chances in peds?

[moonwake]

So I'm finishing 2nd year (technically 3rd year since I 5th year'd) at a D.O. school in the midwest and I'm going to be taking COMLEX in 6 weeks. I got a 360 and 380 on my baselines (just now starting to really dedicate time towards board studying) and things are kind of a mess in terms of my resume. No research, no leadership, mostly Bs. With this merger how are my odds of getting a residency in peds (assuming I will get way < 470. Are peds residencies huge on board scores (more specifically Arizona/New Mexico if any of you know any of the programs)? Are D.O. peds residencies more/less competitive than ACGME? I want to be a pediatrician more than anything but I kind of want to prepare myself if it seems a little out of reach given my situation and probable board score.

Any help about anything Peds is always amazing. Thanks in advance

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[Spectreman]

How did you end up doing on COMLEX? Isn’t 400 the minimum to pass? I thought schools won’t let you take it unless you hit 450ish on a practice.

 

[hallowmann]

How did you end up doing on COMLEX? Isn’t 400 the minimum to pass? I thought schools won’t let you take it unless you hit 450ish on a practice.

Varies depending on the school. Most will let you take it but recommend you take more time to study. I've heard of recommended COMSAE school cutoffs of between 400-475. Also, OP isn't taking it for like another 5 wks.

To answer OPs question, Peds isn't super competitive, but you are going to have to apply broadly if you have a low COMLEX score. There are certainly some programs out there that are OK with just a pass. I would strongly recommend working as much as you can to score as high as you can on the COMLEX (good advice to basically anyone). Then you'll need to research programs, and you'll need to apply broadly (meaning I wouldn't limit yourself to AZ/NM), and you'll need to find programs that have traditionally taken DOs in the past.

As a general rule AOA programs are less competitive than ACGME programs, but you'll be applying to only ACGME programs anyways, so no point even worrying about that.

 

[ortnakas]

I think you’ll be able to get interviews, but you won’t be able to afford to be geographically picky.