Hello all,
I was hoping to get some advice for my upcoming residency applications, but first I'd like to tell my story. I graduated from a well-respected medical school last year, after attempting to match in EM. Unfortunately, by about December, I had no interviews. That fact, combined with my budding interests in physiatry, led me to discuss my options with a physiatrist who was helping to start a new physiatry residency program at a different school. He advised me that since my applications would be submitted so late (this is around January), that I should try and find something else to do between match application periods for one, maybe two years.
He put me into contact with a physiatrist/scientist that researches muscular dystrophies. Fortunately for me, he was short-staffed since his graduate students/post docs had all left for other jobs/school. Fast forward a couple of months, and I was graduating from med school with a job lined up at this physiatrists' research lab.
Since then I have been researching types of muscular dystrophy, but also helping my new boss write outlines for a chapter in a physiatry resident board-exam book. We plan on letting me follow/observe him during his clinic, but other things in the lab have been keeping everyone busy as of late. I feel like this is a perfect primer for preparing for residency, since I'm being exposed to topics that are directly related to the specialty. On top of all of this, I've been using step 2 ck question banks to keep my medical knowledge sharp. And relatively soon, I'll be exposed to patients and continue to hone patient interaction skills, etc. With all of that in mind, I'd like to highlight the things I think that will negatively impact my application.
Our school had a two strike policy with scoring less than 75% on an average of three exams. During our biochem block I averaged a 74%. The next year our grading system changed, and instead of an average of three exams, each separate grade on an exam would count as a "strike" if one scored under 75%. I scored a 74% on our heme/onc test. So, two strikes equals I was put on "probation" but I was essentially in school full time, taking more tests, doing fine. Not coincidentally, during my heme/onc block (fall 2012) my best friend in med school was becoming severely addicted to painkillers/benzos. Over that period of time I would try and help him, but later on that summer (June 2013) he passed away. From then on school became even more difficult since my mind wasn't entirely invested, and about a year later I had to take step 2 cs, I wasn't focusing since it was a month after the 1 year anniversary and I failed. Later on in Jan 2015, I took it again and passed. So to recap, I had a bad grade in heme/onc that led to probation, then about 1.5-2 years later I failed step 2 cs. My class rank obviously suffered from all of this as well. Also, my step 1 is 217 and step 2ck is 223 (first try passes).
With all of this in mind, I'd like to know what people think my chances of getting into a residency are? What steps should I take so that my application looks more favorable? Any advice would be much appreciated, I'm just starting to think about this more and more since app prep usually starts in the summer. Also, feel free to ask additional questions.
I was hoping to get some advice for my upcoming residency applications, but first I'd like to tell my story. I graduated from a well-respected medical school last year, after attempting to match in EM. Unfortunately, by about December, I had no interviews. That fact, combined with my budding interests in physiatry, led me to discuss my options with a physiatrist who was helping to start a new physiatry residency program at a different school. He advised me that since my applications would be submitted so late (this is around January), that I should try and find something else to do between match application periods for one, maybe two years.
He put me into contact with a physiatrist/scientist that researches muscular dystrophies. Fortunately for me, he was short-staffed since his graduate students/post docs had all left for other jobs/school. Fast forward a couple of months, and I was graduating from med school with a job lined up at this physiatrists' research lab.
Since then I have been researching types of muscular dystrophy, but also helping my new boss write outlines for a chapter in a physiatry resident board-exam book. We plan on letting me follow/observe him during his clinic, but other things in the lab have been keeping everyone busy as of late. I feel like this is a perfect primer for preparing for residency, since I'm being exposed to topics that are directly related to the specialty. On top of all of this, I've been using step 2 ck question banks to keep my medical knowledge sharp. And relatively soon, I'll be exposed to patients and continue to hone patient interaction skills, etc. With all of that in mind, I'd like to highlight the things I think that will negatively impact my application.
Our school had a two strike policy with scoring less than 75% on an average of three exams. During our biochem block I averaged a 74%. The next year our grading system changed, and instead of an average of three exams, each separate grade on an exam would count as a "strike" if one scored under 75%. I scored a 74% on our heme/onc test. So, two strikes equals I was put on "probation" but I was essentially in school full time, taking more tests, doing fine. Not coincidentally, during my heme/onc block (fall 2012) my best friend in med school was becoming severely addicted to painkillers/benzos. Over that period of time I would try and help him, but later on that summer (June 2013) he passed away. From then on school became even more difficult since my mind wasn't entirely invested, and about a year later I had to take step 2 cs, I wasn't focusing since it was a month after the 1 year anniversary and I failed. Later on in Jan 2015, I took it again and passed. So to recap, I had a bad grade in heme/onc that led to probation, then about 1.5-2 years later I failed step 2 cs. My class rank obviously suffered from all of this as well. Also, my step 1 is 217 and step 2ck is 223 (first try passes).
With all of this in mind, I'd like to know what people think my chances of getting into a residency are? What steps should I take so that my application looks more favorable? Any advice would be much appreciated, I'm just starting to think about this more and more since app prep usually starts in the summer. Also, feel free to ask additional questions.
. Positive I had a correctly formatted SLOE. I honestly think it has to do with the probation because other than that my credentials are similar/better than other people who matched in the past year. I'm honestly happy the way it worked out. Since I started working and having daily discussions with my boss, I feel like I made the right choice. We'll see what happens with the match, just wanted to put some feelers out there and read as much advice as possible.
