am i competitive

[TheCat]

Well I know how we all hate these questions but I am guilty of asking them somtimes as I am narrowing down my list of schools to apply to I think its helpful to get everyones feedback considering I only have time in my schedule to interview at about 6 places. I want to go to a pretty decent university program, or a strong community program in cali. Also a decent university program at other good places.
My stuff - Step 1-220, Step 2 235(sumitted with application) First 2 years grades all passes. 1 honors and the rest passes for third year. Average-good LOR, no research, moderate ECs/volunteer stuff.

Just curious on what level that puts me at compared to other medicine applicants. I am asking because I previously was set on doing surgery and really had no care or idea what medicine competitiveness is/was. Thanks alot guys! catman

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[tv1]

Hey catman,
Glad you came to the right side
Medicine is funny- people say its not competitive, but in many respects it is. The programs that get discussed MOST on SDN generally take students with stats that would rival derm, optho, radiology etc, and generally only take AOA. By this I mean UCSF, Duke, B&W, hopkins, UCLA, MGH etc...

That being said, you have solid boards, and it sounds like you made it thru med school just fine. You can always throw your hat in the ring with some of the highly competitive places and see how you do! I would advise against ONLY applying to the small handfull of programs I listed above.

There really are a TON of medicine programs in Cali. Many of them are academic. If that is where you want to stay you have a large number of good programs with solid training that might not be on everyone's national radar.
Good luck!

 

[pintsized]

your stats are very good - will depend a bunch on where you are coming from in terms of med school

 

[TheCat]

your stats are very good - will depend a bunch on where you are coming from in terms of med school

Thanks guys-I am coming from about a #45 school or so-atleast a couple years ago. In the 40-50 range anyway-nothing great. Thanks for the advice I know these are annoying posts.

 

[new_avatar]

Hey catman,
Glad you came to the right side
Medicine is funny- people say its not competitive, but in many respects it is. The programs that get discussed MOST on SDN generally take students with stats that would rival derm, optho, radiology etc, and generally only take AOA. By this I mean UCSF, Duke, B&W, hopkins, UCLA, MGH etc...

Even though these are competitive medicine programs, they don't rival derm and ophto and the like because medicine programs have MORE SLOTS and by far. A lot of the competitiveness for small programs isn't so much numbers but people you know and fit (numbers to a degree are a given), because when your urology program has 2 slots a year, the attendings better really like those two peeps. It's different when you have an intern class of 20+. You will always end up with a couple socially inept goofballs with no patient care skills. But that's ok, the class is big enough to absorb that.

 

[orientedtoself]

cat,
You sound like a solid applicant. You should be fine. I'm a little confused, though- you applied this season? o2s

 

[Coolio30]

cat,
You sound like a solid applicant. You should be fine. I'm a little confused, though- you applied this season? o2s

Does a guy, with similar to slightly higher stats (H in medicine), slightly higher board score, have a chance at the best programs in nyc (assuming they are from a med school in the northeast, no AOA, minimal research). Thanks.