Am I in deep trouble?

[superfly24]

With the Match season underway I've begun to apply to programs but am now wondering if I even have a chance.

I'm a US IMG 3 years out of medical school.

Step 1 1st attempt 183/72
Step 1 2nd attempt 218/92
CS 1st attempt failed
CS Passed 2nd attempt
Step 2 1st attempt fail 186/74
Step 2 2nd attempt in a few weeks...

It's not a lack of understanding of the material but I always have terrible time management issues. It takes me forever to read the questions. For my CS I just didn't have time to finish many of my notes.

I have fairly good LOR's, US Clinical experience, no publications/research.

Do I have a shot at anything? Hopeful for IM but would really take anything FP/Psych/Peds.

Also should I rush to pass step 2 ck so that programs see I'm done with it, or should I put it off and try and get a better score (although I'm worried I won't get any interviews without it).

Any advice, thoughts would be appreciated.

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[LouisianaDoctor]

It definitely sucks that you don't have a passing CK score going into interview season. If you apply to smaller FP programs you'll probably get a couple of interviews. But if you don't have the pass in by match day, you're toast.

You definitely need to pass the CK ASAP. Otherwise you may have to wait until 2013 match. Don't worry about your history of fails, etc. At the FP I did most of my time at there were a couple of US (LSU) docs who had failed multiple steps multiple times. Despite what you read in these forums, where EVERYBODY makes a 272, most people, are, well, average

IM might be pretty hard to get though. You of course will be well served to at least start a FP, etc, and then switch over. Just gotta get your foot in the door.

Good luck.

Regarding your timing issues with the tests, I had the same problem. Are you doing UWORLD questions? I did about 3,000 of them. You'll see how the middle chunk of the question rarely has any relevance to the question. Also, you'll become very intimate with the patterns. Ie, you see a patient that complains of this, and this, and you can glance at the answers and know what kind of question it is. I was able to fly through at least 30 questions on the CK just by being familiar with their formats. I passed.

 

[nieceyj12]

I think you can still get something, and I think you're looking in the right places. You definitely need to go ahead and pass Step 2! The circumstances can be explained in your personal statement and interviews. If I were you I would take a more strategic approach to my applications. Go on the NRMP website and look at the new data they put out, and apply to programs in IM/FP, etc that didn't fill all of their spots last year. The more spots that went unfilled the better, I think it will increase your chances of being accepted, especially if you're willing to take ANYTHING! You can still go through the data by state and where you wanna live, and throw some applications to places where you really wanna go, but if you put the majority into "safer" places. I'm sure you'll get something!

Good luck!!

 

[superfly24]

It definitely sucks that you don't have a passing CK score going into interview season. If you apply to smaller FP programs you'll probably get a couple of interviews. But if you don't have the pass in by match day, you're toast.

You definitely need to pass the CK ASAP. Otherwise you may have to wait until 2013 match. Don't worry about your history of fails, etc. At the FP I did most of my time at there were a couple of US (LSU) docs who had failed multiple steps multiple times. Despite what you read in these forums, where EVERYBODY makes a 272, most people, are, well, average

IM might be pretty hard to get though. You of course will be well served to at least start a FP, etc, and then switch over. Just gotta get your foot in the door.

Good luck.

Regarding your timing issues with the tests, I had the same problem. Are you doing UWORLD questions? I did about 3,000 of them. You'll see how the middle chunk of the question rarely has any relevance to the question. Also, you'll become very intimate with the patterns. Ie, you see a patient that complains of this, and this, and you can glance at the answers and know what kind of question it is. I was able to fly through at least 30 questions on the CK just by being familiar with their formats. I passed.

Thanks for the input. Yes, I did uworld completely before my 1st step 2 attempt. Had 62 overall. Going through a second time I'm at about an 82 but wondering if my time is best spent on other resources.

Uworld SA had a 229 (2 weeks ago, although I originally did it when I first wrote my step so although I didn't remember any of the questions I feel that my score is likely skewed.)

NMBE 4 had a 207 (last week)
New free USMLE with the abstracts (79% yesterday)...the abstracts killed me

 

[superfly24]

I think you can still get something, and I think you're looking in the right places. You definitely need to go ahead and pass Step 2! The circumstances can be explained in your personal statement and interviews. If I were you I would take a more strategic approach to my applications. Go on the NRMP website and look at the new data they put out, and apply to programs in IM/FP, etc that didn't fill all of their spots last year. The more spots that went unfilled the better, I think it will increase your chances of being accepted, especially if you're willing to take ANYTHING! You can still go through the data by state and where you wanna live, and throw some applications to places where you really wanna go, but if you put the majority into "safer" places. I'm sure you'll get something!

Good luck!!

I had the same thought process and applied to what I saw didn't fill according the the NRMP release. Also used Matcharesident (not sure how good it is but a place to start) as a guideline for some programs that may still look at me when I use their score and fail filters.

 

[LouisianaDoctor]

I had the same thought process and applied to what I saw didn't fill according the the NRMP release. Also used Matcharesident (not sure how good it is but a place to start) as a guideline for some programs that may still look at me when I use their score and fail filters.

Do you have a link to the programs that didn't fill according to NRMP?

 

[UDontKnow]

Do you have a link to the programs that didn't fill according to NRMP?

http://www.sguocg.net/yal1ng13nnhahs4sd8ruYYGsmN/elements/unfilled.pdf

http://www.nrmp.org/data/resultsanddata2011.pdf

 

[LouisianaDoctor]

Thank you very kindly!

It's crazy how many programs don't fill up.

 

[wannabeOBGYN]

I have nothing useful to say, other than good luck.

I've met several program directors (albeit for OB/GYN, but PDs nonetheless) who said they won't even look at an application if the boards aren't passed on the first try. Another PD told me there's talk of not allowing students to continue on in U.S. medical schools if they don't pass boards the first time, since so many programs won't consider them anyway. Luckily for people in situations such as yours it has not happened yet, but it is apparently something under consideration.

Just something for people to think about...

 

[PokerDoc]

I have nothing useful to say, other than good luck.

I've met several program directors (albeit for OB/GYN, but PDs nonetheless) who said they won't even look at an application if the boards aren't passed on the first try. Another PD told me there's talk of not allowing students to continue on in U.S. medical schools if they don't pass boards the first time, since so many programs won't consider them anyway. Luckily for people in situations such as yours it has not happened yet, but it is apparently something under consideration.

Just something for people to think about...

I don't buy this for a minute. Anyone can have a bad day, while the test is the only standard measure programs have, it's silly to assume that a failing grade on step I means a person cannot be a capable physician.