Am I worrying to much?

[unleash500]

---

Members don't see this ad.

I am a current US AMG from a decent top 30 school. I have a low step 1 (below average) and am at the bottom quartile of my class. I have made it up with a high step 2 ck and honors in my Sub-I. Knowing I am a below average candidate, I have applied to mainly community programs on the west coast.

I currently have around 15 interviews lined up. I know I am very fortunate to have these interviews, but in the end I am just worried I won't be ranked very highly by programs because of my poor application. I am very anxious that I have will match very low on my rank list because of this.

Does anyone have any personal experience with this? The data says most be match pretty reasonably within their top 5 , but does that apply to below average applicants applying for low tier community programs?

 

[buonassezia]

You are probably the right fit and caliber of applicant they are looking for and typically match, and they wouldn't be offering you an interview unless they would strongly consider ranking you. They've already seen your scores and whole record. If they were repelled enough by your application and really didn't plan to rank you based on application stats, they wouldn't waste their time with an interview. So they have seen your record, and they are happy enough with it to take the chance spending some time to get to know you. Be your best self and go in feeling like you belong there. As long as you don't consistently act crazy and mess up your interviews, you should be just fine. And 15 is a very good number. I don't doubt you'll match, unless you are truly bizarre in person.


(Aside snark: at least you are not too worried about spelling...)

 

[Crayola227]

Based soley on what you have told me, I think you are in good shape.

The combo of being from a top 30 but bottom of class averages you out to community tier just fine.
The low step 1 is offset by a higher step 2.
The lower quartile grades offset by subI honors.

You do not have a "poor" application just based on being bottom quartile from a top 30 school and having a below average step 1 but yet a solid step 2. Statistics determine averages and by definition you must have below average people, in medicine that should not mean that there is not a place for them. That does not mean you are a loser get your mind right. It just means you need to use your school of origin and charm to your best advantage. I say this because being a "crap" student at a great school vs a rockstar at a crap school, in any case aiming for a lower tier community program is just fine.

Average to below average students from top 30 academic universities are just what decent community programs would like to have.

People just have to understand that if they a little fish in the big pond of their med school that their residency program is going to be a step down in tier from their school. That's fine. We don't always move upstream in life. Being bottom of class from a great school can just mean you do residency somewhere no one recognizes by name (Presbyterian Sacred Heart of the Saints? Where?). You may not go on to be Surgeon General or fellowship. You may just graduate and go into general practice like 90% of all your colleagues.

15 is great, if you get more offers and can go to them do it. I say never turn down on interview unless you have a compelling reason to. Rank every program unless you really think they would terminate you if you matched there or you might terminate yourself, ie you would rather go unmatched and try again than go there.

 

[IMreshopeful]

You'll be fine. I have friends and classmates who were in a similar boat (from a mid tier US allo school) with below average scores and average otherwise stats. They got a mix of interviews which ranged from okay to great places and they matched at their top 3 choices.

Unless the match is insanely difficult this year (which would be odd for medicine) I'm sure you'll do just fine.