Anesthesiology and Step I

[bigfrank]

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Hello everyone,

I have heard A LOT of smoke being blown around about "how competitive Anesthesiology is becoming," but have never heard anyone surmise about what is a "strong" Step I score to be a competitive candidate.

That said, WHAT IS A COMPETITIVE SCORE for the next few years? Please don't say "no one knows" or "265 is strong," that goes without saying.

All the other specialties have some sort of parameter that is set in terms of Step I (Emergency = >225, Radiology = >235, Derm = >245, Internal Medicine = >205, etc.) and I think it would be wise to consider this in terms of anesthesia.

Aren't there 1100+ spots in the match?

What do you guys think? I'm hoping for a "frank" discussion of this topic (excuse the pun), in light of the recent surge in anesthesiology's popularity. Do the top students pursue it, etc.?

Thanks, Frank Caoul 😀

 

[navs]

Even though I'm a future anesthetist, I will be the first to say I don't think anesth. can possible be as comp. as the other fields mentioned.

There are just TOO MANY positions available and due the use of anesth. res. as cheap labor to man OR's I don't think this will change, especially with the surge of popularity.

I don't know exact nos. so I won't try to make some up and end up misleading u, but I believe one PD/Chief summarize it best, "...getting into an anesth. program will still won't be extremely hard, but to get into a top 20 program will be VERY comp."

Good luck.

 

[Whisker Barrel Cortex]

I think anesthesia has gotten more competitive over the past year, but is still a pretty easy match. Even some top 20 programs take people with Step I scores much below average and below average grades. I know this because some people in my class got into great anesthesia programs (Northwestern, MCW, others) with board scores 190-210. I know of someone that got in with terrible third year evaluations (reflected in dean's letters) and grades. That being said, it is becoming more competitive and I am sure it will be slightly more competitive next year. I would geuss that getting the mean on Step I and average grades should get you a great spot.

I think the Step I pararmeters you listed for other specialties are good for general comparison of competitiveness, but not very accurate. I had a board score lower than that listed for radiology and got into a great university radiology program. If you want to go to one of the top 10 programs, these cutoffs might be more accurate.

 

[godfather]

you'll probably need more than a 200 on step 1 next year. this year i had a 220 on step 1 but was very average in everything else (ie only honored only 1 clerkship), and matched at my FIFTH choice. now part of this has to do with me being a real procrastinator (ie didn't get my lor on time, app was late, didn't write any thankyou letters to the PD(i think this makes a difference). however i still interviewed at some quality programs (upenn, vanderbilt, etc) and even told upenn they were my top choice but still ended up getting my fifth choice. My belief is that the scores you'll probably need will rise by 5-10 years per year for the next two or three years, until the job market cools down and then their could be a downturn. anyways anaesthesia is an extremely volatile field and be ready. I mean as funny as it sounds, there might be just as good chance that you need a 250 next year as a 170, and this could simply happen if some profession shaking news occurs such as crna's are given complete independace in all 50 states vs 3 states. Also keep in mind that anaesthesiologist are dependant on surgery for their jobs. If the number of surgeries goes down(and they are going down, ie ct surgery is much rarer now than 10 years ago) the need for anaesthesiologists goes down.

 

[Yogi Patel]

I agree completely with the godfather. There is no way to know year to year how competetive it will be. This year I was rejected by my top 3 choices (MGH, Stanford, Hopkins) but matched at my 4th (Brigham & Women's). I had a 226 Step 1 score, research in anesthesiology, above average grades from a top 15 med school (according to U.S. News). Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining, but my suspicion is that someone with my profile 2 years ago would have matched at their first choice pretty easily.

I think that the competetiveness of anesthesiology is similar to internal medicine. You can always match somewhere, but to get into a very prestigious program you probably need around a 230 and be in the top 25% of your class. But who knows, in another two years we might be back to recruiting 80% IMGs...

 

[Sevo]

•••quote:•••Originally posted by bigfrank:
•Hello everyone,

That said, WHAT IS A COMPETITIVE SCORE for the next few years? Please don't say "no one knows" or "265 is strong," that goes without saying.
😀 •••••I agree with Yogi. As long as you break 200 on Step I, you shouldn't have a problem getting into a community program. You may need a little more to get into a decent university program. <img border="0" alt="[Wowie]" title="" src="graemlins/wowie.gif" />

However, good grades, a good Step I score (220+), and a good medical school may be required now to get a foot in the door of a top name East Coast program. A rotation there wouldn't hurt either. Anesthesiologists love known quantities.

The days of 205 getting you an expense-paid flight to Baltimore to interview at Hopkins is probably over. Likewise are the days of St. George grads doing their CA-1 years at MGH.

😛

 

[halothane]

Dear friends, Iam an IMG from India. I got into to University of Miami this year(pre match), it was legal as I am an independent applicant. The condition was that I drop out of the match. Now I was really tempted to go into anes. becos 1 I love the subject 2 My seniors though FMGs had gotten into Cleveland Clinic, U of Pennsylvania outside the match last year. I thought.. well looks like Anes. is still a field where IMG get into top notch programs provided they have good scores( I had 250 on both steps, my seniors who got into to top notch programs had about the same)
Well this year my calcualtions went a little wrong bcos so many US grads applied (up almost 18%...with ranks per position being the same as OBG=6.5 per postion for US grads, visit <a href="http://www.nrmp.org" target="_blank">www.nrmp.org</a> data tables). I did not get called for an interview at U penn. I did interview at Cleveland and was to interview at U Iowa, Wash U, NYU when I took the out of match position at U Miami considering the competition for AN this year and also bcos my program offered my a PGY in IM. So with this I answer the questions 1. for US grads it was about as comp as OBG for FMGs it comes to getting 250 and more to get into a good university program. Thats all. Best of Luck.