Anesthesiology Residency Program Advice?

[05051985]

I am currently a third year medical student in an average medical school. I have decided that I absolutely love anesthesiology, but shot myself in the foot with my Step I score. I barely made it over 200 with a 203. I have done well in school outside of my terrible board score. I have honored in every clerkship including general anesthesiology and my critical care elective except for near honors in both surgery and internal medicine. I have done research outside of anesthesiology and have submitted a manuscript for publication.
Basically, I was wondering if people think I have a shot at getting into an anesthesiology program at all? I am from California and am assuming my board score has made it impossible to go back home. Does anyone know programs that are more forgiving of a bad Step I score? Also, I was hoping to find out which programs are known for being malignant because I want to avoid them, if possible. Any advice people can give me to strengthen my chances of getting a residency spot would be greatly appreciated. Thanks so much!

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[Gern Blansten]

Do a search and see what you find. There are lots of threads on this very topic.

Don't lose heart. Do well on step II to prove you just had an off day. If the rest of your app is ok, you should get some good interviews.

 

[bcat85]

I am currently a third year medical student in an average medical school. I have decided that I absolutely love anesthesiology, but shot myself in the foot with my Step I score. I barely made it over 200 with a 203. I have done well in school outside of my terrible board score. I have honored in every clerkship including general anesthesiology and my critical care elective except for near honors in both surgery and internal medicine. I have done research outside of anesthesiology and have submitted a manuscript for publication.
Basically, I was wondering if people think I have a shot at getting into an anesthesiology program at all? I am from California and am assuming my board score has made it impossible to go back home. Does anyone know programs that are more forgiving of a bad Step I score? Also, I was hoping to find out which programs are known for being malignant because I want to avoid them, if possible. Any advice people can give me to strengthen my chances of getting a residency spot would be greatly appreciated. Thanks so much!

I agree. The rest of your app is really pretty solid. You should definitely match somewhere--though you will likely be screened out by several programs who use Step I scores to help shrink their group of potential candidates. If there is somewhere in CA you're really interested in, consider doing an away rotation there. I also second rocking Step II. Good luck. You should do fine.

 

[vector2]

It's not impossible, but make no mistake, it's going to be extremely tough with average board scores going up every year (226 avg last year). You do have a couple things going for you though including being allopathic and having excellent grades. Advice for your situation is pretty standard- get a 240-250+ on step 2, get excellent LoR's from your program/away rotations, and apply very, very broadly, we're talking somewhere between 60-100 programs.

 

[Idiopathic]

It's not impossible, but make no mistake, it's going to be extremely tough with average board scores going up every year (226 avg last year). You do have a couple things going for you though including being allopathic and having excellent grades. Advice for your situation is pretty standard- get a 240-250+ on step 2, get excellent LoR's from your program/away rotations, and apply very, very broadly, we're talking somewhere between 60-100 programs.

you had me until here

 

[vector2]

Between my experience with this year's match (and from what I've gathered from my allopathic classmates and a couple friends at DO/FMG schools), anesthesia felt significantly more competitive compared to years past. Granted, if there's no other significant weaknesses in your app you could get away with 20-40 places if your step 1 was in the mid 210s. I don't think 60 is going to be unreasonable for a score barely breaking 200 when next's year data is probably going to reveal an average step 1 approaching 230.

 

[pmichaelmd]

Things may have changed since I was looking back in the early 2000s, but even then, many of the "top-tier" programs were using a step I score of 225 as a filter to weed through the applications. If you are able to develop some sort of relationship or contacts at programs of interest by doing an away rotation, do it.
I agree with the above, I don't think you have hosed yourself completely, but understand that you will probably be screened/filtered by certain programs.
Best of luck and rock step II.

PMMD

 

[HiddenGentleman]

If you apply very broadly (I'd go with with the estimate of 60-80 programs) you will more than likely match somewhere. I feel like its definitely worth spending the extra money on the application and having the luxury of turning programs down rather than not getting enough invites. Being an allopathic US student who passed step 1 on the first attempt is a huge advantage. You most likely will not get interviews from top programs, but probably some from mid tier programs and probably a lot of lower tier programs. Apply to places you like on the coast, but also to a lot of the less popular places in the Midwest. Good luck.

 

[Arch Guillotti]

Crush Step II.

I had a similar score to yours when I went through the process a few years ago and I improved dramatically on Step II. I got interviews from places I never would have imagined, and I was a DO applicant. I realize the process has gotten more competitive but I think you have a great shot if you do a couple of aways and get good letters. California may be tough though. Malignant programs have been discussed on this forum before and can be found through a search. You will find wildly different opinions of programs so take everything with a grain of salt. There are probably at least 20 programs that are "top 5". There are a few in the gutter also. Most are somewhere in between and you get out what you put in. Good luck.

 

[bcat85]

I'll agree with those who say to apply to ~60ish programs. It costs very little to add programs on the front end (especially compared to the cost of medical school), and its much better to over-apply than under-apply.

 

[PMPMD]

At least 60 progs.

 

[PMPMD]

I am currently a third year medical student in an average medical school. I have decided that I absolutely love anesthesiology, but shot myself in the foot with my Step I score. I barely made it over 200 with a 203. I have done well in school outside of my terrible board score. I have honored in every clerkship including general anesthesiology and my critical care elective except for near honors in both surgery and internal medicine. I have done research outside of anesthesiology and have submitted a manuscript for publication.
Basically, I was wondering if people think I have a shot at getting into an anesthesiology program at all?

I think you have a shot.

I am from California and am assuming my board score has made it impossible to go back home. Does anyone know programs that are more forgiving of a bad Step I score?

You may have better luck with less competitive geographic regions, i.e. avoid the coasts. This is a broad generality, obviously there are many great programs in the middle of the country.

Also, I was hoping to find out which programs are known for being malignant because I want to avoid them, if possible. Any advice people can give me to strengthen my chances of getting a residency spot would be greatly appreciated. Thanks so much!