Midnight_oil
New Member
- Joined
- Jul 18, 2019
- Messages
- 7
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M3 from mid-tier US MD program. First two years went well, I was middle of the pack academically, nothing amazing. Got the wonderful news today that I failed USMLE 1. Not sure what happened, still processing it all, I need not list the range of emotions I've gone through in the last 24 hours. I knew I wouldn't blow it out of the water with serial 210s on practice tests, but thought it was perhaps good enough. Never saw myself as high-risk. No excuses, no one to blame but me. I just have to refocus and make it right. I understand that I won't be guaranteed anything, and that my road will be long and treacherous from here. The general wisdom is probably something along the lines of "hang in there, blow it out of the water on your second attempt, rock M3 year, rock USMLE 2 CK/CS, and get amazing LORs, etc". I am certainly appreciative of those sentiments.
My interest has always been in neurology. I've loved it shadowing inpatient and outpatient, done tons of research (with multiple pubs) and ECs in neuro, and loved it more than anything during pre-clinical by a large margin. I'm a newly-minted M3 who has yet to experience the entire world of medicine, and I certainly welcome the fact that another specialty can sweep me off my feet at any point, despite my previous inclinations. However, let's just say for argument's sake that A.) I retain my passion for neuro through M3, do well in the rotation, and no other specialty pulls me in, and B.) check off all the aforementioned boxes to polish my now-turd of an application. Would neuro be a realistic goal? I'd be willing to apply to every single program in the country (I believe there's 159 of them) just to get a shot. Any shot. And further, even IF I was to get in, is a USMLE failure an automatic no-go for future fellowship potential? (Not trying to look too far ahead, just wanna know what's potentially in store).
I know, there are many, many "what ifs" that are still not known. I've got a lot of work to do and feel like I let myself and everyone down, but there's no time to wallow in that. Am I still (at least partly) in control of my own destiny? Or is this going to be an IM/FM/Peds only scenario? If so, I'd like to know so I can start focusing my energy there. Throw the kitchen sink at me, I can do nothing more now than be humbled.
My many thanks
My interest has always been in neurology. I've loved it shadowing inpatient and outpatient, done tons of research (with multiple pubs) and ECs in neuro, and loved it more than anything during pre-clinical by a large margin. I'm a newly-minted M3 who has yet to experience the entire world of medicine, and I certainly welcome the fact that another specialty can sweep me off my feet at any point, despite my previous inclinations. However, let's just say for argument's sake that A.) I retain my passion for neuro through M3, do well in the rotation, and no other specialty pulls me in, and B.) check off all the aforementioned boxes to polish my now-turd of an application. Would neuro be a realistic goal? I'd be willing to apply to every single program in the country (I believe there's 159 of them) just to get a shot. Any shot. And further, even IF I was to get in, is a USMLE failure an automatic no-go for future fellowship potential? (Not trying to look too far ahead, just wanna know what's potentially in store).
I know, there are many, many "what ifs" that are still not known. I've got a lot of work to do and feel like I let myself and everyone down, but there's no time to wallow in that. Am I still (at least partly) in control of my own destiny? Or is this going to be an IM/FM/Peds only scenario? If so, I'd like to know so I can start focusing my energy there. Throw the kitchen sink at me, I can do nothing more now than be humbled.
My many thanks
