Any shot at all?

[abebarMD]

Hi all,

I hope this post isn’t too pathetic, but here it goes..

IMG
3.5gpa
Wonderful LORs
Step 1 204
Step 2 216
CS waiting in report

Am I insane for applying to Neuro/psych/Internal?

My university obviously recommends Family Med to all students with low step scores...

Please only helpful comments, i genuinely bust my butt studying but now have to work with the cards i’ve been dealth..

Any and all advice helps


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[GoSpursGo]

I think you already know the answer to your question and just need to hear it one more time... but go look at the SOAP thread from this past round and look at all of the hard-working FMGs with wonderful LORs with poor USMLE scores who were unable to secure a spot in the match. I'm sure you're a nice guy who cares for his patients well, but it's a numbers game. There are more FMGs looking for residency spots than available spots. It is probably getting worse every year.

Now take a look at Charting Outcomes. You didn't say whether you were a US citizen or not, but that plays a big role in your odds--you're about 50/50 to match in family medicine if you're a US citizen, lower if you aren't. For your other three specialties you are significantly <50% to match, but not zero. So it's up to you whether it's worth taking that risk, but keep in mind that if you're ranking >2 specialties it looks like your chance of matching goes down.

 

[deleted480308]

apply to a ton of FM programs and go to all the interviews......you can always rank them lower if you end up with a ton of interviews in other specialties (which is unlikely)

I'm sorry, but you have to play the cards you have

 

[quincyfuturemd]

Since it's largely a numbers game it would seem to me to be a good idea to apply to IM even with lower scores since the number of programs taking IMGs is higher than FM. It seems like there may be a better chance of hitting a program that has a spot they need to fill. Obviously I would recommend applying to as much FM as possible as well. Just my thoughts thinking in terms of the numbers game that this is.

According to NRMP match rates have been increasing every year for IMGs and went up almost 4% this year compared to last. It's still an uphill battle and I'm a realist and not trying to throw around false hope but I'm sure alot of those spots went to IM and as far as I know IMG step averages haven't been drastically improving or anything

 

[AdmiralChz]

Neuro and psych are out for sure, those are marginal pass rates.

IM is likely out, if you add a fail on CS then it’s definitely out. It’s FM or bust, and will be uphill for that depending on which school and where.