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[jok200]

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I am hearing some mixed advice on the matter, but basically the people I trust keep telling me that GPA in medical school is virtually irrelevant in the first two years... their order was..

1.step 1
2.step 2
3.3rd year grades
4.letters of recomm.


any agreements or arguments?

 

[elr1983]

I am hearing some mixed advice on the matter, but basically the people I trust keep telling me that GPA in medical school is virtually irrelevant in the first two years... their order was..

1.step 1
2.step 2
3.3rd year grades
4.letters of recomm.


any agreements or arguments?

I respectfully disagree.

I would say that in and of themselves, perhaps grades from first and second year matter less, but they are really important as far as election to AOA is concerned, at least at my school. And whether or not you're in AOA does matter. Third year grades are really important though...not only do they (theoretically) reflect how you perform clinically, but they also make up a lot of your deans letter and the attendings you meet during third year are going to be the ones writing your letters of recommendation in many cases.

I also totally disagree that step 2 is more important than third year grades/grades in general. Many people don't even take step 2 til the spring of 4th year, so I'd say it's less important. Some people take it earlier to make up for a weak step 1, so I guess it matters a little more in that case, but I'd still argue not more than grades.

LOR's are also not that important, at least from what I've heard. Unless it's from someone the person reading the letter knows, or someone very prominant who you've worked with personally, I feel like most people get letters from people who are going to say nice things about them, limiting their utility. I think the deans letter, which compares you to your classmates and is supposed to be much more objective is far more important than letters of recommendation.

Extra-curriculars/research/publications also fit in there somewhere, although I'd put research w/ publications above extra curricular stuff at most university programs.

So, I'd say that the most important things are going to be grades/AOA status and step 1. Then I'd say deans letter, then research w/ publications, then LOR's/research w/o publications/extra-curriculars.

 

[Winged Scapula]

From the horse's mouths (NRMP Program Directors 2008 Survey):

http://www.nrmp.org/data/programresultsbyspecialty.pdf

 

[jok200]

I love how you are saying the grades are important but then according to this form , grades in the first two years are ranked near the bottom of medical school performance and importance to residency director.

 

[BlondeDocteur]

But most people say that, no matter what, your third year grades are among the most important factors in residency selection. In very competitive, especially surgical, specialties, Step 1 is tied with LORs (in some fields I have heard that letters are basically the most important factor of all). In less competitive fields, Step 1 would be more important than letters, and desire to enter the specialty would be important. No matter what-- even in non-clinical specialties-- preclinical grades are always dead last.

 

[dragonfly99]

Preclinical grades are not very important in general. For super competitive specialties like derm, they would matter because EVERYTHING then matters more.

For the 4 things you've listed, I would order them:
1) 3rd year grades
2) LOR's or USMLE step I (horse race)
3) Step 2

But it really will depend somewhat on the specialty, the particular program and perhaps if you have a LOR from somebody who is a full professor and well connected that may trump a lot of other things. Your 3rd year grade in your specialty of choice, as well as your sub-I, would also matter more than your grade in a not-as-related specialtiy (i.e. the psych PD's may not care a whole lot that you didn't ace your surgery clerkship, and vice versa).

 

[IndyXRT]

The bottom line is, the relative importance of various factors varies by specialty (see the pdf posted above). At least in radiation oncology, grades from the first two years don't matter much. However, it might raise an eyebrow if you had a great USMLE score, great clinical grades, yet lousy grades in the first two years. I don't think it would be a deal breaker, though. I suppose the argument that preclinical grades help get you into AOA could be considered, but this all depends on how important you think AOA is (there are other threads on this topic).