Applying to Surgery with low Step 1 Score

[optimisticpremed118]

I am a current MS3 going to a top 20 medical school wanting to apply to general surgery with a step 1 score <210. I am confident that I can do much better on step 2 but I wanted to figure out what my best option is at this point. I also have a lot of questions and have been feeling very lost about what I should be doing.
With step 1 becoming P/F will step 2 be expected to weigh more already in the 2021-2022 cycle?
Would step 1 be considered less important in the 2022-2023 cycle?
Does taking a research year generally help with getting into general surgery?
If I am dead set on surgery would there be opportunities to do a residency swap if I dual apply to gen surg/IM or family after my first year?
With going the SOAP/prelim route are there some programs that are known to regularly accept prelims into their categorical surgery programs after their PGY1?

Thank you!

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[Banco]

So take a deep breath, you still have plenty of time. Worrying about SOAP/Prelim route is premature at this current point. People with low Step 1s do match general surgery. You need to compensate for it by a few ways:


1) Crush Step 2 (240+) - probably most important in your position
2) Get good clinical grades
3) Get good LORs from accomplished surgeons (should be easy at Top 20 MD school no?)
4) Publications/research - research years are not the norm in GS, but some people definitely do them
5) Away rotations - making a good impression can help you out
6) Apply broadly (very important, lots of apps to a variety of programs - community, hybrid, academic) - the wider the net you cast, the more interviews you get, and the higher the chance of matching!


If you play around with charting outcomes here, you can see that the match rate for US MD seniors in general surgery is about 50% for applicants with a step 1 200-209. However, that jumps to 80+% if you get also have a 240+ on step 2. Plus your school prestige might give you a little nudge too.

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[SpliceOfLife]

You need to crush STEP2. Your situation may be less dire than say, 5 years ago, now that STEP1 is becoming pass/fail. Therefore I would imagine residency admissions committees would be more likely to forgive a bad score given that a ton of other people applying have no actual score.