Applying with red flags

[Hopey123]

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Hi, Im a worried 4th year student and would love to hear any advice I can get. I have some glaring deficiencies on my app. First and second year was going great (consistently scoring well above class mean) but during second semester 2nd year I went through a rough patch with my family. Happened right before an exam. Long story short I failed by one point, which counted as a fail for the entire block despite having an average well above the pass level (in the 90s) for the other two exams in that block. Fast forward a bit, with confidence shot, family probs still going on and having to remediate the exam during step 1 study period, I bombed and got a <220. Third year was ok about 50% honors (not in IM) but all evals were good. I decided to take an mph year and do research (not in IM) after third year. Which turned out to be more useful than expected because i decided to switch to IM. Throughout this and as 3rd year progressed, there was a lot of self evaluation and I learned how to separate the effect of home life on work. Step 2 i got a 260+. Recommendations should be strong, but with all of the red flags on my resume Im not sure how I will be perceived. I really would love to an opportunity for a fellowship (cards, GI are most exciting to me).
Any thoughts would be appreciated.

thanks everyone!

 

[CatFactorial]

It seems like you've caught your footing after the stumbles so you should probably be fine.

 

[jdh71]

I must have missed the "red flags".

 

[Hopey123]

Thank you for your replies. By red flags I mean the remediated exam, low step 1, and only 50% honors. With a pass/fail grading for the first 2 years, it shows up as a "pass" but has an attached note that I had one remediated exam. However it doesn't show how well the other exams and courses have gone. Although I've learned a lot from the experience, Im really down on myself because I allowed myself to get distracted after working so hard. To an extent I snowballed a bit, but continuously making a stronger effort to stop the progression was essentially what I needed. Im just nervous that damage control is a bit too late given I have my eyes set on some of the more competitive fellowships.

 

[Gastrapathy]

You'll have no trouble matching IM. Cards and GI may be a little tougher but they really aren't as competitive as they appear for a US MD grad. You'd be well-served to focus your IM match on mid-tier university programs with large fellowships since your local program will be your best shot.

 

[Hopey123]

Thank you all for the responses! Any suggestions for mid-tier programs on the east coast?