Average step 1..suggestions!!?

[purplerain1220]

Hey guys,
I'm starting to think of where to apply for next year. Although I have a bunch of good things for my application, I am a bit worried about my less than stellar board scores. Does anyone have any suggestions for good IM programs I would be competitive for?? I'd like to do Cards and I was thinking of IM programs such as UMPC, Baylor, UTSW, Jefferson, BU, Umass. I just dont know how well people with my step 1 do in the match?? Any suggestions of good programs with good fellowship matches?? Not too concerned about location. Id really appreciate it!

-Step 1: 217, will hopefully do better on step 2
- high/middle ranking medical school
-all high passes and 1 honors so far...planning to honor my medicine sub-I
-One publication and currently working on 2 other projects that will hopefully lead to more publications
-Tri-lingual (Spanish and Portuguese)
-World traveler with tons of volunteer work
-Bunch of student leadership things, good ECs

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[gutonc]

Hey guys,
I'm starting to think of where to apply for next year. Although I have a bunch of good things for my application, I am a bit worried about my less than stellar board scores. Does anyone have any suggestions for good IM programs I would be competitive for?? I'd like to do Cards and I was thinking of IM programs such as UMPC, Baylor, UTSW, Jefferson, BU, Umass. I just dont know how well people with my step 1 do in the match?? Any suggestions of good programs with good fellowship matches?? Not too concerned about location. Id really appreciate it!

-Step 1: 217, will hopefully do better on step 2
- high/middle ranking medical school
-all high passes and 1 honors so far...planning to honor my medicine sub-I
-One publication and currently working on 2 other projects that will hopefully lead to more publications
-Tri-lingual (Spanish and Portuguese)
-World traveler with tons of volunteer work
-Bunch of student leadership things, good ECs

Just apply wherever you want and see what happens. A 217 isn't great but it's not horrible either. Honors is better than HP, but HP is better than P.

Also, applying to residency is cheap. 30 programs for ~$300. $250 for each 10 apps over that. You can apply to 100 programs for what you'd pay for 15-20 med school secondary apps. So go nuts, throw your app wherever you're interested and just see what happens.

 

[PlutoBoy]

217 is below average. I'm just sayin'

 

[purplerain1220]

217 is below average. I'm just sayin'

thank you for contributing your absolutely useless opinion

 

[jdh71]

thank you for contributing your absolutely useless opinion

Pluto is a troll. Ignore him.

217 is essentially average. Honestly, your step one will close doors as it's been used as an easy screening metric for so long. BUT, there are many, many, many places that will look at you. You sound like you have an interesting and otherwise solid application. Honor the sub-I, take step 2 very early and dominate, pick two solid middle tier places in locations where you are interested and arrange for a month on one of their subspecialty services. Contrary to popular SDN belief you can get a cards match from a program outside of the top 30.

Good luck.

 

[KRichards62]

Despite the average Step 1 score, your application is still solid. Sounds like you are already on the ball with research, which will definitely help.

As jdh71 said, the best way to improve your chances is to do well on step 2. I know people who improved by 30-40 points on step 2. It's a very manageable test, and if you put some serious preparation time in then you can kill it. An away rotation is also a very good idea (research programs and pick a reasonable one that you think could be your top choice- this project will be a great time killer between USMLE world sessions). Assuming you improve on step 2, I think you will get interviews at all of the programs that you listed.

 

[PlutoBoy]

thank you for contributing your absolutely useless opinion

What? I said I was just sayin´!!!!!!!!!!

In all seriousness, you know 217 is below average. It was below average when I had my scores back and that was years ago. Perhaps you could ask the mod to rename the thread to "Below average step 1... suggestions?!"

Now that we have that out of the way, 217 isn´t that bad. You´ll be fine

 

[rabok416]

If you are pretty set on cards, I would suggest looking at programs that take a lot of their own into their cards fellowship. SDN has a pretty strong bias towards east coast programs, but you may want to look at some places that are less desirable to the usual SDN crowd where cards is strong and they may have a more difficult time getting the folks with very high board scores to go. Off the top of my head, places like Iowa, Creighton, Penn State, Kansas, Louisville, Wisconsin, etc. would probably have strong cards opportunities and would be well within reach with your scores. I interviewed at a few of these places so feel free to PM me if you want to know anything about these programs.

 

[TX4Lyfe]

Hey guys,
I'm starting to think of where to apply for next year. Although I have a bunch of good things for my application, I am a bit worried about my less than stellar board scores. Does anyone have any suggestions for good IM programs I would be competitive for?? I'd like to do Cards and I was thinking of IM programs such as UMPC, Baylor, UTSW, Jefferson, BU, Umass. I just dont know how well people with my step 1 do in the match?? Any suggestions of good programs with good fellowship matches?? Not too concerned about location. Id really appreciate it!

-Step 1: 217, will hopefully do better on step 2
- high/middle ranking medical school
-all high passes and 1 honors so far...planning to honor my medicine sub-I
-One publication and currently working on 2 other projects that will hopefully lead to more publications
-Tri-lingual (Spanish and Portuguese)
-World traveler with tons of volunteer work
-Bunch of student leadership things, good ECs

I'm currently MS4 in TX and my year the avg was 222 step 1. That said, 217 is "below average" but I really think you have a shot at Baylor and UTSW. The only reason I say this is that I know couple classmates, one including my roommate who got a 217, got all B's ms3 except 1 A in IM but it wasn't honors, had average volunteer work, good LOR, and some overseas experience. Rank was about 40-50 percentile and he got interviews from both institutions along with OHSU.

Point is, 217 might be "below average" but you have a great shot if you continue to do well with MS3 and get good lor and ur extracurriculars.

Good luck!!

 

[Bonza Debogian]

Everyone here seems to overreact a bit. There are some programs that will not interview candidates with scores below a certain cutoff, but there are many top tier programs that will in fact look at other elements in the application and make exceptions. I went to a 2nd tier med school, got a 220 on step one, matched at a top tier im program, and last year matched at top-ish tier cards program. And I had my choice of cards programs. I'm an attending this year, interviewed a lot a candidates, and while most had ridiculous scores, others didn't, and were often more ultimately more appealing candidates because they've done interesting things and have a personality.

I think the moral is that if your usmle score - no matter what it is - is the highlight of your CV, doors may not be closed but you're a dime a dozen. Some places - Duke, Penn, Hopkins for example - may not even look at your app, but it's their loss. The best start is to at least look towards programs where prior grads from your school are currently training, then expand from there. Certain programs seem to like certain schools, and also seem to avoid other schools. Don't necessarily limit yourself, but be realistic. Good luck.

 

[DrVanNostran]

I'm an MS3, so my opinion probably doesn't hold much weight. But after reading through a bunch of IM residency websites, I think that board scores plays a smaller role for IM than some other residencies. Your volunteer work and research will definitely bolster your app. But, definitely do try to Honors, at least HP medicine. Honoring any clerkship is no joke!

 

[purplerain1220]

Thank you everyone for all of the helpful comments. I really appreciate it

 

[Renodoc]

Scores are probably not everything although the top programs in the country like UCSF use score cut-offs. But most programs look at other things in your app too.

I don't think ranking an applicant based solely on their USMLE scores would get the program the best people into their residency programs. Work on other aspects of your app and a higher step 2 won't hurt either

Good luck

 

[confuse]

To be honest, a Step I of 217 will probably not land you an interview at UTSW or UPMC unless the other parts of your applications (step 2, clinical rotations, ties to program, etc) make up for it. However, you never know what you can get until you apply. In terms of solid programs for the average students, do a search and you will find plenty of posts about this.

 

[gofor]

Internal Medicine is not competitive for an academic spot and is not too competitive outside the top 15-20 schools. Some really good schools that might interview you are U-Mich, Northwestern, Texas schools, ?Duke, Yale-Primary-Care, Tufts -- so going to any of such places will not hurt your ability to practice medicine.

 

[Osteoth]

Internal Medicine is not competitive for an academic spot and is not too competitive outside the top 15-20 schools. Some really good schools that might interview you are U-Mich, Northwestern, Texas schools, ?Duke, Yale-Primary-Care, Tufts -- so going to any of such places will not hurt your ability to practice medicine.

This. USMD with any scores can match academic IM as long as you didn’t fail anything

 

[rokshana]

This. USMD with any scores can match academic IM as long as you didn’t fail anything

You woke up a 10 year old post for this???

 

[jackinabox1]

This thread is really outdated. Should be closed. UMich, Northwestern, etc are not interviewing people with <220 step nowadays unless you meet certain demographic criteria. Will say this is a fun time capsule from the past when it was a lot easier to match where you wanted.

 

[Osteoth]

You woke up a 10 year old post for this???

Whoops

 

[mszzeta]

Hey guys,
I'm starting to think of where to apply for next year. Although I have a bunch of good things for my application, I am a bit worried about my less than stellar board scores. Does anyone have any suggestions for good IM programs I would be competitive for?? I'd like to do Cards and I was thinking of IM programs such as UMPC, Baylor, UTSW, Jefferson, BU, Umass. I just dont know how well people with my step 1 do in the match?? Any suggestions of good programs with good fellowship matches?? Not too concerned about location. Id really appreciate it!

-Step 1: 217, will hopefully do better on step 2
- high/middle ranking medical school
-all high passes and 1 honors so far...planning to honor my medicine sub-I
-One publication and currently working on 2 other projects that will hopefully lead to more publications
-Tri-lingual (Spanish and Portuguese)
-World traveler with tons of volunteer work
-Bunch of student leadership things, good ECs

You are an AMG graduating from a mid/high tier US medical school. Matching into cardiology fellowship should be easily attainable if you match into at least an average residency program.... So there is no worry at all

 

[gutonc]

You are an AMG graduating from a mid/high tier US medical school. Matching into cardiology fellowship should be easily attainable if you match into at least an average residency program.... So there is no worry at all

FFS...it's a 10 year old thread.

Closing.