Being 3rd Quartile (Bottom Half)

[Doctoscope]

I think Im smack down in the middle, maybe a little bit to the lower half. I know preclinical grades don’t matter, but assuming I end up in the third quartile (bottom half), is there any specialty that would view this as a negative?

I’m a DO, and I’m interested in academic IM, neuro, anesthesia, and maybe gen surg.

Thanks.

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[Hollow Knight]

Grades don't matter that much, but the people who get the top of the class tend to do better on board exams., which certainly matters a lot. In the end it's step 2 + research.

academic IM- meh, your odds aren't amazing, but it's doable
neuro- you're fine, it's not competitive
anesthesia- absolute bloodbath, you better start studying harder like yesterday
gen surg- not awfully competitive.

 

[Esmolol]

It took me a second because of the terminology. I think, when people say 1st quartile, they usually mean the top 25% 🙂

I second the above advice. Regarding anesthesiology - it was quite competitive this year! If you'd match into anesthesiology, it'd possibly be a program in the respective 3rd quartile of programs out there, depending on the rest of your application.

 

[Doctoscope]

Grades don't matter that much, but the people who get the top of the class tend to do better on board exams., which certainly matters a lot. In the end it's step 2 + research.

academic IM- meh, your odds aren't amazing, but it's doable
neuro- you're fine, it's not competitive
anesthesia- absolute bloodbath, you better start studying harder like yesterday
gen surg- not awfully competitive.

My strategy has been to focus mainly on UFAPS (saving UWorld for later, using USLEMERx atm) and just going over in-house minutiae over a weekend. I read it’s best to prepare for Step 1 as if it were scored. This led me to getting mostly Bs and some B+s in my classes (often not a lot of overlap), with a C in OMM and some other BS course because I kind of completely neglected it lol.

Do you think this’ll pay off for Step 2, and potentially “counteract” my lower class rank? I’ve been working on getting some research, and I think I will be getting a couple of posters at the least by the end of my first year.

 

[Hollow Knight]

My strategy has been to focus mainly on UFAPS (saving UWorld for later, using USLEMERx atm) and just going over in-house minutiae over a weekend. I read it’s best to prepare for Step 1 as if it were scored. This led me to getting mostly Bs and some B+s in my classes (often not a lot of overlap), with a C in OMM and some other BS course because I kind of completely neglected it lol.

Do you think this’ll pay off for Step 2, and potentially “counteract” my lower class rank? I’ve been working on getting some research, and I think I will be getting a couple of posters at the least by the end of my first year.

Yes, studying this way will mean you are more prepared for boards than your classmates. Keep up on Anki though

It's not so much that the material is super different (if you go to a decent med school), it's just that the people who mature AnKing remember a lot more than the people who don't and therefore score higher on average