Were those people who got invites AMG's or IMG's?
The people I know were AMG's, from good US schools. I agree that the applicant's med school does make a big difference. However, if you look at the composition of most top-tier schools, there are anywhere from 5 to 25% IMGs in their current residents lists (Washington U in St. Luis has 27% IMGs). My bet is that not all IMGs who match into pathology programs have great scores. And I guess the point I was trying to make with the AMGs who got invited to even top tier schools with ~200 Step 1 is that even the best programs are willing to overlook low Step 1 scores, so what about the mid to low tier schools?
Keep in mind, the market right now is in favor of Pathology residency applicants. See the attached match data from 2016. USC - a mid-upper program - only filled 2/6 residency spots in the match last year. Rush filled 3/4 spots. U of Kansas 2/4. U of Louisville 1/3. Mayo, a top-tier program, didn't fill it's one CP only track. Duke, another mid-upper, filled only 1/5 spots. Case Western/Metro Health filled 1/2 spots. Oregon Health and Sci Univ filled 2/3. UPMC (top-tier) filled 5/6. U of S Dakota 2/3. U of Tennessee COP-Memphis 3/4. Baylor in Dallas TX (mid upper) filled 3/5. Virginia Commonwealth U filled 4/5.
I met a resident at one of the
mid-upper programs that I mentioned earlier who was an IMG who applied to IM and FM but did not match to any of the programs he applied to. He SOAPed into that mid-upper program in pathology without even having originally applied to pathology. I didn't ask about his Step scores because I didn't think it was my business, but my hunch is that of the 167 IMGs that matched into the 549 pathology spots in 2016, not all of them had great Step 1 scores (especially if other aspects of their application were strong). And a decent amount of the applicants who SOAPed into programs probably also had low scores.
I guess the take home message I want to send any prospective Path applicants is that if they have a genuine interest in the field, a low step 1 score + IMG status are certainly hurdles that will likely make the application process much more challenging, but I highly doubt that they will preclude them from entering the field at the present time. Efforts should certainly be made to make up for those weaknesses. Particularly, you should try to do as good as possible on Step 2, do multiple away rotations, get strong Letters of Rec, apply to a wide range of programs (especially any who didn't fill the previous year), and be assertive in trying to secure as many interviews as possible.
Wishing the best for all who read this,
doctor313