Chances for OB - should I even try?

[danbros]

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Hi everyone,

I am going to be a 4th year medical student at a top 50 medical school. I am currently pursuing an MPH at a brand name school in policy focused on maternal and child health.

Step I was only a 200.
Step II CK - 243
Step II CS - Pass

3rd year grades - 3 Passes, 1 Honors, 2 High Passes (my school is really strict on high passes/honors; only top 20% H and other 20% HP); Unfortunately, a Pass in OB. The cut-off for a HP was a 94%. I was at a 92% and scored in the top percentile on the SHELF. Ugh. 🙁

Publications: 3 first-author pubs in OB/GYN; 1 basic science pub; 1 publication for the United Nations;
2 more in progress (total 7)

Other stuff: did OB infectious disease research work in international countries through a travel fellowship; worked for the UN; gave a TED talk; served on several academic committees at med school; several honors/awards recognising my work at MPH school and undergrad; worked for the state department for refugees; did advocacy work for a Nobel prize winning organisation; worked for WHO in maternal health

Recs: Department chair at my school; department chair at my MPH school; dean at the MPH school; dean at the medical school...essentially, good rec letters.

Trying to schedule 2-3 away rotations right now.

I tried to be brief on my resume, but what are my chances at matching at an academic institution?

I really would like to go to Dartmouth, GW, Rush, Sinai, etc. Do I stand a chance? I am male and a minority if that helps...

I really wish I hadn't messed-up the Step 1. In my defense, I had a lot going on at that time. Ugh.

At this point, should I even consider OB? Is it feasible? Or should I be settling for peds or FM? I would eventually do OB after those residencies though since that's where my passion is.

 

[BigTumor]

Hi everyone,

I am going to be a 4th year medical student at a top 50 medical school. I am currently pursuing an MPH at a brand name school in policy focused on maternal and child health.

Step I was only a 200.
Step II CK - 243
Step II CS - Pass

3rd year grades - 3 Passes, 1 Honors, 2 High Passes (my school is really strict on high passes/honors; only top 20% H and other 20% HP); Unfortunately, a Pass in OB. The cut-off for a HP was a 94%. I was at a 92% and scored in the top percentile on the SHELF. Ugh. 🙁

Publications: 3 first-author pubs in OB/GYN; 1 basic science pub; 1 publication for the United Nations;
2 more in progress (total 7)

Other stuff: did OB infectious disease research work in international countries through a travel fellowship; worked for the UN; gave a TED talk; served on several academic committees at med school; several honors/awards recognising my work at MPH school and undergrad; worked for the state department for refugees; did advocacy work for a Nobel prize winning organisation; worked for WHO in maternal health

Recs: Department chair at my school; department chair at my MPH school; dean at the MPH school; dean at the medical school...essentially, good rec letters.

Trying to schedule 2-3 away rotations right now.

I tried to be brief on my resume, but what are my chances at matching at an academic institution?

I really would like to go to Dartmouth, GW, Rush, Sinai, etc. Do I stand a chance? I am male and a minority if that helps...

I really wish I hadn't messed-up the Step 1. In my defense, I had a lot going on at that time. Ugh.

At this point, should I even consider OB? Is it feasible? Or should I be settling for peds or FM? I would eventually do OB after those residencies though since that's where my passion is.

You can match with those stats. The programs you listed are kind of a weird smattering. Think more about the kind of program you want to be in relative to your home program or other ones you know well (bigger ,smaller, less research, more research) and apply BROADLY but include a few extras that meet your presumed criteria. I was surprised by what I liked about different programs when interviewing and I've heard the same from others. You can always apply to FM concurrently.

 

[danbros]

You can match with those stats. The programs you listed are kind of a weird smattering. Think more about the kind of program you want to be in relative to your home program or other ones you know well (bigger ,smaller, less research, more research) and apply BROADLY but include a few extras that meet your presumed criteria. I was surprised by what I liked about different programs when interviewing and I've heard the same from others. You can always apply to FM concurrently.

Thank you!! I wasn't sure where I stood since OB has gotten competitive over the years. I know the ones I mentioned were a weird smattering, but I just heard good things about those programs, so I added them.

I am really interested in going to a more public health/research oriented school. My home institution, as amazing as it is, doesn't have too much active research going on. Any recommendations in this regard? Obviously, I probably don't have a shot at places like UCSF or something, where I would ideally like to be.

 

[BigTumor]

Thank you!! I wasn't sure where I stood since OB has gotten competitive over the years. I know the ones I mentioned were a weird smattering, but I just heard good things about those programs, so I added them.

I am really interested in going to a more public health/research oriented school. My home institution, as amazing as it is, doesn't have too much active research going on. Any recommendations in this regard? Obviously, I probably don't have a shot at places like UCSF or something, where I would ideally like to be.

I wish I had more expertise, but by the time I'm a seasoned attending, you will be too 🙂

I think you should apply to UCSF if you're excited about it. I know it's expensive to apply to 40, but maybe apply to 10 reach, 10 solid programs that list 200 as a Step 1 cutoff (including community programs that have the slant you're looking for), and 20 that you're pretty close to the posted Step 1 cutoff and/or that your advisors recommend.

About your letters, OB/GYN dept chair is great/necessity, your med school dean will write your dean's letter, but you really do need at least one letter from someone who worked with you closely clinically, preferably an OB/GYN. Someone who knows your research well is good, too, but get advice from your institution's OB/GYN residency program director about what letters will really mean something.

 

[danbros]

I wish I had more expertise, but by the time I'm a seasoned attending, you will be too 🙂

I think you should apply to UCSF if you're excited about it. I know it's expensive to apply to 40, but maybe apply to 10 reach, 10 solid programs that list 200 as a Step 1 cutoff (including community programs that have the slant you're looking for), and 20 that you're pretty close to the posted Step 1 cutoff and/or that your advisors recommend.

About your letters, OB/GYN dept chair is great/necessity, your med school dean will write your dean's letter, but you really do need at least one letter from someone who worked with you closely clinically, preferably an OB/GYN. Someone who knows your research well is good, too, but get advice from your institution's OB/GYN residency program director about what letters will really mean something.

Thank you, BigTumor! I know Step 1 isn't everything, but I don't know how the institutions will look at my application, you know? If they look at it holistically, they will know I am committed to Women's Health. Now, if they look at just the numbers, I am a below average applicant.

I will definitely sit down with my OB Chair/Dean to see what rec letters will mean a lot and which ones don't. Thank you for your help!!

If anyone out there was successful with a Step score similar to mine, I would love to hear from you guys and gals! Thank you!!

 

[residencycoord]

You transcript is not that strong and your Step 1 is low but you have a very good CV with a focus in research. You will definitely get a lot of interviews and I agree with Big Tumor, you should apply broadly. I don't know if you will get invited to the more competitive programs because of your grades, but you should do ok. Programs also know that there are some medical schools that are tough and do not give out honors that easily. You will be fine.

 

[22031 Alum]

You said your school is Top 50, do you have an idea of what tier the OB program is? The program ranking could potentially help you more than the ranking of your school. I've seen Top 10 programs (not Top 10 schools) get students with sub-200 Step scores into strong academic residencies.

Talk to the program director and chair at your school, ASAP to work out a strategy. I think if you apply broadly to mid and low-tier university programs, strong to mid-tier community programs, and some high-ranked reaches, you will do well. Feel free to PM me if you have more detailed questions.