I am very concerned about my less than stellar performance on Step 1(210) and my chances for residency match. I attend a top 5 US medical school and my peers think that given how competitive the match is now, one would have a hard time matching into ANYTHING, ANY FIELD, with a Step 1 score < 220. I hope that's not true but that is the only information I hear. I'm a 3rd year student now and it looks like my clinical grades would be mostly in the pass to high pass range (unlikely to get honors given the caliber of my peers). I was originally interested in derm or ophtho before I got my scores back- that is now out of reach. I wouldn't mind a primary care field (Peds, IM), but I don't want to end up at a low-tier program, undesireable city. I need some outside opinions. Will I still be able to match into a primary care field in a mid-tier program at a moderately desireable city? Or have my step 1 scores already doomed me like my classmates say?
chances to match, low step 1
- Thread starter sushiroll
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This depends if your medical school is approved in the U.S. - by the sound of your post, this may not be the case.
I thought he made it pretty clear?
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First rule of medical school and the wards: Trust no one
Second rule: If you did not shine on Step 1, STEP IT UP ON STEP 2 and shine.
All in all, you are from a top 5 school... get excellent clinical grades and do well on Step 2, and you can turn your act around. My school matched someone into radiology with a 215... so anything is possible
Best wishes in your travels through life,
Frugal Traveler
Second rule: If you did not shine on Step 1, STEP IT UP ON STEP 2 and shine.
All in all, you are from a top 5 school... get excellent clinical grades and do well on Step 2, and you can turn your act around. My school matched someone into radiology with a 215... so anything is possible
Best wishes in your travels through life,
Frugal Traveler
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Don't listen to your peers too much.
Focus on doing as well as you can during 3rd year...do not assume you can't get any honors grades, although as you mention it will be harder to do a top school like yours, as the competition over grades tends to be stiffer than at some other schools, and the curves/bar may be set higher for the shelf exams. Do not assume you will fail, though.
I agree that derm is out of reach, but ophthalmology may not be completely...I'm not sure it's necessary to give that up entirely. If someone did not so hot on Step 1, but then got say a 230 on the Step 2 and did a couple opthalmology months and then maybe some research (maybe even 1 extra research year) then even with a middle of the class ranking @ a school like yours you may be able to get ophtho somewhere...it's not going to be in Boston or San Francisco, but if you're willing to go other places, then maybe. I'm not saying it would be easy to get ophtho, but I'm not sure you should totally write that off @this point. It sounds like you are only 1/2 way through med school so probably not wise to throw in the towel just yet.
With Step 2 you can exert more control than Step 1, as you tend to have more choice about when you take it. Also, IMHO some people study for it less hard versus what they did for Step 1, giving you a chance to outgun them if you study extra hard.
Remember that there are a lot of gunners at your school and they have s skewed idea of the way the world works. Some attendings at your school may share this attitude and also will likely feel it would be "better" to match at a more famous place in something like psych or IM vs. to go into another more competitive specialty like ER or opthalmology at somewhere more middle tier or a community program, etc. This might not be true if your goal is to practice medicine and not necessarily be an academic researcher, particularly if you can find a community or less well known university program that offers solid training for you.
I think you should focus now on getting a better Step 2 score, to do as well as possible in year 3 (this doesn't necessarily have to mean raking in tons of honors grades...if you can get a high pass and make friends with some residents and attendings and get them to like/remember you for 4th year, that may suffice) and think about how you can shape your 4th year as well to help you succeed in the Match.
I definitely think you could/would do well in getting into specialties like peds or medicine, even without high step scores. A higher step 2 would help with getting into the better known university peds or IM programs, which would help if you later wanted to do a fellowship.
Focus on doing as well as you can during 3rd year...do not assume you can't get any honors grades, although as you mention it will be harder to do a top school like yours, as the competition over grades tends to be stiffer than at some other schools, and the curves/bar may be set higher for the shelf exams. Do not assume you will fail, though.
I agree that derm is out of reach, but ophthalmology may not be completely...I'm not sure it's necessary to give that up entirely. If someone did not so hot on Step 1, but then got say a 230 on the Step 2 and did a couple opthalmology months and then maybe some research (maybe even 1 extra research year) then even with a middle of the class ranking @ a school like yours you may be able to get ophtho somewhere...it's not going to be in Boston or San Francisco, but if you're willing to go other places, then maybe. I'm not saying it would be easy to get ophtho, but I'm not sure you should totally write that off @this point. It sounds like you are only 1/2 way through med school so probably not wise to throw in the towel just yet.
With Step 2 you can exert more control than Step 1, as you tend to have more choice about when you take it. Also, IMHO some people study for it less hard versus what they did for Step 1, giving you a chance to outgun them if you study extra hard.
Remember that there are a lot of gunners at your school and they have s skewed idea of the way the world works. Some attendings at your school may share this attitude and also will likely feel it would be "better" to match at a more famous place in something like psych or IM vs. to go into another more competitive specialty like ER or opthalmology at somewhere more middle tier or a community program, etc. This might not be true if your goal is to practice medicine and not necessarily be an academic researcher, particularly if you can find a community or less well known university program that offers solid training for you.
I think you should focus now on getting a better Step 2 score, to do as well as possible in year 3 (this doesn't necessarily have to mean raking in tons of honors grades...if you can get a high pass and make friends with some residents and attendings and get them to like/remember you for 4th year, that may suffice) and think about how you can shape your 4th year as well to help you succeed in the Match.
I definitely think you could/would do well in getting into specialties like peds or medicine, even without high step scores. A higher step 2 would help with getting into the better known university peds or IM programs, which would help if you later wanted to do a fellowship.
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