Competitiveness of Specific Residencies in DC Relative to Other Cities and In General

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Hi All,

My fiancé lives in DC and I am an M1 @ an MD school in another state. Unfortunately he does not have much sway in relocating for his career because he works in government so we have to spend the remainder of my med school doing long distance. He asked with what certainty I can expect to get into a DC residency because otherwise we'll keep doing distance since his line of work is tied to that region. I have looked up residency positions in EM, Psychiatry, and Internal Medicine (my preliminary fields of interest after some prior experiences shadowing...). But I can't find any specific stats about the Step 1 scores, class rank, or Step 2 scores students who get accepted to these programs have. I also want to know where I can look to get a sense of how some of these programs rank in terms of prestige.

for ex, the websites of say Gtown internal med claim that there is no minimum Step 1 score to apply, but my question is, what is the Step 1 score of students who receive an interview, and/or students who match? How do I go about finding out this information? Are these questions I should be asking PDs at this stage of the game? My fiancé is just worried that it may not be a guarantee I'll get into residency in DC and frankly I'd like to know what kinds of odds I'm up against in a more specific sense than just "Oh, DC residencies should be attainable if you score slightly above national average on Step."

and honestly, even if i can't get specifics of step 1 score, or acceptance rate, then i'd like to know if anyone can comment on the reputation of residency programs in DC in Psychiatry/IM/EM in DC, to have an idea of how to interpret the NMRP statistics for each specialty.

Thanks in advance for any advice.. 🙂

 

[Winged Scapula]

Hi All,

My fiancé lives in DC and I am an M1 @ an MD school in another state because I couldn't get into DC for med school to live w/ him. Unfortunately he does not have much sway in relocating for his career because he works in government so we have to spend the remainder of my med school doing long distance. He asked with what certainty I can expect to get into a DC residency because otherwise we'll keep doing distance since his line of work is tied to that region.

The majority of US medical students match and into one of their top choices. However, your fiancé is asking an unknowable question given the information we have at this time. The applicant pool changes from year to year and we have no data on you yet and whether you are competitive. His question is premature.

I have looked up residency positions in EM, Psychiatry, and Internal Medicine (my preliminary fields of interest after some prior experiences shadowing...). But I can't find any specific stats about the Step 1 scores, class rank, or Step 2 scores students who get accepted to these programs have.

Each year the NRMP produces tables which offer information about such things by specialty and applicant status; it is not broken down by state or program. Many places do not provide that information, so your only sources will be from the programs themselves (if they release it at all). Psychiatry would typically be less competitive than the others, however, this will vary on the program (i.e., the most competitive Psych program is going to be more competitive than the least competitive IM program).

for ex, the websites of say Gtown internal med claim that there is no minimum Step 1 score to apply, but my question is, what is the Step 1 score of students who receive an interview, and/or students who match?

You are looking for an MSAR for residency which doesn't exist.

How do I go about finding out this information?

You ask the programs.

Are these questions I should be asking PDs at this stage of the game?

Please don't.

My fiancé is just worried that it may not be a guarantee I'll get into residency in DC and frankly I'd like to know what kinds of odds I'm up against in a more specific sense than just "Oh, DC residencies should be attainable if you score slightly above national average on Step."

There are NO guarantees but remember that around DC is Maryland, Virginia, SE Pennsylvania with lots of residency programs.

and honestly, even if i can't get specifics of step 1 score, or acceptance rate, just any metric to gauge what kind of scores i should be getting would be great for this specific region.

Thanks in advance for any advice.. 🙂

The advice is as you guess, "do your best and get the best Step 1 score you can." Lists of average Step scores, class rankings, etc are not available wholesale and without any information about where you stand in relation to those and what specialty you'll be applying for, its simply to early to tell.

Finally, moving to the Allo forum where it is best placed as this question is not of interest to residents who have already matched.

 

[22031 Alum]

Don't try to tailor your performance to a specific place. Do the very best you can, so you have a better chance of going where you want- especially if you fall in love with a different, more competitive specialty. But your fiance should know that unless you suicide rank only a certain region (bad plan), there are no guarantees. It's just the nature of the beast.

 

[DrYoda]

You are likely not going to get the average step scores from any programs. I have no idea what the standard practice is nation wide, but I am involved in the admission process at my program (EM, not in DC) and we do not have a minimum score for the step exams. You do lose or gain points towards a possible interview based on step scores (as well as grades, extracurricular, personal statement ect), once you land an interview the step scores are mostly irrelevant. This is just my program though, other places may do it differently. Obviously DC (like any other desirable place to live) will be more competitive than a program in a less desirable area. generally speaking EM>IM>psych in terms of competitiveness, but as posted above a strong program in a less competitive specialty may still be highly competitive. My advice would be not to apply to just D.C. programs, expand your programs of interest into Maryland, Virginia and possibly other nearby states, reason being that it's better to be 3 hours from you fiance than to scramble a spot 1,000 miles away.