DO reapplying into Allopathic General Surgery Residency

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notarealname

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I am currently a MS 4 in a DO school. I scored badly on COMLEX and don't think I have any chance matching into a osteopathic General Surgery program this year, but I really want to do surgery. I plan to take next year off to take board and to do research and be ready for both osteopathic and allopathic General Surgery match for 2015. Can anyone tell me what are my chances getting into an allopathic General Surgery program if I scored say 85 to 90 percentile on the USMLE STEP 1 and 2?

Thank you for your input!

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Would you tell me what information you need to give me an honest assessment?
 
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There technically aren't percentiles reported with USMLE scores these days. I don't know what scores you would need to succeed in the allopathic match, but they will have to be high. So if you could score that highly on the USMLEs now, why didn't you score that well on COMLEX to begin with? No offense, but do you honestly think you could smoke the USMLE after bombing COMLEX?
 
I would suggest asking these questions in the Gen Surg section of the SDN forum. More importantly, I would reach out to some of the PD's in Gen Surg residency programs you might be looking at and pose the same questions. They would be a lot more helpful than any speculation you may get here with us commenting on an incomplete picture and majority of us not being Gen Surg PDs. Good luck!
 
I scored badly on COMLEX 1 due to some personal issues. I thought I couldn't get into General Surgery which has been my goal for a long time, therefore I was even less motivated on the COMLEX 2, now I realized I shouldn't give up my dream after several audition rotations with general surgery. Although I am slow at learning, I am pretty sure I can score much better on USMLE when I have more time to prepare and more motivated because when I took both COMLEX 1 and 2 I only finished about 60% of the question bank I used, also I am very good at test taking and scored in the high 30s on the MCAT.
 
Mod please help to link to the General Surgery section. Thank you!
 
This wouldn't be appropriate for the general surgery resident forum, which is meant to discuss matters pertaining to general surgery residents and fellows. We read these forums too.

When I said you didn't give us enough information for an honest assessment, I meant that you really didn't give us ANY information. "WAMC" threads are hard enough as it is. You have given us only a hypothetical USMLE score, with no idea of whether that is even a realistic goal for you (and based on the only evidence you have given us, it's not). You haven't told us how your clinical performance has been, if you've got any research, if your away rotations were at any allopathic programs that might give you a leg up.

Bottom line, if you don't match to an Osteo GS program this year, your odds of matching into an ACGME program the following year are quite low, even if you knock the USMLEs out of the park. You may have to consider a prelim year if you are really committed to general surgery. But it's too soon and we have too little information to give you any meaningful insight.
 
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