Does it matter what you get on Step 3?

[ilmdwannabe]

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IM a TY going into radiology next year. I was wondering does it matter what your score is in Step 3 especially when it comes to applying to radiology fellowships later on? Or can I get away with just passing step 3 and it will be fine?

 

[docmd2010]

also a TY starting radiology in july. talked to multiple people abt this, and the consensus is, no. i think the "academic cut" was getting into residency. fellowship placement is all about connections. no need to ball-bust for a 240+ step 3, it wont a make a difference.

 

[UltimateDude]

From what I have been told, no one cares about the score for this exam. Most consider it pass/fail, even though a score is still given for it. That is how I approached it, and I am also someone who eventually may want to do fellowship.

I definitely did not study to try to knock this one out of the park. I wish I had been able to study a bit more than I did. Honestly though, I do not think it would have mattered much if I had studied another 1-2 weeks. The volume/range of material covered on this test is huge. I was asked about a lot of minutiae that would never be important in any sort of real world practice.

If I were you I would not study to try to bust out an amazing score. But do not make the mistake of not taking this test seriously. I thought it was by far the hardest of all 3 step exams. I left the other 2 knowing I had passed. This one I feel like is a coin toss.

 

[letusbedocs]

IN competitive internal medicine fellowships, I think it does matter. I had people in my class -- similar Steps I, II -- similar med schools -- not get some competitive cardiology/GI interviews as their step III was not as good -- it was about a 10% difference really, but the big factor we could come up with was that Step 3 scores were different -- one kid took it amidst busy rotation, barely passed, other had scores on average to previous.

I think the competitive fellowships have a "filter" that kicks you out if your score is like "really" low......so that might be how the score does matter. But, for most people, I think not a huge thing about it.

 

[OveractiveBrain]

IN competitive internal medicine fellowships, I think it does matter. I had people in my class -- similar Steps I, II -- similar med schools -- not get some competitive cardiology/GI interviews as their step III was not as good -- it was about a 10% difference really, but the big factor we could come up with was that Step 3 scores were different -- one kid took it amidst busy rotation, barely passed, other had scores on average to previous.

I think the competitive fellowships have a "filter" that kicks you out if your score is like "really" low......so that might be how the score does matter. But, for most people, I think not a huge thing about it.

I've heard this from peopel applying to fellowships, also. Im not sure about it though. I've talked to the PD for the GI fellowship (im not going into GI) and he basically said he doesn't look at them. I would imagine a small subset of competitive internal medicine fellowships care. Other than that, it is connections and research

 

[Gute]

for radiology it doesn't matter, many fellowship applicants won't even have step 3 scores at the time of application. the exam is essentially irrelevant to the entire field of radiology