Thank you for your kind words
My entire goal is to try and provide some input on this matter. I have good experience analyzing data and interpreting conclusions.
A lot goes into AOA. Some schools consider one's ability to work with others and be a leader. Other's look and judge one's altruism and volunteer experience when taking into account.
What data dude. What data
Maybe I have to move more closely to the middle, but when there's only a .5 marker difference in importance of AOA vs Step 1 (with nearly the same amount of residencies reporting), that to me indicates that AOA is a serious accomplishment. Maybe it would be helpful to have some adcoms or some RDs comment on our differences in interpretation of the data.
.5?
Yes for many of the competitive ones, it's a 3.9 vs 4.5 with less a 10% difference in reporting.
Have you paid any attention to the other facets of an application that are ranked that high? Perhaps that will change your perspective a little bit
Yes, but many of those other things aren't quantifiable. You can't quantify fit. You can't quantify how much one "liked you" during an interview. Maybe this will make more sense to everyone
You’re not taking into account the 13% who gave it a 0/5. It’s more like 4.3 vs 3.4 across the 15 respondents.
I'm not sure where you're getting 15 respondents? There's thousands of programs that participate in the survey. Poll lus, that doesnt mean they gave it a zero out of 5, but rather they choose not to mention it.
Hes seemingly basing all of this on some butthurt 3rd year who bombed step but got AOA. Either trolling or just an arrogant fool. Either way not worth pursuing this conversation any further
That "butthurt" third year happens to be my closest friend I've ever made. So her opinion matters a lot to me. I'm just trying to be the ome person who doesn't bash the importance of school's lectures and preclincials. At the very least, it is now a we report, you decide on who's right with those that are viewing our thread.
im sorry to keep bashing you, but you actually further hurt your credibility by revealing that shes your best friend.
It’s kind of weird that someone needs to point this out to you, but just because you guys are friends and you value her opinion does not make her correct. You have to admit that her opinion is not an objective one: she has a below average Step 1 score (if I remember correctly), so it’s in her best interest to believe that Step 1 and AOA are on equal footing. And you are also not being objective in your data “analysis” by letting your best friend’s opinion shape how you view and interpret those surveys.
Well, like I said, I've reported my findings. Untill an Adcom or PI comes and comments, this will just be a we report, you decide situtation
I don't know if I can believe you until I see those 'PDs' comment in the flesh. Like I said, a we report, you decide situation. If you guys shared your step score and whether you got AOA, that might help our readers get the most unbiased perspective on this issue
Gotcha. In fairness, you got to point to specific PD posts to support your argument. It's the equivalent of when someone in politics tells you to look it up.
Actually can you please provide some insight?
That was pretty obvious that they were agreeing with literally everyone else on the thread but you. I’m sorry that happened to your friend but some schools don’t even have AOA, so that should speak to it’s overall importance. Definitely nice to have, but everyone takes step 1. Cmon now this is a strange hill to die on
I disagree. I'll wait to here directly from @aProgDirector
Man you lack insight don’t you. It will vary from PD to PD, but everything is pointing to evidence against your claim besides an explicit statement from 1 of the however many PDs there are out there. Will that one statement change your mind? Because even that is technically statistically non significant due to low sample size. Sooo what’s your end goal here?
No I'm not. I just want to hear from someone from a established position, An anecdote here and there along with some loose statistics won't convince me. My friend told me at the very least they're equally important, so maybe we've found some common ground, no? I'll admit 100% that I'm wrong if she comments and direct tells me that I'm wrong.
Can you tell us what makes your friend an expert in the field? What makes her more of an authority than literally every other piece of evidence presented? You mentioned you won't be swayed by anecdotes yet you're basing your entire position on one. It just is plan to see. AOA is a nice bonus but will never be equal to step, especially with how non-standardized each school is. Obviously I'm not making any headway so I'll let you believe what you want to believe
Just start over. Make a new account and start over.
Without getting into to many specifics, she has a role on the curriculum committee for my medical school and works closely with the faculty there. Supposedly, she has some insider knowledge that the data doesn't convey. She told me as I move forward with my education, she'll happily share this with me. She's also has talked to quite a bit of PD's at 3 different conferences. Lastly, she's in the top 5% of her class during preclincals (though I can't confirm this).
sdid she say why she did less than average on step 1? I'm curious usually people with high class ranking (like top 10-15%) tend to do well on step 1 but it's not a given, and usually it's helpful for future test takers to know for their test preparation.
YES! I was RIGHT. Thank you for your input! These guys were acting like it was no contest and step 1 > AOA always. @21Rush12 @libertyyne @Newyawk @Chibucks15 @ThrowawayShmoaway @Little Green Mensch @ciestar
Why do you even care? AOA at my school was a dumb political jerk fest. You can be eligible by grades and unless you were playing their BS IM/primary care driven games you had strikes against you. All my old buddies killed it every day. Outlasted, outperformed, did well, still do well. Zero were AOA.
You get it.
since you are so adamant.
There was literally nothing in that response that said you were right. It varies widely by program and selection criteria vary as well so it is the furthest thing from standardized. Regardless...didn't you say you missed out on AOA? So why in the hell is this a big deal for you when you literally aren't in the group you're supposedly obsessed over. Have a nice life
