EM in California

[chucky85]

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I am a student in the southeast. I am ready to get out and go west. Do any of you know what kind of step 1 score is required to get an interview for EM in California? I keep getting this impression from SDN that you need like a 240+ to get interviews in California. Is this at every program or places like UCSF and STanford? any info would be appreciated. I am also considering other states on the west coast too.

 

[Kris1]

Step 1 doesn't matter so much. Step 2 is what you need to do well on.

 

[calespine]

Step 1 doesn't matter so much. Step 2 is what you need to do well on.

Do most Cali programs consider step 2 when screening for interviews? I've heard screening mostly uses step 1 since so many applicants don't have step 2 scores? Thoughts/experiences?

 

[Cerberus]

California is a hard market to break into even if you have great board scores.

 

[alwaysaangel]

Granted this is from a California school.

But 70% of our EM applicants match into California (we have 12-18 students going into EM in a given year) and our average Step 1 score (of our EM applicants) is 229, average step 2 (of our EM applicants) is 231.

So I doubt a 240 is necessary, but it may be more difficult if you're from other areas.

 

[calespine]

Granted this is from a California school.

But 70% of our EM applicants match into California (we have 12-18 students going into EM in a given year) and our average Step 1 score (of our EM applicants) is 229, average step 2 (of our EM applicants) is 231.

So I doubt a 240 is necessary, but it may be more difficult if you're from other areas.

Is step 2 considered when giving interviews, or is it used more for ranking?

 

[alwaysaangel]

Is step 2 considered when giving interviews, or is it used more for ranking?

My understanding is both but don't quote me on it. A lot of students don't have step 2s available early in the season so some interviews are offered based on that. I don't think there is a firm answer - its probably very dependent on the program and individual.

 

[calespine]

I looked through last year's interview invite thread, and it looks like Cali programs started sending out invites the 2nd/3rd week of October with 2 new programs sending out invites each subsequent week. If I apply the 2nd week of October (waiting for step 2 ck score), should I be concerned about programs running out of interview spots? I assume not since none of the programs start to send out invites until mid-october, but I just wanted to check with you guys.

 

[chucky85]

Hmm, interesting. I think the national avg for EM is 222. UCIrvine is at 229 so definitely more competitive there. Anyone know about Fresno, Bakersfield, USC, UCLA, UCDavis? I just feel like step 1 weighs so much in determining interview invites.

 

[calespine]

Hmm, interesting. I think the national avg for EM is 222. UCIrvine is at 229 so definitely more competitive there. Anyone know about Fresno, Bakersfield, USC, UCLA, UCDavis? I just feel like step 1 weighs so much in determining interview invites.

Nobody knows what programs use as cut-off scores. The 229 for UCI is the average of applicants from UCI. I think what you're interested in would be cut-off scores or average steps of matched applicants in Cali, and those numbers haven't been published on SDN, at least that I've found.

 

[alwaysaangel]

Hmm, interesting. I think the national avg for EM is 222. UCIrvine is at 229 so definitely more competitive there. Anyone know about Fresno, Bakersfield, USC, UCLA, UCDavis? I just feel like step 1 weighs so much in determining interview invites.

Thats not for the EM Program. Thats for UC Irvine medical students applying to emergency medicine. And with an average of 229, 70% of us stay in Cali.

It was just to give you perspective. Its hard to say what the averages for those who match in Cali are because in general, programs do not release their Step 1/Step 2 matched residents data.

For the most part I think you can assume that California is at least a little above the national average. Lots of Californians trying to stay and lots of Californians from out of state medical schools trying to come back.

I mean, the competition to live here even drops the salaries of docs a bit relative to the rest of the country. Its not impossible to get into but its generally rougher than other parts of the country.

 

[po' boy]

Hmm, interesting. I think the national avg for EM is 222. UCIrvine is at 229 so definitely more competitive there. Anyone know about Fresno, Bakersfield, USC, UCLA, UCDavis? I just feel like step 1 weighs so much in determining interview invites.

Doing well on an audition rotation trumps everything. My wife is incredibly smart but did poorly on Step 1 due to a personal injury at the time. She rotated at UC Davis and they loved her, and her low Step 1 score (190s) became a non-issue for her matching there. (She did much better on Step 2 but I think that had little to do with it.)

 

[docB]

Doing well on an audition rotation trumps everything. My wife is incredibly smart but did poorly on Step 1 due to a personal injury at the time. She rotated at UC Davis and they loved her, and her low Step 1 score (190s) became a non-issue for her matching there. (She did much better on Step 2 but I think that had little to do with it.)

Yeah, but who would want to go there? 😀