Failed USMLE step I

[FUdoc]

Hello all,
I am one of the few unfortunate people who failed USMLE step I. I am going to retake it with the help of a prep course this winter.

Will I be able to land a general surgery residency despite my retake on step 1 ?

I am sure I will pass the second time, and I am certain that I will pass step II, but I doubt that I will get stellar scores on either. I go to an M.D. school, and have all high pass grades so far on clinical rotations.

I hear that general surg is getting less competitive, and in higher demand. I hope this will increase my chances at getting matched despite my USMLE I debacle. Is this true? any advice/opinions welcome

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[futuredo32]

You might get some responses if you post this question in the general surgery forum.

As far as assuming you won't do stellar on your Step I retake or Step II, don't make that assumption. I've read many threads here where people have said that they did awesome on Step II after not doing so well on Step I.

Good luck to you.

 

[Instatewaiter]

what resources did you use? There are a few very good resources that can easily boost your score. What comes to mind are:

BRS phsy
RR path
FA
Uworld

 

[TexasPhysician]

what resources did you use? There are a few very good resources that can easily boost your score. What comes to mind are:

BRS phsy
RR path
FA
Uworld

Funny, that is exactly what I used - 100%

 

[JeffLebowski]

Hello all,
I am one of the few unfortunate people who failed USMLE step I. I am going to retake it with the help of a prep course this winter.

Will I be able to land a general surgery residency despite my retake on step 1 ?

I am sure I will pass the second time, and I am certain that I will pass step II, but I doubt that I will get stellar scores on either. I go to an M.D. school, and have all high pass grades so far on clinical rotations.

I hear that general surg is getting less competitive, and in higher demand. I hope this will increase my chances at getting matched despite my USMLE I debacle. Is this true? any advice/opinions welcome

Yeah, I think you should be able to....if you use this as an opportunity to demonstrate that it was a fluke that you failed. Go all out on the retake, apply widely, get as much going in your favor as possible, submit a lengthy rank list, and you'll probably match gensurg without problem. Just my estimation though.

 

[Baritonebass]

Hello all,
I am one of the few unfortunate people who failed USMLE step I. I am going to retake it with the help of a prep course this winter.

Will I be able to land a general surgery residency despite my retake on step 1 ?

I am sure I will pass the second time, and I am certain that I will pass step II, but I doubt that I will get stellar scores on either. I go to an M.D. school, and have all high pass grades so far on clinical rotations.

I hear that general surg is getting less competitive, and in higher demand. I hope this will increase my chances at getting matched despite my USMLE I debacle. Is this true? any advice/opinions welcome

you should talk to the folks at you school and check out some community programs(cause some schools will take thier own) and they will help you come up w/ a realitic plan if that is your dream(research, publish, rub shoulders) good luck

 

[dragonfly99]

Surgery is actually a pretty competitive residency, even general surg.
You need to get "honors" on your surgical rotation during 3rd year. You need to retake Step 1 and pass it (with a not bad score). After you do that, you can go to the program director of the gen. surg. program at your med school and ask him what he thinks your chances are. Also get help from the career office @your school...they may be able to help you with a realistic plan.

 

[Saluki]

So sorry to hear that the test didn't go well...

I'm not on the surgical track, so I don't know that much... But from what I've heard from friends back home graduating this year, even with a low step 1 you can almost always match into any of the general specialties including general surgery if you apply to enough programs. And that if you do well on step 2, that you can still have some choice...

I'm not sure how that changes if you failed step I as opposed to a low pass, but I would think that if you do well the second go round, pass step II on the first try, do well on rotations and cast a wide net with residency apps, that you'll end up getting general surgery somewhere...

Good luck!!!

PS SDN is great for getting free advice, but a lot of people here are hoping for urology at Mass General or optho at UCSF and think any boards score under 240 is a reflection of below average intellect... That doesn't mean they're bad people- most of them are probably really talented and will make great docs. And a ton of them are incredibly nice about posting helpful replies, useful resources, etc., but remember when you're reading threads that SDN isn't a representative population...

Have you talked with your med school advisor/dean of students? They might be able to give you more specific info on how people from your school did in the residency match after needing to retake the test...

 

[njbmd]

Hello all,
I am one of the few unfortunate people who failed USMLE step I. I am going to retake it with the help of a prep course this winter.

Will I be able to land a general surgery residency despite my retake on step 1 ?

I am sure I will pass the second time, and I am certain that I will pass step II, but I doubt that I will get stellar scores on either. I go to an M.D. school, and have all high pass grades so far on clinical rotations.

I hear that general surg is getting less competitive, and in higher demand. I hope this will increase my chances at getting matched despite my USMLE I debacle. Is this true? any advice/opinions welcome

First of all, pass Step I. You didn't pass the first time and you can't really consider what residency you want to enter until you pass Step I (and Step IIs for that matter). Second, whether or not you are going to be able to enter General surgery will largely depend on where you apply and the competition for slots. Contrary to what you have "heard" General Surgery is getting "more" competitive and not less competitive.

When you have passed Step I and at the end of your third year, you need to spend some quality time with a good faculty adviser who can judge your competitiveness for General Surgery. This person should ideally be familiar with the climate of selection for a wide range of General Surgery programs. Perhaps you might be able to meet with the Program Director for General Surgery at your medical school (assuming it's not offshore).

Whether you are MD or DO, you have failed Step I. For many of the university programs, that's going to be a "deal-breaker". You should be prepared for this but also consider that many community programs are going to have a problem with a failure on Step I. You should plan on doing outstanding on both parts of Step II right out of the chute , thus you need to take these exams early enough for those scores to get to the programs that you have applied to.

Right now, your focus needs to be on passing Step 1 and pretty much, nothing else. Once you get your passing score, you can start working on a strategy to ace the Step IIs.