Fellowships

[johnhobbit21]

So I am a DO student starting peds residency this July. I only took the comlex and now regretting not taking the usmle. I mean I matched to my third choice and I am happy about that but now I'm thinking I didn't match to my tops bc of not taking the USMLE (they weren't competitive programs at all). My concern is this will follow me into fellowships. Will I not be looked at MD fellowships bc I don't have a USMLE? Thanks!

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[oldbearprofessor]

So I am a DO student starting peds residency this July. I only took the comlex and now regretting not taking the usmle. I mean I matched to my third choice and I am happy about that but now I'm thinking I didn't match to my tops bc of not taking the USMLE (they weren't competitive programs at all). My concern is this will follow me into fellowships. Will I not be looked at MD fellowships bc I don't have a USMLE? Thanks!

It depends on the field and the location how much this matters if at all. There is no doubt that more competitive fellowships in more competitive places care about USMLE scores although assuming no failures, it generally is not the most important factor in deciding their ROL. They may or may not understand COMLEX or have the lack of USMLE affect how they think about you. Certainly there will be no harm in applying anywhere especially if the rest of the application (including COMLEX scores) are strong. Less competitive fields (most of pedi fellowships), especially in less competitve programs (many of them in almost all fields except maybe cards and PEM and neo to a lesser extent) will care less if at all.

Note that if you have a PhD as per your status, that will be an important bonus for lots of programs that might outweigh the USMLE issue.