First and second year grades

[DOhopeful08]

I am a first year at an osteopathic medical school. What kind of grades do I need my first two years? school is really tough, i got back my first anatomy exam today and failed. I'm getting pretty much B's in all my other classes with the exception of anatomy where i will most likely end up with a C. also what kind of gpa is competitive? Thanks!

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[Southpaw]

As and Bs would be optimal for you. A couple Cs won't kill you.

The big guns you'll be working with are Step 1 (shoot for >230...220 was average for anesthesia in 2007), third year grades, Step 2, and away rotation grades. Mix in good letters along the way and you'll be good to go.

 

[bigdan]

I suspect the letter grade matters very little - and note that some schools have only Pass or Fail for the first two years. What might be more important is how much you're actually learning during the first two years...there weren't many classmates of mine that did poorly in years one and two, and then rolled out and crushed the boards. So aim to LEARN, try to get good marks, but really try to do well on Step 1...it really DOES matter for residency.

dc

 

[amyl]

curious, which osteo school? you have to devise a study plan that works for you, this is super important. you have to figure out why things aren't going so well. are you just spending less time studying or are you not understanding the questions, need a good book to read for back up to the lectures, don't pay enough attention in lecture, etc. figuring out whats broken will help you in the long run. obviously the better grades you get and the better board scores you get, the better, and the better your options. that said someone matched from my osteo school with a bunch of Cs and some Bs, no As and average comlex scores, no usmle. i really think he is the exception though rather than the rule. you should also know that he did an away rotation in their anesthesia run sicu which is a notoriously hard rotation and worked hard... he is also a really likeable charismatic guy. good luck.

 

[ra233]

I am at KCUMB (DO school). I have been looking at programs across the country and noticed that the Midwest schools don't require the USMLE. Does anyone know how likely I am to get into Anesthesia with just a good COMLEX score? I don't want to take 2 sets of boards if I don't have to.

~Ryan
MS1

 

[sethco]

Take the USMLE.

Pony up the extra couple bucks and try to take it 1-2 weeks after the COMLEX. WELL WORTH IT!!!

It will much more likely help you than hurt you and you are more likely to be offered more interviews by taking it (assuming you can score at at least the average)

 

[ra233]

Take the USMLE.

Pony up the extra couple bucks and try to take it 1-2 weeks after the COMLEX. WELL WORTH IT!!!

It will much more likely help you than hurt you and you are more likely to be offered more interviews by taking it (assuming you can score at at least the average)

agreed. I guess it would just help to reinforce the knowledge anyway. How was it taking 2 sets of boards? rough? not bad?

 

[sethco]

agreed. I guess it would just help to reinforce the knowledge anyway. How was it taking 2 sets of boards? rough? not bad?

I decided midway through my 3rd year to take the USMLE.

It sucked horribly studying Biochem, A+P, Pharm, Micro, etc right in the middle of my rotations and I scored slightly lower (compared to the COMLEX) because of it.

However, I did significantly better on the USMLE than the COMLEX for Step II, which I took these only 2 weeks apart. It kept everything fresh in my mind

Back then, the COMLEX was paper/pencil (heard it's on computer now?), but the USMLE was computer based and took about half the time that the COMLEX took. I can say unequivocally that the USMLE was a much easier test of indurance in that respect, but the questions are definitely harder (i.e. Second and Third order questions).