Future of USMLE and cardiology

[Gherman TFH]

Do medical school grades, step and ITE scores matter for cardiology fellowship application? Is time spent studying in residency & medical school better invested in research and forging connections ?

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[PC89]

ITE scores are not released to fellowship programs. They are a low-stakes exam with the purpose for self-assessment. The PD may have some words that they use to describe your ITE in their LoR but that is PD dependent. For medical school grades your MSPE is released to fellowships. Utilizing the PD survey report from 2016 (https://www.nrmp.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/2016-PD-Survey-Report-SMS.pdf) the importance of your MSPE is 51% in importance (near the bottom 1/3 of important factors). Your step scores is as followed 74% (USMLE 1), 72% (USMLE 2), and 62% (USMLE 3) indicating that there is weight to the scores with Step 1 being the most important followed closely by Step 2. I assume this variation will change with P/F for Step 1.

As to what you should do with your time. If you are still in medical school then the most you can do is try and publish and match into the most respectable residency you can (Reputation of residency program is 86% and is top 3 in all factors), a university program will be far better than university-affiliated or community. Lastly, research and forging connections go hand-in-hand most of the time as well as being a good resident.

 

[cards67]

Step scores sure, at least for screening purposes. The others not so much. You should be spending time studying AND doing research.