General Surgery matching strategy with low level 1 board scores...

Started by JustinianHavertus
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JustinianHavertus

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Hey everyone, what needs to be my strategy for matching general surgery with a 217 on STEP-1 and a 493 on COMLEX LVL-1?

I have a very strong resume, including years in healthcare prior to this journey. I just cannot see myself in any other area of medicine...

Thanks in advance for your constructive input!
 
Basically your low scores are never going to go away. You do need to make up for them with other ares of your application. Do lots of research and reach out to a bunch of programs and get some solid auditions. Get as many connections as you can and solid LORs. Then kill Step 2 and Level 2. If you want Gen Surg, work hard and make it happen.
 
Chances are low.
Research + Away rotations + Crush second round of boards can give you a slim chance back.

Not breaking 220 or 500 on either exam is quite lethal for GS.

If I were you I'd look for other fields in medicine that isn't surgery, that you still enjoy.
 
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Looks like 3/5 applicants in the last 2 matches, matched with your stats. I personally wouldn't tolerate a >=40% chance (">" because there are a lot more DOs in the upcoming matches) of no career, or one way outside my control (SOAPing).
 
Odds aren't in your favor, kill step 2 / level 2, research, connections, auditions, pretty much what everyone else said above. I probably wouldn't apply with those scores unless the rest of my app was killer, but thats just me
 
Auditions, auditions, auditions. The key to you matching is going to be you blowing a program away in person and them not caring about your scores. Even then, a lot of the old AOA programs require a 500 to audition so best bet is to reach out to programs in November/December to express interest and ask for an audition. Best of luck! If you’re set on surgery then chase it
 
I will never tell someone to not try for something, but you will need a plan 1b.

Your scores are what they are so you need to find ways to overcome them. You need to make significant jumps on Step/Level 2, you need great LOR's, and you will need to convince a program they like you enough in person to ignore your scores. Like @RamsFan&FutureDO said, it will come down to the audition for you. Focus all your audition efforts on former AOA programs, and do some groundwork to find the programs that don't really care about boards and are super audition heavy. There are a few out there like that. With a Step score you will want to throw out as many community MD applications as you can, you might snag a few interviews with a super wide net.
 
AnatomyGrey12 said:
Not high. If I remember the statistic right it's like 18-20% of preliminary residents end up in a categorical spot eventually.
Click to expand...
It looks like it is now 34% of NDP match into surgery, while about 35% match into another field of medicine - leaving 31% unmatched after one year. That makes it a little bit better, when one recognizes that many of the NDPs will make it unless you have Visa troubles (which accounts for many of the unmatched). ~70% chance of match is worth the extra shot of making it into a lifetime career of surgery.

www.sciencedirect.com

Impact of Surgery Program Characteristics on Fate of Non-designated Preliminary Surgery Interns

Non-designated preliminary (NDP) general surgery residents face the daunting challenge of obtaining a categorical residency position while undertaking…
www.sciencedirect.com www.sciencedirect.com
 
JustinianHavertus said:
Hey everyone, what needs to be my strategy for matching general surgery with a 217 on STEP-1 and a 493 on COMLEX LVL-1?

I have a very strong resume, including years in healthcare prior to this journey. I just cannot see myself in any other area of medicine...

Thanks in advance for your constructive input!
Click to expand...
i doubt you will match surgery with those bad scores sorry
 
JustinianHavertus said:
Hey everyone, what needs to be my strategy for matching general surgery with a 217 on STEP-1 and a 493 on COMLEX LVL-1?

I have a very strong resume, including years in healthcare prior to this journey. I just cannot see myself in any other area of medicine...

Thanks in advance for your constructive input!
Click to expand...
Where do you stand now? Curious.

Best of luck.
 
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Former aoa programs and audtions, there's about 50 former aoa that made it, in addition you need to show significant improvement in step 2
 
Surgeon D.O. said:
I’ll likely be applying GS next year with 224/556 lol

I have a list of about 150 programs I’m reaching out to.

Wish me luck 🙃
Click to expand...
Above a 220 your odds go up quite a bit, you will be ok as long as you audition at former aoa and apply very broadly.
 
Surgeon D.O. said:
This is more or less what I have heard. Was really trying for 230+ but it is what it is.

I knew someone who struggled to match (I don't even actually know if they did) but they were applying to like 30 places only with subpar scores.
Click to expand...
That's a receipe for disaster if you have subpar scores. You need to apply broadly
 
A lot of programs use software to filter applications and part of that software can set a score threshold, so unfortunately scores do matter quite a bit. Like everyone else is saying apply broadly, if you have any faculty that have connections anywhere see if they’re willing to write an email to advocate for you. Some programs still don’t really understand COMLEX scores and depend heavily on STEP scores to compare applications, so I recommend to anyone going for even remotely competitive specialties to take STEP too.
 
FutureDoctor5000 said:
That's a receipe for disaster if you have subpar scores. You need to apply broadly
Click to expand...
Found out:

1.) He did not match GS
2.) He received I think zero interviews and switched to peds
3.) He did an OMM elective somewhere in the mix
4.) Some of his letters were FM docs

In addition to aforementioned no USMLE and applying to like 30 places.
 
Surgeon D.O. said:
Found out:

1.) He did not match GS
2.) He received I think zero interviews and switched to peds
3.) He did an OMM elective somewhere in the mix
4.) Some of his letters were FM docs

In addition to aforementioned no USMLE and applying to like 30 places.
Click to expand...
Yikes lol, pretty much do the opposite of that and you should be fine... He applied to peds the next year or just dual applied?
 
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