Help!!! Barely passed Comlex 1..any hope for anesthesia???

[MightyJoeYoung]

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Hey guys...unlike the majority of posts that i see, where people appear worried about their scores, but actually have great scores, I passed comlex 1 by the skin of my teeth a 406 or 75 <-- the bare minimum (and am totally embarrassed)
To make matters worse, i didn't experience anesthesia until my last rotation of 3rd yr and immediately fell in love with the field then...in light of this, i haven't taken the USMLE step 1 and never even signed up for the USMLE step 2, which i'm seeing on multiple posts and finding out retrospectively, is NOT the way to go.
Now i am not completely naive and have transitional internship spots as my backup plan, but realistically, what are my chances of matching gas, osteo or allo? Just looking for a decent program any tier that i won't come out of being a HACK!....oh my grades were average, class rank around 100/171 (yes also not good), 3rd yr. clinical evaluations have all been great, and will get a strong letter from anesthesia rotation doc.

Thanks everybody!

 

[amyl]

as a fellow DO anes hopeful I feel your pain. i decided on anesthesiology late too.
you could go osteo, however, i have heard that many doc's coming out of osteo anes residencies feel unprepared, have trouble finding jobs except at small commmunity hospitals, etc. i even heard of one guy going back and doing an MD residency after his DO one so he could hold his own. but,
from what i have heard, osteo anes (like much of the osteo world it seems) is more about who you know than what you know so you may have a better opportunity there.
so what is your schedule? can you take any time off to study for anything? why don't you head to the nmbe website...there they have a practice test for step one that costs $45 and a practice test for step two that also costs $45...i have heard that these tests are the best assessments of performance on the steps (although i personally found the real thing harder but i am waiting in agony for my step one grade. i went back and studied all that stuff after third year).
one of my class mates is planning on applying to anesthesia with 50-something on the comlex step one and is only taking usmle step two, his grades are prob average, prob middle of the road class rank, but awesome extracurriculars. he decided not to bother with step one usmle. i was envious but scared so i took it (it sucked). i would take the practice tests for both step one and step two and see how you feel about the material. also, where have you set up away rotations for fourth year? set up some aways at do-friendly places that are not super competitive (PM me if you want ideas) -- rocking an away can make up for lots. apply to LOTS of places (i am applying to like 70).