How accurate are Texas STAR Averages

[Nfish1]

How accurate do you guys think they are? Obviously there is reporting bias. Just trying to see what programs I should apply for. If I am below a programs average by 4-5 points does that make me uncompetitive for that program? How big is a 2-3 point difference in averages for STEP1 when applying for programs? I felt like for the MCAT the difference between 1 point (517 and 518) was pretty big and I wanted to see if that is still true for residency programs?

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[softball2344]

2-3 points is nothing and the data is helpful to look at candidates as a whole (i.e. you can see a person with bad step score who has all honors and 10 pubs will generally still be competitive) but things like step averages will be way wrong due to reporting bias and the fact its only been around a couple of years

 

[liquidcrawler]

What about programs that have ~20 data points? Are those reliable? Specifically larger IM programs tend to have more than a few points

 

[Nfish1]

2-3 points is nothing and the data is helpful to look at candidates as a whole (i.e. you can see a person with bad step score who has all honors and 10 pubs will generally still be competitive) but things like step averages will be way wrong due to reporting bias and the fact its only been around a couple of years

DO you think the STEP Avg are higher than or lower than whats reported? Especially for the interview/matched stats

 

[Prehealth1011]

Self-reported

 

[NecrotizingFasciitis]

Is there a way to access this info if your school doesn’t participate? Would be interesting to look around.