How competitive am I?

[Doc_Marinus]

Hello,

I am a 3rd year D.O student hoping for neurology. I got a 234 on Step 1 and a 563 on COMLEX. I am in the bottom half of my class but not very bottom. I am involved with research hoping for a publication before interview season. I am wondering what level programs at this point assuming similar performance on future boards I will be competitive for. Do I have a shot at strong university programs or do I need to cast a wide net and shoot for community programs. All guidance is greatly appreciated, thanks!

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[Thama]

You probably fit more or less into the middle. You'll match barring any future red flags, but unlikely to be competitive for big name programs. There are plenty of university programs where you'll have a good shot - thing about neurology is that most programs are university-based given the lower total number of residencies (as compared to IM/FM). Apply to a couple of reach programs you really like, a solid core of places in your region that are in your range, and a handful of safety programs. The Doximity rankings aren't perfect but can give you a rough sense for how prestigious and competitive various programs are, and I would mostly look to the middle third of that list in your case.

 

[Doc_Marinus]

Thanks for the advice. So I go to school in the Midwest, but would like to do residency in a different region, ideally Florida. Is it tougher to get into programs outside of the Midwest since that is where I went to school? I was planning on doing an audition later next year in a couple of florida programs

 

[Thama]

Not particularly harder. Certain regions are more competitive in general (urban NE, California), but if you want to migrate to other regions it'll mostly just be more time and expense in the interview process, and programs might not be as familiar with your school and your letter writers. The DO issue also has to be taken into account - DOs are very well known in the MW, but that's not as true in other regions. The SE has very few DO schools and those that exist are generally new and not very well-known. Still shouldn't be much of an issue, but it's a reason to apply more broadly than you otherwise might have expected to.

 

[EmilKraepelin55]

@Thama Just to piggyback here since I have very similar stats (DO 3rd year student with level 1 = 598, step 1 = 234, the upper half of class, only 1 non-neuro research experience without a pub): I am from the midwest and would like to stay. I am primarily looking at OUHSC, Mizzou, and Indiana U as my top places to match. However, out of curiosity's sake, do you think a student with our stats (perhaps if one like ourselves could snag at least one neuro pub between now and application season) could have any hope at higher-end Midwest places like Cleveland Clinic or Mayo Rochester for neuro? Not saying I absolutely want to go to these places, but I am curious.

 

[Thama]

I don't know specifically about Mayo or CCF, but in general the really top tier places often don't even seriously consider DOs even with stellar stats and research. My residency program had never matched a DO by the time I graduated, so a DO with average stats is going to have a very uphill climb unless things have changed a lot in the last few years.

Places like IU, Mizzou, Iowa, UIC are probably your bread and butter in the region. NW, Michigan, Rush and similar are probably reaches. Wouldn't get your hopes up about Mayo or Wash U. I can offer no insight into CCF as my own opinion of that institution and the rankings in most national surveys are polar opposites.

 

[NOLADO84]

You’re more than fine. DO does not matter.

 

[DerpyNeuroMD]

Go take a look on residencyexplorer and build a profile. Also, many of the top programs are like 90-100% MD so I wouldn't say it flat out "does not matter'

 

[Chibucks15]

Go take a look on residencyexplorer and build a profile. Also, many of the top programs are like 90-100% MD so I wouldn't say it flat out "does not matter'

Yeah but some of that is the fact that DOs only make up 1/5th of the med student population of the US, and that’s not even including international grads which a lot apply to neuro. Also there just aren’t a lot of neuro interested yet so that’s a factor. Out of my class of 200ish at a DO school there’s only 3 of us applying, and that’s a high number compared to previous years. We usually only put out 1-3.

definitely use residency explorer and my rule is only apply if you’re in the middle 50% or better in every category as a DO (unless you have a tie to a program or something)

 

[NOLADO84]

Go take a look on residencyexplorer and build a profile. Also, many of the top programs are like 90-100% MD so I wouldn't say it flat out "does not matter'

More than fine as a DO.