how competitive are california residencies for an OOS student with no cali ties

[jon0013]

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how competitive is it to get into an internal medicine residency program in california if you are an out of state student who has no ties to california? i don't know too much about the medical system there except the fact that the medical schools are extremely competitive but i would assume that residency spots are no different...

would an admissions committee look more favorably upon a bottom 1/3 student with a 240+ or a top quartile with a sub 230? also how important is research for internal medicine if you aren't sure which fellowship you want to pursue yet?

 

[Winged Scapula]

Residencies are not like medical school. By and large, your state of origin or local ties don't make any difference when it comes to deciding about residency applications. Thus, California residencies are competitive, in general (there are some that are less competitive) for everyone, even California residents with good local ties.

Research for most IM residencies is not particularly important, although you can expect a bigger emphasis on it at big name academic institutions.

There is no way to tell you whether programs would prefer a 240 with lower grades or a 230 with higher grades; both scores are probably good enough/close enough that it would be more impressive if you were higher ranked in your close with a lower score. BUT, and this is a big one, grades aren't near the top of the list of things that are important when looking at a residency applicant. Is 240 significantly better Step 1 score than 230? Perhaps, but probably not enough to make a difference btween bottom third of your class and top third.