How do I find the average USMLE score for a school?

[DoctorWannaBe]

I'm applying to medical school this year and was wondering if anyone knows of a website that lists the scores for each school, or if most schools list the scores on their websites? Also, what is an average/good score, so I know how to compare the numbers?

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[Christiangirl]

I think most schools keep this private. If you are curious, you could try starting a thread on this forum and ask med students to report the average at their school and pass rate.

 

[Da Vinci2]

Rule of thumb is 3.5/30. More competitive (high tier) schools you need higher ~ 3.7/35. Lower end you might squeeze by with ~ 3.3/28. My school is mid-high tier and this rule of thumb is true at my school. The distribution is pretty tight though.

 

[Idiopathic]

The poster is asking about averege USMLE score, not GPA/MCAT.

 

[Da Vinci2]

I think I should change my screen name to TIA...

Anyway, I don't know. I asked several programs what their score is and most are pretty tight lipped about it and only gave me a vague ballpark (...we "prefer" your score to be above ***..., scores above *** would be "considered" competitive...). Just ask the PD/residency coordinator at the program you want to apply under an anonymous email address. Can't hurt to try.

 

[Jaded Soul]

This year's Keck/USC average is 221.0. That's up 5 points from our average last year.

Link

Our administration is patting themselves on the back for successfully changing the curriculum, but it's probably due to the large amount of review time at the end of Year 2. I bet if they would have shortened the old curriculum by 2 months the scores would have gone up as well.

 

[doc05]

Originally posted by Jaded Soul
This year's Keck/USC average is 221.0. That's up 5 points from our average last year.

Link

Our administration is patting themselves on the back for successfully changing the curriculum, but it's probably due to the large amount of review time at the end of Year 2. I bet if they would have shortened the old curriculum by 2 months the scores would have gone up as well.

this is a bunch of nonsense. first off, the national mean went up since last year. secondly, it is more likely that a few (2-3) students with very high scores pushed the USC average up over last year's. Schools love to pat themselves on the back, but realistically, the individual student plays a much larger role in attaining a given score.

 

[kelsey]

Indiana's is 222-223 pretty much every year. Heard Northwestern's was 232 this year.

 

[unregistered]

there is no way harvard's average score is 220... that might have been true only in 1993 or something
the average score at top ten schools are usually closer to 230 something

 

[volvulus]

I think the better question is what is the median score. The avg scores can be skewed really easily...especially if class size is small.

 

[Al Pacino]

I'm curious, which medical school has the highest USMLE step1 mean score? So far, Northwestern's score of 232 is the leader, but what about the other top med schools?

 

[jed2023]

Originally posted by unregistered
there is no way harvard's average score is 220... that might have been true only in 1993 or something
the average score at top ten schools are usually closer to 230 something

The average at most of the top tens is around 230, give or take 2 points depending on the school and the particular year. I don't think you'll find this information published on the web, though. You pretty much have to be a student at these schools. At Columbia, they post the previous year's Step I score summary outside the student lounge. We've had an average score of 230 for the last 5 years, although some years it fluctuates a few points up or down.

The only exceptions that I have heard of (by hear say, except for my own school) to the top 10 equals 230 plus or minus 2 are Harvard and Duke, which are a bit lower, maybe mid 220's. Duke has an accelerated curriculum, so that their students can get into the wards by year 2. They condense everything into a year, I think, so I guess they "have an excuse." As far as Harvard, who knows? They don't emphasize raw numbers, however, quite as much as some of the other schools, either in terms of acceptance (average MCAT scores) or boards performance. I spent my summer in the dorms there (doing research at MGH) and the students say that step 1 just isn't emphasized as terribly important.

 

[mpp]

Originally posted by Al Pacino
I'm curious, which medical school has the highest USMLE step1 mean score? So far, Northwestern's score of 232 is the leader, but what about the other top med schools?

For Mayo the means have been:

2001 - 230
2002 - 234
2003 - 236

I don't know the medians (and it is a small class) but according to the distribution they present to us, more than 50% each year have scored above 230 for the past four years.