How does Step 1 affect fellowship chances?

[throwaway271172]

I know this is ridiculous, but please bear with me.

I scored a 205 on my Step 1, BUT still got into a consensus top-20 residency based on other factors:
- AOA at top 10 medical school
- 260 on step 2
- 5 first-author papers (basic science x2 in UG, case series x3 in MS; not related to any potential fellowship) and a dozen or so basic science abstracts at national conferences.

The 205 on my Step 1 affected my residency admission; had I scored higher, per my school's program director, I likely would have gotten in somewhere even better (NOT complaining: I love where I am going and ranked it above my home institution). But it was not an insurmountable issue, although I suspect if I weren't at a "top 10" medical school it would have been.

My question is: does Step 1 matter at all for fellowships? If so, how much do I have to compensate for the Step 1 score when it comes to fellowship applications? Does the rest of my application still have to be significantly better to make up for it? Am I automatically out of contention for the top (e.g. Cards at UCLA) or top of the top (e.g. Cards at MGH) again? I presume that I am still in contention for a Cards fellowship at a mid- or low-tier location.

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[nephappl]

Yes it is ridiculous
For the past few months our discussions in these forums have become mostly superficial , boring and irrelevant
Pretty sure there are plenty of post answering things like this before as everyone post the same questions over and over

 

[Deferoxamine]

No, this is NOT ridiculous.

But good news, OP. With your AOA at a Top 10 medical school, no one would or should care about the Step 1. Anyone that bases a decision on hiring you on a test score from 5 years earlier when you clearly more than compensated for it is a tool, and you should be happy that you don't have to work with them.

Fellowship = Brand name of your residency + Your LOR's + Research + How Much they like you
Secondary: Brand name of your medical school +/- AOA during medical school +/- other special crap that no one has/does

Bottom line = you're fine.

 

[Niviancer]

You may get screened out of several fellowship programs who have 220 cut offs but with that background a nice explanatory email to the PD/PC may overcome that