If you have no interest in Surgery, obs/gyn is FM not worth doing?

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levothyroxine

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I have no interest in OB/GYN or Surgery
but my step 1 score is 205 and i'm an usimg
so FM seems to be my only choice if I spend 2yrs building my cv
but like i said above i have no interest in those two fields, so is FM a good choice at all?

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Hard question to answer the way you have it worded. Rephrased: I don't like Honda or Toyota but only have $3k to spend on a car. is Hyundai a good choice?

It depends. Do you have any interest in FM?
 
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Hard question to answer the way you have it worded. Rephrased: I don't like Honda or Toyota but only have $3k to spend on a car. is Hyundai a good choice?

It depends. Do you have any interest in FM?
besides those two rotations i'm fine with the other aspects of it
 
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besides those two rotations i'm fine with the other aspects of it

Doesn't sound like you love FM. Why not just do IM? It's no more competitive than FM, and there are more residency positions available. Plus, you'll have the option to specialize, if you want to.
 
Doesn't sound like you love FM. Why not just do IM? It's no more competitive than FM, and there are more residency positions available. Plus, you'll have the option to specialize, if you want to.
because i'm an us img with a 205 and i don't think it'll be easy for IM
 
because i'm an us img with a 205 and i don't think it'll be easy for IM

Think again.

You'll have a far easier time convincing IM programs that you like them compared to FM programs. The whole "don't like OB/gyn or surgery" thing definitely won't be perceived as a negative in IM-land.
 
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You'd lose out on peds training with IM. If that doesn't matter to you, and all you want is adult medicine, then IM really is the better fit. Otherwise, there are less OB heavy FM residencies out there if you want the peds training.
 
What do you want to do with your life?

FM will keep open several doors. Primary care, Urgent Care, ER in smaller towns, Hospitalist. You can do fellowships in Sports Med, Geriatrics.

IM will leave open Primary Care, I would imagine you can find Urgent Cares/ER's that will take you, Certainly Hospitalist. Countless specialty fellowships.

If your concern is your low stats--I think you'll be able to match IM.

If you think you actually want to do Family Medicine--I did it and I don't love OB/GYN or Surgery either. I wouldn't bring this up in interviews. But I don't recall being asked about those things a ton. Most people don't anticipate delivering babies after residency in FM. GYN: If you do primary care--people will probably want the occasional pap. But, you can probably develop your practice such that all that gets sent to your local GYN doc.

I did FM and am now months into my first real job as a hospitalist. Last week, I did a GYN exam on a 20 year old with PID. I've done them on women at Urgent Care shifts when I moon-lighted. Do I enjoy it? Nah. But, you'll want the skills. And, I'm pretty sure you'll do your share of paps/pelvics in GYN.

Surgery wise? I cut off a few skin lesions. A lot of stitching. If you do ER or Urgent care, you'll do some stitches. Same hospitalist gig, I've done 1 punch Biopsy. Again, all important good skills to have.
But you won't go into Family Medicine and learn to take out Gallbladders or Appendices.
 
Go with IM, I have friends who are Caribbean grads with stats like yours who landed in IM. Go to a community program and you can still have access to a decent amount of IM fellowships if you like.

Good luck.
 
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Go with IM, I have friends who are Caribbean grads with stats like yours who landed in IM. Go to a community program and you can still have access to a decent amount of IM fellowships if you like.

Good luck.

Do IM you sound like you'll feel like you're settling going for family medicine and this will be perceived by programs. However no one I know plans to do ob or surgery after residency and it is a small part of residency.
 
The urgent care gods have shown their light down on me and given me a few minutes to browse the site, read your question and do some math on the fly.

FM residency is 36 months....you spend 2 months doing OB and 2 months doing surgery. That is 8 weeks out of 156. In terms of hours (assuming you abide by ACGME rules and work no more than 80 hours/week) that is 640 hours out of 12,480.

You will do 0 hours of that stuff the rest of your career....not that bad in the long run.
 
IM with 205. Are you guys sure?
 
IM with 205. Are you guys sure?

I have a USMD friend with similar step 1 who matched last year at her #1 IM program in NYC. She got 10+ interview invitations (unsure how many schools she applied to, I think ~50 IIRC). You have a good shot, seek more advice on your program list when the time comes and apply broadly. You can always apply FM as a back-up specialty if you feel more comfortable going that route.

Edit: check out Charting the Outcomes for US IMGs here: http://www.nrmp.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Charting-Outcomes-IMGs-2016.pdf

For IM: 7+ interviews and you are highly likely to match. With your step 1 70 US IMGs matched and 148 did not, so try to improve on step 2 to raise those odds a bit.

For FM: similar regarding # of interviews. For your step 1 135 matched and 90 did not.
 
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Not sure what to do with those numbers. From the same Charting Outcomes for US IMGs, it shows that 6 applicants with a STEP 1 score between 181-190 have matched. Isn't passing score for step 1 192? Same for the 2 applicants who matched with a step 2 score between 191 and 200 when the passing score for step 2 is 209.
 
Not sure what to do with those numbers. From the same Charting Outcomes for US IMGs, it shows that 6 applicants with a STEP 1 score between 181-190 have matched. Isn't passing score for step 1 192? Same for the 2 applicants who matched with a step 2 score between 191 and 200 when the passing score for step 2 is 209.

The data likely includes previous failures. If they retook/passed and then matched, then I would think both scores would be included.
 
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