IM residencies favoring MD/PhDs

[keforce]

---

Members do not see this ad.

I am posting this thread in hope of enlisting your help, thoughts, and comments. I am a U.S. medical graduate recently completed a combined MD/PhD degree in May, 2009. I applied for Rad Onc during the last academic year but was unsuccessful mainly owing to the fact that I did not have a passing Step2 CK score at the time the interviews were extended. I have since then passed Step2 CK on my third attempt. My stats are as follows:

Step 1 in 2004 - 201/82
Step 2CK - failed twice, passed in Feb, 2009 - 198/81
Step 2CS - pass
8 peer-reviewed publications - 6 as first author
I have been working as a "clinical fellow" (unaccredited) since July 1.

I plan on applying solely for IM this year. Given my stats, what are the realistic chances that I have of getting into an academic institution? Which programs around the country would accept an applicant with my stats? Location is not an issue for me. I appreciate all your input.

 

[dragonfly99]

My question is how bad is the advising at your medical school if they told you it was OK to apply to rad onc with no backup (such as prelim or categorical medicine). They, and you, should have known that your chances for rad onc were poor with the step scores that you had.
You can get into IM somewhere with the scores you have. Some of this will depend on your 3rd year and 4th year grades, particularly how you did on your medicine clerkship. Do you have medicine LOR's stating that you are good with patients and get along with people?

Best of luck in whatever you decide to do. I think in your situation you need to apply very broadly, apply to 20 or 30 programs to make sure that you get interviews, and include some programs that are hurting for solid US graduate candidates. That way you will be sure to get in. You can also try for some more solid university programs and just see what happens...the research helps but it doesn't take the place of the USMLE or your clinical grades. You need to have an explanation ready for what happened with you on the steps...presumably you are smart or you wouldn't have been able to get into an MD/PhD program and have a gazillion published papers. I think the residency programs will be asking themselves whether you are just not that interested in direct clinical medicine, and you need to address that concern.

 

[mercaptovizadeh]

I am posting this thread in hope of enlisting your help, thoughts, and comments. I am a U.S. medical graduate recently completed a combined MD/PhD degree in May, 2009. I applied for Rad Onc during the last academic year but was unsuccessful mainly owing to the fact that I did not have a passing Step2 CK score at the time the interviews were extended. I have since then passed Step2 CK on my third attempt. My stats are as follows:

Step 1 in 2004 - 201/82
Step 2CK - failed twice, passed in Feb, 2009 - 198/81
Step 2CS - pass
8 peer-reviewed publications - 6 as first author
I have been working as a "clinical fellow" (unaccredited) since July 1.

I plan on applying solely for IM this year. Given my stats, what are the realistic chances that I have of getting into an academic institution? Which programs around the country would accept an applicant with my stats? Location is not an issue for me. I appreciate all your input.

I agree with dragonfly. I don't understand how someone who was able to complete a PhD could do so dismally on the USMLE's. Is your memory terrible? Did you make no effort? Really, any reasonable person with reasonable preparation should be making a ~220+ on both steps, much less someone with 6 1st author publications. And I don't understand how your school could *allow* you to apply solely to rad onc with those scores.

Had you had great USMLE's, you'd have a shot at top academic institutions. With these scores and the stellar publication record, it's hard to project where you'd have a chance. Top academic programs are out, but do consider many of the middle tier and of course low tier IM programs.

 

[keforce]

I agree with dragonfly. I don't understand how someone who was able to complete a PhD could do so dismally on the USMLE's. Is your memory terrible? Did you make no effort? Really, any reasonable person with reasonable preparation should be making a ~220+ on both steps, much less someone with 6 1st author publications. And I don't understand how your school could *allow* you to apply solely to rad onc with those scores.

Had you had great USMLE's, you'd have a shot at top academic institutions. With these scores and the stellar publication record, it's hard to project where you'd have a chance. Top academic programs are out, but do consider many of the middle tier and of course low tier IM programs.

Thank you for your inputs and advise. Can you elaborate on what you mean by middle tier programs?

 

[chitown82]

Thank you for your inputs and advise. Can you elaborate on what you mean by middle tier programs?

Give us a city or region and we can tell you a few programs that are considered middle tier.

 

[keforce]

Give us a city or region and we can tell you a few programs that are considered middle tier.

I'm mainly looking at Northeast (NY, CT, PA, NJ, MA, MD, VA) and Southeast (FL, GA, SC, NC, TN, AL, MS) and TX. Thanks for your help.

 

[dragonfly99]

You could try U of Tennessee-Memphis and some of the UT branch campuses. I don't know about the Florida programs, with those step scores. You could try the S. Carolina programs, and perhaps regional North Carolina programs (I think there is one in Fayetteville?). I doubt UNC will take you with those step scores, honestly...and places like Emory, Vanderbilt, Southwestern and UAB are out.

I think the Step 2 failure is th e big bad thing, more than the lowish Step 1. You're going to have to convince these programs that the USMLE scores do not show your level of knowledge and clinical abilities...I don't know how you are going to do that. Try to do the best you possibly can for the rest of 4th year...that might help. It's all you can do at this point. If you were depressed, etc. then you need to address that. You also need to convince people that you are interested in clinical medicine...that could be a concern. You're going to have to be humble, yet aggressive at the same time...don't assume that the PhD is going to get you a residency...at this point you have to address the clinical side of things, and concerns that PD's will have about your clinical abilities.

 

[pedronavaja2005]

I have several friends that have failed the steps in more than one occasion and have matched in TOP academic internal medicine programs and moved on to be very successful....e.g. chief residency, gi, cards and nephro programs at top places as well. I think that the MDPhD gives you an edge because programs like to brag about the # of residents they take with advanced degrees.
Your application list should be balanced but you should still apply to your dream programs because you never know... For a place like NYC for instance...top programs include Columbia, Cornell, and Sinani then NYU and Einstein then community/university affiliated programs as North Shore (very strong), LIJ (OK), St. Lukes (OK), St. Vincent's (OK), BI (OK), Jacobi then westchester medical center, stony brook then you have Downstate and other smaller community hospitals like Long Island College Hospital, Maimoinedes, Cabrini...etc... I know that Columbia and Sinai are trying to recruit more residents with MDphDs. If you were only limited to NYC and applied to the above programs you'd have a pretty good shot at Montefiore maybe NYU maybe Sinai because of the PhD
I personally did not fail the steps but my scores were certainly not stellar as many peeps claim here e.g. >220, did not have the best research background and ended matching at a strong academic IM program and now at a great academic fellowship spot...hang in there