IM residency for a lower than average student

[docmmm]

i am a 4th year med student with a sub 200 score on step 1, awaiting for step 2 score which i took early, and average clinical grades in med school. i have one publication.

those are my stats. i am very, very worried about matching into an academic program, which i have to do because the only reason i am doing IM is because I want to end up doing gi eventually (so basically, i have to do an university-based resdiency)

i don't even know where to begin-i would like to apply to low and mid tier prograsm, but dont even know which those are. i am game to go anywhere because i don't have a lot of options given my stats.

my questions:
-what are some low and mid tier programs either in new england, the midwest, or the west coast? or anywhere??

-what are some good community programs that have decent/good chances of me getting into a fellowship?

any help would be extremely appreciated.
thank you

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[JiminyCricket]

i am a 4th year med student with a sub 200 score on step 1, awaiting for step 2 score which i took early, and average clinical grades in med school. i have one publication.

those are my stats. i am very, very worried about matching into an academic program, which i have to do because the only reason i am doing IM is because I want to end up doing gi eventually (so basically, i have to do an university-based resdiency)

i don't even know where to begin-i would like to apply to low and mid tier prograsm, but dont even know which those are. i am game to go anywhere because i don't have a lot of options given my stats.

my questions:
-what are some low and mid tier programs either in new england, the midwest, or the west coast? or anywhere??

-what are some good community programs that have decent/good chances of me getting into a fellowship?

any help would be extremely appreciated.
thank you

you can for sure get a low tier community program

 

[NotAProgDirector]

Getting a GI fellowship with a <200 Step 1 will not be easy no matter what road you take. So, I would suggest to examine the statement "the only reason i am doing IM is because I want to end up doing gi eventually" carefully, and consider that you may need a plan B.

If your Step 2 score is better, you will almost certainly get an IM spot, and likely in a univ program. However, you might be better off being a "bigger fish in a smaller pond" in a community based program (or perhaps a "lower tier" univ program).

The best way to find community programs is to look to see which ones have GI fellowships. Your best chance at a GI fellowship will likely be at your home program.

 

[docmmm]

thanks for the advice.

does anyone know of any good community IM programs in the midwest that match well into fellowship? i just want some specific names to start looking into. everyone here always talks about mass gen, UCSF, etc. it'd be nice to get some advice for those of us who are on the other side of things.

 

[Clemson Doc]

Why would the OP have trouble matching into a university-based IM program? Simply being a graduate of a U.S. medical school and getting through medical school without any major hiccups should be fine to match into a decent IM program, especially since the OP has some nice publications. That's not to say that the OP will get interviews everywhere, but why should a mid- to low-tier university program not strongly consider the OP?

 

[dragonfly99]

I actually agree with clemsondoc,
but I agree with APD about the GI fellowship thing. Still, it's hard to know what the situation will be with getting GI fellowships in 5 or so years...things wax and wane. I would expect GI to still be competitive, though.

OP, I don't think you need to hit the panic button. Especially if you do better on Step 2, like average-ish, I know there would be a lot of IM programs that would like to have you. Getting the GI fellowship will be tougher than getting the IM residency. Why don't you try for University of TN (such as UT Memphis), St. Louis University, perhaps Medical U of S. Carolina and I know there is a regional hospital in N. Carolina (the name escapes me) that I heard is nice and ran into a couple of their residents at cardiology interviews who said they'd liked the program. You should not forget to put in some "reach" schools also...depending on what your research publication was in, you may be able to interest some programs just based on your past research. Try to make sure you get some good LOR's from IM docs...that will help, particularly if any are known in their field, either regionally or nationally. Do not forget to sell other aspects of your application, as your USMLE score isn't going to be your top selling point. You can talk up your research in the interview, any volunteer/community work you have done, anything related to IM (such as community health screenings, etc.), foreign language abilities, etc.

If you get asked about your step I score in interviews, just be humble about it but not defensive. The 200 score suggests you may have some knowledge deficits, or you just didn't study the right way, but obviously you passed and you did it on the first try. the Step 1 is less clinically based than the step 2, so if you did better on Step 2, like 215 or 220, then you can always argue that you are more of a clinically oriented person, which is a good thing if you are doing IM.

 

[dragonfly99]

As far as "reach" schools, for the OP I mean not places like Harvard but more regionally known very solid IM programs, but maybe ones in places that aren't so geographically popular. One thing you can do also is look for places that have historically taken a lot of students from your school. Also, some times in med school it seems like everyone else has the 230 board score, is in the top 1/2 of their med school class, etc. But remember that 1/2 of other US med students are in the bottom 1/2 of their class as well...and these people pretty much all go to some residency somewhere...and IM is NOT the most popular residency. If you are a US grad and didn't fail any steps and didn't have fights/personality issues with people on your rotations, and you have some research under your belt and good LOR's, you should be OK I would think.