ITE scores and fellowship

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Bkuc

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How much do fellowships look at ITE scores?

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How much do fellowships look at ITE scores? Ended up doing terrible on my ITE's. My program does approximately zero teaching and at the end of the day lets be honest, I can't bring myself to read at 9 pm.

You didn't say what year you're in, but you pluralized ITE so that implies you've taken the CA1 and CA2 spring exams. Honestly if you're bombing the ITEs then concern #1 ahead of fellowship aspirations needs to be a reversal of the trend or you're going to bomb the ABA written next year and find yourself staring down the barrel of being not board certified while working a busy job in PP-land. Your program doesn't teach? That sucks, but no one's going to care about you and teach you when you're done with residency either. Your partners aren't going to send a CRNA to break you out at 3 PM for CME lectures. You'll still need to read and learn to remain competent and grow, so figure out how to do that now. If you can't make yourself read at 9 PM, get up an hour early and read then. This is your problem, not your program's problem.

And to be blunt, fellowship programs are going to be hesitant about making it their problem too. You can search the forum for previous discussions on this topic, but it seems that while some programs don't ask for ITE scores, most do. As to weight? No one's going to be able to give you a good answer that applies to all programs, but you have to believe that programs aren't going to be impressed by an applicant who's struggling academically. In addition to learning, fellows need to pull their weight, even teach residents. Who wants a fellow who put up a 22 on his CA2 ITE?
 
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Competition is very high for an interview at my peds program. Ridiculously high. ITE scores are an easy way to separate the applicants at most programs. Crush your next one or plan to try to get a fellowship after a few years as an attending after you're board certified.
The last thing we want is someone who can't get board certified. Poor scores are a huge red flag.
 
Seriously guys, how many entrance exams have we taken by this point? The MCAT matters. Step 1 matters. Step 2 matters. Step 3, probably less so. Clerkship shelf scores matter. ITE, AKT, they all matter (whether for reputation at your program or for fellowship). Why, at this point in the game, would doing poorly on standardized tests suddenly not hurt you?

It's time to step up to the plate and read on your own. Alternatively, put together a study group and go over keywords with a few buddies every so often. There are numerous board review books and question banks. Yes, there will be days when you get home late and you're tired, but it's not going to be every day. Put in a little more time on those non-late days to make up for it. Being consistent is the key. It's just like fitness, running 20 miles once a week is not necessarily the same as putting in 5 miles 4 times a week. For me, in medical school and now, it takes at least 3-4 trips through a topic before it's really familiar. You undoubtedly know this, but this is for the MS1 lurkers out there figuring out how to study effectively.
 
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Read during appropriate, low acuity cases. Read before the complicated ones. Seriously.
 
Definitely matters. When I applied even the programs that didn't ask for them on their website, would eventually email me and tell me that my application isn't complete because it was missing my latest ITE score.
 
Seriously guys, how many entrance exams have we taken by this point? The MCAT matters. Step 1 matters. Step 2 matters. Step 3, probably less so. Clerkship shelf scores matter. ITE, AKT, they all matter (whether for reputation at your program or for fellowship). Why, at this point in the game, would doing poorly on standardized tests suddenly not hurt you?

It's time to step up to the plate and read on your own. Alternatively, put together a study group and go over keywords with a few buddies every so often. There are numerous board review books and question banks. Yes, there will be days when you get home late and you're tired, but it's not going to be every day. Put in a little more time on those non-late days to make up for it. Being consistent is the key. It's just like fitness, running 20 miles once a week is not necessarily the same as putting in 5 miles 4 times a week. For me, in medical school and now, it takes at least 3-4 trips through a topic before it's really familiar. You undoubtedly know this, but this is for the MS1 lurkers out there figuring out how to study effectively.

Yes.... but when I applied to residency, they didn't care about my MCAT score.

They did care about the immediately preceding steps though, which is what ITEs are to fellowship.
 
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