Lookin for advice re: first year grades

[sweetpea19]

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hello everyone

I have been reading about first year trauma 😉 and sad to say I fall in that category. I am a second year med student now and like it sooooooooo much more but here are the things that bother me:
My first year transcript is full of p's with one HP
My second year started off really well....I cleared up some family issues over the summer and came back to med school relaxed...anyway I high passed pharm yayy 😉 and am doing well UNTIL MICROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! looks like i am only gonna get a P in this class (unless I get a 100 on the 3rd exam which I doubt)
anyway this worries me....I want to go into ophtho (I've already ruled out derm!!) and or anesthesia or emergency medicine...am I totally out of the loop for these residencies? I keep hearign conflicting things--boards can outweight 1st and 2nd year but then ppl say P=MD so ...the bottom line is am I to understand that I need to be above average and high pass all the classes from now on to get what I want or can I get by with a couple of Ps here and there on my second year transcript as well??????
sorry if I am being redundant, I would appreciate any advice from upperclassmen. thanks

 

[romed81]

Isserson's Guide to Residency - it's the Bible that you need to read.

 

[lattimer13]

Isserson's Guide to Residency - it's the Bible that you need to read.

i don't compare anything to the bible...but i agree it's good.

 

[efex101]

Yup, it is a great book and from my understanding and talking to some residency directors first and second years is not taken into consideration as much...usmle, clerkship grades, letters, etc..came first on the list if i remember correctly...also tons of schools are p/f in the first and second year so if these grades meant sooo much for residency I do not think that p/f would be so popular...

 

[Seaglass]

I had all P's except for two HP's 1st and 2nd years. I applied for EM and was told I was a very competitive candidate (Step 1 235, fantastic letters). I got all the interviews I applied for. From what I know of Anesthesia it should be similar. Don't know anything about Optho. Iserson's ratings are poop. If you do what he says you should be able to land any residency anywhere, but only 1-5% of med students can do what he says.

 

[Gerg]

Even if you don't Match into your primary choice of residency, well, I'd say try to go to the hospital that you want to get your residency in, and make contacts there.

Sure they're gonna pick Canidate A over Canidate B when A has a 235 and B has a 210 or A has more Honors than B.

But when they pick up the file, and Dr. Highandmightyontheresidencycomitte says "Ok, we have Dr. Lowlynewmdtryingtoapply.", and Dr. Secondaryguyonresidencycommittee says "I know that kid, he's a good kid and a good worker, I like him, let's get him here", they might not even open up your CV, let alone care if you got P's instead of H's.

Basically, if you're set on where you want to go/what program you want to go into, get a subinternship there your 4th year, and network, network, network! Also, be nice to the houstaff, nursing staff, and non-medical personel. I can't tell you how important the impression you make on the coffee stand lady can be to you if she tells Dr. Highandmighty about how nice you are when he's getting his coffee, or about what a bastard you are, dispite a 300 on your USMLE Step 1.

 

[Seaglass]

Great advice, I second.

 

[sdboy]

i dont think you should worry so much about your first two years... It seems you didnt do awesome, but you did ok. anyways you have step 1 and third year grades which far outweight all of the first two years... You can EASILY make up for the first two years!

 

[IV Doc]

as a 4TH year student I don't even worry about my first two yeat grades. The only reason you study during the first two years is so you do well on the Step exam and during the third year. Other than that they don't matter.

 

[quideam]

Ok, now I have a question....... at my school, we have H/P/F, and about 20% of the class gets honors. We also only have one course at a time, and first year it looks like we have a total of about 6 courses. So realistically, I may be able to get honors in, say 1 or two of them. The other thing is that a lot of our evaluation is subjective... only about 35-40% of our grade is based on our quizzes; another 40% is PBL evaluations, and then 10% journal club and 10% final exam (which is more of a case presentation, so again subjective).

Do you think that getting mostly passes will matter?

 

[Kilgorian]

There are many things far more important than your 1st and 2nd year grades. But, do try your best. Then, follow your heart. You'll make it. Who knows, maybe you change your mind later anyway. Try to minimize the lamenting. Just do your best, then go have some fun after those tests!