Low Comlex, Excellent LOR's. Chances of Psych?

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.

molten88

New Member
Joined
Mar 16, 2021
Messages
2
Reaction score
0
I am not a medical student, but the partner of a 3rd year DO student.

I need help, because I don't know what to tell my partner or how to help. They would be furious if they knew I posted this information to an online forum, but I don't know what else to do. It's my understanding that psych is becoming a more competitive specialty, and my partner is very concerned about being able to match next year. I don't know what to tell them or how to help. Here are their stats:

- Low Comlex 1 - 430ish. Practice exams were always above 500, so it seemed like a fluke. Unfortunately, it's not something they can retake since they passed
- LOA of 1st semester due to mental health issues. No fails/grade issues after that
- They already have 3 excellent LOR's (2 psych, 1 surgery). 1 of their LOR's is from the head of the psych program from that rotation
- Excellent remarks on all rotations thus far - I know they will do much better on Comlex 2 because they are above average in clinical
- No research, but will have 1 or 2 case reports when the time comes to apply
- As of right now, they are not planning to take USMLE

Do you think it's enough to apply very broadly to just psych? They have been told by various psych residents, and the PD from their LOR that the most important thing is your interview and your LOR's over your scores, whereas others (IM residents, and other psych PD) say that the scores are equally important. Also that it looks better to apply only psych to show programs that you're really interested in the specialty. So it's very confusing to get all this conflicting information. Do they need to rank a less competitive specialty like IM?

Any advice or feedback is appreciated.

Members don't see this ad.
 
Last edited:
Psych has gotten absolutely brutal in the last few years. The LOA, especially for mental health issues, will be a red flag, and they need to show significant improvement on Level 2. I had really great LORs, and did match, but it was a Herculean undertaking, and I applied to over 100 programs.

This is not me discouraging them from continuing to go for it, but feasibly, they need to work on a backup. If they really like psychopharm, there's plenty of that happening in primary care.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 users
Start by looking at this: https://mk0nrmp3oyqui6wqfm.kinstacd...utcomes-in-the-Match-2020_DO-Senior_final.pdf

The LOR from a PD will help. The LOA and 430 comlex will hurt. They need to do better on level 2 and have that PD that wrote them there letter (or another psych mentor if not the PD) reach out to programs next year and put in a good word, having a mentor in the field reach out to programs for you can be huge especially if you have a less then stellar application. It will not be easy and they will need to apply broadly, but it’s not impossible.
 
Members don't see this ad :)
Apply broadly and everywhere. All they need is that one program to really like them, and rank them high. Believe it or not, in the end it’s how the PD feels about the applicant, and that could be worth more than scores alone. So, apply to all, especially to places your partner auditions at.
 
Thank you to everyone for your feedback!

Psych has gotten absolutely brutal in the last few years. The LOA, especially for mental health issues, will be a red flag, and they need to show significant improvement on Level 2. I had really great LORs, and did match, but it was a Herculean undertaking, and I applied to over 100 programs.

This is not me discouraging them from continuing to go for it, but feasibly, they need to work on a backup. If they really like psychopharm, there's plenty of that happening in primary care.

@starri can I ask how many interviews your 100+ applications yielded? My partner just told me they're planning on sending out only 20 applications to programs within a 3 hours radius (we're in the Northeast) which seems like a grave miscalculation. I just read (on reddit) about someone who had 15-20 psych interviews, no red flags, didn't match, and are currently SOAPing. It's like you said, it seems quite brutal.
 
@starri can I ask how many interviews your 100+ applications yielded? My partner just told me they're planning on sending out only 20 applications to programs within a 3 hours radius (we're in the Northeast) which seems like a grave miscalculation. I just read (on reddit) about someone who had 15-20 psych interviews, no red flags, didn't match, and are currently SOAPing. It's like you said, it seems quite brutal.
I'm going to be honest: limiting to 20 applications is almost going to guarantee them not matching. I had 13 interviews, but two were out of Match and one was a joint program, so I ended up with 9 ranks. I'm also in the NE, so the bulk of my interviews were around there, and that is ultimately where I ended up, but I think I basically applied to every program that would let me through with my scores, and the DO letters after my name.

I know you said they don't know you're doing this, but if you do eventually tell them, please feel free to have them contact me.
 
Top