Low step 1 and average grades, can I match at these places?

Started by helpppplease121
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helpppplease121

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Hello,

I'm finished my third year and really worried about my chances of matching in the NE and mid Atlantic region of the country. I'm just not a great test taker. I do well on clinical evaluations and OSCE's, study a lot, but never seem to ace the NBME's.

My step 1 is a 205. Taking Step 2CK in July.

My preclinical grades are average. Clinical grades are all Pass except HP in fam med and HP in pediatrics.

I have some institutional research and an abstract in the works.

I would like to look at these schools for personal reasons.

University of Maryland
Mt Sinai Baltimore
St. Christopher's in Delaware
Georgetown

I would really like to stay in the DMV area but I understand that may be impossible. Any tips or advice please? Is there a chance I won't match?

Thank you.
 
pedsisthebest333 said:
Don't know about the others but I doubt Georgetown. Sorry.
You'll match but you have to apply broadly and to more programs.
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Thank you. When you say apply broadly, how broad? Does that I mean I should be looking at community-based programs and not academic places? Do you have any suggestions?

How many programs should I apply to? Thank you.
 
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helpppplease121 said:
Thank you. When you say apply broadly, how broad? Does that I mean I should be looking at community-based programs and not academic places? Do you have any suggestions?

How many programs should I apply to? Thank you.
Click to expand...
There's no magic number. Only you can decide that. You can always add more applications if you aren't getting enough interviews. Everyone is different, I know some people who applied to 60+, I applied to only about 25. But that was because I knew I wouldn't go out of my region. I wanted to stay in my homestate. If I hadn't gotten interviews in all my top choices I would have branched out and applied to more bc you don't want to not match. In the end I applied to about 25, got about 14 invites and went on about 7 interviews. Now if you read on sdn most will say I applied to not enough or went to enough interviews but I felt confident that I would match to one bc I wasn't applying to top notch peds programs. But if you read sdn there are some people who apply to 60+ go on x amount of interviews and still don't match. So there is no magic number. It's just how the match works. There's no secret formula. Actually there is a statistical analysis on the nbme website somewhere that it tells you if your score is in this range and how many interviews a person had what's the likelihood they'll match. Just do some googling and you can find it. I used that too to gauge my likelihood that I would match. Hope that helps
 
Apply to as many as you can. If you want to stay in the northeast then apply to every single program above the Mason Dixon line and east of Chicago. Don't skimp on the number of programs to apply for.

I was in your spot a year ago with a 203 Step 1. I did get 5 interviews in California so take that with a grain of salt. Didn't match in Cali though.
 
Ladholyman said:
Apply to as many as you can. If you want to stay in the northeast then apply to every single program above the Mason Dixon line and east of Chicago. Don't skimp on the number of programs to apply for.

I was in your spot a year ago with a 203 Step 1. I did get 5 interviews in California so take that with a grain of salt. Didn't match in Cali though.
Click to expand...
Cali is apparently very competitive and not that do friendly. So that's pretty good to at least get those five interviews 🙂
 
pedsisthebest333 said:
There's no magic number. Only you can decide that. You can always add more applications if you aren't getting enough interviews. Everyone is different, I know some people who applied to 60+, I applied to only about 25. But that was because I knew I wouldn't go out of my region. I wanted to stay in my homestate. If I hadn't gotten interviews in all my top choices I would have branched out and applied to more bc you don't want to not match. In the end I applied to about 25, got about 14 invites and went on about 7 interviews. Now if you read on sdn most will say I applied to not enough or went to enough interviews but I felt confident that I would match to one bc I wasn't applying to top notch peds programs. But if you read sdn there are some people who apply to 60+ go on x amount of interviews and still don't match. So there is no magic number. It's just how the match works. There's no secret formula. Actually there is a statistical analysis on the nbme website somewhere that it tells you if your score is in this range and how many interviews a person had what's the likelihood they'll match. Just do some googling and you can find it. I used that too to gauge my likelihood that I would match. Hope that helps
Click to expand...

Thank you. I've looked at that calculation before. I'm still worried I won't match though.
 
Ladholyman said:
Apply to as many as you can. If you want to stay in the northeast then apply to every single program above the Mason Dixon line and east of Chicago. Don't skimp on the number of programs to apply for.

I was in your spot a year ago with a 203 Step 1. I did get 5 interviews in California so take that with a grain of salt. Didn't match in Cali though.
Click to expand...

What were your clinical grades like? Did you have mostly honors or passes?
 
It may be too late now, but consider looking into an away at one of these programs if your school isn't in this area. I found a lot of geographical bias last year while applying (ex: no interviews in Chicago, but tons in Mid-Atlantic and NE within a few hours of my school).

Definitely add DuPont in Delaware to your list (St. Chris is in Philly as someone mentioned).

First and foremost focus on crushing Step 2 and getting amazing LORs. Definitely apply to all of these places, but you'll need to apply to many more to be safe--do not put all of your eggs into one basket, SOAP is the worst thing ever. I would probably toss in a few small programs or community programs to be safe, especially if your Step 2 is also below average. If you can get an interview, make the most of it. Good luck!


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Mountaineer12 said:
It may be too late now, but consider looking into an away at one of these programs if your school isn't in this area. I found a lot of geographical bias last year while applying (ex: no interviews in Chicago, but tons in Mid-Atlantic and NE within a few hours of my school).

Definitely add DuPont in Delaware to your list (St. Chris is in Philly as someone mentioned).

First and foremost focus on crushing Step 2 and getting amazing LORs. Definitely apply to all of these places, but you'll need to apply to many more to be safe--do not put all of your eggs into one basket, SOAP is the worst thing ever. I would probably toss in a few small programs or community programs to be safe, especially if your Step 2 is also below average. If you can get an interview, make the most of it. Good luck!


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile app
Click to expand...
I definitely agree with this. Try doing away. A lot of schools have a regional bias. I also found this in my experience too.
 
I had similar score and I got interviews at each of those places except Georgetown since I didn't apply. I ranked Dupont and St. Chris highly but didn't match with them. I ended up applying to 30 programs but I got the 5th program on my list- an academic program. I would include some community programs but don't limit yourself. You can still get a good match
 
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Mountaineer12 said:
It may be too late now, but consider looking into an away at one of these programs if your school isn't in this area. I found a lot of geographical bias last year while applying (ex: no interviews in Chicago, but tons in Mid-Atlantic and NE within a few hours of my school).

Definitely add DuPont in Delaware to your list (St. Chris is in Philly as someone mentioned).

First and foremost focus on crushing Step 2 and getting amazing LORs. Definitely apply to all of these places, but you'll need to apply to many more to be safe--do not put all of your eggs into one basket, SOAP is the worst thing ever. I would probably toss in a few small programs or community programs to be safe, especially if your Step 2 is also below average. If you can get an interview, make the most of it. Good luck!


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile app
Click to expand...

I have tried to apply for some aways, but many of them have rejected me for my step 1 score! It is very frustrating. How do people with less than competitive apps get aways when their step 1 score is low??
 
I'm a DO and didn't take step 1 (did slightly below avg on COMLEX) so not sure how useful this is for you, but I basically applied to all of the programs from Maine down to Virginia and over to Ohio that had ever taken DOs (ended up being about 40) except for NYC programs. You definitely have a good shot at Sinai in Baltimore. You could add Cooper as a safety; a lot of the residents there live in philly. Also you'd have a good shot at Inova (I emailed them and mentioned that I had family nearby and they gave me an interview the next day).

When I was applying I figured it was worth a few hundred dollars in application fees to me to make sure I got a decent number of interviews so that I could sit comfortably through 4th year. I freaked out at the beginning because some people were talking about how many interviews they already had and I only had a few, but they kept trickling in for me. I ended up matching at my top choice so probably didn't need to apply so broadly or go on quite as many interviews, but it sure beats scrambling! Of course each year more people do this and so every program has more applicants than ever before, but I selfishly figured that's not really my problem.

In terms of aways, I stayed up in New England, so can't really speak to that, but most of the ones I applied to didn't ask for any scores, so maybe look for ones that don't ask?

Edit: Also, I would say don't do an away if you are at all shy, because it can really bite you in the butt.
 
Last edited:
Copper is a good suggestion. Einstein, too for the Philly area. They even rotate at St. Chris.


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Ladholyman said:
I wanted to match in CA, but it didn't happen. I don't mind where I ended up. I applied to 108 programs and went on 21 interviews. Probably a bit overkill, but the few extra hundred of dollars will save you a lot of misery in the long run.
Click to expand...
That's a SDN record! How did you even make time to go to all these interviews?

After 7 interviews in these noncompetitive specialties (FM, IM, Peds, Path etc...), your chances to match go up from 96-97% to 98-99%. I understand that the match brings a lot anxiety and uncertainty which put some of us in the mindset of 'playing it safe'. I, myself, will apply to ~100 IM programs with ~220 step1 (even if my advisor already told me it's too many), but I don't think I will go to more than 10 interviews because of the statistics...
 
A couple I know did 29 each! Personally, I would go on every one you get (unless you get over like 25 haha). It's expensive, but the alternative is horrifying. For peds you can probably trust the statistics, but I know for other specialities (i.e.: EM) you cannot.


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Just to clarify, going to 10-12 interviews for peds is plenty, regardless of whether most of those places are competitive or not, right? Like if I got 10 interviews at top ranked programs (which would be a dream), I wouldn't need to schedule more interviews at midtiers or safeties to help ensure I match, right?
 
dextor2003 said:
Just to clarify, going to 10-12 interviews for peds is plenty, regardless of whether most of those places are competitive or not, right? Like if I got 10 interviews at top ranked programs (which would be a dream), I wouldn't need to schedule more interviews at midtiers or safeties to help ensure I match, right?
Click to expand...

I think if this thread is any indication, it's personal preference. I would definitely go on a few midtiers and safeties because you never know and I'm a very risk-adverse person and SOAP is literally the worst. The chances you'd be fine though are very good. So it comes down to what you're comfortable with.


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Mountaineer12 said:
I think if this thread is any indication, it's personal preference. I would definitely go on a few midtiers and safeties because you never know and I'm a very risk-adverse person and SOAP is literally the worst. The chances you'd be fine though are very good. So it comes down to what you're comfortable with.
Click to expand...

Gotcha. Well, realistically, I'll probably get very few, if any, interviews to top programs, so I expect most of mine to be safeties and midtiers anyway. But it helps to know how the process works. Thanks!
 
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