Match w/ "pass" in surgery? (H/HP/P/F scale)

[WashMe]

I'm a "late-comer" to urology and I'm not 100% sure I'll try for it, but I'm hoping to hear some opinions regarding matching with a "pass" on the surgery clerkship. It was my 1st rotation, and I got 1 HP and 2 H's in my four week blocks. I thought I would be okay for the shelf since I was told I was doing an awesome job on my rotations; I learned everything they taught me and read up on my cases... and that didn't help me for the shelf at all. Long story short, I got blind-sided by the shelf, didn't have time to read the last 20 questions, and scored in the 20th percentile. It negated my 12 weeks of hard work and I got an overall "pass".

Since then, I've done fine in 3rd year. Got HP in medicine, neuro, and an elective block, and got H in psychiatry block. NBME scores, other than surgery, have been anywhere from the 70-95th percentile range. I also scored low 250's on Step I and honored most of my MS2 courses. I don't have research in med school, but I have several pubs (one 1st author) from undergrad (not related to uro).

Do you think I still have any chance, particularly if I do a urology rotation at the beginning of MS4 and get honors? Also, I'm hoping to take step 2 in October and score 250+, because if I can pull it off I think it will prove I have an appropriate clinical knowledge base despite not getting a ton of "honors" in MS3.

Thanks guys!

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[Sol Rosenberg]

I'm a "late-comer" to urology and I'm not 100% sure I'll try for it, but I'm hoping to hear some opinions regarding matching with a "pass" on the surgery clerkship. It was my 1st rotation, and I got 1 HP and 2 H's in my four week blocks. I thought I would be okay for the shelf since I was told I was doing an awesome job on my rotations; I learned everything they taught me and read up on my cases... and that didn't help me for the shelf at all. Long story short, I got blind-sided by the shelf, didn't have time to read the last 20 questions, and scored in the 20th percentile. It negated my 12 weeks of hard work and I got an overall "pass".

Since then, I've done fine in 3rd year. Got HP in medicine, neuro, and an elective block, and got H in psychiatry block. NBME scores, other than surgery, have been anywhere from the 70-95th percentile range. I also scored low 250's on Step I and honored most of my MS2 courses. I don't have research in med school, but I have several pubs (one 1st author) from undergrad (not related to uro).

Do you think I still have any chance, particularly if I do a urology rotation at the beginning of MS4 and get honors? Also, I'm hoping to take step 2 in October and score 250+, because if I can pull it off I think it will prove I have an appropriate clinical knowledge base despite not getting a ton of "honors" in MS3.

Thanks guys!

Sounds like your evals were good, but you got jacked by the shelf in surgery. In that case, your good evals will show up in your Dean's Letter (right? that's the way it was at my school,) and that will help you out. One P in 3rd year (even in surgery) isn't the end of the world, but try to rack up some more Hs. I think you mentioned that you are in the middle third of your class in another thread.

Your step 1 is outstanding. Taking step 2 in October (e.g. not early) is a good plan, but I wouldn't worry about Step 2 too much in any case -- you don't have to release your score. Try to get some more Hs, get involved with some urology research, and start getting to know people in your home department (see if you can go to clinic, etc in your spare time, start talking to residents, etc.) Your goal from here on is to impress the hell out of as many urology faculty as you can before app time without being annoying/a douche. You'll probably want to do at least one away.

Agree with some of the advice in the other thread about applying to ~50 programs. Only apply to gensurg as a backup if you would want to do gensurg. I didn't want to do gensurg under any circumstances, so I didn't apply to any gensurg programs -- I had a different backup plan (make sure you do have a backup plan, because urology IS competitive and you may not match despite your best efforts. Of course talk with your home PD and see what he/she has to say about your chances.)

Best of luck to you.