med school reputation vs boards

Burrell College of Osteopathic Medicine
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meepA

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When applying to medical school, it seemed like med programs were willing to accept college students with lower stats if they can from a "top-tier" college (ie. Harvard, Yale, etc).

I was wondering if this holds true for residency match... can medical school reputation somewhat offset a lower board score? Especially for the high competitive residency programs.
 
It depends on how low. Many programs have strict USMLE screens (the highest I have heard of is 240) which you must surpass in order to be considered for an interview.
 
JJMrK said:
It depends on how low. Many programs have strict USMLE screens (the highest I have heard of is 240) which you must surpass in order to be considered for an interview.
Click to expand...

This is true, but if you peruse FREIDA you'll find that the "elite" residencies rarely employ strict cut offs.

Students from top schools absolutely have more leeway with board scores though, no question about it.
 
I am going into a non competitive specialty, and honestly there are programs which would just be happy to get about any US MD graduate. I have low (but all passing) step scores and I've gotten interviews at nearly all the programs I applied to. I think my success in the interview season was more about my US MD status than anything else.

Some Carib schools are known to have artificially inflated Step scores as they sometimes take inordinate amount of dedicated study time.
 
KinasePro said:
This is true, but if you peruse FREIDA you'll find that the "elite" residencies rarely employ strict cut offs.

Students from top schools absolutely have more leeway with board scores though, no question about it.
Click to expand...

There's a big difference between a cut-off that a program is willing to publish and standard practice.

Having a high step 1 score is what allows you to apply to competitive fields. A well recognized name opens some doors once you achieve the score. Big name letter writer trumps big name school all day, every day.
 
JJMrK said:
It depends on how low. Many programs have strict USMLE screens (the highest I have heard of is 240) which you must surpass in order to be considered for an interview.
Click to expand...

My scores are below the FREIDA cutoffs published for many if the programs where I interviewed. I figured I didn't have anything to lose. I guess they saw other stuff in my application they liked because I was even told by several that I would be ranked highly.
 
meepA said:
When applying to medical school, it seemed like med programs were willing to accept college students with lower stats if they can from a "top-tier" college (ie. Harvard, Yale, etc).

I was wondering if this holds true for residency match... can medical school reputation somewhat offset a lower board score? Especially for the high competitive residency programs.
Click to expand...

This is especially true for competitive specialties, esp. the ROAD specialties. This will be even more the case with all these new medical schools popping up.
 
JJMrK said:
There's a big difference between a cut-off that a program is willing to publish and standard practice.

Having a high step 1 score is what allows you to apply to competitive fields. A well recognized name opens some doors once you achieve the score. Big name letter writer trumps big name school all day, every day.
Click to expand...

Many times that big-name letter writer, works at...you guessed it..a big name school.
 
organdonor said:
My scores are below the FREIDA cutoffs published for many if the programs where I interviewed. I figured I didn't have anything to lose. I guess they saw other stuff in my application they liked because I was even told by several that I would be ranked highly.
Click to expand...

Awesome. Those programs obviously didn't have the strict cut-offs I was talking about.

DermViser said:
Many times that big-name letter writer, works at...you guessed it..a big name school.
Click to expand...

Agreed, but in many specialties large endowment/fame among the lay-public =/= famous department in your field of choice, which is why I made the distinction.

Bottom line is that of course coming from a well-known place is going to help you. But you still need to get good board scores.
 
I'd say no. Especially if you're talking about anything other than primary care. I think that's a great 'job security' type perk of medicine. You work hard at any school and you're going to get a good residency and will find SOME job after. Look at business or law school. Doesn't matter how hard you work if you don't go to a big name school.. Going to be tough to break into any decent firms..

I know people at big name schools with not so great applications who didn't get as many interviews as friends I have from a not big name school but they had better CVs overall..

I'd say just work hard wherever you are, first priority is LEARN all the material first two years because this will make studying for step one much easier and hopefully translate to a higher score. Most important test that will be in your ERAS

Kids at my school seem to have this mindset that they can do whatever the first two years and then do some exam prep program and miraculously pull off a 250+. Gotta lay the groundwork.

Sent from my XT1080 using Tapatalk
 
Etorphine said:
Except for one, most of those ROAD specialties aren't even hard to get into, comparatively speaking.
Click to expand...

Derm is tough, optho is relatively tough, rads has it's ups and downs. Only anesthesia is "easy" to get into. ROAD was never about competitivness though, it was about lifestyle + income balance. No one doubts that neurosurgeons make bank, but it's also a 60-100 hour/week committment for the rest of your life.
 
from what i hear the new ROAD to happiness is rad onc ophthalmology allergy dermatology
 
Psai said:
from what i hear the new ROAD to happiness is rad onc ophthalmology allergy dermatology
Click to expand...

Allergy is nice but the 'a' is probably still for anesthesia. Allergy requires three years of medicine (or peds).

Anyway, in ERAS, the programs can set filters for graduating year and board scores etc. In this way, no matter what school you go to, you're file may never make it someone's eyeballs. Now, if you were to email them and they look you up, for example, they could add you back into consideration. (This doesn't apply to most programs but is certainly the case in some competitive fields/programs)

The reason radiology is relatively more approachable than ophtho and derm is in large part because there are a lot of spots available. Step 1 average remains like 242 and hasn't taken a hit or anything, but there are a lot more places for people to look with a variety of stats. Rad Onc has similar stats but far fewer spots.
 
JJMrK said:
It depends on how low. Many programs have strict USMLE screens (the highest I have heard of is 240) which you must surpass in order to be considered for an interview.
Click to expand...
I know a Derm program that used 260 as it's cutoff last year.
 
Etorphine said:
Except for one, most of those ROAD specialties aren't even hard to get into, comparatively speaking.
Click to expand...
You actually think Radiology, Optho, and Derm aren't hard to get into? The NRMP statistics show otherwise.
 
DermViser said:
Newsflash: high income, good lifestyle specialties ARE competitive.
Click to expand...
The point was that while all lifestyle specialties are competitive, not all competitive specialties are lifestyle specialties. Don't overthink this.
 
DermViser said:
You actually think Radiology, Optho, and Derm aren't hard to get into? The NRMP statistics show otherwise.
Click to expand...
DermViser said:
Newsflash: high income, good lifestyle specialties ARE competitive.
Click to expand...
You've missed the point. A poster was implying that the ROAD specialties have been singled out because they are the most competitive, but that's not what it meant. It's lifestyle+income specialties. Yes, they are also relatively competitive (especially in the case of derm).
 
Donald Juan said:
You've missed the point. A poster was implying that the ROAD specialties have been singled out because they are the most competitive, but that's not what it meant. It's lifestyle+income specialties. Yes, they are also relatively competitive (especially in the case of derm).
Click to expand...

I was replying to this, which is patently false.
Etorphine said:
Except for one, most of those ROAD specialties aren't even hard to get into, comparatively speaking.
Click to expand...
 
DermViser said:
You actually think Radiology, Optho, and Derm aren't hard to get into? The NRMP statistics show otherwise.
Click to expand...

What I assume this poster meant was that Derm is the one out of the 4 "ROAD" specialties that is super hard to get into. Yes, he was implying that Rads, Gas, and Ophtho are "less difficult", which is an argument I'll stay out of at this time. But you very much mischaracterized his post/stance.
 
GuyWhoDoesStuff said:
What I assume this poster meant was that Derm is the one out of the 4 "ROAD" specialties that is super hard to get into. Yes, he was implying that Rads, Gas, and Ophtho are "less difficult", which is an argument I'll stay out of at this time. But you very much mischaracterized his post/stance.
Click to expand...

I didn't mischaracterize anything. His words were, "Except for one, most of those ROAD specialties aren't even hard to get into, comparatively speaking." Implying that Radiology and Optho aren't even hard to get into [in comparison to Derm]. I'm pretty sure those in Optho would disagree.
 
DermViser said:
I didn't mischaracterize anything. His words were, "Except for one, most of those ROAD specialties aren't even hard to get into, comparatively speaking." Implying that Radiology and Optho aren't even hard to get into [in comparison to Derm]. I'm pretty sure those in Optho would disagree.
Click to expand...

He said "except for one" and it appears you assumed the one difficult specialty to which he was referring was Anesthesiology (inferred by your rhetorically asking if he thought the other three [explicity, Rads, Ophtho, and Derm] were indeed easy to get into). We're splitting hairs here, but I think it was implied in the post that Derm was the exception, and you probably didn't intend to include Derm in your post.
 
GuyWhoDoesStuff said:
He said "except for one" and it appears you assumed the one difficult specialty to which he was referring was Anesthesiology (inferred by your rhetorically asking if he thought the other three [explicity, Rads, Ophtho, and Derm] were indeed easy to get into). We're splitting hairs here, but I think it was implied in the post that Derm was the exception, and you probably didn't intend to include Derm in your post.
Click to expand...

Um, no actually I was referring to Derm as being the hardest one, which is what I thought he was referring to. I mistyped though. I only meant Radiology and Optho. Anesthesiology is MUCH easier to get into.
 
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