MSIII - do I have a chance? What do I need to do?

[FMdude]

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I just finished my OB/GYN rotation for third year. HOLY ****, I finally found out something I love doing. I've gone this far into med school enjoying everything without any real specifics. IM and FM were at the top of my list as I really like patients and a broad subject matter. I love counseling and talking with patients. But then I did OB/GYN and in retrospect, I've worked 14-16 hours a day for the last 6 weeks and never been happier in school. I love the mix of procedures and clinic. The medicine is inherently interesting to me to boot.

CONS: Problem is, I don't think I'm a good enough student 🙁 I'm around the 30th percentile in my class for the subclincal years. I've got a 210 on my Step 1. I've got a low amount of volunteering in medical school.

PROS: I do have two strong letters of recommendation offered already for third year. I've got research (not OBGYN related since I had no idea what I wanted to do) that is published. I've also got A's and B'S this far into third year with strong evaluations from everything I've done.
Does being a guy help me out since it seems no other guys want to do OB/GYN?


What do I need to do to get into OB/GYN residency?
How high do I need on step 2 to undo my lackluster past?
4th year rotations?
Volunteering important? I can start something ASAP. Maybe like talking to kids about STD's and sex ed or something.

 

[Jccripe]

No worries about ob gyn (its not ENT, Ortho, or Plastics). Yes 210 isnt great, so apply to more programs and take step 2 (shoot for 230) early and you can match at a great place. Also do some away rotations and this will give you a LOR and increase your chances of interviews. Good luck to you.

 

[Kfire326]

I just finished my OB/GYN rotation for third year. HOLY ****, I finally found out something I love doing. I've gone this far into med school enjoying everything without any real specifics. IM and FM were at the top of my list as I really like patients and a broad subject matter. I love counseling and talking with patients. But then I did OB/GYN and in retrospect, I've worked 14-16 hours a day for the last 6 weeks and never been happier in school. I love the mix of procedures and clinic. The medicine is inherently interesting to me to boot.

CONS: Problem is, I don't think I'm a good enough student 🙁 I'm around the 30th percentile in my class for the subclincal years. I've got a 210 on my Step 1. I've got a low amount of volunteering in medical school.

PROS: I do have two strong letters of recommendation offered already for third year. I've got research (not OBGYN related since I had no idea what I wanted to do) that is published. I've also got A's and B'S this far into third year with strong evaluations from everything I've done.
Does being a guy help me out since it seems no other guys want to do OB/GYN?

What do I need to do to get into OB/GYN residency?
How high do I need on step 2 to undo my lackluster past?
4th year rotations?
Volunteering important? I can start something ASAP. Maybe like talking to kids about STD's and sex ed or something.

I'm glad you found something you like so much. Firstly, I think how you will do in the residency app process depends firstly on where you're from and where you're applying. I think for community level programs and maybe some university affiliates also, a 210 will be okay. Not great, could be better, but I don't think it will take you down. Regardless, take step 2 early on, like by August of MS4 so that programs will see your score well before Nov. 1 (a lot of places offer interviews prior to 11/1). And obv. make sure you do well on it. I think 230+ would be optimal. Pre-clinical grades don't matter toooooo much, so I wouldn't worry about it. I'm applying for OB and got a P (out of P/HP/H) in my reproductive system course in MS1 and nobody seems to care. I know I don't.

Good letters are good. So far, it seems like people are actually reading my letters before interviewing me (but probably not before they decided to invite me.. that's more based on step scores, ms3 performance, deans letter). Research - nobody will fault you for doing research not ob/gyn related. I did stuff not ob/gyn related, and still do. If anything it makes you look like you did your exploring and kept an open mind and still really feel like ob/gyn is the field for you. I think this is especially important for male applicants.. as far as I know attrition rates are highest for ob/gyn vs. other specialties (don't have any numbers to support that, though), and it's more male residents than females who leave (also no numbers on me atm). Being a male will probably help you. There are some programs out there I know of that try to have at least 1 male resident per year. One pd in particular told me it was at the request of his current female residents that he bring in more males to balance the program somewhat.

What do I need to do to get into OB/GYN residency?
Keep doing well during MS3. hopefully you did well on your ob/gyn rotation and shelf exam. Get good grades in ms3 and get good evals because those will end up in your deans letter. Take step 2 early, do well on it.

How high do I need on step 2 to undo my lackluster past?
I'd say 230+, but I'm just joe schmoe applicant so... just a hunch.

4th year rotations?
Do some away rotations if you want, but def. do some rotations in ob. whatever you're interested in.

Volunteering important? I can start something ASAP. Maybe like talking to kids about STD's and sex ed or something
This is not like med school applications where you HAVE to have certain EC's to get in. If you want to do sex ed and std education, then go ahead. You should do something with your time other than study study study, but whatever you do, just make sure you're doing it because you want to, not because you think it will make you look good. I did some electives in ob/gyn my first and second year, but outside of school I didn't do any ob/gyn-related community service or whatever. I did tutoring and I did some programs that were totally not medicine related just because I wanted to, and I've been asked about both on interviews so far.

 

[residencycoord]

No worries about ob gyn (its not ENT, Ortho, or Plastics). Yes 210 isnt great, so apply to more programs and take step 2 (shoot for 230) early and you can match at a great place. Also do some away rotations and this will give you a LOR and increase your chances of interviews. Good luck to you.

jjcripe doesn't know what he/she is talking about. OBGYN has been quite competitive the past few years. The applicant pool has been outstanding. Every year gets stronger. There were only 3 spots out of 1100 that did not get filled last year and there were many students scrambling. Programs that normally get IMG's were getting US grads. You need to definitely improve your application if you want to be considered.

 

[Jccripe]

I am not trying to say that ObGyn is not competitive. I took the OP's question as "is my USMLE step 1 good enough". Yes OB may be competitive but not so much in terms of board scores with the average being 219 I believe (this may have increased since 2009 when the last NRMP stats came from) So with the OP having a 210 there is only an 9 point difference, which is not as large as a 20-25 point difference from some other specialties' average. Either way I think that everyone agrees to take step 2 early and shoot for 230+.

See below for statistics of all specialties.

http://www.nrmp.org/data/index.html

 

[drobgyn]

I agree that obgyn has gotten increasingly competitive over the past few years. Not to be discouraging, but I have had several classmates with scores around average for step 1/2 who are only getting interviews at the places they considered "back-ups" and not the "mid-range places" or "reaches." I've just been trying to understand if this has something to do with their scores/grades or how competitive the field has gotten or maybe something in their applications???? Our school has been shocked at the low rates of interviews that applicants are getting this year for obgyn. I wonder if it been like that at other places too?

 

[Jccripe]

I agree that obgyn has gotten increasingly competitive over the past few years. Not to be discouraging, but I have had several classmates with scores around average for step 1/2 who are only getting interviews at the places they considered "back-ups" and not the "mid-range places" or "reaches." I've just been trying to understand if this has something to do with their scores/grades or how competitive the field has gotten or maybe something in their applications???? Our school has been shocked at the low rates of interviews that applicants are getting this year for obgyn. I wonder if it been like that at other places too?
drobgyn is offline Report Post Reply With Quote

And yet again, I am beginning to feel as though I have no clue...Thanks medical school...

 

[drobgyn]

hi obgyndude

Any chance between that busy schedule you want to/have time to be the MSIII who wants to collects and posts interview impressions for those of us applying now?....It may give you a lot of helpful info as you start applying next summer. If so, see the ObGyn Interview Impressions thread: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=776611

(No pressure - this is totally optional if you have extra time and want to do this. You can totally say no without any hard feelings.)

 

[Kfire326]

hi obgyndude

Any chance between that busy schedule you want to/have time to be the MSIII who wants to collects and posts interview impressions for those of us applying now?....It may give you a lot of helpful info as you start applying next summer. If so, see the ObGyn Interview Impressions thread: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=776611

(No pressure - this is totally optional if you have extra time and want to do this. You can totally say no without any hard feelings.)

I second that offer/request ^_^

 

[fuuiin]

my two cents: being published in research will be helpful to you. are these abstracts/presentations/papers? it doesn't have to be ob/gyn related, but know your research inside and out, but not just about the content of the research. think about how the research has made you a better clinician or how it will support your future research endeavors, and what you've learned from doing research. this seems to be a really popular topic recently, and i think i have gotten more interviews bc of my research.

as for gathering interview feedback, there's an interview feedback forum on sdn that's set up for anonymous feedback. we should use that!

feel free to pm me if you have any more specific questions.