Multiple Red Flags and chances of matching psych

[zealousbank]

Hi everyone,

I apologize if this is too early for me to ask or the wrong forum, but I was looking for some input regarding my situation.

I'm a 2nd year student at an unranked md school. I'm interested in psych but I have several red flags on my application which will definitely hinder my chances at matching.

So during my preclinical years, I honored 3 courses but ended up having to remediate two organ system blocks (the rest were passes). I passed these blocks on remediation and my MSPE will comment as having passed these on remediation instead of just complete failures. The bigger red flag, however, is a leave of absence for step 1 purposes. I was placed on an academic leave of absence for a semester by my school for not sitting for step 1 before rotations (although my dean told she can remove the word academic from mspe). I had a family scare two weeks before my exam which I just couldn't compartmentalize at the time which looking back was an extremely foolish decision. I passed step 1 on my first attempt and am now working as a mental health worker at a behavioral health (will probably have 3 month experience by the time I go back to school).

I realize I have a lot of self reflection and growing up to do. But with these red flags, is it realistic to still aim for psych. I'm already prepping for rotations and am hoping it will help when I resume next year in January. I understand a lot of it will also depend on my 3rd year and step 2 score for which I'll try my absolute best, but with my track record I'm hoping I can at least be an average student during the next two years.

Any feedback appreciated but specifically looking for residency outlook and what needs to be done to overcome this (no need to sugarcoat just looking for honest opinions

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[clausewitz2]

I appreciate not wanting to put too many details about this family scare on a public website but when it comes time to apply I would suggest you have a story about it that makes it clear why it falls into the category of "things that will never happen again." Or at least that you won't be dealing with in the same way while you are in their residency program. You want setbacks like this to be a thing you have figured out how to overcome and move past, not a reliable prediction to the future. Above all, programs want someone who will show up and do the work as close to 100% of the time as possible.

 

[TexasPhysician]

All you can do is your best. I’ve seen more red flags match and fewer not. Perform the best you can and try to make connections at your home program.

 

[Celexa]

Preclincial red flags are a lot less important than clincals. If you do well in your clerkships matching psych is definitely possible.

 

[annoyedpsychiatrist]

you will likely match as long as you dont fail your boards/do terrible in clinicals. Just be realistic too where you apply

 

[comp1]

Definitely concur with a lot riding on how the clinical rotations go. It can be extremely hard to get back into the swing of academic stuff when you've been off doing stuff outside formal schooling. Also concur that you're going to want to be as open as you can be about what happened with Step 1 in terms of the reason why. That said, hopefully your dean can spin things a bit better than you are in this post. You had a family emergency and so had to defer Step 1, thus deferring your clinical rotations. Better not to describe it as foolish, even if that's how you feel now because things ultimately worked out. Does that sound at least plausibly similar to what happened? In terms of the fails, I'm not sure how organ blocks will be conceptualized by psych residencies. I don't see it as a dealbreaker because as others said, clinicals matter so much, likely to psych more than any other specialty. Come up with some sort of explanation for those, at least a tenuous one, just to again reassure the residencies it won't happen again. Apply broadly geographically, focus on newer and less competitive programs.

 

[splik]

I would not consider these red flags. Maybe yellow flags. Some places may care about these, but I doubt most people will. Forget about this and focus on what you can control. If you can do well on Step 2, and do well on your clerkships, get some strong LoRs, do well in some psychiatry sub-Is, and show a commitment to a career in psychiatry in other ways, I would expect you to match. If you do poorly in your clerkships, don't have strong LoRs and don't do well on Step 2 and don't have anything else of remark on your application, you will have difficulty matching.

 

[B52slinger]

Make sure you apply very broadly. I had multiple red flags and I went to a US MD school ranked in the 50s

I ended up in a DO and IMG heavy low-ranked community program. It turned out to be one of best things that ever happened to me, I had outstanding work-life balance, low hours and low stress in this program compared to my classmates who went to better ranked programs

 

[slowthai]

Make sure you apply very broadly. I had multiple red flags and I went to a US MD school ranked in the 50s

I ended up in a DO and IMG heavy low-ranked community program. It turned out to be one of best things that ever happened to me, I had outstanding work-life balance, low hours and low stress in this program compared to my classmates who went to better ranked programs

Can I DM you?

 

[zealousbank]

I would not consider these red flags. Maybe yellow flags. Some places may care about these, but I doubt most people will. Forget about this and focus on what you can control. If you can do well on Step 2, and do well on your clerkships, get some strong LoRs, do well in some psychiatry sub-Is, and show a commitment to a career in psychiatry in other ways, I would expect you to match. If you do poorly in your clerkships, don't have strong LoRs and don't do well on Step 2 and don't have anything else of remark on your application, you will have difficulty matching.

I was told that the remediations and leave of absence together compound and are red flags that will screen me out at most programs (from another classmate). With how competitive psych, would you recommend exploring other specialities instead?

 

[TexasPhysician]

I was told that the remediations and leave of absence together compound and are red flags that will screen me out at most programs (from another classmate). With how competitive psych, would you recommend exploring other specialities instead?

Many programs will screen you out but not all. Aim for less competitive programs and maybe have a back-up field. I wouldn’t give up if psych is your passion.

 

[Celexa]

I was told that the remediations and leave of absence together compound and are red flags that will screen me out at most programs (from another classmate). With how competitive psych, would you recommend exploring other specialities instead?

In this type of situation, with preclincial issues, a good performance on clincial rotations and one or two carefully selected aways can take you far. Doing well on an away is so much a stronger indicator of what you will be like as a resident than preclincial fumbles it can render them moot.

 

[HinduHammer]

youre fine as long as you stop screwing the pooch right meow. take step 2 early to get more interviews, and do well.