Multiple red flags on application

[zealousbank]

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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 PMR 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 jsut complete fails. The bigger red flag, however, is an academic 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. I just didn't feel comfortable with my scores and thought the leave might be slightly better than failing step 1. I passed step 1 on my first attempt but now have basically 6 months during which I'm doordashing and volunteering (can't find research). Other than that I have a case report, board leadership, and some light volunteering hours on my application.

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 pmr. 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 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 (no need to sugarcoat just looking for honest opinions)

 

[dmk21]

Coming from an overly neurotic pain applicant…. You’ll be fine chill keep grinding until you get your PM&R residency

 

[j4pac]

I wouldn't consider your red flags "red flags". They'd probably fall more in the yellow flag category. A red flag would be poor interpersonal skills, match violation, and failed boards. There are students that match to PM&R after failing their boards, even. I think that you should pursue PM&R, but I would also have a back-up plan. PM&R is a moderately competitive specialty right now. You need to find a way to do well with grades and do well on your boards moving forward to alleviate some of those academic concerns. I'd definitely try to get audition rotations, and I'd have a back-up plan in place. Auditions, extracurriculars, and LOR's are incredibly important in our field. I think that a good argument can be made that they're more important than board scores.