Need help deciding what I'm competitive for

[MS2256]

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Hello everyone,

So jumping the gun a bit but before everything gets started with Residency applications in a few months i need some help deciding what I'm competitive for, any help would be appreciated.

Step 1 take 1 = Fail (was getting 225s on NBMEs before this)
Step 1 take 2 = 249 (taken 1 month after the first fail…Delayed rotations for a month and just studied for the 4 weeks the school gave me)
Step 2 = 252

The only reason I failed step 1 the first time is due to massive anxiety and getting no sleep the night before, i could barely think straight. Went to therapy and got anxiety straightened out and did so many practice tests that its not a problem anymore.
I also honored 9 of my 11 rotations from 3rd year

Im interested in either General Surgery, ER/Trauma, or IM into a Heme/Onc fellowship. Do i stand a chance at any of those?

Thank you for your help! Much appreciated!

 

[VisionaryTics]

Hello everyone,

So jumping the gun a bit but before everything gets started with Residency applications in a few months i need some help deciding what I'm competitive for, any help would be appreciated.

Step 1 take 1 = Fail (was getting 225s on NBMEs before this)
Step 1 take 2 = 249 (taken 1 month after the first fail…Delayed rotations for a month and just studied for the 4 weeks the school gave me)
Step 2 = 252

The only reason I failed step 1 the first time is due to massive anxiety and getting no sleep the night before, i could barely think straight. Went to therapy and got anxiety straightened out and did so many practice tests that its not a problem anymore.
I also honored 9 of my 11 rotations from 3rd year

Im interested in either General Surgery, ER/Trauma, or IM into a Heme/Onc fellowship. Do i stand a chance at any of those?

Thank you for your help! Much appreciated!

Trauma is a general surgery fellowship, not emergency medicine.

I think you would be able to match any of those specialties. With a 249/252 and good 3rd year grades, I think you'll show a lot of PDs that you overcame whatever it was that caused your Step 1 snafu.

 

[Frazier]

Hello everyone,

So jumping the gun a bit but before everything gets started with Residency applications in a few months i need some help deciding what I'm competitive for, any help would be appreciated.

Step 1 take 1 = Fail (was getting 225s on NBMEs before this)
Step 1 take 2 = 249 (taken 1 month after the first fail…Delayed rotations for a month and just studied for the 4 weeks the school gave me)
Step 2 = 252

The only reason I failed step 1 the first time is due to massive anxiety and getting no sleep the night before, i could barely think straight. Went to therapy and got anxiety straightened out and did so many practice tests that its not a problem anymore.
I also honored 9 of my 11 rotations from 3rd year

Im interested in either General Surgery, ER/Trauma, or IM into a Heme/Onc fellowship. Do i stand a chance at any of those?

Thank you for your help! Much appreciated!

That stinks... But on the bright side, you made a heck of a comeback!

 

[AlmostAnMD]

The only way I can think someone can go from failing step 1 to getting a 249 a month later is you walked out of the exam after the first four blocks on the first attempt. Wow. Nice improvement.

 

[MS2256]

The only way I can think someone can go from failing step 1 to getting a 249 a month later is you walked out of the exam after the first four blocks on the first attempt. Wow. Nice improvement.

Well i sat there the whole time and finished the test but i was so tired and nervous that i might have well of walked out. In reality my NBMEs (especially 15 and 16) were around 225's so my improvement over the one month, i don't think, was extraordinary in light of my practice tests. Was mostly my test anxiety/not sleeping that i had to overcome. Doing a second Qbank helped as well lol

 

[joker2400]

If I were you I would try to meet with your school's PDs in your fields of interest and discuss what they think your options are and what else you can do to improve your chances.

 

[Winged Scapula]

Soooo…your interests are all over the place.

GS, EM, and IM are vastly different specialties.

What interests you? What do you like to do?

The fact of the matter is that if a program screens for more than 1 Step 1 take, you're not going to be competitive there. But your re-take score doesn't necessarily rule out any of these 3; the issue will be at a program level, not a specialty level.

Soooo….what do you want to do with the rest of your life?

(and like @VisionaryTics notes, Trauma is not an EM specialty. Definitive Trauma care is surgical and critical care in nature.)

 

[MS2256]

Guess I will need to find a list of programs then that screen 1st takes and cut them out….sigh…

Well I don't have the greatest attention span in the world, i get bored fast, so when i did ER rotations, especially in level 1's, it was enjoyable in that it was fast paced, something new every day, etc…. (and I'm a bit of an adrenaline junkie…) And ya i apologize for putting trauma with ER LOL! My bad, but general surgery is on there because of trauma, and surgery in general is just interesting.

And lastly IM into Heme/Onc for two reasons. First is that, while my attention span isn't the best, i do really enjoy talking to patients, and I've a few oncology electives and having that rapport with the patient is something i do enjoy. And secondly i did genetic engineering in undergrad and grad school and cancer was a corner stone of that work, and a lot of cool stuff is coming down the pipeline in terms of treatments and everything that i would like to be apart of.

Keep the reply's coming! Any insight/help is much appreciated!!

 

[operaman]

Yeah that's quite a diverse list! I don't think your step 1 retake will be that big of a hurdle. Personally, if a program didn't want to meet me simply because of that when the rest of my application (the parts that matter) are so good, then those aren't people I'd want to spend 4-5 years with. But, to each his own.

My biggest concern, frankly, is that your diverse interests indicate you probably haven't done much research and networking within whatever department you will ultimately need to have backing you. Once you figure out what you're going for, I think job one is to start networking and make sure you get some bigger names on your side who will make some phone calls and write great letters to help circumvent any issues with your step 1 retake. Do that and I think you'll be able to match any of those, assuming you aren't a complete tool (which your 9/11 honors says you're not).

 

[SouthernSurgeon]

I don't think any specialty among those you've listed is off limits to you. I think certain programs within each specialty will be. MGH gen surg is probably not in your future.

But you've shown that you overcame whatever your issue was and done consistently well in both your clinical rotations and your subsequent standardized tests. That's laudable and will catch PDs eyes.

So like others have said above...what you need to do now is do some research and narrow down your interests a bit.

 

[J ROD]

You are competitive for most things. Mainly, you need to get it down to what you want. The failed Step 1 attempt will likely be something some consider but I think you have a shot at any of those fields.

It obviously was not the norm for you. Personally, you sound like a EM guy to me. You get a taste of it all.

 

[NCBI]

Do you have your foot in any interest groups that overlap with any of you specialty considerations? 249 is great. 2011 stats from NRMP - Average scores for those who MATCHED : Anes - 226 , Diag Rad - 240 , Derm - 244 , EM - 223 , FP 213 , GS - 227 , Neurosurg - 239.. Actually not sure if those are means or medians, and that makes a difference, but even so, you are in good standing. Now, besides grades and scores, do you have any compelling interest that weighs more heavily in any specific field?