Neuro after failing a preclinical course.

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What do I need to be competitive usmle wise?

Need to repeat it.

No research or honors. No phd.

MS1 at top 20 MD school. 35R on MCAT.

With that 35 MCAT you have your choice of residency. :laugh:

But seriously, why wouldn't you aim to just do your best on USMLE?
 
On the list of criteria that residency PDs list as being important when polled, preclinical grades are pretty much always listed as... not important. I know plenty of my former classmates who just matched who had to remediate failed classes during the first 2 years who matched to competitive specialties and good hospitals.

Do well in 3rd year and do your best on the USMLEs and you'll almost certainly be fine.
 
What do I need to be competitive usmle wise?

Need to repeat it.

No research or honors. No phd.

MS1 at top 20 MD school. 35R on MCAT.

Short answer is just don't fail it. Long answer is it depends on where you want to go. More competitive places will have screening cutoffs for USMLE Step 1 in a higher range. I wouldn't care to hazard a guess about a minimum score needed, though there is a recent thread about USMLE ranges at various schools floating around here...
 
everyone keeps saying preclinical grades don't matter but then others say residency directors look at everything and in a sense, preclinical grades matter as if you have bad grades, your rank will be low and class rank is important as are rotation grades as well as board scores and letter of recs/interview....
 
well hopefully that's true...I was just worried because I got mostly C's and toss in a few B's so far and based on that my class rank is bound to be low
 
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