Official 2013-2014 - What are my chances thread?

[sockateez]

Applying fall 2015
Step 1: 241
Step 2 CK/ CS: Taking in July
School: mid-tier US-MD state school (midwest)
Class Rank: top 25%
Grades in Clerkship: Honors in Psych, Pass in most others (we don't get all the honors results until may), no fails.
AOA: N/A at my school
Research/ Publications/ Extracurriculars: one 1st author basic science publication (reputable journal)- Lots of research experience (about 4 years worth) in undergrad - good number of conferences/presentations/posters/awards. Involved in student government in Med school -
Red Flags: None that I can think of
Overview of where you want to end up: I would like to end up somewhere that's well rounded but has strong research opportunities. I'd like to avoid the east coast - My location interests go west coast>colorado>Minnesota/Michigan/Wisconsin.
Places that have seemed interesting in my search so far: Stanford, UCLA, UCSF, UWASH (but I'm plenty open to suggestions)

Thanks in advance for your help!

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[notdeadyet]

Overview of where you want to end up: I would like to end up somewhere that's well rounded but has strong research opportunities. I'd like to avoid the east coast - My location interests go west coast>colorado>Minnesota/Michigan/Wisconsin.
Places that have seemed interesting in my search so far: Stanford, UCLA, UCSF, UWASH (but I'm plenty open to suggestions)

with your Step 1, class rank, and research background, assuming you get strong letters, all those programs you listed make sense. I'd also add UCSD to that mix, depending on research area.

 

[Rogue Penguin]

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[shan564]

Step 1: 236
Step 2 CK/CS: Taking in July/August
School: Tulane
Class Rank: Don't rank, guessing 2nd or third quartile
Grades: Honors in Family, Psych Pass in OB/GYN, Surgery, taking IM next
AOA: No
LORs: Still working on these
Research/Publications/Extracirriculars: 3 publications so far (non-psych), 3ish years of research experience from undergrad (biomedical engineering and genetics), lots of leadership in medical school, heavy involvement in clubs, volunteer groups, and student government
Red Flags: I got a "Conditional Pass" in Biochemistry during my 1st year. I'm not going to post excuses on here, but there was a lot of outside stuff going on. When I remediated things had calmed down, and I got a strong A. I think it will still be listed on my transcript as a conditional pass though.

Overview of where I want to end up: Vanderbilt, Boston, NYC, SF, SD > Denver, Austin, LA > DC > NC
My family lives near Nashville and I went to Vanderbilt for undergrad, plus my soon-to-be fiance is in a PhD program there. I'd like to end up there or some other relatively liberal city with an academic hub. I very strongly desire to pursue a career that includes research/academics.

I guess my main question at this point is: will my conditional pass in one pre-clinical course destroy my chances at the more competitive programs? Would applying to places like Vanderbilt, Stanford, NYU, Longwood be unreasonable? Is there anywhere that would be out of reach? People give me weird looks when I say I want to go to Vandy.

Vanderbilt isn't as competitive as you seem to think it is. You'd be competitive there.

 

[Soggun]

Step 1: 236
Step 2 CK/CS: Taking in July/August
School: Tulane
Class Rank: Don't rank, guessing 2nd or third quartile
Grades: Honors in Family, Psych Pass in OB/GYN, Surgery, taking IM next
AOA: No
LORs: Still working on these
Research/Publications/Extracirriculars: 3 publications so far (non-psych), 3ish years of research experience from undergrad (biomedical engineering and genetics), lots of leadership in medical school, heavy involvement in clubs, volunteer groups, and student government
Red Flags: I got a "Conditional Pass" in Biochemistry during my 1st year. I'm not going to post excuses on here, but there was a lot of outside stuff going on. When I remediated things had calmed down, and I got a strong A. I think it will still be listed on my transcript as a conditional pass though.

Overview of where I want to end up: Vanderbilt, Boston, NYC, SF, SD > Denver, Austin, LA > DC > NC
My family lives near Nashville and I went to Vanderbilt for undergrad, plus my soon-to-be fiance is in a PhD program there. I'd like to end up there or some other relatively liberal city with an academic hub. I very strongly desire to pursue a career that includes research/academics.

I guess my main question at this point is: will my conditional pass in one pre-clinical course destroy my chances at the more competitive programs? Would applying to places like Vanderbilt, Stanford, NYU, Longwood be unreasonable? Is there anywhere that would be out of reach? People give me weird looks when I say I want to go to Vandy.

I can't say with certainty, but I think you'd be competitive at Longwood. You should obviously be ready to talk about the red flag issue in an interview and it depends on your letters/personal statement, but otherwise I'd think you could get an interview here. Definitely worth the application if you're interested in the program anyway.

 

[withoutface123]

Here for any ego-stroking/shooting down and trying to gauge my footing! Finished my psych rotation a few weeks ago and loved it.

Step 1: 231
Step 2 CK/ CS: taking in summer/fall 2015
School: a SoCal school (though not all of these are of course created equal)
Class Rank: presumably 3rdish quartile
Grades in Clerkship: high pass in OB, psych, neurology, pass in IM, ??? in family (end of the year), currently on surgery, Peds still to come
AOA: nope
Research/ Publications/ Extracurriculars: currently working with OB clerkship coordinator on clinical research project with anticipated publication/poster in Fall 2015
Month of surgical/hospital elective in developing nation abroad (summer of 1st year)
Volunteer group with elementary school kids once weekly throughout second year
A couple of what I would call interesting and unique extracurriculars that are not medically-related but also relevant in a sense to academia, in a possibly "hey remember that guy who [x]" possibly kind of way
Red Flags: (step failures, etc) none
Overview of where you want to end up: Location-wise, I think I'd like to stay in SoCal for the time being. UCLA would be nice, but I'm thinking that's a stretch, huh. Any of the LA-area schools, UCI, UCSD would be also be nice. I'd also like to gauge how I'm looking for the further up north programs, and maybe even any programs in the northeast. As far as what I'm looking for in a psych program, this is definitely something that I'm continuing to mull over. I really liked the overall atmosphere of my psych rotation after I'd been kind of gearing my life in the direction of OB, and as I'd been at a few different sites, it's been hard to pin down what especially I want. Women's reproductive psychiatry I think would provide a fascinating intersecting of interests, and every day I go back and forth between whether I'd prefer a more psychotherapy or medicine oriented approach in what I'm looking for.

Thanks y'all so much!

 

[75kg]

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[Dharma]

Step 1: 220
Step 2 CK/ CS: Taking both at end of summer
School: Mid-low tier allopathic/southeast
Class Rank: Bottom quartile
Grades in Clerkship: High pass psych / pass medicine (will retake and bump up to high pass hopefully), obgyn, neuro / waiting to finish peds, surg, FM
AOA: No
Research/ Publications/ Extracurriculars: OB abstract/presentation (2nd auth) + tech job in OR for first two years of med school (40-60 hrs/month) + some free clinic volunteering first year
Red Flags: (step failures, etc): No failures, but straight passes first year (high passes second year)
Overview of where you want to end up: Chicago, or any urban centers close to it.

Thanks!

How about you kick off a new Official 2015-2016 thread. This one is from 2 seasons ago!

 

[MixerDO]

Current 3rd year/almost 4th year, applying for 2016
Step 1: 200, comlex 490
Step 2 CK/ CS: Taking in June, might push off date
School: DO
Class Rank: bottom 50%
Grades in Clerkship: High pass in psych and most others, no fails, no bad reviews
Research/ Publications/ Extracurriculars: 5-10 poster presentations in psych before medical school
Red Flags: None
Overview of where you want to end up: anywhere pretty much, I'm not gunning for CA, don't mind the midwest

Thanks!

 

[75kg]

How about you kick off a new Official 2015-2016 thread. This one is from 2 seasons ago!

Alrighty -> Official 2015-2016 "What Are My Chances" Thread