Path competitiveness

[dfafda]

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Hey, i'm sure there is a thread for this but how competitive are the top programs for path? mainly wondering about the west coast programs such as stanford and UCSF. if there is a thread somewhere, sorry for the post, i'll find it eventually.

 

[simplesuture]

passion for path + above avg step 1 + non-serial killer personality makes you competitive at just about any program.

certain programs will have a reputation for research heavy candidates, but i've found that even these places take a variety of people for a variety of reasons.

 

[xanthines]

I have to ashamedly admit, that I'm also getting a bit worried about the competitiveness of path. I did pretty poorly on Step 1, although I passed (<200) on the first try. I will eventually have a PhD and am planning on research for life, for better or worse. I'm pretty sure my program is disappointed in me for Step1, but I'm doing pretty well in grad school and most people find me pretty pleasant. 😛

I have the option of shadowing or working with a physician once a week during the PhD years. I was wondering if you guys thought it would be any use to hang out in the path dept to try and make contacts or if I should find an IM doc to decrease the loss of medical knowledge during grad school and potentially do better on Step2?

Is it kosher to contact PD's ahead of time to try and get around the automatic filters? This is in line with developing contacts in pathology.

There are concrete, explicable, non-repeatable reasons I did poorly on Step 1, if you're worried about my test taking abilities or curious.

I will now go hang my head in shame for generating this insipid post...

-X

 

[malchik]

I wouldn't worry too much about your step 1 if you have a plausible explanation, especially if you think you can do well on step 2, which would make the bad step 1 moot. Developing contacts in pathology would be helpful but can be done in pretty short order, like months. If you have a better reason to hang out with IM docs, I'd do that, and occasionally keep in touch with the pathologists for good measure. I have no good suggestions for retaining medical knowledge during grad school, mine was completely extinguished after a couple years.

 

[ImmaculateTurd]

I have to ashamedly admit, that I'm also getting a bit worried about the competitiveness of path. I did pretty poorly on Step 1, although I passed (<200) on the first try. I will eventually have a PhD and am planning on research for life, for better or worse. I'm pretty sure my program is disappointed in me for Step1, but I'm doing pretty well in grad school and most people find me pretty pleasant. 😛

I have the option of shadowing or working with a physician once a week during the PhD years. I was wondering if you guys thought it would be any use to hang out in the path dept to try and make contacts or if I should find an IM doc to decrease the loss of medical knowledge during grad school and potentially do better on Step2?

Is it kosher to contact PD's ahead of time to try and get around the automatic filters? This is in line with developing contacts in pathology.

There are concrete, explicable, non-repeatable reasons I did poorly on Step 1, if you're worried about my test taking abilities or curious.

I will now go hang my head in shame for generating this insipid post...

-X

Your Step 1 score will be many years old when you apply for residencies. I won't lie to you though, a low Step 1 is going to put you at a disadvantage. But you will have a PhD and that counts for a lot because the top tier programs are really trying to recruit MD/PhDs nowadays because they assume that they will make great residents and make their departments strong (sometimes, a faulty assumption). If you have great accomplishments during your PhD years (i.e., multiple publications and publications in solid and top tier journals), your Step 1 score will pale in comparison. Then, likely the pathology residency application process will still be a "buyers market" for you.

Malchik's advice is sound. If you do well on Step 2, you will be better off. Don't give up hope.