pathology competitiveness

[mullerian]

If

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[mlw03]

i'm not a resident, but i've been around long enough to try and answer your question. and the answer is that it depends. are you fmg or amg? decent grades? will you have some letters of rec saying you're hard-working and dedicated to pathology? we'll see what others have to say, but my guess is that the consensus will be that if you are an american med school grad then even with a 190 you'll have a shot at a path program somewhere, although people will probably recommend you apply pretty broadly. and there's always programs that need to use the scramble, so that could be an option too if you needed it.

 

[mullerian]

Yes, I am an american allopathic med student. Our school is on the pass/fail system and I passed all classes in the 1st 2 years without ever having to retake an exam. I guess I'm just a run-of-the-mill med school. I don't think there is anything in my application that is superior or extraordinary.

 

[sapience8x]

My step 1 score is significantly higher than this (but a little lower than average), i have a mixtures of honors and high passes in my courses, have won awards and have a publication but have not gotten some of the early interviews that others on this site have. and yes i am a US senior. it is still early and i have received SOME interviews but at places that were low on my list. although i'm sure that some schools haven't sent out invites yet i am sure that i haven't passed the early screeening measures that other programs have in place which must be a 220 or 230 on step 1 or something. I say all this to say that pathology is getting pretty competitive. it still isn't as competitive as say derm but it's still up there. so the best thing to do is what a PP said- apply broadly. if you want to go to a top program your best bet would be a post sophomore fellowship.
I have heard people say that it is a "winning personality" that will get you into a program but iwthout a high step 1 score you can't even get in the door.

 

[deleted113029]

...pathology is getting pretty competitive. it still isn't as competitive as say derm but it's still up there. so the best thing to do is what a PP said- apply broadly. if you want to go to a top program your best bet would be a post sophomore fellowship.

Competitive? Maybe after plastics, derm, ortho, ophtho, rad onc, rads...it's probably a 4 out of 10 on the competitive scale.

PSF? Only if you want to! Otherwise, it's 1 yr of lost salary (at least $150K).

Good luck mullerian! 31/37 applicants matched with your score in 2005. Even 19/24 matched with scores <190. People who ranked at least 3 programs had a >90% match rate. So chances are high that you'll match.

 

[yaah]

Board scores are but one part of the application. Your score is not going to help you, but if the rest of your application is solid, it is unlikely to hurt you either. People get very caught up in numbers and while they do hold some importance, there are many other important factors.

 

[sapience8x]

have you guys seen a ppt presentation called "charting outcomes in the match" from last year? 18 out of the 349 us seniors had 190 or less on step 1. the mean for us seniors was 222. the spread was about a 208- 238 behind plastic surgery, derm, ortho, rad onc, rad diag, transitional (?- reading it off of the chart) programs.
you will probably match but I think it would be more difficult than we may believe. so the advice that someone gave about applying broadly may be valid.

Yes scores are one part of the application but apparently programs have a difficult time looking at the rest of your app if your scores aren't what they want them to be.