PD's advice

[Gaswitch]

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I recently had a meeting with the Anesthesiology PD at my school with a decent program (i think). I have been an average student, and so far only have passes in my third year. My Step 1 score was between 220-225. His advice was that the I do not need to take Step 2 early as that as that could only hurt me and to do an AI early. I also have some research without publications.

-What are your opinions about when I should take Step 2 and how many programs I should be thinking of applying to.

-Are away rotations a must for me?

Thanks in advance.

 

[scotchnwater]

I'm no expert on this stuff, but I'll share my experience and you can take what you want from it.

Whether or not you take your Step 2 early would probably depend (in my opinion) on how well you felt that reflected your abilities. I got a very similar Step 1 score but was a bit disappointed as I usually test better than that and also had a family crisis right around test time which I felt affected my performance. I decided to try and take Step 2 earlier.

Since I ended my third year with Internal Medicine (and the accompanying b*tch of an NBME shelf exam) I ended up taking my Step 2 about two weeks following that rotatiaon. Since Medicine is a HUGE part of Step 2, I had done most of the studying for my Step 2 while also studying for the Shelf in the month prior. I improved my score by a very nice margin and have absolutely no regrets.

On the other hand, if you feel that your score (which I have been told my by many, many people is "solid", and I would believe that following my interview season) is an accurate representation of you, it is less likely (in my opinion) that you would have a lot to gain by taking Step 2 early. In that case it would be a gamble and you'd want to be real sure you put plenty of time in for studying and whatnot.

Regardless of what you decide, it sounds like you'll get plenty of good interviews for next year, so I wouldn't lose a ton of sleep over it either way.

Again, these are just my thoughts and I'm sure other people will have a different take on things.

 

[cchoukal]

Your Step I is just above the national average and should be adequate for nearly any program. So the questions is whether or not to take Step II in time for your application. I'll answer with another question: do you think you'll do better or worse on step II than step I? If not, I'd stick. My recollection was that no one asked me about Step II, and I don't think anyone required it for consideration of your application. Based on what you've said, the main weakness of your application is not your board scores but rather the fact that you've only "passed" your clinical rotations, which suggests a problem with your work ethic, team/communication skills, application of clinical knowledge, etc. What's the deal? Any chance to improve this, particularly for your AI (which you'll obviously want to smoke and not merely pass)?

 

[lord_jeebus]

I did get specific complements on my Step II score (which I took only because my school forced me to).

If you've been scoring above your class averages on shelf exams, I'd recommend taking it.

 

[Gaswitch]

Your Step I is just above the national average and should be adequate for nearly any program. So the questions is whether or not to take Step II in time for your application. I'll answer with another question: do you think you'll do better or worse on step II than step I? If not, I'd stick. My recollection was that no one asked me about Step II, and I don't think anyone required it for consideration of your application. Based on what you've said, the main weakness of your application is not your board scores but rather the fact that you've only "passed" your clinical rotations, which suggests a problem with your work ethic, team/communication skills, application of clinical knowledge, etc. What's the deal? Any chance to improve this, particularly for your AI (which you'll obviously want to smoke and not merely pass)?

I am waiting for two clerkship grades (school sucks at returning grades on time), I have shelf scores for both so I definitely passed one, may h/p the other as shelf grade was higher. I am also shy, and I am trying to improve my communication skills and improve my application of ck. I do work hard.
Any advice will be appreciated.

 

[amyl]

maybe my current experience is reflecting the competitiveness of anesthesiology or just the places i happened to interview or the fact that i am a DO. i was asked about my step two score. i had a similar step one score and was given the exact same advice, don't take step two -- it is too big of a risk. then i was asked about it and two programs on my list, including one in my top three, required it to be ranked. i wish i had taken it earlier -- i ended up taking it in december, several months after i had finished all my medicine, obgyn, etc and had to study while on a rotation- granted it was fp but i still had to work until 4ish every day. i did better than step one but not by as much as i would have liked. you can estimate how you are going to do with your percent on usmle world -- this has been pretty accurate in the past i think. study -- if, based on your usmle world percent, you will not get at least close to your step one score don't take it, but realize you will be shutting yourself out of a couple of programs. if you are gonna break 220 i would take it. most of the candidates i have met this year on the interview trail have taken step two...definitely more have than have not, so i do think you are at a slight disadvantage if you don't take it...unless you won't do well.

 

[bubalus]

You can take it, timing it so that the scores come back after the programs download your info. Just don't choose the auto update option on ERAS. That way you can see the scores. If they're good, you can have them sent to the programs. If they're not, you just keep your mouth shut.

 

[amyl]

thats what i did. don't chose the auto submit option for your scores. but then if they ask you at the interview if you took it, which i was at at least half, you will have to lie. i didn't. i told them all they would have my scores mid january. thankfully they were okay. otherwise i guess i was hoping they would forget, but a couple of people wrote down that my scores would be available mid jan. seriously, usmle world will predict your score pretty well...take it when you will do okay.