pharm went badly...what to do now?

[sunset823]

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Hi all,
I'm an M2 student, and I'm a bit bummed out right now, because I failed my pharmacology final miserably and (even though I had a cushion coming into this exam) I am a few points below the pass level, and likely will have to do a retake test for the course in the summer. I have been really wanting to do anesthesia, and did an anesthesia summer fellowship this past summer. I actually enjoy pharm, but I had not put enough time into it because I got content with the not very large cushion I had and put a lot more time into studying for another subject in which I thought I was in greater danger of failing (go figure). The final just threw a curveball.

So, my question is, does this kill any chance I have of going into anesthesia? I am particularly interested in being in academics (I have about 4 pubs, including posters and a peer-reviewed pub, with more to come), and in critical care (I would like to do residency in a place that has a solid critical care fellowship, which unfortunately is mostly the 'big names'). Obviously, this is given that I pass the retake (and I am going to study very hard for that, because pharm is important and I really want to do well on the test). I have in the back of my mind that if I'm not competitive for academic anesthesia programs, I could go IM --> critical care as well. (Location no bar, I'm a midwest native and while ideally I'd like to go to one of the coasts, I don't really care that much).

Thanks for the advice. This kind of put a damper on my vacation, but c'est la vie.

 

[lakersbaby]

Hi all,
I'm an M2 student, and I'm a bit bummed out right now, because I failed my pharmacology final miserably and (even though I had a cushion coming into this exam) I am a few points below the pass level, and likely will have to do a retake test for the course in the summer. I have been really wanting to do anesthesia, and did an anesthesia summer fellowship this past summer. I actually enjoy pharm, but I had not put enough time into it because I got content with the not very large cushion I had and put a lot more time into studying for another subject in which I thought I was in greater danger of failing (go figure). The final just threw a curveball.

So, my question is, does this kill any chance I have of going into anesthesia? I am particularly interested in being in academics (I have about 4 pubs, including posters and a peer-reviewed pub, with more to come), and in critical care (I would like to do residency in a place that has a solid critical care fellowship, which unfortunately is mostly the 'big names'). Obviously, this is given that I pass the retake (and I am going to study very hard for that, because pharm is important and I really want to do well on the test). I have in the back of my mind that if I'm not competitive for academic anesthesia programs, I could go IM --> critical care as well.

Thanks for the advice. This kind of put a damper on my vacation, but c'est la vie.

you really need to pass the retake i dont think you'll have any excuse not to pass. once you do that I think you can neutralize this setback by doing well in your clinical years and doing well on usmle step 1. if you are mediocre in both it gives PDs more a reason to look at that fail you had in pharm and toss your application aside.

 

[sunset823]

you really need to pass the retake i dont think you'll have any excuse not to pass. once you do that I think you can neutralize this setback by doing well in your clinical years and doing well on usmle step 1. if you are mediocre in both it gives PDs more a reason to look at that fail you had in pharm and toss your application aside.

thanks for the honesty. Just to clarify, the only place that this would show up would be in the dean's letter, where it would say 'passed after initial failure'. But I've heard the Dean's letter is going to start coming out in Sept instead of Nov, so obviously it will have an impact.

Though this sucks, it definitely gives me a fire under the belly for the rest of the year, and I believe relearning pharm from scratch (which I plan to do after our hard sequences finish in late March) will serve me well for Step 1.

and what is a 'doing well' Step 1, that could make up for this, anyway? over 230? 240?

And this isn't an excuse by any means for my poor performance, but my school is notoriously difficult for M2s - anywhere between 1/5 and 1/3 of the class end up having to do a retake of something.

 

[IlDestriero]

Consider this the first strike in a 2 strikes and you're out game. Anesthesia is hardly the most competitive specialty, but if you're aiming high, there's no margin for error. As for step 1, your goal should be to score as high as you possibly can. A 240 should be competitive for top programs, but you have a black mark, shoot for 260.

 

[deleted126335]

Pharm should be candy for a would be anesthesiologist. Love the course, read it for fun, should be among your best grades in the first two years. Maybe you should reevaluate your choice of specialty. Don't mean to be a downer.

 

[Pharm Life]

No, it doesn't kill any chance you have of going into anesthesia. Very few people have totally perfect records with straight Honors in everything, and if you're going to screw something up, it's better to retake a pharm test than it is to fail a clerkship and have to redo that. You do have to work hard to make the rest of your app as excellent as possible though, and definitely make sure you rock the pharm test the next time around. A good Step 1 score and good clerkship grades are important too like other people have already said. Also make sure to do a sub-I and work hard so you can get good letters from anesthesiologists. If you do well on Step 1 and in third year and the people who write your letters like you, that will help a lot.

 

[secretasianman]

I don't think its a big problem. The most important things are going to be your step 1 score, clerkship grades, and also letters of recommendation anyways. What you have is a blemish that you'll have to be ready to explain during your interviews. Pass your test, and focus on surviving the rest of your courses and gearing up for step 1.

 

[chaucer]

It's not the end of the world. The good news is that you still have plenty of opportunities to prove yourself (Steps 1 and 2, clinical rotations). Shooting for 260 may be a little extreme, but a score in the 230s would erase most doubts about your test-taking abilities, I think (obviously the higher the better).

I had a below passing grade in a first year course, an average Step 1 score, a good Step 2 score, and pretty good clinical grades. That non-passing grade was mentioned in my dean's letter and showed up on my transcript, but it was not brought up in a single interview, and I got interviews at 90% of programs I applied to, including big name east coast places. Sounds like you have some research, so that's more likely to be the topic of conversation anyway.

I wasn't happy with my basic science grades or Step 1, but knew I worked well with people, so I did an away at my top choice, worked hard, and matched there. There are a lot of anesthesia spots, and 'top' programs tend to be big, so this one event shouldn't be a big deal, assuming you do well from here on out. If you have genuine interest in an academic career, they'll like you even more. Don't let it get you down, and good luck.

 

[sunset823]

It's not the end of the world. The good news is that you still have plenty of opportunities to prove yourself (Steps 1 and 2, clinical rotations). Shooting for 260 may be a little extreme, but a score in the 230s would erase most doubts about your test-taking abilities, I think (obviously the higher the better).

I had a below passing grade in a first year course, an average Step 1 score, a good Step 2 score, and pretty good clinical grades. That non-passing grade was mentioned in my dean's letter and showed up on my transcript, but it was not brought up in a single interview, and I got interviews at 90% of programs I applied to, including big name east coast places. Sounds like you have some research, so that's more likely to be the topic of conversation anyway.

I wasn't happy with my basic science grades or Step 1, but knew I worked well with people, so I did an away at my top choice, worked hard, and matched there. There are a lot of anesthesia spots, and 'top' programs tend to be big, so this one event shouldn't be a big deal, assuming you do well from here on out. If you have genuine interest in an academic career, they'll like you even more. Don't let it get you down, and good luck.

thanks for the advice, it's very encouraging, though I'd think a fail in pharm would raise more eyebrows than an M1 course (unless it was physiology, which I did pretty well in, but then again, M1 was a cake walk compared to this year). But I'm using this as an opportunity to really master the material. I'll have nearly 3 months to integrate pharm into my boards studying, and I intend to by the end of it name the actions of the 500+ drugs in our course list blindfolded.

I have to say, this is what I already love about anesthesiologists, being practical but also encouraging and (generally) not shooting me down through a doom and gloom, you're destined to flip burgers attitude. It makes more motivated than ever that I can recover from a bad day. Thanks everyone!

 

[BLADEMDA]

 

[lilowangatang]

I've heard a lot of attendings complain about students saying the reason they want to do anesthesiology is because they love pharm. I never got pimped on a single pharm question during my rotations. Yeah, it's important, but SO miniscule in comparison to the internal medicine knowledge. The only thing failing could do to you is make your gpa (some lucky people have no gpas) and class rank lower. But if you make it up with clerkship grades (much much much more important), no one will even bat an eye. It's not like you failed the year and have to be held back...

Good luck with everything.