Preclinical grades - your thoughts

[corona 247]

I posted this in the General Residency forum, but wanted to see what you all thought too:

I am a MS1 and am trying to find out how important preclinical grades are in getting a residency. I know that the ' the better your grades, the better you learned the material and therefore the better your board scores (usually)', and i def agree with that. But, when all is said and done and your application is sitting in front of a PD, is he/she going to care whether you got 10As and 2Bs or 2As and 10s if you have competitive board scores and LORs? I know that for ultra competitive specialties and residency programs, class rank plays a more prominent role than to 'less competitve residencies specialties and programs.
The reason i started thinking about this was when i looked ahead to board time. A few upperclassman have told me that they spent the last quarter before boards just coasting thru their class enough to pass, while spending more time reviewing/studying for boards. Does anyone agree or disagree with that method?

Appreciate any feed back. Us MS1 are so new to medicine that sometimes i think we tend to overworry about our grades during the first 2 yrs that it adds unneeded stress!

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[Dr. Yanknpull]

I posted this in the General Residency forum, but wanted to see what you all thought too:

I am a MS1 and am trying to find out how important preclinical grades are in getting a residency. I know that the ' the better your grades, the better you learned the material and therefore the better your board scores (usually)', and i def agree with that. But, when all is said and done and your application is sitting in front of a PD, is he/she going to care whether you got 10As and 2Bs or 2As and 10s if you have competitive board scores and LORs? I know that for ultra competitive specialties and residency programs, class rank plays a more prominent role than to 'less competitve residencies specialties and programs.
The reason i started thinking about this was when i looked ahead to board time. A few upperclassman have told me that they spent the last quarter before boards just coasting thru their class enough to pass, while spending more time reviewing/studying for boards. Does anyone agree or disagree with that method?

Appreciate any feed back. Us MS1 are so new to medicine that sometimes i think we tend to overworry about our grades during the first 2 yrs that it adds unneeded stress!

If you kill the boards, PD/s will take notice of you even with average grades. Boards are designed to uncover those students who can think on their feet. PD/s want young docs who will step in and work in the program quickly. Good boards will prove your worth in this regard and average grades will not hold you back. But, do your very best in the first two years, boards studying will be so much easier. And yes, blow off the last half of your second year to study for boards _ no question!

 

[dr.aldehyde]

one of my profs told me this... when he's looking for residents he's not concerned about their grades because he doesn't know how different schools grade, and comparing curriculums is much like comparing apples to oranges. the boards level the playing field, and therefore those are more important. the boards and what you show them in practice (if you work with them during rotations) count most. i'm an MS-1 also, but i think it makes a lot of sense. hope that helps.

 

[(nicedream)]

Wouldn't class rank (based on grades) be an accurate way of comparing students in different schools and curriculums?

 

[DaveinDallas]

From what I've been told, grades really don't matter, unless you fail a class . Boards are what people notice along with how you work with
people when doing rotations. I've heard more than one residency director say that they may notice where you rank in your class as a 'wow, that's nice' or a 'hmm, lower 10%' but boards are where they pay attention.

Remember, you are going to be working within their team and ,hopefully, complementing a tight unit that gets things done. They don't want to have to hold your hand all the time and they don't want to have to be quelling disagreements or whatever that upsets the team. Standard people skills stuff.

 

[dr.aldehyde]

Wouldn't class rank (based on grades) be an accurate way of comparing students in different schools and curriculums?

class rank tells you how a person did in comparison to the others in the class within the given curriculum, but again curriculums vary by school and different schools may place emphasis on different things. so wouldn't board scores be a better way of comparing students in different schools and curriculums?

 

[OSUdoc08]

I posted this in the General Residency forum, but wanted to see what you all thought too:

I am a MS1 and am trying to find out how important preclinical grades are in getting a residency. I know that the ' the better your grades, the better you learned the material and therefore the better your board scores (usually)', and i def agree with that. But, when all is said and done and your application is sitting in front of a PD, is he/she going to care whether you got 10As and 2Bs or 2As and 10s if you have competitive board scores and LORs? I know that for ultra competitive specialties and residency programs, class rank plays a more prominent role than to 'less competitve residencies specialties and programs.
The reason i started thinking about this was when i looked ahead to board time. A few upperclassman have told me that they spent the last quarter before boards just coasting thru their class enough to pass, while spending more time reviewing/studying for boards. Does anyone agree or disagree with that method?

Appreciate any feed back. Us MS1 are so new to medicine that sometimes i think we tend to overworry about our grades during the first 2 yrs that it adds unneeded stress!

Preclinical grades dont matter, because some schools are pass/fail.

 

[prefontaine]

Preclinical grades dont matter, because some schools are pass/fail.

Everything matters. Applicants will rarely know what a specific program is looking for.

 

[DireWolf]

Preclinical grades are as worthless as piss in a boot. Anyone who knows how residency selection committees work knows this point.

 

[OSUdoc08]

Everything matters. Applicants will rarely know what a specific program is looking for.

Nope, but using emergency medicine as an example, AAEM provides a list of factors that almost all residencies consider, in order of importance.

Preclinical grades aren't even on the list.

 

[SoCuteMD]

Nope, but using emergency medicine as an example, AAEM provides a list of factors that almost all residencies consider, in order of importance.

Preclinical grades aren't even on the list.

I tried finding this list, but couldn't. Any chance you have the link OSUdoc? As a hopeful EM applicant in a few years, it'd really be helpful.

 

[OSUdoc08]

I tried finding this list, but couldn't. Any chance you have the link OSUdoc? As a hopeful EM applicant in a few years, it'd really be helpful.

It's actually in a book. AAEM's Rules of the Road for Medical Students

http://www.aaemres.org/membership/student_benefits.php

 

[DOCTORSAIB]

Preclinical grades are NOT important if:

1) You try hard but still can't do well (i.e. Honors/A's).
2) You are not applying for a super-competitive field like Derm, Integrated Plastics, etc.
3) You just don't care to kill yourself studying just to get Honors.

Otherwise, preclinical grades are important, they're just of lower importance than Step 1 scores, clinical grades, LOR's, publications, etc.

I study hard and give top priority to school. Otherwise, I make sure I make time for myself, family, SO, and friends. The latter three often help you keep your sanity in this insane process. G'luck.

 

[beastmaster]

How exactly is it again you 2nd years know all of this ?? How do you know that your buddy the PD isn't feeding you a spoonful of crap while he goes and makes his decisions based on something else? Can't believe everything you hear. And what about the 350 PD's you haven't spoken with?