Primary Care Pathway - Should I take USMLE

[deleted771643]

I'm in a primary care pathway and will be going into family medicine. Should I take the USMLE? I'm not sure there's much of a benefit.

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[Drrrrrr. Celty]

Minimal.

 

[Epilepsy365]

Only take it if you want to do FM residency in the West Coast.

 

[DO2015CA]

Even if you want to do residency in the west coast you will be fine if you don’t care where. My friends that matched FM in places like Shasta, UCSF Fresno, and Modesto all for FM did not take USMLE last year and did fine.

can’t see the future so I recommend everyone take the usmle.

 

[hallowmann]

Even if you want to do residency in the west coast you will be fine if you don’t care wear. My friends that match FM in places like Shasta, UCSF Fresno, and Modesto all for FM did not take USMLE last year and did fine.

can’t see the future so I recommend everyone take the usmle.

To be fair, those are not what you would call the most competitive CA FM programs. That said, I overall agree.

OP if you are planning to stay close to your school, then it's probably not an issue. There will be some programs (disproportionately on the west coast) that will want USMLE, but most do not.

 

[DO2015CA]

To be fair, those are not what you would call the most competitive CA FM programs. That said, I overall agree.

OP if you are planning to stay close to your school, then it's probably not an issue. There will be some programs (disproportionately on the west coast) that will want USMLE, but most do not.

lol I need to watch about autocorrect on my phone lol. People will think I’m illiterate hahaha.

butttt yes idk the competitiveness of those programs with it not being my field. I do know that the San Joaquin valley programs are less competitive in general though. What are some of the more competitive FM Cali programs?

 

[hallowmann]

The ones with the better reps include Ventura, Contra Costa, Santa Rosa, and to some degree Harbor-UCLA and UCSD. That said, there's different definitions of "competitive" among FM programs, and even some of those programs would have issues depending on your priorities. They just generally tend to take "more competitive" people.

 

[DameJulie]

What about for IM specialties?

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

What about for IM specialties?

You'll want Step for IM specialties.

 

[hungrydoc710]

What about for IM specialties?

Yup - bc you'll want to land academic programs with in-house fellowships

 

[SkyloRen]

Would it be beneficial to take it for Peds?

 

[DO2015CA]

Would it be beneficial to take it for Peds?

If you want a bigger or specific program yes. But you will still match with just comlex