Realistic Chances

[DocDanger]

Hi everyone,
I was wondering if there were any good resources to know what your chances were at certain Pediatrics programs. I'm an average student from a middle tier US Medical Institution with above-average references and a variety of extracurricular activities.

I would like to know which programs set cutoffs for Step 1?
When do interviews generally take place?
How much stock is put into Step 2 if taken late?

With so many options, I'm finding it difficult to know where to apply for the 2011-2012 cycle and how realistic of a chance I have at certain places.
If there are any individuals who have gone through the process or program directors willing to read my story, I'd be happy to share it.
I know this is vague, but I'd like to be directed to places where I can find more information.

Thanks!

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[GiardiaLOOMBlia]

Hi everyone,
I was wondering if there were any good resources to know what your chances were at certain Pediatrics programs. I'm an average student from a middle tier US Medical Institution with above-average references and a variety of extracurricular activities.

I would like to know which programs set cutoffs for Step 1?
When do interviews generally take place?
How much stock is put into Step 2 if taken late?

With so many options, I'm finding it difficult to know where to apply for the 2011-2012 cycle and how realistic of a chance I have at certain places.
If there are any individuals who have gone through the process or program directors willing to read my story, I'd be happy to share it.
I know this is vague, but I'd like to be directed to places where I can find more information.

Thanks!

Many programs don't have a step I cutoff. Some of the very top tier programs may have some but is unlikely these are any higher than 215-220 if actually in existence. A deficiency in one part of your application is made up for stronger parts of you app. I had a below average step I, above average step 2 (but the score came out after i got 3/4 of my interviews) and interviewed at several competitive places and don't think I'll drop below my 2nd rank if it even comes to that.

As for your second questions, interviews start november, some may interview last week of october as well. interviews generally go through the last week of january. I only interviewed at 10 places and ended up being done by mid december. Rank list submission opened up this year january 15th and closed february 23rd. Match day for us this year is march 15. Some programs will give you a general indication of how they have ranked you by then, others won't.

Step 2, just take it early and get it over with. It can help you if you do well and you can always hold the score until later if it wasn't as stellar. But get it done early and enjoy the remainder of 4th year.

Overall I'll just say don't get caught up in the numbers. You can look at some data med schools put out about the previous graduating classes and see that when a complete range is listed for certain specialties that some in the 200s still match into things like ortho/optho/rads. Many things can help you and hurt you and I can tell you firsthand that board scores aren't the end-all. Where you apply should be based on where you want to go per your criteria (type of program, size, etc).

Good luck!

 

[michigangirl]

Just to add to last poster:

Step I cutoffs aren't as important in peds. And if they are, the programs aren't advertising them. What matters more is how you performed in your third year clerkships, letters, dean's letter, etc.-- of course if your step I scores are much below the mean or you didn't pass, that may be an automatic negative for getting an interview, but no point focusing on it. Just worth it to make your application as awesome as possible and see what happens. It's important to take step 2 early if Step I was suboptimal, meaning at or less than the mean in my book. good luck.

 

[lockjaw]

Hi everyone,
I was wondering if there were any good resources to know what your chances were at certain Pediatrics programs. I'm an average student from a middle tier US Medical Institution with above-average references and a variety of extracurricular activities.

I would like to know which programs set cutoffs for Step 1?
When do interviews generally take place?
How much stock is put into Step 2 if taken late?

With so many options, I'm finding it difficult to know where to apply for the 2011-2012 cycle and how realistic of a chance I have at certain places.
If there are any individuals who have gone through the process or program directors willing to read my story, I'd be happy to share it.
I know this is vague, but I'd like to be directed to places where I can find more information.

Thanks!

Is there a pediatrics adviser at your school that you can talk to? I met with the chair of the department who has seen many, many students from the school apply to peds over the course of his tenure, and so he was a great resource in terms of helping me make a list of programs that would be ideal for me to apply to, and to give me my relative odds of matching into each program that I was interested in.

 

[DocDanger]

Thank you for the advice - I sincerely appreciate it!
I visited a few individuals in the administration, but they were either: (1) overly optimistic (2) or not much help.
I just thought I'd try this forum for another opinion.
It's nice hearing more about the process, as it seems 4th year is quite daunting - ERAS, Dean's Letter, Scheduling..yada yada yada
Also, the fact that some of you have gone through the process is reassuring.
I'll try to schedule an appointment directly with the chairman of the program here or another individual in the Pediatrics department and talk about "realistic chances"
Good luck to those about to hear news, and thanks again!