Reapplying to PM&R questions

[Kissmyabjj]

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So I didn't match this year. I am going to do an Osteopathic internship. What do I need to do to make myself a more competitive applicant next year?

A little about me...

DO student
Step 1 = 217
COMLEX Level 1 = 538
Step 2 = didn't take it
COMLEX Level 2 = 585
COMLEX PE = failed. Taking it again on April 14. No programs were aware of this though as I didn't receive my score until a few weeks after the match and SOAP. So finding this out was just a bonus after not matching. Interestingly, every PM&R program coordinator I talked to about not having this score before the match told me that it wasn't a big deal though. Not taking it early was dumb. I know that now, but somehow I thought that taking it during 4th year would be logical since I would have more clinical experience. I realize now that the test is much more like an OSCE than a real clinical encounter.
Class rank = We don't get one. We are just told which quintile we are in. I am in the first quintile (top 20% of my class)
Member of Sigma Sigma Phi
2 published case reports in which I was first author
2/3 of my clinical evaluations are Honors, the remainder are half pass and half high pass.
Awesome LOR's. I will say though that the PM&R letter that I used came from a doctor who is a professor in an OMM department. When I got my interview from University of Michigan, the program coordinator told me that in order for me to officially get an interview I needed a letter from a PM&R physician who currently worked in a PM&R capacity. Unfortunately I was unable to get this letter to any of the other programs I had applied to because I had already submitted the maximum of 4 letters through ERAS. My school advised me not to send it to them unless they asked.
I did apply late. This had a lot to do with not realizing that I wanted to do PM&R until August. This made it hard for me to get a PM&R LOR by the ERAS opening date. I requested the letter at the end of August. It took about 4 weeks for the physician I asked to write it to get it to me. I think I submitted the bulk of my applications by October 1st. I submitted about a dozen more 2 weeks later when I wasn't getting many invitations for interviews.

Oh and I had 11 interviews.

So...
Should I go ahead and plan on taking Step 2? Do I need to take both CS and CK?
I plan on taking COMLEX Level 3 before ERAS opens, but do I also need to take Step 3?
Do I need to rewrite my personal statement?
Do I need to get a new Dean's letter that includes my 4th year of clinical rotations?
Can I use my old LOR's (replacing the PM&R letter that I initially used of course?)

Posting all of this is pretty embarrassing, but I am pretty much over worrying about what people think. I just want to match. Period. ANY advice would be greatly appreciated.

Chris

 

[Paddington]

When I got my interview from University of Michigan, the program coordinator told me that in order for me to officially get an interview I needed a letter from a PM&R physician who currently worked in a PM&R capacity.

I'm not sure where all you applied and interviewed at, but the University of Michigan is a very competitive program to get into.

Getting an interview, BTW, is not all that meaningful. I've attended countless interviews in my life where it was clear they had zero interest in my candidacy.

If you apply again, I would focus on that vast number of programs that are generally less competitive.