Repeated 1st year, but rest is good. My chances?

[DocBrown]

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I'm at a major state medical school. I had to repeat my first year because of marginal grades, and I failed one class by one point. After that year, my repeat 1st year grades were 3rd quartile, my 2nd year grades were dead-on average, and my step 1 was 228. My third year grades have all been dead-on average with the rest of the class, including surgery and medicine. I have stellar comments on my evals, and I already have a great letter of rec from my internal medicine attending. I'll be taking step 2 in Aug, and I'll probably end up in the same range as step 1. I have completed 2 research projects (1 in ID, one in peds). I'll be doing emergency externships in my senior year.

What are my chances of getting into emergency med? Will the fact that my 1st year was bad really exclude me, or does my performance afterwards make up for it? I'm looking to rank major universities highly, like U mich, U iowa, UVa, and so on.

Be brutally honest with me!

Thanks!

 

[MasterintuBater]

I think the thing you need to focus on at this point is the things that are under your control. You can't do anything about your past performance but you can do something about your future attributes. First off, make an effort to improve your step II score from step I. Don't be satisfied saying you'll probably do the same as step I. Do what you gotta do to nail step II. There's plenty of time to make that happen, that's for sure.

Second, be prepared to work hard and do well during your externships. Go to the places you most want to do residency. Make sure that the person they see in you is even BETTER than the person on paper. THat's the only way an externship will help you.

Last, be prepared to apply to MANY programs, not just the ones that are your major preference. The ones you listed tend to be competitive programs even among top applicants. You may have to lower your standards for the program you want, whether it be your perceived quality of the program, the geographical location, etc. If you are really set on EM and are willing to do anything to pursue it, you may have to go to a program that is not at the top of your list. Keep your mind open....the gap between the quality of the best and worst EM program is not as wide as it is in other medical fields.

Good luck to you.

 

[DocBrown]

Thanks. From what I understand, my step 1 of 228 is actually pretty good, seeing as how the avg step1 of people who matched into ophtho was 228 last year (ophtho being one of the more difficult matches). I just hope my recent credentials are enough to help me out. I mean, 1st year courses that I scored poorly in were histo, cell bio, biochem and other basic courses. I can't see why that would matter so much to residencies.

 

[typeB-md]

Thanks. From what I understand, my step 1 of 228 is actually pretty good, seeing as how the avg step1 of people who matched into ophtho was 228 last year (ophtho being one of the more difficult matches). I just hope my recent credentials are enough to help me out. I mean, 1st year courses that I scored poorly in were histo, cell bio, biochem and other basic courses. I can't see why that would matter so much to residencies.

yea, i was gonna say.. i thought 228 was pretty decent.

 

[jf]

I still think you have a shot at getting into a residency, but you need to have a good story for why you had problems in first year. Were there family issues, etc, etc.. 228 is a pretty good score on step 1, but you need to rock step 2 to remove all doubt of your ability to perform. Yes the basic sciences are often far removed from the clinical world, but isn't the process of getting into and staying in med school a big hazing process?

Good luck!

 

[Sessamoid]

If the rest of your application is solid and you have good letters of rec, then I don't think you'll have too much trouble matching into an EM residency somewhere. Obviously you aren't likely to get into the most competitive programs, but I don't think repeating first year is a killer. I don't think Step 2 is really a necessity at this point with a good Step 1 score.

The amount that basic sciences matters to EM residencies ranges from not much to not at all. If you don't already have one, find a good residency-trained EP for your advisor, preferably somebody involved with the residency program at your school if you have one. Your advisor would be the best one to evaluate what your chances are at which programs, and to advise you on how to proceed.

 

[DocBrown]

Thanks for the ideas. Actually, I do have a semi-good reason for repeating 1st year: I had some family issues going on, for which I actually took a year leave of absence after my repeat 1st year. I guess I'll play that angle when I interview and write my personal statement.

Any other thoughts? thanks!

 

[DocBrown]

If the rest of your application is solid and you have good letters of rec, then I don't think you'll have too much trouble matching into an EM residency somewhere. Obviously you aren't likely to get into the most competitive programs, but I don't think repeating first year is a killer. I don't think Step 2 is really a necessity at this point with a good Step 1 score.

The amount that basic sciences matters to EM residencies ranges from not much to not at all. If you don't already have one, find a good residency-trained EP for your advisor, preferably somebody involved with the residency program at your school if you have one. Your advisor would be the best one to evaluate what your chances are at which programs, and to advise you on how to proceed.

Oh yeah, just so I know how competitive the programs are, my current list to apply to is as follows:

UMich
UIowa
Ohio state
UVa
UNC chapel hill
UKy lexington
West Va U
U of south carolina
LSU baton rouge
Vandy
Louisville

How competitive are these places? Do I stand a chance of even getting my application read, or will they burn it when they see "repeated 1st year"?

 

[kungfufishing]

how about multiply that list X 3 or maybe even 4 in light of the fact that you repeated a year and you'll probably yield sufficient interviews assuming the rest of the app is good.

 

[hello23]

how about multiply that list X 3 or maybe even 4 in light of the fact that you repeated a year and you'll probably yield sufficient interviews assuming the rest of the app is good.

Agree. after you have gotten like 15 interviews, then cancel the rest...

 

[Homunculus]

how about multiply that list X 3 or maybe even 4 in light of the fact that you repeated a year and you'll probably yield sufficient interviews assuming the rest of the app is good.

kungfu is right. you'd much rather be in a situation to cancel interviews than to sit and wonder "what if" when you come up with only a couple interviews.

i know a guy who (as a very strong applicant) applied to like 30-40 something programs. he didn't need to, and he ended up at one of his top choices, but i'm sure it was nice to have the luxury of multiple locations/programs to choose from that were legitimately interested in him.

--your friendly neighborhood observant caveman

 

[ekydrd]

Here are a few more suggestions to add to your list. These are programs I got interviews at with one course I had to remediate and slightly less than average step 1, but above average step 2, and of course great letters...

Eastern VA School of Medicine (Norfolk, VA)
University of Illinois, Peoria
Washington U, St. Louis
Fresno, CA

Wash U is a 4yr program, the others are 3yr. Peoria offers the 2nd highest PGY1 pay of all programs ($44K this year), moonlightling opportunities beginning your 1st year (running 1st aid center for city athletics programs and things like that), and oodles of money for education expenses. Eastern VA has a great program... and is close to some of the best beaches on the east coast. Fresno has a great wilderness program starting up and disaster medicine as well, and is just a few hours away from the California coast. Wash U is a very strong program located in a large urban area so they see penetrating and blunt trauma, and offer some really cool 4th yr electives.

Good luck.

 

[DocBrown]

Thanks for the replies. I am planning on shotgun-applying to a ton of programs, then hoping that I get somewhere I like. I'm defiinitely going to take step 2 early, to solidify the fact that I am not an idiot.

Any other thoughts?

 

[ekydrd]

Thanks for the replies. I am planning on shotgun-applying to a ton of programs...

Hope you are independently wealthy... or have really good credit so you can get the loans you will need to pay for all those apps. It is expensive!!! 🙁

 

[DocBrown]

Anyone else have an experience/idea that could help me? thanks!!

 

[ispic]

Anyone else have an experience/idea that could help me? thanks!!

I hope that this helps. A friend of mine that is in his first year of residency right now had similar stats but did not repeat first year, however we do come from a "lower ranked" institution and many PD's ran away from that. In any case, he applied to 50+ programs, got 8 interviews and matched into one of his top 3, I believe. Good luck bro., I hope to be there as soon.

 

[jazz]

Anyone else have an experience/idea that could help me? thanks!!

well it's not that expensive if you consider how much you've spent on medical school or the lost pay from one year of trans/prelim year....

basically, i would talk with an EM advisor, one who knows the field well, possibly even the program director at your insititution's em residency. s/he will give you an idea of how you'll match and will give you an idea on how many programs to apply to. after all, they're the ones making the decisions in february.