Research year or just apply

[C@lidoc]

Asking for a friend of mine that's not sure what to do.

Step 1: 220s
Step 2: 263
Top medical school
Only 2 honors on clerkships (hasn't done urology sub-I yet) and probably not AOA
Research: several pubs in other surgical fields and 2 abstracts in urology
LOR: strong letters from urology faculty in research.

Should he take a year off between third and fourth year to do more urology specific research or just apply urology and do research if he doesn't match.

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[DoctwoB]

Given “your friend” is already well published for an applicant, I don’t know how much a research year would help. He/she had a low step1 with an excellent step 2, but should apply broadly as the step1 score may mean getting screened out at some places. Clinical grades and step1 will make it an uphill battle, but research, good LORs, and step2 could make the difference. He/she should do always at places with realistic shots of matching and crushing them/ the home AI could go a long way towards finding him a spot.

I would apply right away, and if not matching either apply for one of the post med school research fellowships in Urology (there are always a few posted on Urologymatch) and then reapply

 

[armybound]

I see no red flags.

 

[Donald Juan]

I would not recommend a year off if it is solely to boost the application. I would recommend going to low to mid-tier programs for aways, most top programs will screen you out from step 1 score, and those places are extremely hard to crush an away at as they often have so many faculty members and rotating students. Step score will definitely hurt, but I think if your friend is a decent interviewer and applies smartly they should be able to match.

 

[cpants]

I would not recommend a year off if it is solely to boost the application. I would recommend going to low to mid-tier programs for aways, most top programs will screen you out from step 1 score, and those places are extremely hard to crush an away at as they often have so many faculty members and rotating students. Step score will definitely hurt, but I think if your friend is a decent interviewer and applies smartly they should be able to match.

+1

 

[Frogger27]

I would not recommend a year off if it is solely to boost the application. I would recommend going to low to mid-tier programs for aways, most top programs will screen you out from step 1 score, and those places are extremely hard to crush an away at as they often have so many faculty members and rotating students. Step score will definitely hurt, but I think if your friend is a decent interviewer and applies smartly they should be able to match.

+1

Interested to hear your reasoning for thinking they can match with a Step1 in the 220s. Is it because of the combination of top med school/High Step 2?? I know my home program has a cut off at 235. Are there a good amount of programs that do not have a cut off?

 

[cpants]

No one said he can definitely match. It will be challenging, and many programs will not consider the application due to the board score. Will need to nail aways at low to midtier programs and apply very broadly. The question was whether he should take a research year. I'm not sure how much it will improve the application over its current status to add a few publications. A year is a lot to invest just to make your application slightly more competitive. I would predict similar chances at matching with or without the research year. The money is performing well on the aways, and if he does, those places he goes will be best chance at a match.

 

[Donald Juan]

Interested to hear your reasoning for thinking they can match with a Step1 in the 220s. Is it because of the combination of top med school/High Step 2?? I know my home program has a cut off at 235. Are there a good amount of programs that do not have a cut off?

Like said above, I don't know that a research year will greatly improve the app. Many places will not have a strict cut off, although a lot do. Yes, the step 2 helps a lot. Anecdotally, I have seen two candidates in the past 2 years match easily with a similar situation, step 1 in the 220s and a 260+ step 2. One of the students even received about 25 interviews. It really helped that both of these students were extremely excellent to work with and had great LORs. That can go a long way at a lot of programs and override a below average step 1.

If step 1 and 2 were both poor/below average, I would be much less encouraging.