Sense of urgency about class rank

[psyspy]

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Not sure if I should post here or in the psych sub forum. M3 here. Currently in bottom quartile of class.

I have no regrets about choosing medicine, but I do feel like for a variety of personal reasons I struggled the first two years often, and now this is translating into struggling on wards, particularly with shelf exams. So I have very deep regrets with how I started out, because I feel like I'll always be lacking knowledge that my classmates seem to have easily. My goal is to end up in 3rd quartile so as to not be at the bottom. I passed my surgery rotation, and I'm trying my best to "high pass" my IM rotation.

I truly wish I knew that it all started on day 1, and that "coming back" would be way harder than I thought it would be. I had some other unnecessary priorities at the time that got thwarted by covid anyhow.

I'm interested in psych, and would like to match at my home (mid tier) program. I take both steps in 2022. I've done quite a bit of research (1 psych poster, 4 non psych pubs, stuff from UG) and done some psych-related and general volunteering. I've been networking with faculty at my home program as well. How much sense of urgency should I have about my class rank? Should I try to get in the 2nd quartile rather than 3rd?

Please do not quote post. Thank you.

 

[sloop]

If you do well on boards, your class rank will probably not be a huge issue. If you do poorly on steps, it will compound that problem.

With your home program, it’s mostly going to be a matter of them having a good impression of you from your clinical rotation in psych and any SubIs you do.

 

[psyspy]

If you do well on boards, your class rank will probably not be a huge issue. If you do poorly on steps, it will compound that problem.

With your home program, it’s mostly going to be a matter of them having a good impression of you from your clinical rotation in psych and any SubIs you do.

What would you define as doing well on step 2 (my step 1 will be p/f)?

 

[sloop]

What would you define as doing well on step 2 (my step 1 will be p/f)?

Depends, but probably average or better and I doubt anyone is poring over your class rank. This is also assuming you honored psych. This is also assuming your home program and the programs you’re looking at are truly mid-tier. More competitive programs would obviously require more competitive stats, and would probably look more closely at your MSPE, etc.