Should I forget about IM at a university program in Cali?

[Lippincott]

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So, here's my deal... unranked allopathic med school, had to repeat a basic science year (family issues), only Honored Surgery and High Passed sub internship in Medicine (everything else is a Pass, except for High Pass in Microbio after repeating it), in the bottom quintile of my class, took the Step 1 mid Oct of my fourth year (214/88 first attempt), plan to take Step 2 CK mid-December, sent out my ERAS Nov 15, 2007, 4 very good letters of rec (chairman of medicine, medicine clerkship director, sub-I attending, and surgery attending), two publications (1 during undergrad, 1 first author in a cardiology journal to be published next year), planning on doing all Cali interviews in January 2008.

I want a good southern cali university program. What programs are my best shot? What if anything can I do to improve my application at this point (take the Step 2 CK on Dec 10, do well on it, and hope my score comes back before my Jan cali interviews?)

Thank you for the help and advice. Pretty depressed at the moment. 🙁

 

[Lippincott]

No interview invites yet, so far rejections from UCSD, UCSF, Kaiser Southern California, and California Pacific.

Do I stand a chance at ANY university program in Cali? Geez, I thought Kaiser would at least be within reach... 🙁

 

[imolam3]

No interview invites yet, so far rejections from UCSD, UCSF, Kaiser Southern California, and California Pacific.

Do I stand a chance at ANY university program in Cali? Geez, I thought Kaiser would at least be within reach... 🙁

hang in there. did you apply to the kaiser programs in nor cal?

 

[Winged Scapula]

Unfortunately, there are several red flags in your application which might make strong IM programs in Cali a bit resistant to your application.

- Your Step one score is only average and you have yet to take Step 2.
- Repeating a year doesn't look good
- Your rank in the bottom quintile hurts you
- Late application (yes, 11/15/07 is before the deadline, but considering its 2.5 months after applications could first go in, its late)

Some questions you might ask.

Have you see your LORs? Do you actually know they are good? Do you know what good letters contain? Are there comments that PDs might read between the lines, like an offer for the recipient to call a writer (which usually means "there is something you should know about this candidate but I don't want to put it in writing")?

Have you and your letter writers adequately explained your repeating of a year?

How strong is your personal statement?

Have you applied to all or most of the programs in California? There are 30 IM programs in California, obviously they are not all in So Cal. You might consider expanding your range, at least to the central SJ Valley which would include Kern and UCSF-Fresno, as well as No Cal. They can still be difficult matches but are somewhat easier than UCLA, etc.