Should I take Step 1 and 2 4th year as a DO student for fellowship?

Started by Bobcat77
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Bobcat77

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I am a 4th year DO student wanting to go into IM. I decided just to take comlex since I was originally planning on doing general outpatient IM, but I am now really interested in endocrinology. I know it is unusual to take these tests at this point, but I was planning on studying a lot this last year anyway, especially since I have much more free time this year, to prepare me for residency.

I feel that having step scores would help me get into Endo fellowship and would allow me to apply more broadly in the off-chance that I don't match into IM this year. I'd likely take step 1 mid-January and then step 2 late April just before graduation. I know this won't help with residency applications at all this year, but I feel it would keep my fellowship options open.

I was also wondering with Step 1 going pass/fail, if it might be a good compromise just to take Step 2 or would that be useless for fellowship consideration purposes without a Step 1? What do you all think? Thank you!