So hard to get honors during M3 rotations??

[GonefromTX]

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At my school, pass is 70%-87.9%, High pass is 88%- 93.9% and Honors is >94%. I have never seen a grading scale so skewed (super easy to pass, hard af to honor)?

Right now im on psychiatry rotation and I'm contemplating the futility of doing well on clerkships. I mean its only psychiatry (probably the easiest one) and I'm having trouble getting above a pass even if I spent massive amounts of time doing questions.

Im hoping to get into ortho. Should I just give up on honoring my clerkships (barely pass everything besides surgery) and study ortho well and get good letters? How bad is it if I just get passes on all medical clerkships but got amazing ortho letters and did well on Step 2? My step 1 score is 250 if that makes a difference.

Thanks!

 

[sunealoneal]

The MSPE includes histograms showing your performance relative to the rest of your class. If it's objectively difficult to honor your rotations it'll be evident there.

But broadly speaking the best prep for CK will be doing well on your shelves. Keep at it.

 

[DryHopped]

I was at a school with similar standards for honors, ended up with HPs in every 3rd year rotation. I ended up with 11 interviews and matched. So I think some places look at class rank and the distributions on mspe letters but there are definitely some that don't as well. I personally don't think your strategy of putting minimal effort into your rotations and studying ortho is a good idea because attendings will see that and give you bad comments on your eval which can make it into your mspe which are read and can be a big red flag. The best thing you can do is just work your hardest in every rotation even if it seems futile, like the previous poster said putting the time in during 3rd year makes step 2s easier and in your case you will need to do well. Also make sure you are doing ortho research and pick your away rotations wisely and when they come around be prepared, don't act weird,and work the hardest you possibly can to leave a good impression. Then just hope for the best.