step 2 required before interview?

I received 20 itnerview offers, (mostly east coast and midwest) and had not even registered for Step 2.

Q, DO

 

I applied to 31 and got 27 interview offers (all in the Midwest). Several programs asked about the the scores, but seemed unfazed when told I was taking it late in my fourth year.

- H

 

If step one is good, wait for step II - you will still get interviews. If step I is bad, take step II early and rock it - you will still get interviews. Most places require Step II to match (i.e. recieve scores by January or February when they make their rank lists), but don't require it for application.

 

FYI - I still haven't released my Step II scores. No one asked before ROLs were due. I interviewed at 10 midwestern programs - none of them "required" the scores to match...

And I got my #1!

- H

 

Oh - let me correct myself. Most places WANT step II scores if they are available to help make their rank lists.

Congrats on Mayo!

 

Hey Niner, congrats to you too!

Not trying to argue with you, just wanted the info on the board for posterity. Some folks, like me, might have, shall we say, underperformed (yes, I passed) on Step II. I just didn't want anyone to freak out if this happens to them.

I think we would both agree on a bit of advice to MS3s - DO NOT AUTOMATICALLY SEND YOUR STEP II SCORES WITH ERAS! Check the box to send them later. If you perform as well as expected, send them. If not, cower and hide (like me)! It will still work out o.k.

- H

 

No.

 

I'm setting up my fourth year schedule now and am faced with the dilemma of when to take Step II (the written version). I'm taking the clinical one early in August so that's taken care of.

My question regarding step II is how late can I take it? As I have my 4th year schedule set now, I'd be taking it in early December, but was recently told by a friend that I should consider taking it another month because most programs don't interview the last two weeks of December and I should use the first two weeks of the month to interview. So, if that's the case, I'd have to push Step II back to late March/April.

I have no problem with that, but am concerned that during interviews the issue that I'm taking it that late may come up and count against me somehow. My step I scores is in the upper 220's...what should I do?

 

The only place I know of that requires Step II is SUNY-Brooklyn.

If you've seen other places that say it's required, that seems pretty self-explanatory.

 

So we have established that most programs don't require step II to interview, and (apparently from your post) quite a few don't even require it to rank you. This is good news to me, b/c I'm comfortable with my Step I and would like to wait until about March to take Step II if it won't hurt me.

 

I took Step 2 in very late January and interviewed at SUNY-Downstate before that. I ended up matching at Cinci, but didn't even get interviews in California and Denver so that might have made a difference for them?

 

Then, as I feel about most of SUNY-Downstate, they must be FOS.