Step 2 Score release question

[Hoya11]

I chose to not automatically release my scores on ERAS...
and my question is what really is the advantage of doing this?

If I get a score I am not happy with can I just not report anything to them? Wouldnt they make you report them as soon as you get them, or ask you at interviews if you have taken it, what your results are, etc... your not going to lie...

I mean can you really hide a bad score this way? what is the advantage of it?

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[njbmd]

Moving to the ERAS Forum.

 

[Hoya11]

bump... anyone??

 

[Hoya11]

If I take the test in november of this year, will it effect me if i dont release them?

 

[165808]

My medical school has told us at least once or twice a month now to NOT check the option to automatically retransmit your USMLE scores. I think that seems to be the consensus among most schools and students. That way you can get your score and decide for yourself whether to re-transmit. I'm not sure what happens if you don't....I guess the residency may just ask you at your interview or something. Then at least if it was a bad step 2 score, your winning personality can put it into context....

 

[m1234d]

the other negative to auto release that my school warned about is that with auto release, programs get your score before you do (electronic vs snail mail), and if you happen to be interviewing when this happens, it can be a not so nice surprise.

 

[amfrank]

Additional step 2 question - I have already taken Step 2 CK and gotten my scores back in mid August(was pleased). I checked no to have my scores automatically released because I would like to know my CS score before schools get it. My USMLE transcript will have my Step 1 and Step 2 Ck right since both were posted before I submitted?! Just wanted to make sure because without my Step 2 score my application looks pretty sad.

 

[DoctorWannaBe]

My medical school has told us at least once or twice a month now to NOT check the option to automatically retransmit your USMLE scores. I think that seems to be the consensus among most schools and students. That way you can get your score and decide for yourself whether to re-transmit. I'm not sure what happens if you don't....I guess the residency may just ask you at your interview or something. Then at least if it was a bad step 2 score, your winning personality can put it into context....

That's interesting, because my school warned us that if we don't automatically release the score that programs will think we are trying to hide something. I still think I'll not automatically retransmit my score despite what they say.

 

[DreamLover]

I chose to not automatically release my scores on ERAS...
and my question is what really is the advantage of doing this?

If I get a score I am not happy with can I just not report anything to them? Wouldnt they make you report them as soon as you get them, or ask you at interviews if you have taken it, what your results are, etc... your not going to lie...

I mean can you really hide a bad score this way? what is the advantage of it?

I chose last year not to automatically release them. I was very happy with my step one scores and had lots of interviews before I even took step 2 let alone knew the score. I never did go back and release them (and I did do better on Step 2 by about 10 points...nothing amazing I guess) but the programs didn't seem to care and made statements in the interview sessions like...remember, you must have taken and passed Step 2 CK and CS before starting blah blah blah...like it was just in passing and not that high on their list. Now maybe if I wanted the programs to see how I did or I thought it made me a much better candidate I would have paid more money and re-released my USMLE transcript...but really...it was just not an issue for anesthesiology in my experience.....

I am sure other specialties may have a different take on this though....I am sure it just depends

 

[Shalom77]

I was also advised not to automatically release usmle scores by my med school (albeit this was advice from 7 years ago.) The reasoning was that - since many students have not taken step 2, programs mainly compare students using step 1 scores. Thus not having step 2 scores is not a disadvantage- but having poor step 2 scores could hurt you. Thus it's to one's benefit to review one's step 2 scores first before deciding to release.

Programs will obviously later find out about one's step 2 scores if one matches there - but at that point as long as you've passed it's a non issue.

 

[FPLover]

The benefit comes into play (1) if you are not confident that you will pass it or (2) if you are applying for an early match or competitive field and are not certain that your Step 2 will be higher than your Step 1

 

[ihearttimgunn]

Can someone release scores to just one program?

 

[yippyskippy]

No. If you release it goes to all programs. If you want to have a score in by the time rank lists are being made, I would say the latest you want to take it is in November of the year you apply. That gets your score back late December.... earlier than that (August or September) would be even better.