Step II CK lower than Step I - report to programs?

[Topological]

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Step I = 248, Step 2 CK = 223
I knew I wasn't prepared for Step 2, but had to meet my school's deadline. I'm applying in psych. My grades are not great. The rest of my application is decent (research, pubs, etc.)

Only 1 program has asked me for scores. Another has said that they want to see that I passed, but do not use Step 2 for ranking. How bad is this? Should I send it to the programs that haven't mentioned it and will they even rank me without it?

 

[GoSpursGo]

If programs are specifically asking you for scores, you're pretty much stuck; they wouldn't request them if they didn't actually want them, and you can't submit them to a select group of programs without submitting them to everyone. That's a big enough drop that it'll probably raise some eyebrows, but you still passed and I don't know there's much you can do about it at this point unless you'd rather just roll the dice with the programs that haven't asked for it.

 

[Textbookversion]

It's psych, you'll match fine.

 

[FSU2013]

It's psych, you'll match fine.

+1

Your step 1 would have put you in the top 25-30 US MD applicants in 2011. You'll be fine. I wouldn't go parading your step 2 scores around if a program didn't explicitly ask for it, but it shouldn't sink you.

 

[GoSpursGo]

It's psych, you'll match fine.

Whoops, I missed that. Yeah, you're probably fine.

 

[Rothbard]

Whoops, I missed that. Yeah, you're probably fine.

At what step1/2 difference do the eyebrows start moving?

 

[GoSpursGo]

At what step1/2 difference do the eyebrows start moving?

*shrug* idunno, and not every program would care the same way about Step 2. I've been told that in most cases as long as you're in the same ballpark between steps 1 and 2, you're not going to hurt yourself, but without putting an exact number to where the "ballpark" ends I'd say 25 points "feels" significantly lower.

Again, for someone going into a noncompetitive field with a strong Step 1 like the OP, it's unlikely to make a big deal.

 

[evilbooyaa]

248 and going into psych?

You could probably just pass Step 2 and you'd be fine.

Congrats.