STEP score and the match

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nm825

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I'm a third year medical student with a Step 1 of 234. I'm a USMD at a top 40 school on the West Coast.

I know 234 is right around the average for Gas (232 per charting the outcomes). There won't be anything in the rest of my CV that's going to stand out greatly, but nothing will probably hurt me either.

With that being said, will I have a chance at matching at any of the programs in desirable areas (NYC, Philly, Chicago, LA, Seattle, etc), or will I probably end up in a less desirable location?

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I'm a third year medical student with a Step 1 of 234. I'm a USMD at a top 40 school on the West Coast.

I know 234 is right around the average for Gas (232 per charting the outcomes). There won't be anything in the rest of my CV that's going to stand out greatly, but nothing will probably hurt me either.

With that being said, will I have a chance at matching at any of the programs in desirable areas (NYC, Philly, Chicago, LA, Seattle, etc), or will I probably end up in a less desirable location?

You have a chance at NYC programs (idk much about other cities). No chance at Mount sinai in nyc since their cut off is 245 step 1. But other than that you may get interviews from other places. A couple of people matched to columbia here with 230s
 
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I'm sure they soaped to full. Plenty of IMG willing to take the spot

Eh, there are more than enough surgical subspecialty/derm SOAPers who take those spots. If you're an IMG who didn't match you're pretty much left with surgical prelim spots for the most part with scattered rural FM/Neuro/Psych spots as the rest is taken up pretty quick by solid applicants who fell out of competitive matches. From what I understand, just about everything except a few surgical prelim programs fill in the SOAP.

But matching 4 out of 15 is BAD. What we saw at my program is a lack of interest in advanced compared to categorical spots (for applicants coming out of medical school, which is probably 70-80% of your interview pool with the other 20-30% military or specialty transfers). Emory had a similar problem recently only matching half of their class, but that is less surprising since they were almost exclusively advanced. Over the past 3 years my residency program transitioned to almost all categorical spots and we've filled the last two years without much a hitch.
 
Step scores aren't everything (and 230is good). Is the rest of your application competitive? Good LORs?etc? Those things may be more telling. Also...if I recall I applied to a few places with step 1 cutoffs that I didn't meet and got interviews at a few...worth a shot

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