True or False???

[razorback831]

I've recently been told by some of my peers that with high board scores (99), you will often be overlooked by smaller community family practice programs. The reasoning they are giving me is that the program will assume that they are your "safety spot" and that they don't want to waste their resources if they believe there is no chance you'll want to match there. My question is two-fold: 1) Is there any truth to this? 2) If so, how can you overcome this snafu?
Thanks for any/all responses ahead of time...

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[deleted87716]

I've recently been told by some of my peers that with high board scores (99), you will often be overlooked by smaller community family practice programs.

Of course not. All residency programs want the best-qualified candidates that they can get. Having high grades, scores, or whatever is never a detriment, no matter what field you're going into or where you're applying.

Residency programs rank applicants in order of desirability. That's the way applicants should rank programs, as well. There's no need to rank according to what you think the other party is going to do; that's what the Match program is for.

 

[EP to FP]

I am the chief residents at a community based program and have been on the interview committee for 2 years now and I can tell you that we would never overlook someone based on high board scores. When it comes time to rank programs, you should always order your rank list based on your preference. Never try to guess how the programs will rank you and use this to determine your rank list.

 

[razorback831]

Thank both of you for very quick replies...

 

[Donkey Hote]

Thank both of you for very quick replies...

Certainly no need to worry that your grades can be a detriment...

I think that kind of thinking comes from people with good board scores, but terrible clinical and communication skills. Since the residency directors value (as they should) clinical skills and interpersonal skills better than excellent scores on a test, these people may not gain acceptance into the program of their choice...that being said, you probably have to be quite the bastard to not be accepted into the run of the mill community program.

Good luck with interviews. Don't worry about mentioning your scores to the residency directors...they know, I promise. Just be humble and act excited to be interviewing with them, and things will go fine.