Two Preclinical Fails

[autolifefire]

.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Goro]

Currently an M2 at a mid-low tier MD school in the Midwest that does P/F

I had a lot of personal problems this year and unfortunately I ended up letting those affect my academics. At the end of m1 year, I failed cardio. I successfully remediated the test over summer.
This year, start of m2 year, I ended up failing GI and will most likely have to retake the test over winter break.
These fails will be reflected on my deans letter and will appear as Pass 2 on my transcripts.

Now that I’ve gotten my problems under control, I’m trying to plan out my future. I’m mainly interested in IM, PMR, psych, EM, and anesthesiology. I’m originally from Cali and really want to match their for my residency.

What should I do other than prioritizing academics to compensate?

Thanks

Doing well in your clinical years, networking, and getting good evaluations

 

[Euxox]

Agree with Goro, but I can't emphasize the networking part enough.

Good grades should your first focus because you need to make sure you graduate before you worry about anything else. But once you've finished clerkships with a solid set of grades, you will want someone who is willing to call PDs at residency programs and say "You might have screened out this student's application, but trust me, I know them well, and you need to give their file a second look because they will make an excellent resident."

 

[operaman]

Honestly biggest priority right now is passing and not repeating past mistakes. You will also want to consider your content knowledge gaps in the failed blocks that will surely reappear on step 1. Make sure you plan accordingly as far as your dedicated prep time to factor in time for content learning in these areas.

At this point nothing else matters than getting your grades on track and passing step. Obviously failing classes also puts you at risk of failing step, and that’s a much bigger red flag than a couple preclinical remediations.

After that it’s really a matter of getting strong clinical grades if you can, and at least making sure you’re well liked if you can’t. For anyone with red flags, your best chance to match any field you like will be your home program, so when the time comes be sure to impress.

As for now you gotta start passing things or the rest is moot. If you can make these preclinical fails the only blips on an otherwise sterling record, you should be fine for most fields. If this is just the beginning of a borderline performance for the rest of Med school, then you’re going to have some tough choices to make.

 

[autolifefire]

Doing well in your clinical years, networking, and getting good evaluations

Could you comment on the specialities that I mentioned? Right now IM and PMR are my top choices

Honestly biggest priority right now is passing and not repeating past mistakes. You will also want to consider your content knowledge gaps in the failed blocks that will surely reappear on step 1. Make sure you plan accordingly as far as your dedicated prep time to factor in time for content learning in these areas.

At this point nothing else matters than getting your grades on track and passing step. Obviously failing classes also puts you at risk of failing step, and that’s a much bigger red flag than a couple preclinical remediations.

After that it’s really a matter of getting strong clinical grades if you can, and at least making sure you’re well liked if you can’t. For anyone with red flags, your best chance to match any field you like will be your home program, so when the time comes be sure to impress.

As for now you gotta start passing things or the rest is moot. If you can make these preclinical fails the only blips on an otherwise sterling record, you should be fine for most fields. If this is just the beginning of a borderline performance for the rest of Med school, then you’re going to have some tough choices to make

Honestly biggest priority right now is passing and not repeating past mistakes. You will also want to consider your content knowledge gaps in the failed blocks that will surely reappear on step 1. Make sure you plan accordingly as far as your dedicated prep time to factor in time for content learning in these areas.

At this point nothing else matters than getting your grades on track and passing step. Obviously failing classes also puts you at risk of failing step, and that’s a much bigger red flag than a couple preclinical remediations.

After that it’s really a matter of getting strong clinical grades if you can, and at least making sure you’re well liked if you can’t. For anyone with red flags, your best chance to match any field you like will be your home program, so when the time comes be sure to impress.

As for now you gotta start passing things or the rest is moot. If you can make these preclinical fails the only blips on an otherwise sterling record, you should be fine for most fields. If this is just the beginning of a borderline performance for the rest of Med school, then you’re going to have some tough choices to make.

Could you comment on the competitiveness of the specialities I mentioned? And especially when it comes to matching in cali? Passing and preparing for step 1 are def the biggest priorities for me right now

 

[Esmolol]

Out of the specialties mentioned - with the current climate - it may be hard to match to anesthesia in California. Gi - whatever, but the cardio block... Someone else please chime in. If I am wrong, it would really make me rise my eyebrows...

 

[Goro]

Could you comment on the specialities that I mentioned? Right now IM and PMR are my top choices

FORGET about specialties! Your job is to focus on what you yourself have written below. You're on thin ice, and one more failure would probably mean you get dismissed, or at best repeat the second year.

"Passing and preparing for step 1 are def the biggest priorities for me right now"

 

[Anakinmemer]

You need a high step 2 score to show that it actually was just one time personal issues. Of course right now focusing on step 1 should be your priority but a pass won't really do any "saving" to your application as it is expected. Getting above a 260 on step 2 however would show your academic and testing abilities are quite solid.

 

[operaman]

Could you comment on the specialities that I mentioned? Right now IM and PMR are my top choices


Could you comment on the competitiveness of the specialities I mentioned? And especially when it comes to matching in cali? Passing and preparing for step 1 are def the biggest priorities for me right now

Too hard to say at this point. You’ll need to come back in a year and a half and update with how things are shaking out.

As it stands, if you maintain this same level of performance you will be hard pressed to graduate much less match something moderately competitive. Everything hinges on your turning things around academically. Don’t waste any mental energy on semantics and devote your time to passing your next block and s1.

 

[Euxox]

Out of the specialties mentioned - with the current climate - it may be hard to match to anesthesia in California. Gi - whatever, but the cardio block... Someone else please chime in. If I am wrong, it would really make me rise my eyebrows...

Residency PDs won't care which specific preclinicals a student had to repeat, but rather the fact that a student had to repeat preclinicals at all. It's a different story with clinicals - in that case the specific rotation may matter, although it will be highly dependent on the specialty and the particular residency program.

But overall, I agree with Goro. This isn't the time to worry about what are my chances for xyz speciality in xyz state.

OPs priorities as of now should be (in order)

1. Meeting the minimum requirements for graduating.
2. Getting a good Step 2 score and the best clerkship grades possible
3. Figuring out which specialty you will apply into and networking within that speciality.

I said I can't emphasize networking enough not because it's the most pressing issue, but because it's the one that students are most likely to forget. Grades and exam scores are still more important.

 

[GoSpursGo]

What should I do other than prioritizing academics to compensate?

This is the wrong approach--the correct answer is you need to prioritize academics over everything else. You need to be a stellar student from here on out to match at the programs you want, but even more pressingly, if you fail anything else you will presumably be at high risk for being dismissed outright. As much as you may want to load up on other "stuff" to compensate, none of that matters if you can't show you can be a good student.

Psych and anesthesia are going to be tough, particularly in CA. IM and EM are very attainable. PMR, in CA, is likely somewhere in the middle of the road.

 

[lacrossegirl420]

My impression is networking is more important for some of the competitive surgical subspecialties (esp. ortho, neurosurgery), I think the best you can do is just improve your academic performance during clinicals. None of those specialties are out of the picture even with weaker preclinical

 

[autolifefire]

This is the wrong approach--the correct answer is you need to prioritize academics over everything else. You need to be a stellar student from here on out to match at the programs you want, but even more pressingly, if you fail anything else you will presumably be at high risk for being dismissed outright. As much as you may want to load up on other "stuff" to compensate, none of that matters if you can't show you can be a good student.

Psych and anesthesia are going to be tough, particularly in CA. IM and EM are very attainable. PMR, in CA, is likely somewhere in the middle of the road.

Yes, I’m definitely focusing more on academics moving forward. I just wanted to get a better picture of what I could/should aim for. I know this is just hypotheticals and I shouldn’t even be thinking about specialities rn but it helps me to have a goal in mind.

When you say PMR is middle of the road, do you mean it’s still realistic? What kind of step 2 score can give me a fighting chance?

 

[GoSpursGo]

.

When you say PMR is middle of the road, do you mean it’s still realistic? What kind of step 2 score can give me a fighting chance?

it means what you might think—more attainable than psych and gas, not as easy as IM or EM. I would suggest you speak to someone in PMR to get a better sense of how they view step 2, but I suspect the answer is that there is a score somewhere close to the mean which would be fine, and then it comes down to networking as highlighted above by others

 

[hopefulscribe2]

I was in a similar boat, keep your chin up! Our medical careers are lengthier than just the first two years of preclinicals. Im doing residency at a well-established mid-tier academic center in a relatively competitive field. Your preclinical fails don't define you. However, there is extra work to be done in clinical rotations and step2, but both are definitely possible.

"IM, PMR, psych, EM, and anesthesiology" - all are still extremely possible if you do well in clinicals and step 2, if this was ortho or dermatology, then the chances are much less

 

[SpideyMD]

If you’re at ou, you should message me