uh oh

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wlk

wlk
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I just got the grade from my last clerkship. Not good. Another pass. I now have 2 passes on my 3rd year transcript. My step 1 was 240. Have I ruined my chances at a top tier institution with a 3rd year transcript like that? Anyone out ther have any advice. 🙁
 
thanks.. you've really made me feel better. 😀 Yeah, I have OCD. but seriously, i mean. i heard that the adjective on the dean's letter can mean alot, and right now I'm hoping i can even get "very good." And noting the traffic on the anesthesia board this year, it seems that there is a great deal of interest. So yeah, call me paranoid, but I don't think anything is a sure thing. Especially after that last rotation, peds, which I thought was in the bag.
 
wlk said:
I just got the grade from my last clerkship. Not good. Another pass. I now have 2 passes on my 3rd year transcript. My step 1 was 240. Have I ruined my chances at a top tier institution with a 3rd year transcript like that? Anyone out ther have any advice. 🙁

Probably not, but kick it up a notch to improve your trend. If it was in anesthesiology, you might have a problem.
 
Arch Guillotti said:
You can pretty much give up any chance at all of anesthesia. Rural family medicine is your best bet right now.

I second the rural family medicine residency as your destiny. In particular since your board score is only better than 70% of all test-takers.
 
wlk said:
I just got the grade from my last clerkship. Not good. Another pass. I now have 2 passes on my 3rd year transcript. My step 1 was 240. Have I ruined my chances at a top tier institution with a 3rd year transcript like that? Anyone out ther have any advice. 🙁

Probably not, but kick it up a notch to improve your trend. If it was in anesthesiology, you might have a problem.
 
wlk said:
I just got the grade from my last clerkship. Not good. Another pass. I now have 2 passes on my 3rd year transcript. My step 1 was 240. Have I ruined my chances at a top tier institution with a 3rd year transcript like that? Anyone out ther have any advice. 🙁

So are you saying that you honored all but 2 of your rotations?
 
no.. no honors.. 2 passes.... the rest were all high pass.
 
thanks you've really made me feel nice about my 2 passes and remaining high passes 🙄

EDIT: oh, and i forgot to add that my step 1 score is a LOT lower than yours. So, stop complaining!
 
wlk said:
I just got the grade from my last clerkship. Not good. Another pass. I now have 2 passes on my 3rd year transcript. My step 1 was 240. Have I ruined my chances at a top tier institution with a 3rd year transcript like that? Anyone out ther have any advice. 🙁
Talk on SDN is cheap. I say go straight to the source- call up the PDs at your top 5 favorite programs and just ask them straight out whether or not they plan to interview you. Life is short. You need answers. Demand them.
 
'uh-oh' is right. With a step one score of 240 and a bunch of high passes on your resume, you're going to have to scramble for that rural family med spot. I heard North Dakota is very cold, errrr, I mean nice. Looked like it in the movie Fargo anyway.

In all honesty, wlk, as long as your LORs are decent, you'll get interviews at the 'top-tier' places, if that is what is important to you.

Word of advice, try to honestly evaluate each program you interview at. I did this by asking myself three questions:

1. Will I get excellent, broadly-scoped training?
2. Will I be happy in this program and living in this city for the next 3-4 years?
3. Is this program a good fit for my learning style and personality?

I found the answer to be 'yes' to question #1 for any decent academic program, so for me it came down to questions #2 and #3. I interviewed at 12 programs, 4, I guess, could be labeled as 'top-tier' programs. Only one cracked my top 5(at #5) on my ROL. I guess it just depends on what you really want in a program.

Just my 2 cents... I'm getting off the soap box now.
 
i think you'll be ok. but you better do well on your anesthesia and surgery months. i made a lot more b's than a's throughout med school, but I had a good step 1 score like yours. if you are from a good med school, you'll probably get nearly all of the interviews you want, but you need to be ready to tell them why your grades don't match your boards. just be honest, i was asked a few times that question, and simply said that i didn't work as hard as i could have in those particular classes. be direct and honest. they will smell the BS if you try to BS them. i ended up in a top program. you'll be fine.
 
Jeez, I wouldn't worry at all. I just got "pass" on all of my core clerkships and am at a decent place. No one really cares that much about clerkship grades anyway (as long as you don't fail) because these grades are nearly impossible to compare with other schools.

LOR's and the interview are by far much more important. Connections are even more so. High step scores will get you your interviews.
 
Now I'm feeling the uh-oh.

I just received back my only anesthesia eval...and I got a high-pass. Met with my dean and she said, no problem, we'll appeal it. However, the clerkship director is also the program director and if he felt disinclined enough to give me a high-pass, then I doubt his LOR is going to be impressive, let alone enthusiastic (I have two other LORs that are much stronger but not from an anesthesiologist). Reasons for the high pass are unclear, but I absolutely disvow this as a reflection of my performance on the rotation. I can't take another anesthesia rotation to get a letter because it's too late.

Without going into details, I was a moderately strong candidate prior to this. Advice on my current standing?

Thanks in advance!!
 
Frank Rizzo said:
Word of advice, try to honestly evaluate each program you interview at. I did this by asking myself three questions:

1. Will I get excellent, broadly-scoped training?
2. Will I be happy in this program and living in this city for the next 3-4 years?
3. Is this program a good fit for my learning style and personality?

I found the answer to be 'yes' to question #1 for any decent academic program, so for me it came down to questions #2 and #3. I interviewed at 12 programs, 4, I guess, could be labeled as 'top-tier' programs. Only one cracked my top 5(at #5) on my ROL. I guess it just depends on what you really want in a program.

You hit on some big points here. Keep questions 2 and 3 circulating through your heads yall.
 
jwh & wlk, just drop out of med school right now because both of you have obviously demonstrtaed that you don't have what it takes to be a physician. maybe if you're lucky and actually graduate you'll get a Fp residency on some indian reservation somewhere. if not, i'd get down to your local wendy's posthaste and start filling out apps to flip burgers. but i'm not sure the fastfood industry will even want you with those average clerkship grades.
 
VentdependenT said:
You hit on some big points here. Keep questions 2 and 3 circulating through your heads yall.

Thanks Vent. I feel the importance of questions 2 and 3 can not be over emphasized
 
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