USMLE change?

[Kingstonhopeful]

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Does anyone know anything about the "gateway" or new exam that the USMLE is changing to possibly in the future? Is it true that it may be pass/fail? Will it be implemented for students starting school this year?

 

[AMEHigh]

There are continuous rumors about it. However, I think it will at least be a few years before anything changes if there are big changes coming. So I definitely would plan for it to be the same if you are matriculating within the next few years. That's what I have been told and heard from different people "in charge".

 

[oncomine]

pass/fail! I cant see it ever being pass/fail. As of now it's the best benchmark for residency - how will they select incoming residents without a # score.

 

[Drrrrrr. Celty]

pass/fail! I cant see it ever being pass/fail. As of now it's the best benchmark for residency - how will they select new resident's without a # score.

Research, connections, school rank/ AOA, name of school, and interviewing talent

 

[oncomine]

Research, connections, school rank/ AOA, name of school, and interviewing talent

...all completely secondary to board scores...one cant normalize the influx of applicants by these alone; a # is needed for this and then the above come into play. After that there's the issue of IMG's where most of the above (ie school name) mean nothing to most program directors.

I think in the very early days the boards were pass/fail but that was when supply > demand

 

[christina30]

...all completely secondary to board scores

Not if there are no longer any board scores 🙂

 

[Drrrrrr. Celty]

Not if there are no longer any board scores 🙂

My point exactly =).

 

[oncomine]

Not if there are no longer any board scores 🙂

check out my edit above ...sorry computer problems...

 

[Skippygonenuts]

It'll be quite weird how the system may work them since some of these programs get 600 or 700 applicants...right now having a cutoff for the usmle is the only way they can bring that list down to 100 or so interviews instead of the 600-700. It'll take much more work from PDs to evaluate these 700 people as far as school, AOA, etc

 

[oncomine]

It'll be quite weird how the system may work them since some of these programs get 600 or 700 applicants...

Right, well said...700 applicants at some of these res programs! wow - the competition is tougher every year

 

[Instatewaiter]

It'll be quite weird how the system may work them since some of these programs get 600 or 700 applicants...right now having a cutoff for the usmle is the only way they can bring that list down to 100 or so interviews instead of the 600-700. It'll take much more work from PDs to evaluate these 700 people as far as school, AOA, etc

Right, well said...700 applicants at some of these res programs! wow - the competition is tougher every year

700 isn't even that many applicants. I received e-mails from programs saying they got 2500 applications this past year. Without the USMLE scores, programs would be completely screwed an would have no idea about how students rate. Many MD schools are completely pass/fail. That means, not only would programs not know about where the student sat in terms of knowledge compared to a national group (USMLE), but they also wouldn't know where the student sat in terms of his/her peers at school (grades).

Honestly, the USMLE levels the playing field. If you didn't get a score from it, residency applications will become more about where you go and who you know. That would be disastrous for both lower tier MD students and DO students.

So instead of being ranked above a mediocre student from Harvard because you got a 250 on step 1 and he got a 195, the HMS student would look like a stronger candidate solely because he goes to harvard and knows the Harvard program director who made a call for him.

I think the NBME is trying to make it less stressful for students by making it less about the score, but instead they would making the system about nepotism and cronyism instead of about a student's merit.

 

[pianoman511]

I was speaking to one of my micro professors a few weeks ago and he said when they were all at a conference he was speaking to someone from the USMLE and they basically said no - there was talk at some point but not any more. Bottom line - you need some kind of standardized test to compare residency applicants and GPA is just not enough.

 

[TexasPhysician]

USMLE will not become pass/fail without a score. Step I and Step II may combine at some point in the future, so there is just 1 exam though.