USMLE scores and SAE scores

  • Thread starter Thread starter draayan
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How much value does SAE percentile and USMLE scores have in getting a pain fellowship?..Performed real bad on SAEs and also I am IMG PM&R resident.

what is SAE?
 
Is I guess Self-assessment examination 🙂 / in-training examination
 
Most Pain fellowships have 2-3 spots with residents from the program having some advantage due to familiarity with the attending staff. If one of the criteria the program uses is your in-training exam then be sure and have excelled in other criteria such as research, rotation at the fellowship, USMLE scores, etc. Good luck and be sure and look at the Fellowship program review thread.
 
I applied this past year--many anesthesia oriented programs didn't ask for SAE scores. All ACGME pain programs requested USMLE.

Spine fellowships that are not affiliated with a teaching hospital are a little different and don't seem to be as focused on scores.
 
My experience was that SAEs mattered very little. I was above the 90th percentile consistently and interviewed at a lot of pain programs, granted most of them were anesthesia based and therefore didn't give one rip about my SAE scores. The one program, the UCLA PMR Pain Fellowship was the only place where I was commended on my scores. Fish said, "wow nice SAEs". That was the last I heard from him. No offer. So, I'm thinkin my SAEs didn't really matter. Hope that helps.....
 
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