USMLE scores for residency

[Prop]

Hi all.

I'm all new to this forum, so I thought I would start of with this post.
I read somewhere that the average usmle step 1 score for doctors matching into neurosurgery this year were 232.
I thought it could be cool, and very informative, to try to assemble a list of average scores for the different residencies.
Does anyone know of a place where it would be possible to get the average matching scores, or if it's possible at all to get these informations anywhere?
I've read many posts, both at this forum and other forums as well, where students ask for what score they should aim for to get the residency of their dreams. If we could assemble such a list, it would help a lot of students to focus their studying for the steps.

So here's the first average score:

Neurosurgery 2004 - 232 on step 1

Feel free to add to this list!

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[Amy]

Getting a few scores from people who happen to read this forum really isn't gonna give you an accurate picture of an "average" score overall. Besides, there's a lot more to the application than just board scores.

Does anyone know of a place where it would be possible to get the average matching scores, or if it's possible at all to get these informations anywhere?

No. Such information is not made public.

I've read many posts, both at this forum and other forums as well, where students ask for what score they should aim for to get the residency of their dreams. If we could assemble such a list, it would help a lot of students to focus their studying for the steps.

You should aim for the highest score possible, no matter what you think you may want to do!!

 

[Blade28]

Board scores, and averages for med schools/residency programs, are considered top-secret (for some strange reason). Everyone wants to know the averages, but they're very hard to find.

 

[doc05]

sfmatch gives average scores if you register for early match. do search because I think the numbers were posted last year.

 

[ears]

...and they're also not very informative. There are specialties that are hard to get into, but it's not usually because of board scores. In general, competitive specialties take competitive applicants, and most competitive applicants have high board scores.

A good board score doesn't make a good candidate in any field (even neurosurgery). And a bad score isn't insurmountable in any field either (even neurosurgery). Get the best score you can. Figure out what field you want. Then, put together the best application you can. A good board score helps you. A bad score is something you have to reassure the program about, but if you have a great clinical record and the people at the program get a good feeling about you, you'll be fine.

Lots of people think that many programs have cut-offs for offering interviews. Though information like this isn't made public either, I would bet that very few programs actually work on hard-and-fast cut-offs, either.

Think beyond the test!