USMLE scores

[RunMimi]

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[Mediculous]

An official public listing doesn't exist. There have been threads surveying schools' averages, but they are posted by students whose only source of information is the school itself.
If you ask a school at an interview, you'll probably just hear the same ol',"our average board scores are well above the national average", malarky. According to posters here on SDN, every school supposedly says their average score is above the national average.
I might be confusing mean with average, but you catch my drift.

 

[Mediculous]

No problem . And because I'm so frickin' nice and awesome(and yet, so very, very humble), I hunted down the latest thread.
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=102875&highlight=schools+step

 

[VCMM414]

yea but that thread, like any others, was backed by rumors and hearsays. there are basically no good ways of finding out about this (not that it matters too much anyway).

 

[kikkoman]

I think it's more accurate to look at the match lists if you are worried about residency. Half of Harvard's students match at Harvard, and Hopkins has a much better match list than other schools that have similar/better board scores.

 

[blz]

Wow NYU's average score is pretty ****ty.

 

[drguy22]

Wow NYU's average score is pretty ****ty.

yup...and its a "TOP 50"....

 

[frantic983]

.

 

[CanIMakeIt]

Does anyone have an idea of where Duke falls here? From what I understand, most Duke students take this test after a year of rotations and they have a condensed 1 year basic science curriculum. I am wondering how their students score.

My tour guide mentioned that for the last few years the scores were near 230 but I didn't see anything in writing....so I am not sure....

 

[blz]

Okay here's what I found from the other thread. Thanks!

Baylor: ~230 so
Case Western: 225
Columbia University: 228, 231, 229 (2003, 2002, 2001)
Indiana University: 222
Mayo Medical School: 236, 234, 230 (2003, 2002, 2001)
Mount Sinai: 228
Northwestern: 233, 230 (2003, 2002)
University of Iowa: 223 (2002)
University of Florida: 227
University of Pennsylvania: 236, 235 (2003,2002)
University of Pittsburg: 227
University of Southern California: 220
University of Virginia: 227 (SD = 21)
UTMB: 223
UTSW: 226, 228 (2003, 2002)
Wash U: 229 (2001)mething
UCSD: 225
Vandy: 231-236
harvard: 233
jhu: 226
yale: 230?!?
NYU: 214
EINSTEIN: 231
MSSM: 228

I also wanted to say that I do think it matters. Everytime I go to interviews there are fourth years there talking about how stressful the residency application process is. I'm not saying that you can only be successful from a school with a high average--that is obviously a lie. It makes sense to go to the school with the best average though (provided you like the students, evnironment, etc.).

I was just reading the original post and it looks like that NYU average is fake. I would remove that one.

 

[BigRedPingpong]

NYU's Step one average was 236 for the class of 2005.

 

[BigRedPingpong]

yup...and its a "TOP 50"....

I would flame you for that remark, but I'm gonna let that slide. Ignorance...

Weren't you the kid that was crying about people (constructor) bashing your school...

 

[blz]

NYU's Step one average was 236 for the class of 2005.

that's more like it

 

[drguy22]

I would flame you for that remark, but I'm gonna let that slide. Ignorance...

Weren't you the kid that was crying about people (constructor) bashing your school...

lol..relax...i was only kiddin.......i guess u didnt notice tat....

 

[BigRedPingpong]

lol..relax...i was only kiddin.......i guess u didnt notice tat....

Maybe I should make a few "jokes" about NJMS...

oops, too late, its already the butt of everyone's jokes...

 

[calstudent]

that's more like it

I highly doubt NYU has a higher board score than so many other schools listed above.
And, NO school releases their avg. board score, and AAMC no longer releases information about how many people place in the top 3 residency choices, etc. This is all hearsay. I have been to several interviews where the school said that we have the highest board average...very few people even know the averages.

Just my htoughts.

 

[drguy22]

Maybe I should make a few "jokes" about NJMS...

oops, too late, its already the butt of everyone's jokes...

lol....sorry!....i wouldnt want to become elitist....like sum people round here......my bad

 

[BigRedPingpong]

And, NO school releases their avg. board score, and AAMC no longer releases information about how many people place in the top 3 residency choices, etc. This is all hearsay. I have been to several interviews where the school said that we have the highest board average...very few people even know the averages.

Just my htoughts.

School's don't release their board scores? What's that list with everyone's name on AOA and mean Step 1's doing in the class case in front of the AV office doing there then? Oh, but it's all just hearsay...

 

[honsano]

The admissions coordinator from University of Illinois Urbana Champaign said their Step I scores were on the average of 219 and the national average was about 215.

 

[Mongo]

USC has a 225 from the class of 2006.

 

[TommyGunn04]

Does anyone have an idea of where Duke falls here? From what I understand, most Duke students take this test after a year of rotations and they have a condensed 1 year basic science curriculum. I am wondering how their students score.

I can't quote you an exact number since it's been a while since I've seen the graphs we have at Duke, but I remember being surprised at how well Duke students do on Step I, because I had heard a few years back that they formerly didn't do all that well compared to schools of similar reputation. The 230 or so average quoted in another post sounds about right.

Having taken the NBME's comprehensive basic science exam twice now though, which is basically a half-length board simulator used by med schools to evaluate their curricular efficacy, I can say that despite being a "basic science" exam Step I is actually VERY clinical. When we all took the practice exam after the first year about 5-10 people passed, but when we took it after the clinical year (the 2nd year) over 50% of the class passed, despite not having done "basic science" all year! Here "passed" means your score translates to a passing score on Step I.

In this regard, I actually think it's an ADVANTAGE that Duke students get an enormous degree of clinical experience before taking Step I, because most questions begin with a clinical scenario where lots of data is presented...after doing a year of rotations you get VERY adept at processing lab values, clinical findings, etc. in rapid fashion. It certainly helped me a lot...I just barely didn't pass the comprehensive basic science exam the first time around, but when I took the exam at the end of my clinical year I got the equivalent of around a 195 or so on Step I without having even studied! Of course it's not stellar, but it's comforting to know I could at least pass, and I haven't even started studying for Step I yet. So don't worry...Duke students do well!