Hey Detroit Rock,
Don't worry about me breaking my arm -- I'm not that dumb -- I knew that I could break my arm on my back -- so instead I hired a masseuse -- much more enjoyable.
Do the program directors see the mean and standard deviation? The mean and standard deviation can be used to calculate percentiles provided that the distribution of scores fits the classic "bell-shaped" curve (You're right though, I'm not very good at epi -- lucky for me, not too much on the exam). I don't know if you get that kind of distribution with the USMLE -- especially considering that most of the people who take this exam are very bright. I was under the impression that because the percentiles are no longer reported, that they just based their assessment of the score on the historical percentiles. I guess it doesn't make that much difference with my Step 2 score, but my Step 1 score is a 237. I have the historical percentiles for this score for step 1 which ranges from a 92 percentile to a 96 percentile -- but when I figure out the percentile by mean and standard deviation -- only 84 percentile. You can imagine that I would rather that the program directors go by historical percentiles -- at least for my Step 1 score. I can't find a similar list of percentiles for Step 2 scores -- I've heard that in the past the scores on Step 2 have been higher than step 1 scores -- I've heard of people getting 270s on their Step 2 -- while the mean and standard deviation makes that score almost a statistical impossibility, I've heard of many people achieving such scores -- so I'm not sure what to make of the mean and standard deviation -- perhaps, the distribution of scores is bimodal. I'm not sure. I just want to be directed to a sight that has the percentile distributions for Step 2 conducted in 1998 and years previous.
I know I'm making a big deal of numbers, but I think that I'm on the bubble at the places that I would like to do a residency (emergency medicine seems to be pretty competitive this year). Based on discussions with some residents at the program that I'm particularly interested in, I know that board scores are given great weight. I've also know a number of applicants who are considering the same program and are very bright -- I imagine that they did very well on their board. I'm just trying to figure out where I stand relative to them. I am geographically restricted due to spousal considerations -- so I'm limited in terms of the number of residencies I can consider. So anything that will affect my ranking is very important. It would have been so much easier if I could just apply all across the US -- it would have been kind of fun. Alas, that's not the case. Anyway, enough with my rambling. Thanks for your help.
-James
