Step III USMLE step 3 exam

[Medicineman20]

Hey Guys,

I am a DO student and planning to graudate in May, I am applying to allopathic programs and hoping to pursue a fellowship in Pulm/critical care. As a D.O student is their any advatage in taking USMLE step 3?? I already took and pass the USMLE CS exam.

thanks

 

[Law2Doc]

Hey Guys,

I am a DO student and planning to graudate in May, I am applying to allopathic programs and hoping to pursue a fellowship in Pulm/critical care. As a D.O student is their any advatage in taking USMLE step 3?? I already took and pass the USMLE CS exam.

thanks

If you mean will it make you more competitive to residency programs the answer is probably not. If you are asking whether it pays to take Step 3 instead of the applicable portion of COMLEX, I have no idea -- you do whatever allows you to get licensed. If you are asking whether to take it now rather than after a year of internship under your belt, there are differences of opinion. Honestly, after a year of IM and with an interest in critical care you are going to find Step 3 pretty painless to study for, so I would probably wait. You won't have as much free time during intern year as you might as a DO student, so you certainly have more time to study for it now, but won't need to study as much for it later. It's not like you are going into pathology or something where you won't get exposed to the Step 3 core subject material on a daily basis during your intern year. For all these reasons I personally don't see any point focusing on it at this juncture.