USMLE
- Thread starter trugrit19
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AnatomyGrey12
If you apply broadly to former AOA programs and rotate at a bunch of them that are known to not care about scores then yeah you have a chance. Probably still a good idea to have a solid back up plan but for a decent amount of the former AOA programs anything over 500 is enough for a good audition to swing you a spot. You need to be very particular with where you do auditions. What were you getting on NBME's/UWSAs?
Edit. You are in the pre-med section FYI.
Edit. You are in the pre-med section FYI.
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Nah 228-232 I’m calling it. I got my exact Uworld 2 score (228) a week out and had the same exact free 120 as OP. Nbme have been underpredicting often by 10-20.
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My step 1 practice scores were similar to OP's and i got a 211.
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4 of mine were identical to OPs. There’s a confidence interval obvi but look at the reddit data. Based on those scores op is predicted to score higher than 215-220
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AnatomyGrey12
The reddit data is skewed towards the higher scores pretty significantly as the average score of the responses was like a 242 or something. It is consistently over predicting for people with lower practice scores. I wouldn't even use it in this scenario. The trend I've noticed amongst my friends who had those practice scores is to take the average of the UWSA's and the average of the new NBMEs and most scores are almost right in the middle of that +/- 3 or so. Obviously not a hard rule, but it's been consistent with like the n=4 people I know with scores like that. In this case I would only use the NBME scores from NBME 20 and on that OP took, and then UWSA2 because UWSA 1 was taken so far in advance.
I predict right around a 220 +/- 4.
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I'm going to say you'll probably hit a 210. Gen surgery is a stretch. Gas is more reasonable.
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Anything under 230 is a stretch for gen surgery as a DO IMO.
I've always heard 230+ for gen surg
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AnatomyGrey12
Kinda depends honestly. For traditionally MD programs yeah 230 is effectively where the match rate goes from 50% to consistently 75%+ from then on. A lot of programs screen at 230 as well.
However for a lot of the former DO programs a 220s/520+ will get you in the door to the point where it will come down to the audition. A lot of programs made the merger so this will probably still be the case somewhat. This brings a whole new host of challenges though, as the competition for these programs can sometimes get pretty intense since the below average applicants target them heavily and everyone is gunning crazy hard on the audition
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AnatomyGrey12
Yep definitely. Just gotta be smart with the programs you target and be willing to literally move anywhere for training. And, as always in these scenarios, have a good plan for if you don’t match.
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Out of curiosity, in the DO world, have auditions always been this big of a deal? I never really heard about it so much before starting school.
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AnatomyGrey12
Yeah auditions have always been of massive importance in the DO world. It used to be where to get a competitive specialty or program all you needed was essentially a 600 and a good audition. It was actually better to be a DO applying to competitive specialties than an MD about 10-12 years ago, it's obviously not like that anymore.
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Yes, they always have at DO surgery of any kind. Kind of surprised you didnt know that Gio. I was talking to a DO ENT who just finished residency. Even now, they still want the audition rotation (and a 600, but he sounds like they might average it between both levels). Actually talking to him was encouraging cause he straight told me they would only rank auditions and gave heavy preference to DOs as they knew the MD ENT wouldnt give us the time of day. They might not be AOA anymore but they still operate like they are.
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So, a few things. First, I sort of misspoke (and I also didn't mean only in surgical fields). When I said "in the DO world" I didn't mean during the time of AOA residencies, I meant for DOs in the match, in general, who want to apply to both AOA and ACGME (now combined).
The problem I'm seeing for audition rotations is many-fold, 1) they are expensive, 2) you need to get accepted, 3) you only have time for 2-4, realistically, and 4) It's hard to stand out sometimes if you're with a bunch of other students auditioning, 5) previously AOA programs in my specialty of choice in my state are either no longer taking students, or for some reason are ignoring mine and a few other classmate's request.
All of this to say, I'm really not enjoying this heavy reliance on auditioning to be competitive at a program as a DO student. But again, it's one of those prices you end up paying for not being able to go MD. /rant
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The price of auditions is killer. I actually ended up canceling one I didn't have housing lined up and it was almost a relief. I had no idea where the $1k for housing was gonna come from that month. Not to mention the couple hundred it cost to drive there and back. Especially when they are out of state, if you don't know somebody it gets expensive fast.
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And of course, the two out of state places where I'd have family or friend help, they rejected me or ignored me. To be fair, they're extremely competitive, top 10 programs, but c'mannnnnnn.
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Lol I know that feeling. I had a place where my friend lived, they rejected me twice and I emailed them asking what was wrong with my app. Ended up being like a 10 email exchange and they finally squeezed me in on a different rotation than I initially intended to do. Its definitely not easy. Not even a top program or crazy competitive either. Its a madhouse out here.
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Lol you're lucky they even emailed you back. I'm getting completely ghosted over here.
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Honestly I wasn't expecting them to email back, so I made a joke in the first email about them rejecting me as I was feeling inspired by some random reddit thread. I don't think they got my joke, but they apparently felt bad enough to connect me with someone who actually knew what was up (i.e. that almost all their rotations were already gone). Who knew all my time reading stupid reddit threads would pay off?
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