What are my chances?

[heyhey]

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What are my chances of getting into a decent internal medicine residency if I only 'pass' my 3rd year IM clerkship? I've gotten mostly HP and a few P in all my classes and clerkships so far, but I got sick around my shelf exam and totally screwed it up. I've been looking through these posts and they seem to say different things depending on the person's stats. So here goes:

Step 1: 227/95
Grades: mostly HP, some P
Research: none, but looking to get into something
Med school: mid-tier state med school

I'm not trying to get into a top 10 program, but I would like to get into a good enough program that could lead to getting into a gastroenterology fellowship.

Also, which programs should I look into for better chances at getting a GI fellowship?

Any advice would be very much appreciated!

 

[yippyskippy]

First of all, if you follow the threads here, you will find most IM programs to be similar and "decent". GI is tough though.

I had a friend who got a pass in medicine (same story -- all about the shelf), and this was a girl who had her sights on the top tier, or the top of the middle at least (med school somewhere around the bottom half of top 50 rankings). She was down about it for a long time afterwards, and the advice she got was to take her sub-I before apps went in and to honor it (which she did).

Her record was a little different from yours in that she also honored most of her other clerkships (unless that is what HP means) and her boards were a little higher, but she interviewed at several "top" programs, got rejected by a few of them. She had some research, a few extra-curriculars, great recs.

I wouldn't say it doesn't matter at all, just that it can be overcome. Definitely kick butt on the sub-I. Do the research you were thinking about. Get great recs (obviously). If you have a program in mind, maybe someone at your school can call to make sure they consider your whole application. Some places will weed out based on your medicine score, but a lot look at other things - like sub-I, research, extra-curriculars, and of course other grades and boards.

Awesome programs with good GI placement, slightly less competitive, that come to mind are Rush, U of Illinois Chicago, Dartmouth, Wisconsin, Tufts-NEMC, BU, Jefferson. But I have no idea who weeds out based on what... a lot of programs will list their fellowship match on the website.

Good luck -- it's not the end of the world.

 

[Linus2007]

Hey don't sweat there is still a lot you can do. Your Step 1 score is pretty good so follow it up with a great Step 2 and completely kill your Sub-I. Great LORs are also really good. If there is a program that you really fancy then I recommend doing an away rotation. It's a double-edged sword but it's only 4 weeks and if you pick a specialty elective the hours are good so you can really read up. Research will also help out a great deal. If your score is due to your shelfs then don't worry all 4th year rotations are based on clinical work anyway. Good luck, you'll be fine just kick arse on sub-I, Step 2.

 

[heyhey]

Thanks for everyone's reply! I really appreciated it!

 

[golytlely]

There are plenty of IM programs in less desirable locations that have great reps and you would be competitive for those places. Ex: Wash U, Mayo clinic, UTSW, Pitt, and these programs will match well into tougher subspecialties.