What can I do to be more competitive?

[Teufelhunden]

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I'm a MS-III and becoming increasingly interested in fields that are highly competitive (i.e. derm, rads, gas). I have more than a few strikes againsts me:

1) I'm a DO student
2) Scored 51 percentile on COMLEX (don't have USMLE scores yet...fingers crossed)

So, I am racking my brain trying to think of ways to make myself more cometitive. For starters, I'm studying like mad for Step 2, and really feel I can perform much better (I'm Navy HPSP so my Steps 2 and 3 scores will be on my application by the time I get to apply.)

Besides doing considerably better on Steps 2 & 3, I thought about pursuing research, and perhaps even taking a year off to do so. My web search for research opportunities led me to the HHMI-NIH Research Scholars Program website (click here )

Now, first of all, I have no idea how competitive this is, but my question for all of you is, would it even be worth it? I would give up a year in a heartbeat if I knew it would significantly increase my chances of procuring a competitive residency.

Listen, I can't go back in time and get into a better med school, nor can I repeat Step 1, so I'm desparately trying to find other ways to improve myself (at least on paper). Any ideas?

 

[drusso]

Originally posted by Teufelhunden
I'm a MS-III and becoming increasingly interested in fields that are highly competitive (i.e. derm, rads, gas). I have more than a few strikes againsts me:

1) I'm a DO student
2) Scored 51 percentile on COMLEX (don't have USMLE scores yet...fingers crossed)

So, I am racking my brain trying to think of ways to make myself more cometitive. For starters, I'm studying like mad for Step 2, and really feel I can perform much better (I'm Navy HPSP so my Steps 2 and 3 scores will be on my application by the time I get to apply.)

Besides doing considerably better on Steps 2 & 3, I thought about pursuing research, and perhaps even taking a year off to do so. My web search for research opportunities led me to the HHMI-NIH Research Scholars Program website (click here )

Now, first of all, I have no idea how competitive this is, but my question for all of you is, would it even be worth it? I would give up a year in a heartbeat if I knew it would significantly increase my chances of procuring a competitive residency.

Listen, I can't go back in time and get into a better med school, nor can I repeat Step 1, so I'm desparately trying to find other ways to improve myself (at least on paper). Any ideas?

Research will certainly help and so will networking with people in your anticipated field. Do rotations at "power institutions" and get good letter of rec from those places. Try to work with and get letters from respected people in the field. Anesthesia and Rads though very competitive are not impossible to match into quality programs as a DO student even with average to above average credentials. Derm...that's a tough one. You will probably have to do an osteo derm residency or a derm residency through the military. There are only single digit numbers of DO's who match into derm every year