What goes in this Dean's letter?

[MedScat]

M1 here. Although I go to a P/F US Medical school and I am passing, it seems as though I am scoring below average. I'm pretty sure this only matters in terms of class rank which I don't really care about but, it seems as though I should be caring about this Dean's letter. What do they put in the Dean's letter? What do they write if you are below average rank? What do they write if you are just an average medical student who did what they needed to do to get by? How much does this Dean's letter matter when applying for residency? Anyone who has experience, I would love to hear your input. Thanks!

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[libertyyne]

at our school they do evaluations throughout school so lab instructors , cbl leaders , and evals from rotations get included. They take out juicy exerpts and put it in the MSPE. If you arent looking for something competitive, dont worry to much about it. Dont be late, dont be rude and you should be fine. If you want something competitive busting your behind is important.

 

[MSTPlease]

Although I go to a P/F US Medical school and I am passing, it seems as though I am scoring below average. I'm pretty sure this only matters in terms of class rank

So do you mean you go to a sham P/F school or are you wrong that your preclinical scores are part of your class rank? If your school is actually ranking you based on your performance in P/F classes then you are P/F in name only and for all intents and purposes go to a school with grades.

 

[CyrusHabs7695]

How big of a factor is class rank for the surgical subs? Obviously being 1st Q looks better than 4th, but would being 2 or 3rd Q be looked at negatively?




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[libertyyne]

How big of a factor is class rank for the surgical subs? Obviously being 1st Q looks better than 4th, but would being 2 or 3rd Q be looked at negatively?




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[CyrusHabs7695]

View attachment 240423

So it would be pretty safe to say that its not a high priority factor

 

[libertyyne]

So it would be pretty safe to say that its not a high priority factor

the data is how you want to see it. All of this stuff is interelated anyway. class performance is related to step performance, is related to clerkship performance, is related to MSPE. Just bust your behind and be the best candidate you can.

 

[TheIllusionist]

learn **** well the first time. it comes back to bite you in the ass, if you don't on STEP1 and clerkship years. I was like you and didn't do well in preclinical years because my school is a true pure pass fail. I did well enough STEP1 and am honoring clerkships, but I notice I have to work 2x as hard as people that busted their asses early. That takes away time from research or doing stuff with family and friends in order to honor, especially on stuff like ob gyn and surgery.

people who dominated on STEP1 psych and neuro for example can frankly take those shevles and honor without even walking into the clinic

 

[MedScat]

So do you mean you go to a sham P/F school or are you wrong that your preclinical scores are part of your class rank? If your school is actually ranking you based on your performance in P/F classes then you are P/F in name only and for all intents and purposes go to a school with grades.

My school was upfront that they do have internal rankings. They did not tell us why they do it. I'm taking the advice to just work as hard as I can and whatever happens, happens.

 

[Eyeronic]

The Dean's Letter will tell the programs you apply to that you are still alive and have a pulse, didn't murder anyone, and that you're either "excellent", "outstanding", "extremely outstanding", "immortal" or whatever. That's about it. Maybe a few positive quotes from your clinical rotation evaluations. And the grading bar graphs were fun to look at.

For the amount of build-up over 3+ years, many of us were underwhelmed and realized that we were going to have to sell ourselves to the residency programs of our choice, or get our LOR writers to do it for us.