What's a good usmle score?

[I am a DO]

What is considered a good USMLE score? I know it depends on how competitive a residency you want but for the most part, what is considered poor, okay, good, excellent, and okay you can have the 1 derm position.

Thank u.

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[Cassidy61]

182 is now passing i believe.

mean last year was 220 with a standard deviation of 15. you are doing well if you are 1 standard deviation above the mean. most competitive specialties are thought to screen at this number (230-235). to get the number one derm spot as a DO, you would have to be Jesus Christ himself and get the highest score ever recorded. just my opinion.

 

[coop]

cassidy, just a clarification, I think he/she wanted a derm spot, and exaggerated on how few there are saying there is only one position at all.

I have another question, about scoring, what is it out of? whats the max score? is the min score 0? not urgents concerns for a premed, but just curious. thanks

 

[Cassidy61]

The maximum is never identified, however, the highest score I have seen so far is in the low to mid 260s.

And I was being realistic with the response. A DOs chances of matching in allopathic derm are about as close to zero as you can get, regardless of an unbelievable score. Derm is all about politics.

 

[PimplePopperMD]

Does anyone know how exactly it's scored? I've heard that the score given is actually the raw score. Some questions don't count, however... so is it that of the 350 questions, only say 300 count?

Just want to know where *I'm* at given all the practice questions I'm doing.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! This sucks!!!

 

[codeguy]

--you would have to be Jesus Christ himself and get the highest score ever recorded. just my opinion.--

If you want to be a DO Dermatologist you can. It will not be easy in the current "Dermatology is it" climate. In fact it will be real tough but it can be done.

This is not the best spot for that type of information. Go to the matching lists and investigate the programs you are interested in. In other words get the info from the horses mouth not someones opinion.

Oh yeah...study like hell so you rock the USMLE.

Good Luck!

P.S.
Jesus must be walking the earth again because I noticed a DO doing a certain allopathic derm residency!

 

[mojo]

Originally posted by codeguy:
•--you would have to be Jesus Christ himself and get the highest score ever recorded. just my opinion.--

If you want to be a DO Dermatologist you can. It will not be easy in the current "Dermatology is it" climate. In fact it will be real tough but it can be done.

This is not the best spot for that type of information. Go to the matching lists and investigate the programs you are interested in. In other words get the info from the horses mouth not someones opinion.

Oh yeah...study like hell so you rock the USMLE.

Good Luck!

P.S.
Jesus must be walking the earth again because I noticed a DO doing a certain allopathic derm residency!
•

Why can't DO's match into dermatology? They're supposed to be a 'separate but equal' branch of doctors. It must be hard turning down a DO who puts up high scores. I did find 36 DO dermatologists between NY and California, and 45 in Michigan alone. Perhaps dermatology has gotten harder to match since these docs got their residencies, but it still looks do-able.

 

[SDN]

Being a DO myself, and formerly on a residency selection committee at an allopathic university medical center, I can tell you that DOs are often ranked lower than US trained MDs. And IMGs are ranked even lower.

Now, before I get flamed, let me break it down very simply. It's not usually the degree that's the issue, it's the medical school that the applicant is attending.

For instance, when a department can say that it matched 3 Harvard grads and 2 Yale grads and 2 UCSF grads, what do the heads of the medical university think? Of course... it must be one hell of an awesome department!

Why is that important? The department head looks good, the faculty look good, and the university will be less likely to cut funding to their department. Heck, they may even give more funding to the department.

Now these might be the worst students from each school, with no communication skills, drug histories and even active leprosy -- but that doesn't matter. Drop the big names and it's impressive. The university heads won't likely look at USMLE scores or GPAs, and they're never going to actually meet the residents.

So, does this mean that lesser name med school grads, DOs and IMGs are screwed at major university facilities? No. But it does mean they've got to work twice as hard as their counterparts at the big names. And let me tell you, the grads from the big names are already working their butts off (that's how they got in in the first place).

 

[codeguy]

Why would you even do an allopathic Derm residency? Why not just do an Osteopathic Derm residency?

*confused*


Checkout: http://opportunities.aoa-net.org/Opportunities/residencies/residency.asp

I am not sure how up to date it is but there was 8 or 10 links to unfilled Osteo Derm residencies.