Which Medschool Prepares u 4 step 1

[Hanta]

Which Medical School Prepares you for the USMLE step 1 the best and why? Can you please list you school/score? Thanks

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[kenfused]

UCLA was pretty awesome for step 1. Very few students take a commercial prep course, and many classmates were in the top %iles.
Some schools have most students take a prep course, which I think says something of their confidence in their own curriculum.

 

[I'M_Posting]

Anyone know the Board scores for UCI? How do they do?

 

[Katie]

JHU, Columbia, Wash U, Vanderbilt, and NYMC are well-known for generating perfect or close-to-perfect pass rates and high scores among their students. Of all the schools I interviewed at, NYMC and Tufts had the highest pass rates of 99-100% and 98% respectively. NYMC is often ranked among the top 20 schools for their USMLE I average, and Tufts students usually score quite a bit higher than the national average. SLU students score around the national average on USMLE I, but typically score higher on USMLE II. MCV/VCU students are also notable for an average USMLE II score in the 90th percentile of all who take the test. Some schools that have had some problems in recent years with students passing USMLE I are the University of Maryland, with only 90% of the class passing in 1998, and MCPHU, which had an 89% pass rate a few years ago.

 

[I'M_Posting]

Originally posted by Katie
JHU, Columbia, Wash U, Vanderbilt, and NYMC are well-known for generating perfect or close-to-perfect pass rates and high scores among their students. Of all the schools I interviewed at, NYMC and Tufts had the highest pass rates of 99-100% and 98% respectively. NYMC is often ranked among the top 20 schools for their USMLE I average, and Tufts students usually score quite a bit higher than the national average. SLU students score around the national average on USMLE I, but typically score higher on USMLE II. MCV/VCU students are also notable for an average USMLE II score in the 90th percentile of all who take the test. Some schools that have had some problems in recent years with students passing USMLE I are the University of Maryland, with only 90% of the class passing in 1998, and MCPHU, which had an 89% pass rate a few years ago.

Are you happy with your school? What do you like/hate about it? What's the grading system and ciriculum like?

 

[mws99]

I read somewhere that a couple years ago Medical College of Wisconsin was one of only 6 schools to have 100% of their students pass step 1, which was surprising for a school not ranked that high. I don't know what their averages are though.

 

[neutropeniaboy]

Originally posted by Katie
JHU, Columbia, Wash U, Vanderbilt, and NYMC are well-known for generating perfect or close-to-perfect pass rates and high scores among their students.

Hmmm. Think about this statement for a moment. Do you think that they actually generate high pass rates, or do you think that the admissions officers selected students who were most likely to pass the boards? I'm sure there is a whole lot of the latter going on. Generally, the better institutions have more highly qualified students who by statistics alone are more likely to pass the boards.

You have to think about "results" and why things turn out the way they do.

 

[southerndoc]

Originally posted by neutropeniaboy
Hmmm. Think about this statement for a moment. Do you think that they actually generate high pass rates, or do you think that the admissions officers selected students who were most likely to pass the boards? I'm sure there is a whole lot of the latter going on. Generally, the better institutions have more highly qualified students who by statistics alone are more likely to pass the boards.

You have to think about "results" and why things turn out the way they do.

What about an institution with an average MCAT of 26.5, GPA of 3.4, and who turns out an average USMLE Step I of 227.

To the person posting about MCW, there are plenty of lesser schools that produce 100% Step I pass rates.

 

[happydoc]

Is there a published list somewhere? Katie where are you getting all your data from? It would be interesting to see if one exists. It seems like almost all schools use the line, our board scores are consistently higher than the national average....

 

[Milhouse Van Houten]

i'm also interested to find out where you can get that information.

 

[I'M_Posting]

RUSM Student Scores 266 on the USMLE
How did he do it? That?s the first thought people have when they hear that Winston Dunn, Class of 2002, received a 266 on the United States Medical Licensing Examination, Step 1. This score puts him in the top 1% of test-takers across the country. The Ross Reporter called Mr. Dunn, to ask him to share his studying secrets with his fellow students.

?I studied for 2 ? months,? Mr. Dunn stated. ?My actual trick was to come back to the island to study, after the fifth semester. There were no distractions. I tried to study at home during Christmas and set a goal for myself of 2 hours a day. I couldn?t even do 5 minutes a day!? Upon returning to Dominica, Mr. Dunn says, ?I didn?t even leave the house. I had food delivered, and used housekeeping and laundry services, so I could study as much as possible. When I was tired, I let myself nap. This routine allowed me to study 12 hours a day. I spent the weekends re-reviewing what I had reviewed before. I didn?t expose myself to any new knowledge in the last 7 days before the test.?

Mr. Dunn went on to share some more of his study tips, ?I think you need to use books that are more detailed. I didn?t use First Aid. If you explain something to me, I will retain it for a long time and can answer tricky questions.? And how did he keep studying for 12 hours? ?At the end of the day, when I was tired, I would look at lots of pictures,? explains Mr. Dunn. ?Reviewing pictures a lot makes it easier to remember the material.?

Happy to provide specifics, below is a list of the study materials Mr. Dunn used, and his thoughts on each one. Although the RUSM curriculum and the USMLE Step I exam are subject to change, this list should provide a useful starting-off point. RUSM would like to thank Mr. Dunn for his helpful insights and congratulate him on a job well done.

 

[Thewonderer]

I have heard that Yale students do pretty well too because their grades don't count and they don't have class ranking, they can go all out studying for the board during their second year.

 

[T-bruin]

Originally posted by happydoc
Is there a published list somewhere? Katie where are you getting all your data from? It would be interesting to see if one exists. It seems like almost all schools use the line, our board scores are consistently higher than the national average....

I like to know this too!

 

[gwen]

Originally posted by neutropeniaboy
Hmmm. Think about this statement for a moment. Do you think that they actually generate high pass rates, or do you think that the admissions officers selected students who were most likely to pass the boards? I'm sure there is a whole lot of the latter going on. Generally, the better institutions have more highly qualified students who by statistics alone are more likely to pass the boards.

You have to think about "results" and why things turn out the way they do.

or what about a 6 yr no-name program with 5 students getting 260? i think the big school students have way too much attitude and THINK they're better. anyone who makes it through the first two years of med school is just as qualified as your columbia grad. and remember, tests are not the sole determinant of how you will be as a doctor.

 

[Badgerbabe]

I would bet that the reason MCW gets such high pass scores (on the years they have not been 100% they have been like 98%) is that we have EVERYTHING linked to some sort of clinical relevance. They even try to focus on it in biochem by bringing in docs to have us discuss in small groups the biochemical mechanisms of diseases that relate to our units. The last anatomy exam was written so that almost all the questions are set up as patients presenting certain symptoms in your office. Also, in lab they have surg and ortho residents and attendings show us how to do intubations, etc. on the cadavers, and bring in patients to talk to us about injuries (rotator cuff tear when we were learning upper limb muscles, etc.) It really helps me link everything into a relevant body of information, and as far as I have heard board exams are very clinically focused.

 

[moo]

Northwestern had a 99 percent pass rate and an avg score of 232 last year (national avg 215).

 

[ICUDOC]

This is really a stupid flipping listing. It is not the school that determines the score you get. It is pure memorization, and common sense. Unklike the MCAT, where most of the answers are in front of you, and you need to be clever enough to figure them out, the USMLE is opposite. First, anyone who fails the exam probably never should have been accepted to med school, or perhaps had some family/personal issues responsible for the score. Take the previous post where a Ross med student scored a 266 to get the message. How you do on step I has absolutely no correlation to where yuo went to med school. I went to few basic science lectures, and did not spend a lot of time studying my first few years. Honored a handful of classes, studied my ass off for 4 weeks and busted in the mid 90%. Lots of people at St georges, a foreign school, break 250 on the boards. Go where you want to go, you will get the score you deserve regardless. It is a great exam, where how hard you work for it will determine how well you do. ps-as for yale, my younger brother went there. Whiule he did extremely well on the boards, most of his classmated did not. There have been revisions in their no exam curriculum because of this. Despite it's name, my experience with recent grads as interns is that they are a little below average in competence..................sorry bulldogs, you have a good baseline and catch up soon...

 

[UCLA Paratrooper]

So what happens if you don't pass? Do you just take an extra year off until you pass? That's kinda scary...these standardized test never go away do they?

UCLA Paratrooper

 

[Katie]

Originally posted by UCLA Paratrooper
So what happens if you don't pass? Do you just take an extra year off until you pass? That's kinda scary...these standardized test never go away do they?

UCLA Paratrooper

At most schools, students must take the USMLE again during their 3rd year if they fail the initial attempt and must pass in order to be promoted to the next year. the catch is that you will receive no extra time off to study during your rotations and must try to pass while juggling a heavy clinical schedule.

As to where I got my info, Tufts includes the board pass rate in the info packet given out on interview day, as did NYMC when I interviewed there. My interviewer at SLU told me that students do fine/average on USMLE I and that the pass rate is a little above the national average (93%). I read about MCV/VCU's USMLE II success in a guide to med schools published in 98 (Peterson's I believe but not 100% sure), so it may no longer be accurate. The rest of the information I have heard from students who are affiliated with the med schools I listed, people on here, and a few of my classmates, so it may not be entirely accurate. I apologize if it seemed I was stating it as gospel truth, my intention was just to give an overview of schools that seem to prepare students well for the boards. but I do believe that the information is at least somewhat accurate and that there are probably ways to verify it. I don't agree with the poster who said that there is no correlation whatsoever between board scores and institution, but I do agree with him that since most board studying is done independently by the individual student that each person determines his or her own board score to a VERY substantial degree.
To the poster who asked about Tufts, I'm now a second year and like it very much. I have posted on many other threads about this over time, but please feel free to PM me with any specific questions. And to those who like to bash on Tufts, please remember that all schools have flaws and that you are only opening yourself up to get your school bashed by others on here (not me probably).

peace..

 

[shorrin]

I don't know what my school's avg step1 is but I do know that we get the most time off of any us allopathic school to study for it and that's worth considering.


m1
university of illinois at chicago

 

[Jalby]

At Keck we had a 240 average with a 98% pass rate last year.

 

[southerndoc]

240 with a 98% pass rate? I think that's the highest Step I average I've heard to date.

 

[uffda]

Originally posted by Jalby
At Keck we had a 240 average with a 98% pass rate last year.

did those students do their pre-clinical work under the new curriculum or the previous incarnation?

 

[doepug]

Originally posted by Jalby
At Keck we had a 240 average with a 98% pass rate last year.

I call BS. While many students have scores >240, there's no way that any school can claim an average that high. That's like saying "Pre-meds from School X have an average MCAT of 38." Sorry, but I think whoever told you this number was misinformed.

 

[paean]

Okay, I pointed avoided thinking about the USMLEs until I got into med school, but now I'm here, so would anyone mind posting what the score range is, what constites passing, and some idea of how to convert raw scores into percentiles for the clueless MS1 here? Or a link where I could look that stuff up... Thanks.

 

[I'M_Posting]

I thought Katie retired from posting. WHAT HAPPENED?

 

[Dodge This]

Originally posted by uffda
did those students do their pre-clinical work under the new curriculum or the previous incarnation?

This is the previous curriculum. My class will take Step I the upcoming summer and we will be the first to do so under the new curriculum.

Keck, '05

 

[monet]

So do you really think MCAT scores correlate to board scores. If so, I am in trouble. I did not do so hot on the MCAT.

 

[southerndoc]

Originally posted by monet
So do you really think MCAT scores correlate to board scores. If so, I am in trouble. I did not do so hot on the MCAT.

To a degree, yes. Those that do well on the MCAT are more likely to do well on boards. Does it mean that all who do well on the MCAT will do well on the boards? Absolutely not. The same can be said about those who did poorly on the MCAT doing poorly on Step I. If you study your butt off, you'll get a great score.

 

[Chengster]

I'm simply proud to say UF COM c/o 2004 had only 2 people out of 127 not pass this year and supposedly 15 people in the top 90%! Our average was something like 224. Sounds like many schools did well this year. GO GATORS! (Yeah, wish the football team was doing as well)

 

[choker]

the reason that students from the nonranked schools tend to do better is that there is more pressure to do better. a student at a top institution knows that no matter what score he/she gets, he/she will still land a killer residency (not guaranteed, but it's likely). on the other hand, a student from a lesser-named school will have to work twice as hard, get much better grades, and get a much higher board score to look comparable. the reason the students at the less prestigious schools do better is because they HAVE to do better to compete, and they know this.

 

[MD2b06]

Originally posted by choker
a student at a top institution knows that no matter what score he/she gets, he/she will still land a killer residency (not guaranteed, but it's likely). on the other hand, a student from a lesser-named school will have to work twice as hard, get much better grades, and get a much higher board score to look comparable. the reason the students at the less prestigious schools do better is because they HAVE to do better to compete, and they know this.

Oversimplification. Big name schools open doors, no doubt. And they should. But killer residencies aren't being handed out left and right based solely on school rep. It's just like in med school admissions where your school rep was an important factor, but it didn't compensate for an otherwise crappy application. You still gotta prove yourself, even if you go to Harvard. Can't get a 182 on Step 1 and have a Derm residency handed to you.

 

[wfu2005]

ha ha ha....so true.

go to harvard, bust a solid 185, and see how many uro/derm/ortho/rads etc. residency doors are opened to you. now, on the other hand, you get a respectable 225 and go to a top 10, more doors are opened for you than a 225 at Podunk U. I guarantee the people 260+ are getting interviews.

As many people have said before and will say again. How well you did on that specific rotation, followed by how you did third year, followed by boards, followed down the line by first two years plays the biggest roles.

curriculum plays a big role in how well you're going to do on the boards. Wake has been having problems with the boards b/c they haven't stressed them enough....got the mindset that we don't teach to the boards, but the boards are the floor which we stand on and reach up higher. so some people skated by and did fine, until the boards came up and people realized that you can't skate through step I.

 

[Dawg_MD]

St. George's University is doing a really good job as they have had a passing rate above 90% for the past several years. The last data available shows a pass rate of 94% for US students in 2000 compared to 93% for US schools.

 

[jlb102]

As far as big name schools go, the fact is if you have one person from Columbia with a 220 and one person from Ross U with a 260 it is likely that many more programs would interview a columbia candidate with average board scores over an FMG or even a person from podunk u, USA with great scores.

On the topic of scoring the USMLE, there is no known maximum score i.e. the SAT max is 1600, the MCAT=45, there is no ceiling on the USMLE though we suspect it is 300 or so. I know at least 2 people who scored in the 270's and they are by far the smartest and hardest working people you could ever hope to meet.
Anyway, the scoring is as follows, a failing score is something like less than 182, the last national average was 215 and the standard deviation is typically around 15 points give or take. To convert to "percentile" you need to know that at the mean is the 50th percentile i.e. 50 percent of scores are higher, and 50 percent are lower. Then you must consider the standard deviation to determine how far ones own score is from the mean and that each standard deviation encompasses a set percentage in a normal gaussian distibution curve ( 1SD=+/- 34% from mean, 2sd=+/- 47.5%, 3SD=+/- 39.85). THus, if someone scores a 230 they are one SD above the mean and thus in the (50+34) 84th percentile of all scores.

 

[great north]

The medical school itself does not best prepare you for the USMLE...you do yourself just as with the MCAT. It is a battle between you and the mass of information one must master in order to do well. Pathology is pathology as pharm is pharm irrespective of the institution attended. You prepare for the exam as you go through your basic science classes as that precious time will never return for you to build a solid foundation. I am still awaiting my fate and should I not get what I deserve I will definitely place the blame on Ross
As far as a Columbia graduate getting more interviews than a FMG...that goes without saying, as a family favors its own family members.

I would rather do an opthalmology residency in Georgia (the country) and practice in Nigeria giving people sight than have to deal with ignorance