Will a Pass in anesthesia rotation hurt my chances?

[eliteeli]

Hi all!
I'm an MS3 who is mostly done with third year at a Low-Tier State school. I've recently become interested in going into anesthesia. I have excellent grades (>260 Step 1, almost all Honors on clerkships thus far), and would be a great applicant. However, my school has a mandatory 2 week anesthesia rotation during our surgery block. There is no Honors available, it's either Pass or High Pass. While all the comments I received on my evaluation were excellent, I received a "Pass". Will having this significantly hurt my chances at matching into a good anesthesia program? Everyone else who rotated at the same site as me got Passes as well, regardless of performance. It was only 2 weeks, and the comments were all good, however people reviewing my transcript probably won't know that it's pass/high pass, and will assume it's a normal pass/high pass/ honors system and a pass will look really poor.
Any input will be greatly appreciated!

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[Psai]

It is fine

 

[BLADEMDA]

Hi all!
I'm an MS3 who is mostly done with third year at a Low-Tier State school. I've recently become interested in going into anesthesia. I have excellent grades (>260 Step 1, almost all Honors on clerkships thus far), and would be a great applicant. However, my school has a mandatory 2 week anesthesia rotation during our surgery block. There is no Honors available, it's either Pass or High Pass. While all the comments I received on my evaluation were excellent, I received a "Pass". Will having this significantly hurt my chances at matching into a good anesthesia program? Everyone else who rotated at the same site as me got Passes as well, regardless of performance. It was only 2 weeks, and the comments were all good, however people reviewing my transcript probably won't know that it's pass/high pass, and will assume it's a normal pass/high pass/ honors system and a pass will look really poor.
Any input will be greatly appreciated!

Relax. You can discuss that at your interviews. If you interview well (not a cocky, arrogant ass) then most programs will rank you highly.

 

[eliteeli]

Thanks all!
I definitely don't come across as arrogant. In fact, my personality and "niceness" is a big part of why I decided to not do surgery. Well that, and the fact that I love physiology and pharmacology >>>>>>>>> anatomy, and have a special hatred for clinic and rounding.

 

[cincincyreds]

You have nothing to worry about and nothing to explain. You will get so many interviews you won't have the time to go to all the invites. Great job on the hard work! You should really be proud of yourself.

 

[26B]

Hi all!
>260 Step 1, almost all Honors on clerkships thus far

You will get interviews at just about every program you apply to, no matter how prestigious the program.

 

[Consigliere]

Hi all!
I'm an MS3 who is mostly done with third year at a Low-Tier State school. I've recently become interested in going into anesthesia. I have excellent grades (>260 Step 1, almost all Honors on clerkships thus far)

With stats like those, I'd recommend a surgical subspeciality or dermatology. Anesthesiology is NOT the way to go nowadays.

 

[BLADEMDA]

I would still ask about the "Pass" grade in Anesthesiology to see the response from the OP. I would be interested to see how he/she responds to the question and the overall attitude of the response which is more important than the answer itself. As we all know there is a lot of "negative feedback" from some socially abnormal attendings in academics. The OP would need to be able to handle that attitude and the tough situations in the O.R. which can go bad rather quickly.

To this day I remember some absurd critiques from attendings but like it or not those comments can sting.