Worried about match

[NOLADO84]

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COMLEX - 550
USMLE - None

Interested in IM and Neuro, and pretty oblivious on where to apply to. Is this realistic?

 

[moyamoya6]

COMLEX - 550
USMLE - None

Interested in IM and Neuro, and pretty oblivious on where to apply to. Is this realistic?

It’s realistic if you apply broadly.

 

[cgk]

It’s realistic if you apply broadly.

Is it necessary for neuro to do away rotations?

 

[alprazoslam]

550 is fine for those.

 

[moyamoya6]

Is it necessary for neuro to do away rotations?

If it’s a program you really want to go to, it can help. Unless you have a terrible personality or bad work ethic.

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

Apply broad and you’ll be good. On the IM applicant thread there have been people that have even landed a few low-tier university IM interviews with mid 500 scores and no Step. I have no idea about neuro but have heard it’s similar in competitiveness so you should be good there too

 

[Black Coffee 24/7]

COMLEX - 550
USMLE - None

Interested in IM and Neuro, and pretty oblivious on where to apply to. Is this realistic?

East and especially West coast IM/Neuro programs are out without USMLE, except really bad programs. Otherwise, solid chances for university programs in the South and Midwest for either specialties.

 

[alprazoslam]

Apply broad and you’ll be good. On the IM applicant thread there have been people that have even landed a few low-tier university IM interviews with mid 500 scores and no Step. I have no idea about neuro but have heard it’s similar in competitiveness so you should be good there too

Tons of people in class ahead of me got IM invs with mid 500. I think most low tier state places and some mid tier have a 500 cut off and that’s all they care to learn about comlex as long as nothing else wrong with app

 

[Postictal Raiden]

without step1, neurology will be an uphill battle.

 

[Mad Jack]

COMLEX - 550
USMLE - None

Interested in IM and Neuro, and pretty oblivious on where to apply to. Is this realistic?

IM is totally realistic, neuro has trouble understanding COMLEX tho

 

[AlbinoHawk DO]

Is it necessary for neuro to do away rotations?

Yes, matching with only COMLEX is becoming hard now. I wouldn't gamble by not doing aways

 

[Black Coffee 24/7]

18/19 matched last year with comlex between 500-600 and no step 1/2 😉

I wouldn't call out a Neuro resident who just went through the match last year

There's more to the match process that can't be described by the numbers on the NRMP data itself. But, you're going to have a hard time matching to ACGME programs on any specialty just by COMLEX scores alone nowadays. Interview invites by just COMLEX alone will be 50% less than the equivalent in percentile on the USMLE. These are thoughts shared to me by my seniors.

 

[Ho0v-man]

Lol, what. I presented a fact. Mathematical facts having nothing to do with senior status. It's not calling anyone "out", which I wasn't even doing lol

It’s just kind of like a premed who hasn’t applied yet telling a med student how competitive med school admissions can be. The charting outcomes are great, but there’s nuance to this process that only people who’ve been through it can really understand.

 

[NGTY1991]

It’s just kind of like a premed who hasn’t applied yet telling a med student how competitive med school admissions can be. The charting outcomes are great, but there’s nuance to this process that only people who’ve been through it can really understand.

Don’t think he was trying to call out anyone. He’s just following the narrative of the forum that constantly reference the NRMP data when they need to discourage students from everything.

 

[Staphylococcus Aureus]

you're going to have a hard time matching to ACGME programs on any specialty just by COMLEX scores alone nowadays. Interview invites by just COMLEX alone will be 50% less than the equivalent in percentile on the USMLE.

Source? (Aside from your own PD)

 

[Postictal Raiden]

I wouldn't call out a Neuro resident who just went through the match last year

There's more to the match process that can't be described by the numbers on the NRMP data itself. But, you're going to have a hard time matching to ACGME programs on any specialty just by COMLEX scores alone nowadays. Interview invites by just COMLEX alone will be 50% less than the equivalent in percentile on the USMLE. These are thoughts shared to me by my seniors.

No, he's not calling me out. He is presenting data. I can't argue against.

However, I'm in in touch with about 8 people who are undergoing the process as we speak. All but two took both COMLEX and USMLE. The ones who took USMLE, regardless of performance, are doing better on invites. In fact, one of these people had 700+ on level 1 without COMLEX. He decided to take Step1 at the end of his 3rd year. Score came out in October (in the 240's). He applied to 20 places and has gotten 7 invites so far and most of them are either from community or new-ish academic programs.

18/19 matching without USMLE does show that it's doable. However, we need to know more about these applicants. I'm willing to bet that most of them auditioned at several programs and ended up matching somewhere they auditioned at. That's how beneficial doing an audition can be.

I still maintain that matching neuro without USMLE will be an uphill battle. To overcome this, apply to a good number of "safeties" and make sure you audition. Don't waste an audition at a program you have no shot at. Pick some not-so-desired academic programs.

p.s. neurology had the 3rd highest rate of increase in applications (after emergency and psychiatry) this year. Source: ERAS preliminary data (https://www.aamc.org/download/359604/data/neurology.pdf)

 

[Bus2MD]

18/19 matched last year with comlex between 500-600 and no step 1/2 😉

Where did you find this info? I looked through charting outcomes but I don’t see where it says they didn’t take step.

 

[Rekt]

Its because people can't get their feelings hurt anymore. If you don't have a Step 1 nowadays, you're a weak applicant. It's been excruciatingly obvious on all my interviews. I'm usually the only DO or their is 1 other DO for 8-10-12-14 applicants thus far out of 10 interviews. MDs and DOs with Step will get ranked higher all day long than those without Step.