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Doing well in your clinical years, networking, and getting good evaluationsCurrently an M2 at a mid-low tier MD school in the Midwest that does P/F
I had a lot of personal problems this year and unfortunately I ended up letting those affect my academics. At the end of m1 year, I failed cardio. I successfully remediated the test over summer.
This year, start of m2 year, I ended up failing GI and will most likely have to retake the test over winter break.
These fails will be reflected on my deans letter and will appear as Pass 2 on my transcripts.
Now that I’ve gotten my problems under control, I’m trying to plan out my future. I’m mainly interested in IM, PMR, psych, EM, and anesthesiology. I’m originally from Cali and really want to match their for my residency.
What should I do other than prioritizing academics to compensate?
Thanks
Could you comment on the specialities that I mentioned? Right now IM and PMR are my top choicesDoing well in your clinical years, networking, and getting good evaluations
Honestly biggest priority right now is passing and not repeating past mistakes. You will also want to consider your content knowledge gaps in the failed blocks that will surely reappear on step 1. Make sure you plan accordingly as far as your dedicated prep time to factor in time for content learning in these areas.
At this point nothing else matters than getting your grades on track and passing step. Obviously failing classes also puts you at risk of failing step, and that’s a much bigger red flag than a couple preclinical remediations.
After that it’s really a matter of getting strong clinical grades if you can, and at least making sure you’re well liked if you can’t. For anyone with red flags, your best chance to match any field you like will be your home program, so when the time comes be sure to impress.
As for now you gotta start passing things or the rest is moot. If you can make these preclinical fails the only blips on an otherwise sterling record, you should be fine for most fields. If this is just the beginning of a borderline performance for the rest of Med school, then you’re going to have some tough choices to make
Could you comment on the competitiveness of the specialities I mentioned? And especially when it comes to matching in cali? Passing and preparing for step 1 are def the biggest priorities for me right nowHonestly biggest priority right now is passing and not repeating past mistakes. You will also want to consider your content knowledge gaps in the failed blocks that will surely reappear on step 1. Make sure you plan accordingly as far as your dedicated prep time to factor in time for content learning in these areas.
At this point nothing else matters than getting your grades on track and passing step. Obviously failing classes also puts you at risk of failing step, and that’s a much bigger red flag than a couple preclinical remediations.
After that it’s really a matter of getting strong clinical grades if you can, and at least making sure you’re well liked if you can’t. For anyone with red flags, your best chance to match any field you like will be your home program, so when the time comes be sure to impress.
As for now you gotta start passing things or the rest is moot. If you can make these preclinical fails the only blips on an otherwise sterling record, you should be fine for most fields. If this is just the beginning of a borderline performance for the rest of Med school, then you’re going to have some tough choices to make.
Could you comment on the specialities that I mentioned? Right now IM and PMR are my top choices
Too hard to say at this point. You’ll need to come back in a year and a half and update with how things are shaking out.Could you comment on the specialities that I mentioned? Right now IM and PMR are my top choices
Could you comment on the competitiveness of the specialities I mentioned? And especially when it comes to matching in cali? Passing and preparing for step 1 are def the biggest priorities for me right now
Residency PDs won't care which specific preclinicals a student had to repeat, but rather the fact that a student had to repeat preclinicals at all. It's a different story with clinicals - in that case the specific rotation may matter, although it will be highly dependent on the specialty and the particular residency program.Out of the specialties mentioned - with the current climate - it may be hard to match to anesthesia in California. Gi - whatever, but the cardio block... Someone else please chime in. If I am wrong, it would really make me rise my eyebrows...
This is the wrong approach--the correct answer is you need to prioritize academics over everything else. You need to be a stellar student from here on out to match at the programs you want, but even more pressingly, if you fail anything else you will presumably be at high risk for being dismissed outright. As much as you may want to load up on other "stuff" to compensate, none of that matters if you can't show you can be a good student.What should I do other than prioritizing academics to compensate?
Yes, I’m definitely focusing more on academics moving forward. I just wanted to get a better picture of what I could/should aim for. I know this is just hypotheticals and I shouldn’t even be thinking about specialities rn but it helps me to have a goal in mind.This is the wrong approach--the correct answer is you need to prioritize academics over everything else. You need to be a stellar student from here on out to match at the programs you want, but even more pressingly, if you fail anything else you will presumably be at high risk for being dismissed outright. As much as you may want to load up on other "stuff" to compensate, none of that matters if you can't show you can be a good student.
Psych and anesthesia are going to be tough, particularly in CA. IM and EM are very attainable. PMR, in CA, is likely somewhere in the middle of the road.
it means what you might think—more attainable than psych and gas, not as easy as IM or EM. I would suggest you speak to someone in PMR to get a better sense of how they view step 2, but I suspect the answer is that there is a score somewhere close to the mean which would be fine, and then it comes down to networking as highlighted above by others.
When you say PMR is middle of the road, do you mean it’s still realistic? What kind of step 2 score can give me a fighting chance?