Am I doing enough to eventually match (as an M2)

[battlesankey]

Hi everyone,

I have been having some concerns about whether or not I am doing enough to eventually match anesthesia and I wanted to post here to see if I am on the right track. I am currently a second year student at a lower tier US MD school. I am doing relatively well in classes (above class average in exam scores, but within 1SD of the mean). I feel that in terms of grades I am doing fine and I am on track to get a decent Step 1 score, but I was wondering if there should be more that I should be doing outside of class. As far as outside of class is concerned, I am involved as a research assistant and I am on track to be mentioned on a couple of papers as a contributor. In addition, I am a member of a student organization related to research. I participated in one volunteering event associated with another student interest group. Other than that, I haven't really been involved in anything and have mainly used my leftover free time to spend time with family/play sports and things like that. Essentially, I don't really know how much EC's are expected. I'm not sure if they are definitely expected like it was to get into medical school or if at this point this is less important. If it is more important than I realize, I would prefer to find out now on this forum and make changes in the future rather than continue to not do enough.

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[tennessee2244]

Be a US M.D., check. Score at or above 220 on step1, score at or above 235 on step2ck, pass step2 cs = match. Done.

 

[AdmiralChz]

ECs aren’t expected. In this field or any other, really. This ain’t medical school where people love all the volunteerism and global crusading. Despite what your school might tell you, no one cares if you are class VP or school treasurer. For specialties they want to see legitimate interest in the field and good study habits.

Only extra thing I’d consider would be jumping onto a research project if you can. It can open more doors for you at academic programs. Otherwise, just focus on doing well.

 

[battlesankey]

Thank you for the feedback to my question. It seems that the overall advice here is that it is ok for me to focus the vast majority of my efforts on my studies, and spend some additional efforts continuing with the research project I help out with. Overall, this is very reassuring. I do have one additional question. I noticed that among students who scored between a 221-230, 214/222 matched. Among those that got between a 231-240, 247/248 matched. What are usually the main reasons that the small percentage of individuals in these ranges fail to match? I initially looked at this before answering my question and figured that these are the people who were not doing the EC's, but now I'm not sure and I was hoping someone could give their insight on this.

 

[BLADEMDA]

To really improve your chances of matching your Step 1 score should be closer to the median score for the specialty. That is around 230 and not 220.

Those with a 220 can still match but typically have a harder time finding a program.
That means more applications and lower tier programs.

 

[battlesankey]

Thank you for the feedback. Assuming a score of 230, what are red flags that should be avoided? I hope not to be one of those few people who score in the range but still do not match

 

[AdmiralChz]

Thank you for the feedback. Assuming a score of 230, what are red flags that should be avoided? I hope not to be one of those few people who score in the range but still do not match

Here are the typical red flags one sees that can impede your application:

-Being a creepo/clown/drunkat the interview dinner (always 1 or 2 a year). Even the best applicants with the highest scores and most publications can get turned away here.
- Failing a class, or worse, a clerkship.
- Repeating a year
- Repeating a Step exam due to failure
- Markedly bad letters.
- Prolonged, repeated absences from medical school
- Multiple Years after graduation (more common for IMGs).
- Troublesome visa status (especially for public institutions).
- Being clearly more interested in another field but applying to anesthesia as a backup and not being good at hiding it (I’ll never forget that one)

 

[battlesankey]

Thank you for for the feedback.