<p>We use the term “pimping” as IWBB describes it. It totally depends on the attending–why is it called “adriamycin”? Who was the first one to do this surgery? Where’d he go to school? What’s he known for? What’s the first muscle we just encountered? Where did that structure originate from (embryologically)? What are the anatomic borders of (whatever we’re dissecting)? What’s the treatment for preeclampsia? How can you tell if the pt overdosed? What else is this schizophrenic pt likely to have? How many teen boys will be evaluated for eating disorders? Should you xray that ankle? What’s on the differential for a pt presenting with tremor?</p>
<p>Those are off the top of my head.</p>
<p>The most annoying ones are “I’m going to ask you questions which are progressively more difficult until you get them wrong, and then exploit/“teach you things” about that topic.”</p>
<p>Pushing the performance standard up was never a problem. D. actually gets excited when pushed beyond her ability. The more recent very nerve breaking experience was the doc’s requirement (specifically for her only, as she was the only Spanish speaking student in her rotation - D. is NOT fluent though ) to not only take patient history from non-English speaking patients, but also to present the history to the doc. in Spanish in front of this Spanish speaking patient. She was talking about it with the pride despite mentionning of being extremely nervous about it. There is nobody else who was required to do so simply for the fact that they could not, they did not speak Spanish. But this “pushing” experiences along with all extremely complicated cases and questions just making third year exciting. Getting mistreated for no reason besides the fact that somebody else is having a bad day is not vey exciting at all, but it grows a bit thicker skin on medical student and it is also part of the training. I took this approach, I did not know how else I could help my D. with this. And, believe it or not, at least in one instance the doc. apologized the next day, just proving that I was right. And again, she got an H in this rotation, nothing to complain, as well as another one where she was mistreated the most by the nurses simply because it was her very first rotation and she definitely did not know much of what she knows now and she even believed that she did not deserve that H at all. I told her that she paid for it by being mistreated over and over.</p>
<p>^ +1
I’ve withdrawn from all but 3 (two in NYC and one in St. Louis) and will be attending all 3 revisits. I’m making a list of questions I need answered and people and things I want to see. My choices are so even, I may eventually resort to drawing cards St. Louis is definitely cheaper, but the NY schools pay more. I have no idea how to choose at this point. I hope revisits will make things clearer. </p>
<p>Hello everyone! I decided to start making the college confidential rounds and check the old “norcalguy residency application thread”, which I remember having great information.</p>
<p>But after reading some of the posts here, and for those lucky enough to have a choice, I would like to touch on the eternal debate of whether applying/attending top medical schools makes a difference at the time of residency applications. I took my Step 1 in late february and received my results a couple of days ago. I am thrilled with my score and I have no doubt my curriculum, schedule and the fact we take the test during our third year (after a full year of clinical rotations) helped me reach my score. </p>
<p>But, what really surprises me is the fact that two of the top schools I turned down three years ago, emailed me this week inviting me to schedule visits with them during the upcoming months and to consider them for some of the most competitive residencies (by name). I have no idea if the NBME shares the Step1 scores with the schools (like the MCATs…?) or if the timing was coincidental, but I was thrilled to hear from them. They went back to those they admitted and chose not to attend three years ago, and are now calling on them!. Definitely a very encouraging touch to begin the application cycle. I will definitely be visiting them and applying to them. </p>
<p>So, if I had to do it all over again I would not change a thing!</p>
<p>Does this link contain useful information for determining what might be considered as a “good” score? just a wild guess here: 255+ = top 10%, 260+ = top 5%? (But how would I know?!) Recently, WOWmom seems to have posted on another thread that ortho may require top 5%.</p>
<p>It is shown in the following link that about 1800 test takers score 251+, but it is based on older, 2009 data. The average score has been increased (by 5 points?) since then.</p>
<p>At one time, an SDNer posted that a younger student tends to be better at the standardized test, but a slightly older (non-traditional?) student tends to be good at getting better clinical year grades. There are always exceptions, of course. </p>
<p>Congrats to all with all decisions in and good luck to all who are at the tail end of hearing back. </p>
<p>Kiddo has all decisions in and this process has been incredibly favorable to him with all comparable schools. </p>
<p>It was pretty cool to have been able to celebrate with him on one of those acceptances, as we were just driving him from the airport when that acceptance came in.</p>
<p>As he’s always done, we know he will decide on the one that works best for HIM.</p>
<p>His two frontrunners are reaaaaaaaaaaaaally close… thankfully that’s his first world problem to solve… :-)</p>
<p>D is so thankful that she has 4 good acceptances and she’s waiting to hear from several schools where she interviewed recently. And one which takes its time for the OOS students. She has a friend who scored nearly the same on the MCAT who is on three waitlists. That would be agonizing. If the cost comes back relatively the same the decision will rest on opportunities provided, curriculum, location, and gut feeling.</p>
<p>"I have no idea how to choose at this point. "</p>
<p>How much weight are you giving your probable research area? That is where most of your real time will be spent if you consider that you take 2 years of med school classes, 2 years in rotations but 4 years in the lab.</p>
<p>I think it’s been so incredibly helpful to go through this process vicariously since my DS will be applying in June. I understand the need to mask the names of the schools, but it’s really helpful to me to know your experiences. For some reason, I find it really hard to pick out which schools evaluate applications differently, even after I go through the MSAR. </p>
<p>On a separate note, does anyone know whatever happened to @kal123? I enjoyed reading his posts, from “where should my son apply?” to the ones when he was getting multiple ii on the same day.</p>
<p>That’s probably because that info really isn’t really available in the MSAR. IIRC, MSAR is more numbers and data oriented. (It’s been a while. I didn’t have MSAR subscription for D2 and it’s been 4 years since I looked at the MSAR when D1 was applying.) I think you might find a subscription to the USNews Medical School Compass provides some complementary information you won’t find the MSAR. MSAR shows accepted student data, whereas USN shows matriculated student data. The two are not identical.</p>
<p>Your son really needs to read closely the admission websites where he will/may find descriptions of curricula, how various admission factors are weighted, state residency requirements or what types of OOS applicants are considered, etc.</p>
<p>You should probably also lurk on SDN on the various school-specific threads to get an idea of what types of students are getting IIs and acceptances. </p>
One year before DS’s application cycle, one applicant from his college with excellent stats (a 40 MCAT and close to 4.0 GPA in a science major) did not have any acceptance around this time. Maybe the only “weakness” may be that he mistakenly believes that he is “good” (i.e., good at the written tests) at sciences but has no good published paper to back it up. A more fatal error was to apply to top schools on both coasts only. Luckily, he got into one in his home state (the most difficult state) late in the application cycle.</p>
<p>I do not know what happens to ka123’s S. It is a pity she stopped coming to this forum. It is rare to have a CCer who is so “open” about the progress of her love one’s application, likely due to their high confidence. Considering her S’s achievement and background, I would guess (purely a wild guess here) he would be moderately (not not hugely) successful in all those super reach schools. (After all, statistically speaking, he likely has the “ORM hurdle” to overcome for these super reach schools in the super hot geographical regions as it appears he is less interested in going to a school which is not in a super “hot” area. – his background may be similar to the background of the applicant that I referred to in the begining of this post, except that maybe his research EC may be better. For such super reach schools, the real battle ground is not in the area of stats.)</p>
<p>I should clarify what I meant by the “hurdle” above (before I get into a trouble :)) Because, relatively speaking, they mostly flock to the small set of the similar schools in similar areas only, and tend to skip most other schools in other areas if they believe their achievement can help them overcome the difficulty, it results in such an artifically-induced “squeezing” effect just because of their choices as a group.</p>
<p>Limabeans, if you know old time posters here who are from your geographic area or have MD experience with similar statistics, you could PM for some advice.</p>
<p>"The mean Step 1 for the most recent examination was 227, with most scores falling between 140 and 260. A score of 192 was set to pass ". (as stated in my report) - February 21st, 2014</p>
<p>The most competitive specialties “usually” screen their applicants above a 240…(derm, ortho, plastics, radiology, ENT and Rad Onc) to invite them for interviews. The most competitive programs for specific specialties do the same (Mass General, Hopkins, Penn - for Internal Medicine, Penn for Pediatrics, etc). However, every year students with 230s get admitted to these programs because there is more to them than just the Step1 Score.</p>
<p>I know the average for Mayo was around 238, Penn 241, Northwestern 233, UF 236, Wash U 236 - (from friends who are attending those schools). I have also heard U of C is frequently below the national mean, which is weird.</p>
<p>According to your first table, the international comparison seems to equate a 700 and above to a 98th percentile rank, with an 800 being similar to a 253 USMLE which would make it a 98th percentile (?). That first table is official data released.</p>
<p>I think most med students feel a “good” score is anything in the 230s. But after all, passing the test is good!</p>
<p>Limabeans: You can also read mdapplicants.com. Medical school applicants post MCAT scores, GPA’s, state, and some post biographical details. They then list where they applied, attended interviews and were either rejected, accepted or waitlisted. It’s interesting reading. You can also do various searches using schools, and scores. </p>
<p>Somemom and WOWmom, I do go on sdn particularly to look at applicants’s mdapps. I find it really helpful to see stats and the outcome of their where they applied. I know various folks who have gone to med school areound here, but I think it’s incomplete info since I don’t know their stats.</p>
<p>The research component has always been my primary focus. I’m very familiar with all three (did summer research at two of the three) and since all three are research powerhouses, with plenty of ongoing work in my areas of interest, I’ve had to look elsewhere to try to separate the three. </p>
St. Louis is definitely cheaper, but the NY schools pay more. I have no idea how to choose at this point. I hope revisits will make things clearer. </p>