<p>Seeking information, please. Admittedly, I've done no research on the topic and have only had a couple of conversations on the topic. My neighbor's son is a third year medical student and recently took his first Board Exam--Step One. She tells me this score will determine his future. She explains that one must receive a certain score in order to get a certain residency. He wants to do surgery and might "be forced into primary care" if he doesn't get a high enough score. Do the most desirable specialties--I've heard about the ROAD to happiness--require the highest scores? There has to be more to it than just a test score, right? Seems wrong that our primary care docs are the ones with the lowest scores because they are so important to us, the patients. But, it's my understanding that they make the least money and, if one is interested in making money, it becomes more important to specialize. Do I have this right? Am I missing something? Are there certain published scores for each specialty? For example, if I wand to be a dermatologist, I must have a 95%? Thanks for your help!</p>
<p>I thought there was a chart somewhere that showed the score ranges for various specialties but I can’t seem to find it, maybe somebody here can link it. My daughter got her score back today and is satisfied with it…she’s just glad it’s over.</p>
<p>Charting the Outcomes in the Match</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.nrmp.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/NRMP-Charting-Outcomes-in-the-Match-Specialties-Matching-Service-1st-Edition-Published-May-2013.pdf”>http://www.nrmp.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/NRMP-Charting-Outcomes-in-the-Match-Specialties-Matching-Service-1st-Edition-Published-May-2013.pdf</a></p>
<p>This is a ranked list of things that residency program directors look for when accepting students into various specialties. It includes a range of scores for students who have been accepted into specialties for 2013 Match. (Optho and urology hold separate matches ahead of the regular match so won’t be in the data.)</p>
<p>There are other factors in residency matching (graduating from US MD or DO program is probably more important than one’s STEP score, for example), but the STEP 1 is pretty high up on the list. (#3)</p>
<p>Students aiming for competitive specialties (read: high paying and/or lifestyle friendly) need to have higher STEP scores because there are more students wanting to match into those specialties than there are residency training positions available. (In derm, I think there are ~1.9 applicants for every position.) RDs can afford to cherry-pick the best students. OTOH, there are plenty of primary care residency positions available–so many, in fact, that every year many go unfilled during the Match.</p>
<p>BTW, just because someone goes into a primary care field it doesn’t mean that individual had low STEPs; some choose primary care because that’s what they want to do. My last PCP (now retired) was AOA (national honor society for med students) at UTSW. He had great grades and STEPs, but wanted to do general internal medicine because he liked it.</p>
<p>" She tells me this score will determine his future" - yes, correct. However, surgery is not tah competitive. Also, high Step 1 score is a must for some specialties, but it is not the only requirement. Med. Students have several meetings with various superiors (dean, chairman,…etc.) where they are usually evaluated overall and told if they have what it takes for their chosen specialty. Do not listen to us here, we do not know much at all. Your neighbor’s son’s Medical School will take very good care of him and will make sure that he will apply where he has a chance. However, it happens that student does not match, so got to keep that in mind. The process is somewhat unpredictable and the best possible decision has an element of risk, simply unavoidable. Yes, “There has to be more to it than just a test score”, but those who plan to apply to the most selective residencies know that they have no choice but to spend some 14 hours / day every day for some 7 weeks or they may be very dissapointed. It is a great test of the brain stamina, that is for sure, 8 hours test requre a great brain stamina, just like physical activity require certain stamina, you got to train very hard for the best results.</p>
<p>Thanks WOWM. I looked at that and for the life of me don’t know what any of that means. 
</p>
<p>Your STEP I score determines your fate in the same way the SAT or MCAT determines your fate. Some schools screen out applicants with numbers below a certain setting. For most of the specialties, hitting the mean or above is all you need to stay in the pile, though perhaps not at all sites.</p>
<p>Things like ROAD, Plastics, etc. require a much higher minimum STEP I to be included in the pool for even having your application reviewed.</p>