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<p>I’ve heard many many times from students at my school who’ve applied to residency, from deans and attendings, and from residents (who attended med school elsewhere) that, yes, it helps to attend a top med school. In what way does it help? I have no idea.</p>
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<p>Wait so kids study for step 1 in 4-8 weeks? That is less time then what is recommended for the mcat. Mcat studying takes 8-12 weeks. I guess this can be the case if kids study 8-10 hours a day for 4-8 weeks, while mcat studying is usually just 3 hours a day.</p>
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<p>You pretty much nailed it…8-10+ hrs a day for 4-8 weeks and not many can do it in only 4 weeks…more like 6-8 weeks.</p>
<p>We get 6 weeks off. Most people spend 5 of those weeks studying and 1 week vacationing. It’s a hard test no doubt. 330 or so questions. Each of the questions are several paragraphs long. You have a little over 1 minute per question. It’s definitely a test of stamina, knowledge, and critical thinking. </p>
<p>Studying 8 hours a day is no big deal because that’s what you do during the school year anyway.</p>
<p>Despite what people say, Step 1 scores are super important. I’d place it second in importance to your 3rd year grades. Many radiology programs for example, have cut offs set at 230 or 240.</p>
<p>curm:</p>
<p>Yep.</p>
<p>NCG:</p>
<p>8 hours is on the low side, I’d think. At the beginning of Step 1 studying, I was putting in about 10 hours a day, and by the end, 14 hours was more like it. There were even moments when I thought 14 hours a day might not be enough!</p>
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<p>This sure sounds like my son’s routine…4 weeks at 8 hours a day probably isn’t enough for most people trying to score above 240 absent a photographic memory. ;)</p>
<p>^^^ ***? How do you guys manage to put in 10-14 hours a week for that long? How do you guys not burn out? Damn, IF i get into medical school, its going to suck. Right now as a undergrad, I put in 8-10 hours a day for 2 weeks during finals. After finals are over, I can’t do anything…If I burn out that easily, I don’t know what I am going to do if I have to study for step 1.</p>
<p>I guess it goes back to what NCG said, you guys are already used to studying 8 hours a day for 2 years of med. school, so another 2-4 hours is not a big deal for 6-8 weeks.</p>
<p>Dang, well my study schedule sounds like it was quite different from some of yours. We get about 8 weeks off between classes and rotations. The vast majority of my class scheduled step I for 4 weeks after the end of classes. The rest of us (minus a few stragglers) took it at 5 weeks out. In my case, that turned out to be a mistake - I peaked at 4 weeks and think that last week of studying was a waste and actually detrimental to my score. I definitely wasn’t putting in 14 hours a day either haha - and unlike Shades, my study time per day went down towards the end, not up :). I can’t just sit in one place and stare at a book for that long like some of my classmates - I took a lot of breaks throughout the day 
But I wasn’t gunning for 250+ either; I’m well above the average for my chosen (moderately competitive) specialty, and thats all I care about. </p>
<p>In my class, out of the few people who failed, almost all were people that took basically the whole 8 weeks to study. On the other extreme, one of the first people in my class to take the exam (barely 3 weeks post end of classes) scored 265! (the lucky $<em>#!</em>er haha)</p>
<p>And again I ask , you people do this … why? lol</p>
<p>I sincerely hope y’all get what you want out of this career.</p>
<p>It is interesting to note how some things have changed in the residency selection process.
We did not study for our boards, we just took them. Even the most competitive residencies did not care what your scores were as long as they were in the top 1/4 or so.
I did research throughout my third year to the fall of my senior year to get three pubs and a chance at a ultra competitive specialty and residency spot. I put off my core rotations in Peds and Pathology to my fourth year to gain time for my elective research time. It is very helpful to have a well known Attending in your specialty push for you.</p>
<p>mjscal,</p>
<p>This has been happening at every level of admissions. My parents didn’t study for their SATs (which obviously I did for several months), and now there are even prep courses for the tests given to kids for entry into kindergarten or 1st grade at the top private schools! (thankfully I am old enough to have missed that boat)</p>
<p>Agreed, Brown. I wish every one could agree to NOT take SAT prep classes and NOT study for these tests like the olden days. Then everybody could relax and not waste weeks studying.</p>
<p>Are the STEP scores marked on a bell curve like SAT & MCAT?</p>
<p>Yes. Mean is around 222 with a std. dev of around 20.</p>
<p>So, to translate, all ya’ll med students took the SAT and scored pretty well, getting into good schools, etc. Then the pool narrowed to med school applicants, once again you had to score well above average to even get in.</p>
<p>Now you have gotten in, passed classes and clinicals, and still you are taking a standardized exam and half the successful med students will be below average and thereby simply not able to compete for certain specialties.</p>
<p>Talk about being the best of the best. Anyone who scores above average should be feeling pretty darn good about themselves.</p>
<p>And what happens to the guy who does horribly on the STEP 1? Is there a minimum passing score? And if you barely pass, then what?</p>
<p>Just curious who those people are and what happens to them after the years of time and money spent on med school.</p>
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<p>haha, reading through this thread I was just thinking that. There is no room for complacency for those who want to be the best of the best. You have to dominate the SATs, dominate the MCATs, dominate Step 1, etc, etc. </p>
<p>What is the point of being the best of the best though if you are getting paid the same amount as the guy who did just average on the SATs, average on the MCAT, and average on Step 1? (other than personal satisfaction that you dominated all those exams) ;)</p>
<p>No difference in terms of salary for the guy that went to andover prep school, harvard undergrad, harvard med. school, harvard residency and the guy who went to school and did all of his training at an average school (a disappointing truth because hard work/academic excellence are not always rewarded with higher compensation as it is in some other professions).</p>
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<p>You’ll still be a doctor. You will just have to become a psychiatrist or a pediatrician or a family doc. Unfortunately, if you barely pass, many specialties will be closed to you.</p>
<p>I laugh when I see all these wannabe premeds worried about competition in college or whether a school has an average GPA of 3.3 vs. 3.4. Competition is inherent in the process of becoming a physician. You will compete against progressively smarter people. Most doctors are Type A personalities because it takes a Type A personality to succeed in the system. Someone who stands on the sidelines, who is shy, who doesn’t take initiative, who complains about failure, who is passive doesn’t stand a chance.</p>
<p>Went through the list of radiology programs today one-by-one for the first time and picked out programs at every conceivable city I could live in. I grew up in Ohio, went to college in NY, and my parents are in CA so it’s mainly the academic programs in the big cities in those areas. Right now, I’m at 57 programs. Will probably trim some of the reach programs to get my list down to 40. For example, there’s no point for me to apply to Mass Gen AND Beth Israel AND Brigham or even any of the 3 since they’re all probably extreme reaches. But a BU or a Tufts is not out of the question. </p>
<p>I also need to choose 12 or so 1-year programs but that should be relatively easy as they will all be in the city I’m doing med school in or Northern California.</p>
<p>Was reading Iserson’s, and according to him, in the 2005 NRMP, 63% matched into their first choice, 15% into their second choice, 9% with their third choice. That’s 87% nationally that matched into their top 3 choices (I’m assuming this is defined according to how they ranked programs on their rank list). Hence, you can see the importance of getting interviews. You can’t rank any programs that you don’t interview at.</p>
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<p>Like NCG said, they’ll still become doctors. You need to fail Step I three times before you’re at risk of never being able to get a medical license. Reason for this is that most states have a requirement that you pass each of the USMLE steps with three tries each or less or you are disqualified from ever obtaining a license from that board. There are a few that allow unlimited attempts, as long as it’s within a certain timeframe (usually 7 years from Step 1 to Step 3).</p>
<p>Wow, didn’t see the ties to Ohio coming. Would you say which part of the Buckeye state? I have multiple ties to it is why I am asking.</p>
<p>Colleges,</p>
<p>There can be HUGE differences in salary based on specialty and location, both of which are determined by residency.</p>