MODERATOR’S NOTE: No bickering allowed. Two posts deleted.
to be honest, i don’t think it’s entirely good news. Because many BS/MD programs (although not all) end up in mid to low-tier med schools, it will be significantly more difficult for those graduating from said mid to low-tier schools to place into competitive specialties.
Before, even those at lower-tier schools who aced the Step 1 with a 265+ could match significantly better than those with lower Step 1 scores at T20 med schools.
Yet because the Step 1 is P/F now (and therefore removes an objective measure of success from residency placement), the ranking of the medical school you go to matters even more. Furthermore, this creates even more pressure for pre-meds to get into better medical schools for residencies into competitive specialties–making the already grueling pre-med process even worse.
however, what could also result is Step 1 will be largely ignored, and students will be expected to take 1-2 months off early in the 4th year to study exhaustively for Step 2 CK.
Congratulations @live2give !
And thanks for sharing your details!
So only one announcement of acceptance to PMM so far on this forum?
It is certainly half glass full situation, and focus will be Step 2 CK, not CS as that is P/F as well, for residency purpose. Also think this may alleviate the value of applicants who are more involved with humanitarian services. It is certainly interesting to see how this one would be played out in 3-4 years from now.
My 2 cents on USMLE Step 1 change to pass/fail
- with an average of >80 applications per student for residency programs, how will program directors sift through applications? Step 1 provided an objective score. Now what? Step 2CK?
- Step 2CK will become important and more residency programs will require it
- Will likely increase the reliance on "prestige" factor. Note - many first year courses in many medical schools already graded P/F
- will impact DOs and International graduates - especially graduates from Caribbean schools
- God knows what other "mess" this change will create
Changing USMLE Step 1 to P/F is nothing but dumbing down the education standards. It’s like giving participation medals to kids in sports 
Now it comes to down to ECs (especially serving so called underserved) and LORs and may be school prestige (Oh no, we can’t talk about rankings here LOL) I am also noticing lot of top research focused public schools (like UCSF) valuing research less and focusing more on serving underserved even though there are other public medical schools which focus on different aspects of medicine!
Re: USMLE Step 1
Tend to agree with @srk2017 - it feels like some aspects have been dumbed down.
Residency directors will need some “metric” to differentiate candidates.
Will be curious to see what other change this triggers?
@WayOutWestMom Isn’t it affects any medical school graduate? The impact is not isolated to BS/MD alone, even regular MD and DO students.
What are the compelling reasons for this change when 94% of PD state Step 1 score is used?
They want students to spend less time on standardized tests and more time on “learning”! I wonder how they measure that.
Don’t bother asking me questions, have stopped reading posts by certain individuals for a while now.
Sounds like a good motive, but as says devil is in details. As more details will be known, hopefully picture get much clearer for everyone’s sake.
No more belief in free expression ! Certain habits are healthy for sure!
Step 1 pass fail
Will definitely effect all traditional and BS MD folks. no more scores to show. what else…More pressure to maintain EC’s. Being In Top schools In some way may help with preference in their and other T20 residency programs Proximity and access
Traditional route folks which right now Are at average 1 to 2 years Gap years may change to 2 to 3 years. Leave it to Experts to comment
Agree with @NoviceDad —Definitely hard for international and non US MD’s. I feel some smart extraordinary one from AIIMS May still land in good programs seen some at Hopkins and may continue with the Brand name.
How does it impact gap years? whatever you did before medical school may not matter once you are in medical school when applying for residencies.
Most Traditional route students will try to go to ranked med schools which would require gap years
Re: USLME exams step 1, 2 and 3
Step 1 assesses whether you understand and can apply important concepts of the sciences basic to the practice of medicine, with special emphasis on principles and mechanisms underlying health, disease, and modes of therapy. Step 1 ensures mastery of not only the sciences that provide a foundation for the safe and competent practice of medicine in the present, but also the scientific principles required for maintenance of competence through lifelong learning. Step 1 is constructed according to an integrated content outline that organizes basic science material along two dimensions: system and process.
Step 2 CK assesses an examinee’s ability to apply medical knowledge, skills, and understanding of clinical science essential for the provision of patient care under supervision and includes emphasis on health promotion and disease prevention. Step 2 CK ensures that due attention is devoted to principles of clinical sciences and basic patient-centered skills that provide the foundation for the safe and competent practice of medicine under supervision.
Step 3 assesses whether you can apply medical knowledge and understanding of biomedical and clinical science essential for the unsupervised practice of medicine, with emphasis on patient management in ambulatory settings. It is the final examination in the USMLE sequence leading to a license to practice medicine without supervision.
Certainly Step 2 and 3 are critical for residency and final licensing to practice in US. PDs will devise some objective measures to allocate residencies based on Step 2 and medical school performance. In a way, too much dependence on one score (USLME step 1 ) will be removed in future.
ok, you are talking about getting into medical school. There are only couple of T20 BSMD programs so this hurts BSMDs more. Also given that most of them are accelerated programs they will have less time for ECs.
MODERATOR’S NOTE:
Per forum rules, with which all users agreed when registering, "Our forum is expected to be a friendly and welcoming place, and one in which members can post without their motives, intelligence, or other personal characteristics being questioned by others. "
@MaineLonghorn 's earlier request to knock off the snark was not meant to be constued as optional - it’s not. I have deleted several posts since her very recent note and warned the violators. Please play nice.
Yes no short cuts. Have seen folks taking gap years after MD to get into top residency programs.
I know couple of 6 yr/7 yr BSMD candidates taking gap years to strengthen their app for residency. That’s why I say don’t rush to BSMD thinking that you will save time.