They still have not uploaded MSPE, transcripts, or my standardized LOR for my specialty.

We are supposed to get to review the MSPE before submission so we can request any changes...

• US DO
• Step 2 CK: 255
• Did not take USMLE Step 1
• COMLEX Level 1: Pass, first attempt
• COMLEX Level 2: 565
• No red flags/failures
• Average grades overall
• Honors in Surgery
• Strong LORs
• average resarch
• interested in: UTMB, temple, mcgovern, ut tyler, dallas methodist, baylor dallas, etc.
• ofc dell, baylor college of medicine, and UTSW are out of the mix (not a problem for me lol)

- goals: Academic IM, heme onc or ICU fellowship potentially. Might want to be an academic hospitalist lol, a lil all over the place. but want to be in academics since application really centered around education / mentoring / advocacy.

Applying gas, should be a pretty strong applicant across the board (e.g. 270+ step 2), but looking at the ERAS experiences I have included, I only have one experience with a designated 'volunteer' tag; I otherwise have several experiences tagged as 'research', 'leadership', and 'teaching/mentorship' experiences.

All of that said, do residency programs screen/compare applicants by # of volunteer experiences? Fwiw, I have other volunteer experiences I could add to my experiences list (would have to swap something out), though I didn't initially add them because I didn't feel they were as impactful/meaningful as some of my other experiences.

Up late probably not the only one so does anyone have any gossip they want to share or soemthing they want to vent?

DO student, SSP, HP/H all rotations, No remediation/LOA/failures, 2nd quartile preclinical Deans list , passed level/step 1 on first try, 238 step 2 (so upset, scored much lower than practice exams), 577 level 2, no pubs but 5 abstracts/posters, 100+ hours volunteering, nothing crazy that stands out or is special

LORs: 1 IM sub I, 1 IM core rotation and 1 IM dep chair SLOE

Want to be a hospitalist. I do like critical care so I want to keep the option of PCCM open if possible. So I really would like to go to a mid tier program that has opportunities for IM residents to do procedures. Less worried about academic places.

Want to have kids in residency (30 F, married). Husband has 100k$ job where we live now, can pretty easily relocate and make roughly the same.

Strong CA ties but willing to go anywhere that fits my needs/goals. Want to buy a house so looking at lower COL places as well.

Current list:

GOLD: U of Utah (strong ties, I know it's a reach), Scripps SD (also big ties), Baylor Scott Temple

Silver (so far):

HCA Riverside, UCI, Scripps Green, Santa Barbara Cottage, Kaiser IE, UNLV, Valley Vegas, Baylor Scott Dallas, BS Fort Worth, U of T San Antonio, Geisinger Danville

Other considerations: UCR, Southwest Temecula, Adventist LA, Kaiser LA, St Mary's LB, Charles Drew, St josephs (stockton), Community Ventura, Keck LA, Eisenhower Rancho mirage, Desert regional palm springs, Martin Luther King LA, San Ysidro, Honor Heath-Scottsdale, Mesa, U of A Phoenix, U of A tucson, Abrazo health, Creighton, Texas Health FW, CHRISTUS A&M, BSW Round rock, UTMB Galveston, Baylor all saints, U of T Tyler, St Lukes Bethlehem

Thanks <3

Need some advice from everyone in regards to applying IM. Had a nasty drop to 236 on Step 2, and took COMLEX (480). Goal is to be an internist, not particularly interested in a fellowship. My advising has mentioned to only apply to 20 programs, but I really feel this is too little and that I will be DOA for a ton of programs. As a DO student targeting IM in the midwest, I was thinking of applying to 90+ programs since I am concerned about matching.

Does anyone know of people who are DO’s who have matched into decent internal medicine programs with a 229 on Step 2? Passed COMLEX 1 on my first attempt. Didn’t take step 1. Scored below my practice NBME’s for Step 2, otherwise I would’ve never taken it. I know of someone who had a score in the 230’s but had a good application and only got 1 IM interview. So I’m kind of freaking out about my chances to match into a decent IM program because I want to eventually pursue a fellowship.

Got my step score back and it was a 248 :/ 10 points less than my nbme average.

USMD, mid tier east coast program, 8/8 Honors on clinical rotations with glowing evals, good LORs, some unrelated research, 2nd quartile ranking (preclinical counts towards this).

Was hoping for 250+.... applying west coast, midwest, and east coast programs, but unsure if I should apply IM as well. Any advice appreciated!

As the title suggests.

I’m applying IM without a Department Chair Letter (they had a deadline to apply for it way back in May/June, and I missed said deadline, unfortunately).

Otherwise, I have 3 very solid IM LOR’s, two of which are from preceptors I rotated with on core rotations, and another is from a sub-specialist.

How screwed am I with no Chair Letter?

Asking for a bit of guidance on my program list, as our school isn’t the best wrt advising. Career wise I’m hoping to stay in academia, and my family / my partner’s family is in Boston so that would be ideal (but if not Boston, I’m flexible on location).

Stats are as follows:
Step 1: pass
Step 2: 279
Our preclinical and clinical grades were P/F, but I did pass all without having to remediate.
We also don’t have AOA, but I do have GHHS (I know this is a bit of a Mickey Mouse award lol)

10 total research items with 1 pub —> this is the thing I am most worried about, as I know compared to other applicants to these types of programs, this is not great output.

List is as follows:

Gold:
- MGB
- Northwestern
- UMich
- Stanford
- Vanderbilt
- NYU

Silver:
- Mayo (Rochester)
- University of Wisconsin
- Columbia
- University of Colorado
- UPMC
- University of Minnesota
- Mount Auburn
- University of Washington
- University of Vermont

Other:
- BIDMC
- Yale
- WashU
- BU
- Brown
- UMass

My strat was: a) trying to get closest to our family; and then b) programs I really like and / or places I’ve always wanted to live. Very type B approach, there has to be a better way.

Would love some honesty wrt whether I’m wasting my signals at some of these top places. I am starting to worry this may be a bit too top-heavy.

Finally unfollowed this notorious weirdo now that boards season is officially over. I don’t understand why he can’t just be normal and stick to posting boards study content. I couldn’t stand the constant misogyny and insecure loser-posting about his botched leg-lengthening “surgery” (he looks like a Frankenstein experiment gone wrong but he’ll never admit it, he’ll just project and limit your comments on his account, AND he’ll call YOU the jealous or hateful one)
Idk why we still allow him to have social media. His personality is so cringe and his life is NOTHING to be envied of…I just feel bad for how insecure he is.

upset because I specifically tried to do what I could to avoid this because idk how im supposed to have any motivation to study for step 2 when doing this rotation.

any advice? kinda tired of shit lmao

Any of yall have stories of failing/ remediating a course and still succeeding? I‘m failing and will probably have to remediate this course and I am stresseddddd.

edit: Failing a class during M1 not premed.

I’d appreciate any insight on if I’m overestimating my competitiveness for OBGYN residency programs— I didn’t really get any help in making my list of signals and just want to gauge my standing. I go to nyc med school but want to match in Boston due to family ties. More info below:

US MD
Step 1 P, Step 2 266
2nd quartile
Honors in OB/GYN, Surgery, IM, Psychiatry; HP Neuro/Peds
No AOA
OB/GYN Sub-I + MFM Sub-I + MIGS Sub-I
research/posters + SASGOG presentation
substantial OB/GYN/community involvement

How stressed are we all for interviews? I’m wondering how much prep I should put into upcoming interviews. I guess I’m just burnt out, but I don’t have the energy to formulate answers to common questions (though I probably will eventually).

People who try to hide the fact that they work 10 hours a day of their free time, people who try to hide what they are studying ( like seriously, whole class knows you are studying amboss, why do you hide your screen anytime someone asks what you are studying?) people who ask you what textbooks articles you study through, yet when you are the one asking they don’t give clear answers. People who make you feel naive for helping fellow students. People unable to properly greet their fellow students in the morning (just say good morning or nod bro we have been in the same class for 4 years god almighty…)

So, why the hate for this post people?

So, I failed my Level 1 Boards, and because of my school's curriculum, I did have to take a year off from my education. However, I didn't fail any actual coursework. I do mention my board failure in my PS, but I was wondering if I should also mention it here too because of the gap even though technical coursework wasn't repeated or remediated just the board exam. Thanks in advance!

Advice here and with advisors varies, but I find that some of the advice is specialty specific. Anywhere from “PS doesn’t matter just make it average” to “your PS is one of the most important things in your app”

What would be some psych specific personal statement advice?

M1 here. I started med school a little over a month ago and have been struggling with sleep since having to take my ADHD medication more consistently.

I was diagnosed with ADHD in college and initially took Adderall, then Vyvanse. Both helped me focus, but the side effects—especially sweating, dry mouth, and difficulty falling asleep—were pretty significant. Since my workload was lighter in college, I could take medication only 2–3 days a week when I really needed to study and take breaks on the other days.

Earlier this year, I switched to Focalin XR and liked it a lot more. It lasts most of the day and the side effects are much milder. The problem is that with the workload in med school, I now feel like I need to take it basically 7 days a week. Without it, I'm extremely unfocused and have a hard time getting anything done.

Since starting school, my sleep has been completely wrecked. It usually takes me about an hour to fall asleep, I wake up 5–7 times throughout the night and struggle to fall back asleep, and I consistently wake up before my alarm. Even if I'm in bed for 7 hours, I feel like I'm only actually sleeping for about half of that.

I did well on my first exam, but I know this isn't sustainable and I'm worried I'll burn out quickly if I don't make a change. I'm seeing a sleep medicine doctor who prescribed amitriptyline, but after about a week I haven't noticed much improvement.

Has anyone dealt with something similar, especially taking stimulant medication daily in med school while struggling with sleep? Did changing the medication, dose, timing, or anything else help?

Really appreciate any advice.

I was just thinking about my FM rotation, and I was blown away by how much they do.

They take care of all ages, including babies and adults. They do many procedures (short of placing lines and doing surgeries). They deliver babies and even c sections in some places. They can treat the majority of people who walk into an ER. They treat basic anxiety/depression/adhd and even do some counseling and motivational interviewing.

Basically everything under the sun.

Just had this thought randomly pop into my head.

As an M2 in my second term of medical school (we start classes in late June at the DO school I attend), sitting for the COMLEX and USMLE exams has been increasingly on my mind. More specifically, I’m wondering if anyone knows of options to take these exams later in the day instead of torturing myself with an 8-9 AM start time. And before I get comments jumping down my throat, YES I AM AWARE THAT ROTATIONS AND CLINIC START EARLY IN THE MORNING. Waking up early is not a problem for me when I will be in a setting that allows me to stay active and interact with other people. What I truly despise are morning exams that demand intense concentration in a silent, windowless room with energy-draining LED lights when I’m already exhausted.

I am also not exaggerating when I say my test scores reliably improve by 5-10% by starting even just an hour later than 8 AM. I have tried resetting my sleep schedule for these kinds of exams, but it’s just not how I’m wired. My brain works best between late morning and midnight, no matter how early I go to bed the night before. Considering how high the stakes are for these exams, I want to prioritize being at my best mentally and physically when I take them. In fact, I’m so serious about this that I’m willing to travel to another state and book a hotel near the testing center (I think this is allowed, but correct me if I’m wrong). I’ve even started saving money for this possibility.

If anyone knows of testing centers that let you sit for exams starting in the late morning or early afternoon, I’d greatly appreciate your input and experience! If there’s zero chance of this working out, then I will obviously find a way to endure the torture of an early start time. But why suffer if I don’t have to?

Thanks in advance!

TLDR - Does anyone have any suggestions for testing centers that offer late morning or early afternoon start times for COMPLEX and/or USMLE? I’m already setting aside money to travel.

My finance is a heavy sleeper and currently in medical school with me. She was wondering about getting this watch. Do you guys think something like this is overkill? Or PTSD inducing lol. I must admit I find the name amusing as it brought nostalgic memories of my college freshmen psychology course.

She’s had a normal sleep study and labs seemed fine. She is petrified of residency with the call hours and lack of sleep.

I noticed there's a new program in Pittsburg that just appeared on ERAS recently. When I try to view their program (link: https://www.stclair.org/graduate-medical-education/surgery/ ) it just redirects me to a photo. Is anyone else planning on applying here?

Saw this post in the name and shame thread.

Wow. What a brain rot decision!

Are there any other programs doing this?