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Long-time lurker looking for assessment. My STEP 1 score is quite low, at 214. I have excuses but nothing earth-shattering - I was taking care of my newborn child and was also a tired third-year clerk at the time I took the test. I am doing my best to study for STEP 2 to improve that score, but it is what it is.
As has been mentioned in several other SDN threads, for US seniors the score range of 211-220 corresponds to a 75-80% chance of matching into general surgery according to the published match outcomes. However, what I am not clear on is whether these low-scorers like myself are mostly matching into community programs that are not attached to academic centers. My guess is that most of them are. My goal is to go to a strong academic surgical center for residency, or at the very least, a community program in a city that also has an academic center where I can do my research years as a resident (because of my family, it's not going to work for me to do my general research research years in another city).
The rest of my application is I think generally strong. I have finished my third-year at a top 10 medical school and received honors in all clerkships. My evaluations have been strong, with the strongest in surgery. Currently, I have 4 publications in public health (infectious diseases) (1 first authorship) and 4 in health policy (3 first authorships). I have had 5 conference abstracts (1 first-author basic science). This year I am taking a gap year and received a competitive research fellowship for 1-year of research at a top 10 hospital with a cardiac transplant surgeon. Recently I submitted another first-author basic science abstract for a national conference. I will also be publishing a first-author translational research paper in a highly-cited neurosurgery research journal and the PI is the former department chair of neurosurgery and former medical school dean. My goal is to have 4 surgical letters - 1 from the senior neurosurgeon I just mentioned, 1 from a department head in thoracic surgery who mentored me during surgical clerkship, 1 from my current cardiothoracic transplant surgeon research mentor (who is also a former president of the main national organization), and a last one from my sub-internship experience in the future. Also, for what it's worth, I went to a top-ten for undergrad (although I know people don't really care about undergrad at this level anymore).
I am trying to figure out whether all of my strengths, in a best-case scenario, could offset such a low STEP 1 score if I want to attend a top-tier academic research program. I am looking (in no particular order) at: Mayo, Columbia, BWH, MGH, BI, Hopkins, UT Southwestern, Duke, Stanford, Northwestern, Penn, Yale, Cleveland Clinic, Emory, and Baylor.
In general, I know that I need to crush STEP 2 and do well on my Sub-internships, as well as continue to try to publish and submit abstracts. Other specific advice is greatly appreciated.
However, I would also like to have realistic expectations. Would anyone be willing to hazard a guess as to my chances at either a top-tier academic hospital or at least a strong community program affiliated with one?
As has been mentioned in several other SDN threads, for US seniors the score range of 211-220 corresponds to a 75-80% chance of matching into general surgery according to the published match outcomes. However, what I am not clear on is whether these low-scorers like myself are mostly matching into community programs that are not attached to academic centers. My guess is that most of them are. My goal is to go to a strong academic surgical center for residency, or at the very least, a community program in a city that also has an academic center where I can do my research years as a resident (because of my family, it's not going to work for me to do my general research research years in another city).
The rest of my application is I think generally strong. I have finished my third-year at a top 10 medical school and received honors in all clerkships. My evaluations have been strong, with the strongest in surgery. Currently, I have 4 publications in public health (infectious diseases) (1 first authorship) and 4 in health policy (3 first authorships). I have had 5 conference abstracts (1 first-author basic science). This year I am taking a gap year and received a competitive research fellowship for 1-year of research at a top 10 hospital with a cardiac transplant surgeon. Recently I submitted another first-author basic science abstract for a national conference. I will also be publishing a first-author translational research paper in a highly-cited neurosurgery research journal and the PI is the former department chair of neurosurgery and former medical school dean. My goal is to have 4 surgical letters - 1 from the senior neurosurgeon I just mentioned, 1 from a department head in thoracic surgery who mentored me during surgical clerkship, 1 from my current cardiothoracic transplant surgeon research mentor (who is also a former president of the main national organization), and a last one from my sub-internship experience in the future. Also, for what it's worth, I went to a top-ten for undergrad (although I know people don't really care about undergrad at this level anymore).
I am trying to figure out whether all of my strengths, in a best-case scenario, could offset such a low STEP 1 score if I want to attend a top-tier academic research program. I am looking (in no particular order) at: Mayo, Columbia, BWH, MGH, BI, Hopkins, UT Southwestern, Duke, Stanford, Northwestern, Penn, Yale, Cleveland Clinic, Emory, and Baylor.
In general, I know that I need to crush STEP 2 and do well on my Sub-internships, as well as continue to try to publish and submit abstracts. Other specific advice is greatly appreciated.
However, I would also like to have realistic expectations. Would anyone be willing to hazard a guess as to my chances at either a top-tier academic hospital or at least a strong community program affiliated with one?