MD How does this failure affect residency prospects?

[blueocean505]

*please don't quote* Unfortunately, I failed a med school exam by one point in my first year and this will show up on the transcript (even with a successful retake). I don't know what specialty I want yet, but does this mean that now I can't apply to certain specialities? Am I completely out of the running for the competitive fields? Please advise

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[IMGASMD]

Define competitive fields.

 

[blueocean505]

Define competitive fields.

I guess ophtho, derm, anesthesiology...basically the notorious ones. Since it's first year, idk what I wanted to do but it sucks that now I might be barred from certain fields I might have wanted to pursue.

 

[IMGASMD]

I think derm, optho, ortho, neuro sx, plastic, maybe ENT are out.....

Anesthesiology, radiology still in play. Any IM fellowships are still in.

Just observational/anecdotal gut feelings.

But if you don’t have an sort of advisor for the ones I listed, you’re probably already behind the eight ball a little bit. There is also lots of self selection due to precisely what you brought up. Something happened between M1-4.

Good luck.

 

[Chelsea FC]

Alot of people fail an exam in med school. I think the most important question is not how this will affect your residency chances but how you will not make this happen again and affect your chances of earning your MD.

 

[blueocean505]

I think derm, optho, ortho, neuro sx, plastic, maybe ENT are out.....

Anesthesiology, radiology still in play. Any IM fellowships are still in.

Just observational/anecdotal gut feelings.

But if you don’t have an sort of advisor for the ones I listed, you’re probably already behind the eight ball a little bit. There is also lots of self selection due to precisely what you brought up. Something happened between M1-4.

Good luck.

Anesthesiology is an average competitiveness field.

It shouldn't ruin your chances if this is an isolated blip. You have plenty of time to show that you have improved. I'm sure there are some programs in each field that may hold it against you simply because there are so many people with perfect applications, but I think you'll be fine matching somewhere. No matter what you apply for, you should prepare a stock explanation for when interviewers ask what happened.

You are only a M1. Do well on Step, do some research, do well on rotations, and do well on away rotations (which are very important for competitive fields) and you will be fine. I have a friend who matched a competitive field with a F on his transcript from the M1 year end clinical skills exam. Everything else in his application was good and he even interviewed at top programs.

Alot of people fail an exam in med school. I think the most important question is not how this will affect your residency chances but how you will not make this happen again and affect your chances of earning your MD.

Thanks for the input. I'm still a bit confused on how to proceed...if I wanted to do derm, does this mean it would futile to pursue anything derm-related further in medical school? Should I basically give up on those type of specialities now?

@Pepe18 would you mind sharing what field your friend matched into?

 

[bananafish94]

No specialties are out because of an isolated failure in pre-clinical years. Lots of people fail pre-clinical exams. The only data point PDs really care about from pre-clinical is your Step 1 score. It's possible that this will indirectly affect the overall strength of your application if it happens to significantly lower your class rank or affect AOA or anything like that, but that stuff is not the meat of your application anyway. The bulk of what competitive fields care about is your board scores, clinical performance, research, and LORs. As long as all of that is still solid you should be fine. The most important thing right now is to identify why you failed and how you can improve going forward!

 

[Chelsea FC]

But I will echo one more time, you are asking the wrong questions. Even though a lot of people fail an exam in medical school the question shouldn't be if I can match derm, the question should be if I can get my **** together to not make it again.

 

[longhaul3]

Thanks for the input. I'm still a bit confused on how to proceed...if I wanted to do derm, does this mean it would futile to pursue anything derm-related further in medical school? Should I basically give up on those type of specialities now?

@Pepe18 would you mind sharing what field your friend matched into?

This is not a deal-breaker for any field, I don't think. I'm in one of the most competitive and it wouldn't be a big deal if the rest of your application ends up looking as good as everyone else's. If you need an answer about derm before jumping in with both feet, ask someone in your home derm department.

The problem is it may not bode well for your chances of putting together that knockout application, since most people who really do well on Step 1 and crush it in med school are not the ones failing pre-clinical exams. I know there is a lot of variability in exams around the country, though, so it happens.

 

[GoSpursGo]

I'll just echo what everyone else is saying, this doesn't kill you by any means for any specialty. But realistically you need to recognize 2 things: 1) Whether you failed by 1 point or passed by 1 point, the bottom line is it seems like you're not at the level that would be necessary to "crush" step 1 and be competitive for some of these specialties you're mentioning, so you need to figure out what isn't working and fix it; 2) if you really think you may be interested in one of these competitive fields, you need to start getting exposure and mentors in those fields NOW so that you can start building that research resume that is also a requirement.

 

[ciestar]

Wait... you failed an exam and your school reports this? Or did you fail and exam, and as a result failed the course?

I failed a lot of exams and nobody has any real record of that. How mean

 

[Mass Effect]

Wait... you failed an exam and your school reports this? Or did you fail and exam, and as a result failed the course?

I failed a lot of exams and nobody has any real record of that. How mean

I mean, it's on your med school transcript. Isn't that a required part of your ERAS application?

 

[longhaul3]

I mean, it's on your med school transcript. Isn't that a required part of your ERAS application?

My med school didn't report any individual exam results. Just p/f for the course for the semester, like anatomy: p, pathophysiology: p, doctoring: p.

 

[Mass Effect]

My med school didn't report any individual exam results. Just p/f for the course for the semester, like anatomy: p, pathophysiology: p, doctoring: p.

Sorry, missed that this was an exam. I thought the OP said course.

 

[blueocean505]

Wait... you failed an exam and your school reports this? Or did you fail and exam, and as a result failed the course?

I failed a lot of exams and nobody has any real record of that. How mean

I mean, it's on your med school transcript. Isn't that a required part of your ERAS application?

My med school didn't report any individual exam results. Just p/f for the course for the semester, like anatomy: p, pathophysiology: p, doctoring: p.

Sorry, missed that this was an exam. I thought the OP said course.

Unfortunately, in my school if we fail an exam, we fail the whole block and if anyone fails two things in a semester, they lose a year

 

[ciestar]

I mean, it's on your med school transcript. Isn't that a required part of your ERAS application?

Individual exams? No. Despite my exam failings, I never failed a course so yeah, nobody will know.

 

[ciestar]

Unfortunately, in my school if we fail an exam, we fail the whole block and if anyone fails two things in a semester, they lose a year

Wow! God i would have been screwed lol
We had a lot of exams, though. An exam for each course we studied. My school has since changed the format/curriculum to incorporate less exams, but, there are still multiple exams to make up for that.

 

[blueocean505]

Wow! God i would have been screwed lol
We had a lot of exams, though. An exam for each course we studied. My school has since changed the format/curriculum to incorporate less exams, but, there are still multiple exams to make up for that.

We have the same thing, an exam for each course and sometimes even multiple exams for each course. But even if you fail one, the rest don't matter anymore. It really sucks

 

[ciestar]

We have the same thing, an exam for each course and sometimes even multiple exams for each course. But even if you fail one, the rest don't matter anymore. It really sucks

Yeah that’s rough. Im sorry

 

[FindersFee5]

This is not a deal-breaker for any field, I don't think. I'm in one of the most competitive and it wouldn't be a big deal if the rest of your application ends up looking as good as everyone else's. If you need an answer about derm before jumping in with both feet, ask someone in your home derm department.

The problem is it may not bode well for your chances of putting together that knockout application, since most people who really do well on Step 1 and crush it in med school are not the ones failing pre-clinical exams. I know there is a lot of variability in exams around the country, though, so it happens.

I'll just echo what everyone else is saying, this doesn't kill you by any means for any specialty. But realistically you need to recognize 2 things: 1) Whether you failed by 1 point or passed by 1 point, the bottom line is it seems like you're not at the level that would be necessary to "crush" step 1 and be competitive for some of these specialties you're mentioning, so you need to figure out what isn't working and fix it; 2) if you really think you may be interested in one of these competitive fields, you need to start getting exposure and mentors in those fields NOW so that you can start building that research resume that is also a requirement.

Okay, I've seen this come up a couple times and while it's maybe true in general, there are many situations where it's not. I failed one of my preclinical microbiology exams. One of my friends with a very good step score failed an early anatomy test. You can study the wrong thing, have some life event, or just an off day even. **** happens. One preclinical failure does not mean you're going to do poorly on step 1.

 

[IMGASMD]

Most people apply to derm have pristine applications. Most people who failed any exams, do not. Most people who planned for derm usually start the process early on. I am not a dermatologist, nor pretend to understand their application process. It certainly is “possible” to get into derm; albeit unlikely.

 

[Deecee2DO]

I guess ophtho, derm, anesthesiology...basically the notorious ones. Since it's first year, idk what I wanted to do but it sucks that now I might be barred from certain fields I might have wanted to pursue.

Anesthesia is not competitive at all. Ophtho and derm are. Work hard and dont look back

 

[KeikoTanaka]

This one failure means nothing because your GPA and rank will be very low on the long list of things specialties take into consideration. But, just remember, that there are plenty of medical students out there who also want to do Derm, Ophtho, Ortho, and have not had any class or exam failures.

Not to throw shade at you, but your competition pool is a bunch of people who are excelling at rapid rates, know how to study, and do not fail.

If you want to be there, you need to stop worrying about what specialties you CANNOT do, and focus more on WHAT YOU CAN DO to alter your studying to not let this happen again.

 

[GoSpursGo]

Okay, I've seen this come up a couple times and while it's maybe true in general, there are many situations where it's not. I failed one of my preclinical microbiology exams. One of my friends with a very good step score failed an early anatomy test. You can study the wrong thing, have some life event, or just an off day even. **** happens. One preclinical failure does not mean you're going to do poorly on step 1.

I did not say that. I said he needs to figure out what went wrong and fix it.

 

[Goro]

*please don't quote* Unfortunately, I failed a med school exam by one point in my first year and this will show up on the transcript (even with a successful retake). I don't know what specialty I want yet, but does this mean that now I can't apply to certain specialities? Am I completely out of the running for the competitive fields? Please advise

Is this an American med school??? What kind of course has a single exam on a transcript??????

 

[blueocean505]

Is this an American med school??? What kind of course has a single exam on a transcript??????

Yes. I don't think they put the single exam on the transcript, but they put a mark that shows we failed the course overall. Basically, if we fail a single exam, we fail the whole block. So if my anatomy course has 3 exams and students fail even one of those by a point, then they're basically screwed.

 

[blueocean505]

This one failure means nothing because your GPA and rank will be very low on the long list of things specialties take into consideration. But, just remember, that there are plenty of medical students out there who also want to do Derm, Ophtho, Ortho, and have not had any class or exam failures.

Not to throw shade at you, but your competition pool is a bunch of people who are excelling at rapid rates, know how to study, and do not fail.

If you want to be there, you need to stop worrying about what specialties you CANNOT do, and focus more on WHAT YOU CAN DO to alter your studying to not let this happen again.

Thanks for lmk, I will definitely be reviewing my study habits. One thing though...my school does not calculate GPA or rank students in pre-clinical years. AOA selection is also based on 3rd/4th years. Does this make anything better for me?

 

[Goro]

Yes. I don't think they put the single exam on the transcript, but they put a mark that shows we failed the course overall. Basically, if we fail a single exam, we fail the whole block. So if my anatomy course has 3 exams and students fail even one of those by a point, then they're basically screwed.

So your exams are lethal??? What penal colony is this????

Serious...pm me. I don't know if I can recommend a school like this!

 

[blueocean505]

So your exams are lethal??? What penal colony is this????

Yeah I guess so I thought this was how all med schools functioned. But now it looks like other schools aren't as harsh

 

[Goro]

Yeah I guess so I thought this was how all med schools functioned. But now it looks like other schools aren't as harsh

This is an outlier of outliers. Do pm me.

 

[deleted978973]

Like, you failed one exam? Not a course, just a single exam... Why would they care? If it's not a course or board failure then they won't. How would they even know?

 

[ciestar]

Yeah I guess so I thought this was how all med schools functioned. But now it looks like other schools aren't as harsh

Not even close. Thankfully.

 

[Dr. Foresight]

So your exams are lethal??? What penal colony is this????

Serious...pm me. I don't know if I can recommend a school like this!

Ya that's crazy. So in your first test of med school, one where students are still trying to get the hang of it, they are willing to derail many students careers? That's awful.

 

[blueocean505]

Like, you failed one exam? Not a course, just a single exam... Why would they care? If it's not a course or board failure then they won't. How would they even know?

I mean at my school if we fail an exam, we fail the course so I guess they would care

 

[blueocean505]

Ya that's crazy. So in your first test of med school, one where students are still trying to get the hang of it, they are willing to derail many students careers? That's awful.

This happened to someone in my class. It kind of impacted their decision to go into primary care instead of surgery

 

[Oso]

Unfortunately, in my school if we fail an exam, we fail the whole block and if anyone fails two things in a semester, they lose a year

What the ****?

That is garbage.