Hi all, would appreciate some genuine advice. App cycle coming up:
4th year MD - Upper mid-tier in SE
Step 1 250
Step 2 243 (sigh, big discrepancy from the practice test scores)
Clerkship Grades: H in IM; mix of H/HP in other clerkships
Sub-I: H
No AOA
No class rank
Research: 1-2 non-first author paper(s), 4 abstracts, 3 case reports, 1 book chapter, three research projects with no timely pubs.
ECs: leadership and volunteering positions
It would be a dream come true to match anywhere in the top 40-50 programs in the East Coast.
My weakness are a weaker Step 2CK, no AOA, not top 20 medical school, and maybe solid but not great research.
What are some of my targets? My list so far is (applying East Coast or Chicago for personal reasons):
High reach: UPenn, JHH, MGH, BWH, Columbia, Duke
Reach: Cornell, NYU, BIDMC, Vandy, Emory, UNC, Pitt, Mount Sinai, UChicago, Northwestern, Yale
Target (and a few safeties): TJ, Wake, BU, Tufts, Montefiore, Brown, OHSU, Rush, MUSC, UAB, Darthmouth, UMass, Lahey, GW, Georgetown, U Maryland.
Does this list look alright or do I need to recalibrate expectations? Any others I should be thinking about? Worth tossing an app to any of the top 10 at all? Thoughts appreciated.
@gutonc