things aren't looking so rosy

[mashnuts]

So I spoke with my academic dean today regarding planning for 4th year. She wasn't trying to be mean but bluntly put it that I'm just an average applicant at best in the field of dermatology. (Which doesn't shock me considering how competitive derm is but disheartened me a little)

I'm not interested in taking a year off to bolster my application package as I'm already a bit older than most of my classmates and I really don't want to be left clutching an empty envelope on Match Day so I'm left with a dilemma.

Time to ditch the derm dream?

What do you think? (My dean was enthusiastically telling me that I'd be a competitive applicant for just about any other field and was trying to sell me on radiology. I'm more inclined to head towards pathology though if it's time to move on to another target)

Stats:
Grades = Mostly honors 1st and 2nd year, high passes 3rd year (still hoping to pick up that 1st honors grade in the 3rd year)
Step 1 = 250
Research exp = summer between 1st and 2nd year and sporadically during 2nd year. No publications.
AOA = school doesn't offer an AOA designation.

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[drvechman]

Don't listen to your dean! Your stats are very good. Your board score will pass any cut-off. Just go for it if you want it. This world is full of losers constantly chanting their battle cry: "No"

 

[Long Dong]

I agree with the guy above don't listen to them. Around this time in my third year advisors from my school were telling me the same thing. To take a year off for research. My parents said hell no you got to get out from under our support. I had similar stats also with no pubs, but it is not to late. I got off 2 submissions by the begining of 4th year and they eventually became accepted for pub right before the rank list was due and I took step 2 keeping my boards in the 250s. I emailed my number 1 this updated info and matched there so don't let the nay sayers keep you down, esp those on the dermboard. Only about 70 people had above 250 last year who applied to derm, so 250 is still a great score. I know pleanty of people with 230-240s who matched. Just get the rest of your app together via pubs/rubing elbows, get a similiar score on step 2 to show that your step1 was not a fluke and you should be good to go. Take that year off if you don't match the first time around.

 

[abefromann]

Yeah, Duc is right. Your guidance counselor is frankly doing you a disservice to tell you to drop derm with a Step1 and grades like that. Obviously there are not guarantees. If I were you I'd apply to derm and rads or path together. Why would you want to do path over rads? Because of dermpath?

 

[TacoGirl]

I have to admit that this thread makes me uneasy. A person with a 250 is told she/he is average? I'm in the same boat...258/aoa/nopubs....and I felt at least slightly above average. Isn't the average derm person's step 1 240 anyway? I think they hype up derm to be some specialty that only Jesus himself could get into.

 

[Thaitanium]

If you want to do path, make sure you don't mind giving up patient contact. Yes, you can do dermpath via path. However, you will never see a patient in a clinic ever again, except for FNAs. Are you willing to look at slides all day long everyday. To some, this can drive ppl crazy. Did you do a pathology elective?

Well, whatever you choose, good luck.

 

[abefromann]

A good half of derm candidates use path as a backup because of dermpath and similar hours. Definitely do a pathology rotation before going that route. I would say radiology is even more appealing to a derm candidate because frankly it's a bit flashier (no offense to pathology) and it's a totally visual field with the option for great procedures.

 

[mashnuts]

Thanks for all the responses guys!

I went to speak with the chairperson yesterday (our PD is different from our chairperson. I'm scheduled to speak with him next week to get his opinion) just to see if I could get a different view. She's known to be more of an optimist so while I certainly appreciate her advice, I do have to be careful about getting too happy.

As for as a backup plan, I'm currently doing my medicine rotation now and have been spending a lot more time recently in the reading room. It's actually a lot more interesting than I had originally anticipated. Maybe I will have to give radiology a second look if this derm plan doesn't pan out.

Anyway, the chairperson noted that I would be an average to slightly above average candidate. She noted my Step 1 score as being excellent and my research experience as excellent. (Again, this is biased because I did the summer + 1yr research with her )

She also noted that part of my dean's agenda may be to preserve the school's match list as someone else suggested. Our school had a rather poor match rate last year in terms of getting students into dermatology.

She didn't seemed concerned about the lack of publications which was kind of odd. She mentioned that taking a year off and picking up some publications would greatly boost my chances but stated that my current application should be strong enough to warrant not taking another year off. (Which was really nice to hear. Whether or not she's being overly optimistic is something I'll have to consider and maybe run by the PD. Or you guys!)

Because my school isn't a high ranking one, she did urge me to do an away at a "lower-powered", local institution as opposed to an extremely prestigious institution. (Being a West Coast resident, I was interested in heading out East for residency but have been discouraged from doing so even by this highly optimistic chairperson) She indicated I was not likely to get even an away rotation spot at one of these "high-powered" places and an even lesser candidate to come away with a residency spot.

Finally, she closed the talk by recommending I start the year off with a derm elective at the home program, a research elective with her again, and then an away rotation. She didn't strongly recommend a 2nd away rotation which is something I also wanted to run past you guys. How many is a good number?

Again, thanks for listening and helping. I'm still trying to grapple with a decision and when I do (should be within the next month as our school is in the process of setting up our 4th year schedule), I'll be sure to let you know!

 

[abefromann]

If you can do two aways, do them. Concentrate on lower tier programs; if you don't have an absolutely powerful application in terms of radiology, then your shot at matching at an exciting/top program in the East in derm is not so good. Remember, you just want to match ANYWHERE in derm, but radiology, being less competitive, may give you some more flexibility. Right now I'm jealous of many of my friends applying for mid-tier ones like anesthesia and ER who are ranking Cornell, MGH, Northwestern, and Columbia. Makes me think I should have done ER just to get back to NYC where I did my undergrad.