Third Year Grades Question

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medstudent9839

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How important is it to make an A in the rotation of the specialty you're interested in? I've already made two Bs (family med and pediatrics), and I'm starting to get worried I won't make any As. I am interested in pediatrics and OB/GYN, and I'm not really aiming to get into a super prestigious program or anything, just something relatively close to home (SC, GA, or NC). I have a pretty average Step 1 Score (235) and average grades. Basically I'm a very average student, and it's so disappointing. Any words of encouragement or past experiences would be appreciated!

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My school had H/P/F, no letter grades. Only passed in surgery (no honors) and still matched to my #1 program.

Grades are dwarfed by things like how you interview, your letters of rec, and Step scores.

I'm sure you'll do just fine with B's.

Just don't fail.
 
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235 is average? am I getting too old or something :O

I think it really depends on how competitive your specialty is , AFAIK peds and ob/gyn aren't super competitive.
I'm an IM, and there are a pretty wide range of competitiveness interms of residencies, the top tier universities are pretty competitive while the lower tier ones are happy to even have someone interviewing there who graduated from an American med school.

I did get an A in my internal med rotation, but I actually failed and had to repeat my family med rotation which falls under IM too... I was really worried about it but no one really cared at the places I interviewed, and I got like 12+ interviews out of the 16? or so places I app'ed (no I didn't app to the really top tier places). I ended up in a middle tier place in the bay area which is a fairly favored location.

for reference i had something like a 204 step1 and a 236 step 2
 
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start a website called rate your preceptor. Tbh depends more on ur preceptor sometimes than yourself.
 
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My clinical grades are all over the place. Never got brought up in a single interview for psych. Kill step 2 and no one will care.
 
A grade is just a grade. The comments on your MSPE and your letters from your field all mean more
 
235 is average? am I getting too old or something :O

I think it really depends on how competitive your specialty is , AFAIK peds and ob/gyn aren't super competitive.
I'm an IM, and there are a pretty wide range of competitiveness interms of residencies, the top tier universities are pretty competitive while the lower tier ones are happy to even have someone interviewing there who graduated from an American med school.

I did get an A in my internal med rotation, but I actually failed and had to repeat my family med rotation which falls under IM too... I was really worried about it but no one really cared at the places I interviewed, and I got like 12+ interviews out of the 16? or so places I app'ed (no I didn't app to the really top tier places). I ended up in a middle tier place in the bay area which is a fairly favored location.

for reference i had something like a 204 step1 and a 236 step 2

A 235 is a little above average. Probably within 1SD of average, but I dunno cause my score was extremely average so I never really cared to look. I'm just glad I'm not applying to residency in 10 years or so when all these crazy Anki addict machines are knocking out 255s left and right.
 
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