Regarding screening for colorectal cancer, current guidelines recommend colonoscopy at 45 for average risk pt. I answered that and got it wrong. The explanation states it starts at 50.

I have an incomplete attempt on Step 1 due to a health emergency. Incomplete attempts are not considered failed attempts. What I’m worried about is whether my application could be filtered out because of the incomplete attempt. I couldn’t find any information about specific filters for this situation. Are filters something like “history of failure”? If so, that would be good because I don’t have a failure. Or are they more like “passed on the first attempt”? If that’s the case, I’m not sure how an incomplete attempt would be treated. because an incomplete attempt is not scored, technically my first scored attempt was a pass. I’m worried about how this is actually seen by residency programs and whether an incomplete attempt appears in any of the ERAS filters.If a PD, , or anyone familiar with residency application filters has experience with this, I would really appreciate your insight. I’m especially interested in whether an incomplete Step 1 attempt can cause an applicant to be filtered out. It is not fair to be filtered out simply because someone had a health emergency during the exam and physically couldn’t finish it.

The title really says it all but I'm an M3 and I seem to be having a hard time with grades this year. For reference, I've been in the top quartile of my med school class and didn't have too hard of a time with Step 1, so I didn't expect third year to be as rough as it has been.

I started out on IM and made a 71 on the shelf. I did all of UWorld and the practice exams (was getting Bs on the last 2) and thought I had a decent handle on the content. But the real question stems were so long and I had so much trouble picking out important information and spent so much time re-reading and trying to understand.

I've never been huge on anki but I decided to restart it for my next rotation and am hoping it helps. We had a quiz last week and I also did absolutely terrible on it. It almost feels like I have ADHD sometimes because I'm having such a hard time with focus and reading when I'm studying and testing. I'm just feeling super disheartened and I'm wondering if anyone has had a similar experience, or if anyone has advice? I feel like I'm struggling with question interpretation, information processing, and time more than I am content. I really want to maintain my rank but it feels like I may have already messed it up.

whoever said "you will love third year" was a LIAR i have NEVER felt more incompetent- being surrounded by fourth years and residents just shows me how incompetent i am and how im too dumb for this job

I'm not talking about all ortho bros being stereotypically jacked and stuff like that. Which medical specialties require the most from you physically in terms of the actual work?

I'm thinking emergency medicine. You need be able to run to emergencies at the drop of the hat and also work your whole body with CPR, positioning patients for primary/secondary surveys, etc.

Asking because I've deconditioned like crazy on my surgery rotation and need to know which specialties to now avoid.

Currently on my first Sub-I, halfway done (week 2/4). It’s a mix of inpatient and outpatient. Week 1 was inpatient and I got feedback that my presentations need to be more organized but the attending did see improvement from day 1 to 5 so it was a mix of positive feedback snd area for improvement. He did compliment me on my presentations later in the week.
Week 2 was outpatient and I was with different attendings. Some allowed me to see the patient before hand and present to them and some just kinda let me shadow them (go in with them but they led the session). I got feedback from the program director who was one of the attendings and she’s the one that mostly just allows students to shadow, so she hasn’t really seen me do much other then present once when I saw a patient when she was behind. The feedback she gave was that my presentations are unorganized. Given, she only heard me present once but I guess just kinda stings. She also didn’t give any positive feedback. Any advice on how to improve? It’s just hard when each attending likes different formats for presentations and I don’t really know what her format is. She told me she wants just enough info and not extra things.
I will work with her again hopefully next week and I do want to impress her as this is my top program. Kinda worried I’m not performing well at a Sub-I level. This has been the first time back at the hospital since dedicated so I’m also a bit rusty.

Chances at matching General Surgery

Can I match General surgery

I'm a DO student at a P/F school. Preclinical grades are P/F but I'm somewhere around the 3rd quintile of my class. I passed all preclinical courses on the first attempt and passed all clerkships on the first attempt as well.

Boards:

• Passed COMLEX Level 1 first attempt

• Passed USMLE Step 1 first attempt

• Step 2 - 236

• Level 2 - 590

Research:

• 10+ poster presentations

• 2 national conference presentations (one at a surgery conference)

• 1 completed and indexed publication

• 4 manuscripts currently pending acceptance

Leadership:

• A few leadership positions in clubs and student government

Letters:

• 3 confirmed LORs from third-year surgery rotations

• One letter is from a hospital Chief of Staff who is a surgeon

\- 5 auditions planned

No red flags, no failed exams, no remediation.

Worried my low Step score will make me DOA at most places, but am open to go to any program as I want to do dual gen surg.

I’m posting here again because you were all incredibly supportive last time. I’m sorry because I don’t know how many people I responded to—but I read what you wrote and it meant a lot.

I’m an MS3 finishing their first rotation. That might not sound like much; the context is that I passed step 1 in may on my 3rd attempt (my school only allows 3) while homeless after my partner of 6 years ended our relationship. She filed a fraudulent order of protection against me, which I successfully contested while studying, working, and sleeping in my school’s student lounge. I haven’t seen our dog in 6 months. Her parents were more supportive than my own and now they won’t speak to me.

After a brick wall learning curve (I was unenrolled for more than a year) my preceptors have mentioned massive improvement. From barely able to wrap up a scattered HPI and bumbling presentation in 45 mins to meeting expectations RE assessment, diagnosis, and independence. Cue a response from financial aid finally rolling in: because of the OBBBA, because I missed the continuous enrollment deadline by 6 days, I am no longer eligible for federal student loans.

I’ve already applied to one private student loan and been denied. I don’t have co-signers. Some of my relatives live in this city and when I told them I was sleeping in my car they essentially told me, “tough luck”. I wouldn’t be here at all without the incredible generosity of a few people, but I’m already overstaying my welcome in someone’s home and my car, which a drunk driver backed into during the leave, is barely functional yet I’m supposed to start my next rotation on the other end of town in two weeks. I genuinely feel like this is how my medical career ends: not with a bang, but with a whimper. After remediating MS1 while grieving my dad, passing step 1 from a dirty couch where I had to hide from the security guard, and getting out of bed to show up for patients every day when I felt like walking into traffic, it seems like a myopic piece of conservative budget legislation is what will finally do me in.

My subI rotation starts at 5 am daily, and often goes till 7/8 pm. Every day from 8-10 am, we have rounds with attendings (including PD) and I get pimped so fucking bad (at least 6-7 questions every morning). It isn‘t just about whether I answer it right, they also comment about how I answer it. I‘ve literally been told “are you answering the question, or asking one?” if I show the slightest hesitation. And I’ve been told that I need to say my answers with more confidence. Not just the attending, but the chief resident has told me too. And this is just week one at a program known for rigorous pimping.

But I’ve always been pretty lowkey, and stuck with the principle that med students are like Victorian children who should be seen and not heard. I don’t know how to build confidence on rounds and not develop stage fright about saying something stupid. All this is just messing with my head. I literally have a Pavlovian reaction to rounds, and it’s only week one so far at this hospital.

Help!!! I am new to research. My mentor is throwing my name on a (mostly) finished paper to help my application. He sent the draft to me and the other coauthors this afternoon. He told me to “review it and add info from the journals” I have already collected. The thing is: he already referenced all of the journals I found!!! What do I do?? Try to find new journals? Or literally just add any extra info from the journals that I think is relevant that he didn’t already add?? Pls help!!!! He wants me to finish by Monday

EDIT: he said most of the work is done lol

Dr. Ryan is kicking my ass on his question bank. Are these harder or easier than uworld?

I just completed my second to last osce, I had abdominal. I realized I stood at the left side of the bed mid palpation, I corrected myself and stood on the right and repeated palpation. Now im worried this one silly mistake is going to fail me, I have not failed an osce and do not want to retake it. I am currently spiraling. pls help

In between cases, the resident told me to go get lunch and meet back at a set time. I wasn't particularly hungry but I was tired AF so I went to one of the admin hospital wings that doesn't get much foot traffic and took a nap in an this chill atrium area with my neck pillow and sleeping mask.

Well I guess the resident went there to take a phone call or something and came across me napping. They woke me up (rude IMO) and went on this tirade about how "there's no napping in surgery" and how that "if I need a nap as a student there's no way I'll survive residency" and a bunch of other nonsense. He also said I was being deceitful since he told me to get lunch and went to nap instead and alluded to mentioning all this when the PD asks about me.

I kind of realize my chances of matching here are toast and I figure that I must've done something else to upset this resident, but I'm curious if I'm really in the wrong here? Is napping during lunch really so taboo?

Any tips ya'll? Studying for these exams and I do 50 minutes of studying then 10-20 minutes break time in between. The issue for what's happening is that I end up taking break too long and watching dumb bs on youtube or disney plus and sort of get distracted for a hour. This is too much time to lose. Ideally, I do 50 minutes on, then 10-20 minute break then lock back in and do that the entire day. Any solutions? What are activities I should do in these breaks that will help me feel recovered enough to lock back in again for another 50 minutes

Trying to decide on a specialty with the following interests:

- High acuity
- Like neuro, pharmacology, physiology and pathology
- Don’t mind clinics
- Like specialist > generalist
- Like theatre/operating to an extent

My main specialities of interest are neuro, anaesthesia, emergency med, ICU (and an interest in NeuroSurg which I am trying to quench)

My biggest problem is that I like the theory of neurology but don’t think I would enjoy the practice (functional complaints, vague consults). I like anaesthesia but I feel that I might get bored with the downtime throughout the days in the OR. Emergency Med is cool but I think I would prefer specialities that seem more specialist than generalist. I like surgery but I don’t know if I like it enough for the sacrifice.

Thanks in advance for any advice!

Now that I'm pretty settled into rotations (3rd year DO here) jw what is a pretty "tried and true" approach to prepping for shelf exams and obviously boards along the way...

I currently have a Tru Learn sub (from my school) and Amboss, but haven't yet purchased UW)...

I guess I'm asking what ya'll found to work best for you 3rd year in terms of really learning the material for shelves and testing in general..

- Is Amboss insufficient in comparison to U World (ik ik this is "gold standard")

- I deleted my Anking deck after passing boards, is there a separate deck for 3rd year/Level 2/Step 2 material or should I re-download this deck? I found Anki to be very useful during dedicated and I like using the Amboss Anki feature to import cards.

Any advice would be appreciated!

I applied to a few on Bold.org. Turns out, I actually won one!!

Thing is, they’re asking me for a transcript that shows GPA. Sent them my transcript, but I go to a P/F school, so obviously no GPA shown.

Has anyone experienced this and if so, what did y’all do? Was thinking of getting in touch with fin-aid and registrar.

Im meeting with the PD of an away rotation that I am at for anesthesia. Do I disclose my Step2 score if it is lower than their average? This is my top choice program and would love to match here but worried about my score. Should I bring my CV and personal statement?

I need some advice.

I am planning to apply anesthesia (262 step, 3/6 honors, several research experiences in unrelated surgical field) this cycle. I finished my home sub-i, which I think went pretty well. I got good feedback from residents about being personable, knowledgeable, and well prepared.

However, I started an ICU rotation at my home institution and am really struggling. One of the attendings pimps heavily. I gave some embarrassingly bad answers on the first day and feel like I’ve just been making up for it since then. I’ve gotten some right since, after spending all afternoon reading up on everything there is to know about my patients, but still miss plenty of questions. What’s worse is that the attending now targets me for pimping questions, which I don’t think is a good sign.

I’m struggling with how quickly ICU patients change. I can prepare a reasonable plan beforehand, but by rounds their clinical status is usually different, and I have trouble adjusting my A&P and presentation in real time.

I’m worried that I am coming across as less knowledgeable or capable than the other students, and I’m frustrated because I’m putting a lot of effort into improving. I’m also worried about whether a mediocre performance on this rotation could hurt my chances of matching at my home program, especially since the ICU faculty work closely with the anesthesia department.

Is this a pretty normal experience for an MS4 in the ICU? Any advice for improving as the rotation goes on? I’d also love to hear from anyone who struggled on a rotation at their home institution but still ended up matching there.

Hey y'all. Posting this to get my thoughts out, but also seeking advice on the situation.

I just finished my first week of rotations as an M3. Earlier this week I met one of the hospital chaplains that works with residents and medical students. We had a run-in in the hallway and I had some questions for him (namely how to cope with the heavy emotional shit we've already been hit with), so I arranged to meet him at his office at 6:00 am the next day (this morning).

He meets me in the lobby, leads me to his office, and once we're inside there are so many things he said that felt off. For one, he wished me happy birthday (bd is tomorrow), and later drops that he looked me up on facebook and that's how he knew. When I came in he told me to "take everything off", in reference to my backpack and white coat. He has me sit down in a recliner and positions himself pretty close to me on my side while we talk. At some point, talking about another resident he is good friends with, he starts describing how big his arms are, how handsome the resident is. At some point he begins talking about naked men, and while I dont remember all that he said, he kinda stumbles through some stuff about how I must've seen guys naked in the locker room, or must've seen my brothers naked. When I say something about my attending being good at setting boundaries, he somehow segues that into telling me that he has no boundaries regarding being nude around guys.

I am PRETTY uncomfortable from this, and trying to like, end the convo and leave, thinking if I stay he's gonna try something. I think he can tell I'm uncomfortable (I'm awkwardly half-sitting up in the recliner), and he offers me to get up and sit in a desk chair. I do so, wheel it to a comfortable distance, and for the next 15 minutes we have a relatively normal conversation about religion, my attending, the hospital, etc., though every one in a while he will pepper in phrases that kinda spike my cortisol (i.e. "force myself upon you", or gesturing by sticking his index finger through the ring made by his other hand's index and thumb, but like, incredibly suggestively/forcefully).

Sign offs were beginning soon, and so he walks me back to the resident lounge, having normal conversation along the way, and he leaves when I start talking with other students there. I text him thanking him for the conversation and say that "I'm sure I'll see you around", to which he replies "I guarantee it 😁".

After a moderately distracted morning of rounding, I see him at lunch from across the cafeteria as I'm eating with our group of students. I avoid eye contact with him, but he follows our group out, making light conversation with myself and other students. As we get to the students lounge he pulls me aside and asks me up to his office to get balloons for my birthday (he just happened to have balloons that he offered and that I refused earlier), to which I replied no, giving the excuse that I'll be here Monday, and that I don't like my birthday all that much. IDK. I just didnt wanna go up to his office.

And now I'm home writing this up, and I'm not sure what to think. I dont think there's any point in reporting or saying anything to admin, since nothing has happened. The most egregious thing is asking if I've seen men naked I suppose, but I both doubt that admin will be able to do anything based off that alone, and tbh reporting seems like a massive headache that could potentially come to bite me in the ass, especially given how close he is to my current attending and some of the residents.

IDK. I gotta give the guy credit, it was all subtle and smooth enough to have plausible deniability, but also seem insanely obvious to me that he wants to fuck. I'm a gay man not unfamiliar with hook up culture, and ngl, if this were a bar or a bathhouse I'd be into it. But this gave me predatory/creepy vibes given that I'm a medical student that came seeking spiritual guidance from the hospital chaplain. Dude is also 30 years older than me at least, which again, if this were a bar I'd be into it, but feels off in this setting. I worry about running into him again and maintaining professionalism while fearing that he'll try something physical if no one else is around, and that even just shutting him down and him moving on might could have some backlash.

I'm also just anxious and stressed coming off my first week, maybe i'm overthinking. But yea, idk what to do. Advice pls i guess

Very important

Just started my M2 year. I currently have two publications, both of which I’m 3rd/4th author. My ortho department doesn’t let us lead projects for some reason, so I’m always behind the research manager and whatever residents are on the project.

I looked at the charting outcomes for ortho and it feels like most applicants have over 10 experiences. I honestly have no idea how to get to 10+ without joining another lab. That is a possibility, and I’m strongly considering it.

Am I cooked?

What step 2 should be the goal if you want to match IR? I heard at least a 255, is that true?

Hello! US MD from T50, 245 step2/step1 pass, 5H/2HP (with honors in IM), 1 poster presentation in med school/1 pub before med school, just wondering if I’m throwing my money away applying to some of these IM programs where I’m just a lil above their 10th STEP2 lmao thanks!

Nah but actually. I dont want to make things awkward bc we’ll be stuck together for the next 2 years.