curious...

[Liz2254]

My boyfriend just got his Step 1 scores and did pretty well. I'm hoping to tap into your vast knowledge to find out what is a good score and how much it really plays into residency placement. How well would someone need to do on Step 1 in order to be placed in the various specialties?

Thank you! I'm not concerned about him... I just don't know where else to go with these questions.

It's hard to define a good score and it depends so much on the competitiveness of the specialty and then of the programs within that specialty.
Some of the more competitive specialties or programs might screen applications based on a score. For some derm programs, that was between 230-240 -- maybe higher or lower in some cases. Please note that not all programs do that and the score is not the only thing that programs look at.

I'm not sure how much the score plays in--my husband did the DO equivalent of the test, and while I'm sure he scored fine, I'm also sure it wasn't a stellar score, as he's not the best test-taker. He applied to quite a few programs, including Mayo in Rochester, and got interviews at almost every one he applied to. But he was a 'non-traditional', as he'd already done an internship year then went to the military for 3 years, THEN did his residency, so maybe I'm not the one to ask. He has said, though, that test-taking abilities had very little to do with being successful during residency; that had more to do with leadership skills, time management, 'people skills', good judgment, etc....

Alison -- I think you're right that the scores are more important for gaining an interview than a high ranking with a program. A few programs (not all feel this way!!) told DH that once candidates made it to the interview, they were all considered equal in terms of scores and grades. Obviously, the interviews are very imporant.