Nsg applicant. Matched at a second tier (in a 5-tier scale) institution. Mid tier med school. Had step score if 221. Step 2 222. You'll be fine if you can hold your own during the interview and actually be a people person.
Something that matters as much if not more than step are letters of Rec. kill it. Get good letters. You'll be fine.
This post will get a lot of hate I'm sure. But if this upsets you, you're likely autistic.
I just matched this cycle, and after going through the process (and seeing where people landed) I agree that the step 1 hype is overblown. I found programs seemed to be much more interested in what was right with my application than what was wrong with it. They're looking for evidence that you're smart, motivated, and can do the work. A 275 step 1 can certainly help convince people. But if you show me someone who shined on the wards, did substantive academic work, and can carry an interesting conversation then there's not really a step 1 score that's going to convince me they're a dummy. (The converse is also true: there's no step score that will convince me you're *not* a moron if you've dedicated yourself to proving it.)
I'd advise: if your score is lower than you'd hoped, come up with a plan for convincing people you're smart in other ways. It will probably work, and regardless, it's about the only thing you can do. And don't neglect the other parts of your application. If you don't want to talk about that step score, put something in your app that everyone wants to talk with you about.
Thanks for the write up guys!
There's a lot of advice that says to do well on aways. How exactly do you do this, besides been punctual, personable, reliable etc?
Thank you both for sharing, much appreciated. Would you mind sharing other aspects of your application? Pubs, quality of pubs, number of aways, etc. would be quite helpful.
Also matched this year, 256 step 1 and 262 step 2. 8 first author publications, 3 basic science and 5 clinical. I did 3 aways and home.
Matched this year with sub 200 score. Top program. Just stay true to yourself and it will work out.
If Step 1 is in 260s, do you take Step 2 early or late? I know some places like to see Step 2 with the whole app.
