US Medical Licensing Examination Step 1: To Grade or Not to Grade?

Letter re: There Is a Price to Get In: The Implications of a Congested Match

“…While those attending traditional, highly ranked MD programs may benefit from this change, students from non-traditional routes of medicine such as DO or international programs may be negatively impact as the Step 1 score used to act as a standardized way of academic assessment. 2 To help combat this, programs involved in the Match may consider working to improve the standardization of their application process with regard to socioeconomic status, Step 1 and 2 scores, and access to opportunities to allow for a more holistic review of applicants. To address inequities concerning away rotations, some institutions have also worked to offer stipends to students from lower socioeconomic brackets and place caps on the number of away rotations a single applicant may apply for.…”

“…While those attending traditional, highly ranked MD programs may benefit from this change, students from non-traditional routes of medicine such as DO or international programs may be negatively impact as the Step 1 score used to act as a standardized way of academic assessment. 2…”