Of course they are, although I'm not yet in that situation where I have to take these exams. I mean, it's amazing that those people got high 90s, and I applaud them for their hard work. They were two standard deviations above the mean.

Those with high scores have a clear advantage over the rest, as it has increasingly become a "numbers game" where you'll find residency programs having score cut-offs just for applying.

Talking about high scores is just that. Talking.

Having high scores... those folks are self-motivated and very knowledgeable to the extent that they are competing with top docs here in the U.S for desirable residency programs.

But then again, all one needs is a 75 in both exams (which is a challenge to do) to be licensed as a doctor. There certainly are fewer options in residency programs, but still that's a huge accomplishment.

Was it one of your top choices? How long have you been in your residency program?

Anyways, I heard it's difficult to match in one's first year of applying, some actually count on the scramble to see if they can get any of the unfilled positions. But some are confident that they can secure a spot in a residency program even if they applied to only a few... no wonder this Residency Match is really interesting.

As you already mentioned, it's all about scores sometimes. At times, you can also get lucky with some hospitals. Some program will have 85 as their cutoff, some slightly lower. Some university hospitals that are semi-rural in location are also less attractive to some and you might also get fortunate in matching. The easiest program to match are those in primary care in urban underserved areas that most people consider dangerous. I'm actually done with residency and nowadays my old program are filled with mostly with American grads. Some IMG's still get in but they have much higher scores than mine. It's really getting more competitive out there every year and I think this trend will not change.

I love urban underserved areas, i used to live in a few. I wonder if willingness to work there will give me a competitive edge for non-primary care residencies also..

Thanks for the post. I have been "exploring the options."
Far more can be gleaned from these threads than from official websites.

If I could do it over then I would have gone to the philippines for medical school. I am at Ross and it is a bad school on every level. I wish that I would have known that filipino schools exist, and mind you that my own FP is a Ross alumnus who graduated in the 1990's.

Tell us your experience @ Ross. Not to bash the school, but to really make us understand your experience there. Perhaps you simply regret not going to the Philippines because the grass looks greener on the other side. Or maybe I was sort of on the money in my judgement, when I went to PI instead of Ross. Anyway tell us some of your experiences there both good and bad.

heh BrandonG, the grasses truthly are greenier on the otherside of the street. I know Ross has a lot of probem cuz i met a lot of them during my rotation in Chicago. However, what i can tell u is this-I graduated from PI med school-when i come to USMLE, cirriculum, US rotations, and support for your residency paperworks, Ross is far better than any PI school! Trust me on this. All PI schools are not based on US cirriculum, only a few have rotation in US and u will miss 20 weeks of electives in 4th year since there is no electives for PI students. Furthermore, as a PI graduate when it comes to the match u are really really on your own. The school has no idea what are documents submission what are mspe what are deadline submittion, and many many more. U really have to go through to understand my man. I m going through now and it's killing me! Because when i called my school from US, the secretary has no idea why i need my transcript for the match ). She needs me to get all my clearance from each department even though i graduated already! So i supposed to fly half way around the world to get a simple transcript that is how PI system works. U see now why it's always way greenier here! Hang in there and good luck. I dont work for Ross and i dont even like Ross ). I like AUC better

Wow. Your school has terrible administration. I had no problem with my school in PI and they even sent me all my rotations and records of the preceptors on every subject including the dates of rotations.
For application, I would agree that Ross has an advantage plus the timing and USMLE prep might be better.

To Trauma:

What PI school did you go to?