I just had a meeting with the clinical affairs coordinator at school today to discuss some issues I had with taking my board exam(s) and possibilities for the future. It sure is hard to know what I want to do with my life before I actually get a chance to go out and actually try doing some of this stuff.
Since I am at an osteopathic medical school and I have to do an allopathic residency, I was seriously contemplating taking both the COMLEX and the USMLE step one board examinations. I do not want to limit my opportunities in the future yet I do not want to shoot myself in the foot by doing poorly on the boards if I decide to take both sets.
When it comes down to it, I will not be taking the USMLE and will be prepared to KILL the living daylights out of the COMLEX. Seriously. I was told that general surgery, OB/GYN, ER, family medicine, internal medicine are very feasible options as a DO in the allopathic world even without taking the allopathic boards. So, I save $500+ by taking only one board exam this summer, plus the time and energy to prepare for it, whilst not really closing any doors at all. The coordinator stated that the ppl who take the additional board exam are usually in the top 50 in the class and that it would be like flipping a coin as to whether or not the adidtional exam will help or hinder me. So, instead of shooting myself in the foot, I am going to not take it and save all my energy for the COMLEX.
One very exciting thing I found out is that I can do up to 2 months back home in the hospitals near my house so as to get an idea of what the medical system is back home. I think that doing up to 2 months of rotations at home will help me get an idea of what the medical system is there which will be extremely beneficial since I plan on going back home after I finish residency (unless I decide to rank programs in the CaRMS system as well as the ERAS system). But this is putting the cart before the horse.
In any event, I am going to go back to sipping my coffee and learning about HIV infections.
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