Step 2

There are definitely a handful that require Step 2 now and it seems to be more and more popular for programs to want to see your Step 2. I think it all depends on your Step 1:

1) If your Step 1 is really high, don't bother applying to the schools requiring Step 2, you'll probably do fine with interview invites (if you did well third year, have research, etc.). Then take Step 2 late.

2) If your Step 1 is middle of the road, probably better to take Step 2 early that way you can show programs you improved on your score. Also nice to just have it out of the way. You could go either way though with taking it early or late.

3) If your Step 1 is lower (but you have strong third year grades, letters and lots of research). Take Step 2 ASAP and score as high as you can. Shows you can improve and somewhat makes up for your lower Step 1

By rank time, I'm pretty sure just about everyone has taken Step 2, so it's more about taking it in time to report on ERAS/Interviews vs taking it in december or january. Hope this helps.

Adding to this question-- what is the last date to take step 2 and have the score before the match deadline? A few programs (UCI, BU, Cedars, etc.) say they require a passing score prior to ranking you. It seems like this is more a matter of logistics than evaluation. When is the latest test date to have the score in by the 2/24 deadline?

This could've been answered with a quick google search. But basically CK scores tend to come out 4 weeks after you take the exam. So I guess mid-Jan would be absolute latest.

And check out the USMLE thread here, it has answers to most if not all of these questions.

Due to delay in scores during Match time because of students taking it just to satisfy Match requirements, my medical school tells the students to take it AT LATEST in december. Still, usually scores come out in 4-5 weeks, so early Jan could work.

In this case I think you'd only be taking Step 2 if you had already interviewed at one of those places and really wanted to go, right? Because otherwise you're taking it too late to help in getting interviews, and if you do poorly, could you hurt yourself at other programs?

Thanks for posting this thread. Really quick question, any help would be greatly appreciated. I got 258 on Step 1 but only 237 on Step 2 CK (bad day, drew a horrible test I thought). I am all done interviewing at a relatively high number of programs. Do I send my CK score (and passing CS) through ERAS or just leave it?

Cheers,