i know you hate these topics ... but what are my chances?

ok so not the typical ortho applicant, which is why i come to you with my first post:

Im a 4th year (of five years) international med student at a big british medical school interested in pursuing ortho in the states/canada.

to give you an idea of my application:

- i am a young student (i.e. i did not pursue an undergrad degree before coming to england). not sure if this will work against me or in my favour?

- i have scored 241/99 on the step 1. the step 1 is what has me doubtful as the average for ortho is 238 for us grads (charting outcomes 2009) as i'm sure you all know. don't get me wrong, i am very motivated to pursue this field, but as an international student i feel that i have to be realistic in my future career plans in competing for jobs that are already very competitive for US grads. residency location is of little importance to me, though if i had the luxury of choice i would like to live in a biggish city - don't really care where.

- fingers crossed i can get some research under my belt before eras time rolls around,and fingerscrossed again it will probably be at a world famous (i think ... uk famous at the very least) hospital down the road from my school. i have done some research in cards already, but unfortunately no pubs as of yet. also done one audit unrelated to surgery and in the process of doing one medicine related one.

- i am shooting for some elective clerkship rotations in ortho after my fourth year (april-may 2010) at some US centres. i am currently in the process of applying. yes i understand the importance of these and i plan on working my butt into the ground for them. and yes i understand the importance of personality and work ethic in these (and not coming across like an unsociable/arrogant tool - lol).

- by the time i apply i will have done at least one foundation year here in the uk. this foundation year is like the UK equivalent of an internship consisting of three different rotations in various fields, one or more of which is usually in a surgical field.

- i hovered around the top quartile in pre-clinical (years 1 and 2, like the US) but managed to do better in third year scoring in the top 10% or so of my year in my junior medicine and surgery rotations. i will be doing my senior medicine and surgery along with peds, ob/gyn, family meds in my final year as my program is slightly different from US allopathic programs. of course my aim is to do as well as possible.

- i have a canadian passport and grew up in canada

so i come to you orthogate gurus ... what do you think?

thanks for your help!