Another "what are my chances" post

Please keep in mind I am only a fourth year student, who is currently going through the match process.

Step 1 = won't prevent you from getting interviews, solid score

Clinical Grades = it's good you got honors in Surgery, but the other clerkships matter too - try to get honors in those remaining rotations

Research = Sounds like you are involved with enough projects and that presentation will bode well for you - I would try to get a manuscript or two submitted in the next few months

Non-AOA = I don't think this is major. Sure it would have helped to have it, but I don't think it will hurt you a ton that you don't.

Things to worry about:
1) Step 2 CK = I wouldn't take it early, but I would take it in a time period that would allow my score to come back before interviews. That way, if you did well you could email the places you applied and update your application. Study hard for this test and destroy it - it will help you!

2) Away Rotations = I think this is the most important thing you can do. With your stats, I would pick one "dream school" and one "medium tier" school and work my butt off at both. These rotations can open ALOT of doors for you - at those specific programs and beyond through LORs.

Hope this helps! I'm sure people will agree and disagree with some of my advice, so listen to what others have to say as well. Good luck.

Welcome! I'll try to provide a summary which is more-or-less applicable to you. This comes from my matching experience and watching the interviewees now. Also, of course, the zillion posts about this kind of thing here:

1) Unless you have some sort of absolute man-hate b1tchne$$ about you, you're pretty much assured to match somewhere <see #7 below>
2) Femaleness helps you a ton, I know at my program (like some others), there's a real push to recruit good Orthogals
3) Scores good
4) Not sure about how important the clinical grades are, but winding up in the top 25% of your class overall is a plus and if you don't people will ask why
5) Having any research is a good show of faith and conversation topic
6) AOA no biggie. They'll read your app and ask you at your interview why you weren't AOA and you can say "I have no idea", shrug with a smirk, and you'll be golden. Everyone knows it's very political at many places. Besides, you can't change this now for it to matter, so make the most of your other assets.
7) Rotations can be good or bad. Much is (unfortunately) expected of you as a girl, and many people will watch you closely to see if you "can hang". No, it's not fair, I'm just giving advice. On the other hand, we had a female rotator that kicked the guys' butts, and, independent of her scores (we didn't know what they were and didn't care), and ranked her at the top. Your situation is a little unique as I often find myself giving useless advice here on rotations and the like, but since your safety net is probably going to be pretty wide, ie you'll get interviews at many places where you didn't rotate simply because of your reasonably-strong Step 1 and gender. So, you might as well rotate at your top places, since you should have plenty of others which will invite you sight-unseen. If you were 225 then I'd say take a conservative month and rock it, but that's not your case.

I welcome comments/rebuttals.

As a female, I would generally agree with everything said in the post above. Some people may not like the bluntness of it but overall, I faced a lot of the perceptions that were discussed above and overall considered them as positives. If you are a solid worker and can get along with most people + have good scores, you can get your foot in the door most places that are open and actively seeking a well rounded group of residents which should include females. The Orthogame is still a crap shoot and you won't get interviews everywhere (no one does) but you will be on solid footing.

Thanks for all the input! Gives a much broader look than what I had been getting from my school. As far as away electives are concerned, does anyone have an opinion on what may be "dream" programs versus something I'd be a bit more competitive in? Thanks again for all the help!