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Does having a negative comment on your MSPR ruin your chances of matching?


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I completed a core rotation and I got a comment on my MSPR on my second day on this rotation that my pharmacology knowledge is very low. Now, I passed the entire rotation and even did quite well in pharmacology section of this core rotation. However, this comment will remain on My MSPR and I was wondering how bad will this impact my Carms application? I also have other people saying that I have good knowledge base on my MSPR, but both good and bad comments will appear.

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11 minutes ago, Lactic Folly said:

If you did well in the pharmacology section (not sure how this was assessed, but assuming it is more reflective of your overall performance), can you appeal to the rotation supervisor to have the outlier comment removed?

It was just a UME end of rotation MCQ exam but our school shows us how we scored in each of sections of exam.

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One preceptor wrote that I was judgemental and disinterested yet I still matched to my second choice of location in my first choice of discipline (a small fairly competitive specialty).

If it's just a single thing and not a pattern, it won't have an impact. All my other evaluations were excellent and these comments weren't even mentioned during interviews because it became obvious that it was probably the attending who was in the wrong rather than me.

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  • 3 weeks later...

No. This is more common than most med students will admit to.

Almost everyone I know has had a comment like that in their MSPR about a knowledge deficiency in some area. Almost half of med students had a failed course. Many had multiple failures. These people all match and many to very competitive specialties. For example, I had a knowledge deficiency comment on one rotation AND 2 clerkship exam failures and still got 14+ interviews this past year to dif specialties surgical and non-surgical and matched to my top choice. I know several others in the exact same boat as me or worse who matched to top programs. I was ashamed all year, that one comment left me with crippling anxiety and self-doubt all year and the school basically told me I had no chance at anything besides FM but it's just not true and this idea that failure on a MSPR = ruined match should not be perpetuated. I don't want that to happen to anyone else. Clerkship is hard and evaluations are so subjective and luck/preceptor-dependent. They are rarely a reflection of you.

One comment I don't think anyone will bat an eye. If it was a rotation/exam failure you might have to explain in your personal letters when you apply to CaRMs. As long as it's not a major professionalism concern, I wouldn't worry about it. If your school has a MSPR review process try to get it removed. I've seen really awful/unfair comments removed before. The school wants you to match so they will usually remove these if you give a fair explanation. 

 

 

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5 hours ago, fairytales said:

No. This is more common than most med students will admit to.

Almost everyone I know has had a comment like that in their MSPR about a knowledge deficiency in some area. Almost half of med students had a failed course. Many had multiple failures. These people all match and many to very competitive specialties. For example, I had a knowledge deficiency comment on one rotation AND 2 clerkship exam failures and still got 14+ interviews this past year to dif specialties surgical and non-surgical and matched to my top choice. I know several others in the exact same boat as me or worse who matched to top programs. I was ashamed all year, that one comment left me with crippling anxiety and self-doubt all year and the school basically told me I had no chance at anything besides FM but it's just not true and this idea that failure on a MSPR = ruined match should not be perpetuated. I don't want that to happen to anyone else. Clerkship is hard and evaluations are so subjective and luck/preceptor-dependent. They are rarely a reflection of you.

One comment I don't think anyone will bat an eye. If it was a rotation/exam failure you might have to explain in your personal letters when you apply to CaRMs. As long as it's not a major professionalism concern, I wouldn't worry about it. If your school has a MSPR review process try to get it removed. I've seen really awful/unfair comments removed before. The school wants you to match so they will usually remove these if you give a fair explanation. 

 

 

What about a rating of "Below Expectations" on a subdomain of a rotation like "Procedural Skills" or "Knowledge"?

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I did carms selection as senior resident for a couple of years. I did vote down some applications that had negative items. One said "Not very interested in this [core] specialty" with no elaboration. One failed a rotation for unknown reason, probably because of an exam. And another one failed a rotation due to professionalism (was caught smoking in the hospital). They didn't get interviews but the rest of their applications were also just mediocre.

I'd appeal yours.

Edited by W0lfgang
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