Registering for the USMLE Step 1

Medical students must sit for Step 1 of the United States Medical Licensing Exam (USMLE) after they have completed their first two years of didactic learning and before they can enter into clinical rotations. Students at the University of Colorado School of Medicine take the exam a bit earlier than most other students around the country because the Powers that Be decided to shorten Year 2 in order to lengthen Year 3 - a decision for which I'm grateful.

So, while most medical students take the USMLE Step 1 around June or July, I will be sitting for mine in April.

The registration process is quite involved. First, I had to go to the National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME) website, create a username and password, and enter in my basic information. This allowed me to print out a "Certification of Identification and Authorization" form (complete with a 2"x2" picture of myself reminiscent of medical school applications), which had to be signed by the Dean's office and mailed into NBME. I just recently received an e-mail from NBME:

Your USMLE Step 1 Certification of ID/Applicant Authorization has been received.
Your registration is complete.
Your eligibility period is Mar 1 - May 31, 2011.

Next, I will be getting something in the mail from NBME that will allow me to schedule my Step 1 exam within that eligibility period.

This whole rigamarole is much more involved than what I remember going through to sign up for the MCATs. Jumping through these hoops has had the effect of making the looming threat of the USMLE Step 1 exam that much more real. It's coming up soon.