Here is my detailed experience! I matched in
Internal Medicine. Was lucky enough to get 20+ interviews and I attended 17 of
them.
Step1-240, CK-246 CS-pass 1st attempt, YOG-DEC
2016, Step-3 -not yet done
Visa status- EAD
USCE: 3 months of electives in Heme/onc and
Cardiology (in 2015)
-6 months externship in Hospital Medicine/
Internal Medicine (in 2017)
Here are my two cents If you are applying for IM
try to plan observerships/externships/electives in the subspecialties of IM and
if possible do one month of observerships/externships/electives in primary
care or hospital medicine even in private clinic doesn’t matter because
when you go for interviews for e.g in a community program where there is not
hell a lot of fellowships and 90% of graduates end up in primary care or
hospital medicine you will have something to talk and convince that progam, say
yes I want to go to primary care too so that they rank you otherwise if you are
talking about a highly competitive fellowship in a community program it is
highly unlikely they’ll rank you or might rank you below. Similarly just
mention about your interest and passion in Internal Medicine in Personal
statement but don’t try to limit yourself by saying that you just want to
do GI in future because keep your doors open not every program in which you
will interview will have GI fellowships!
LORs: I had 5 US LORs and 1 Department head LOR
from my medical school, Pakistan
For LORs my advice would be to use them wisely if
you have more than 4 US LORs. I assigned only Texas LORs when
applying to Texas I got 3 interviews from big university programs of Texas
and it is not a very img friendly state (I had a different Texas oriented P.S
too because I lived there and I love Tx)! Similarly I attached my NM LOR
when applying in UNM (although it was very generic and weakest LOR) I got
an interview from UNM. For east coast I used my east coast LOR along
with my strongest of LORS.
Research experience- 9 publications
When I started my externship in March 2017
I had zero publications! I was working in a hospital medicine department
I saw an interesting case and wrote a case report. I contacted the
people there who were working on research and were active in that regard. I was
lucky enough to get an opportunity and I learned the art to publish the
projects and I learned the basics of research there, and yesterday I got my
10th publication.
My thoughts on research are first of all wherever
you get a chance to rotate whether in form of observership/externship/electives
show your interest and enthusiasm ask your attending for any interesting cases
or show your will to work on research projects ask him about his pending
projects or talk to residents, fellows or other attending who are actively
working on research you will definitely find something.
Research is not necessary to match but it always
looks good on your CV. P.S if you want more university calls they look at your
scores but they do give importance to your published projects. (One of my
university interview was all about my research, publications and experience)
Similarly no matter where you are rotating there
are free community clinics everywhere go there, show your interest
and volunteer there once or twice a week. You can write that in your CV
sometimes they give you a proper membership of the society. It
definitely gives you something to talk about during interviews and or you can
write in your P.S too and trust me PDs like that too if you have worked as a volunteer
in US.
The good thing about my CV was I had literally
zero gap in my CV. I graduated in DEC 2016 and I was ECFMG certified by
March and from March till August I was doing externship and every program that
I interviewed liked that.
Here are few things that I think which is very
important to match.
1. Good scores in steps
2. Hands on clinical electives
3. No gaps in CV
(YOG the more fresh the grads the more PDs will
like you) So to all my IMGs friends if possible (it is not necessary as scores
matter the most) try to give your Step 1 atleast before graduation of your
medical school and please try to give CS exam while you are out for
electives as a medical students. I know it’s hard but we should make an
effort and give our best shot atleast and then if you feel good take the exam.
A lot of old grads do match but it is hard battle
for them! Also leave a good impression on places where you rotate it will help
you build contacts (try to stay in touch with people) and secondly the attending’s
would happily write you a strong LOR.
Another thing when we apply and submit our ERAS
application I think we don’t focus much on interviewing skills! You need to be
pro at that! Every program will interview 10 people for 1 position so you need
to be able to sell yourself pretty well and you need to know inside out of your
personal statement and things you have written in your CV and you have to
develop a way to deliver your best shot. Because you will get interviews, once
you get an interview the ball is in your court and you need to cash on to that
opportunity. SO PLEASE TAKE THIS SERIOUSLY. DO FIGURE OUT BEFOREHAND HOW YOU
WILL DIRECT THE INTERVIEW TOWARDS YOUR COMFORT ZONE.
And in the end Thank you to each and every member
of this group for being a massive support during this whole tiring process. I
know this journey is not easy physically, mentally and financially but have
faith and give your best shot and this is my experience and my ideas to
approach the match this is the least I could do GOOD LUCK!
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Here is my experience!
>I matched in Internal Medicine.
>Step1-254, CK-261 CS-pass, YOG-2015+1 year
internship (2016), Step-3 -not yet done
>Visa status- I filled the application as “I
need a visa” changed to “pending green card ” on November and “Green Card” on
January end (I wish it was approved a bit earlier but better late than never)
>USCE
-2 months of electives in Pediatrics Cards and
Pediatrics Allergy/Immunology. (early 2015)
-1 month observership in Gastroenterology
(August-2017)
>LORs- 2 from Pediatrics electives
2 from GI observership
1 from Medical School( Internal Medicine) I
assigned 4 LORs to each program.
>Research experience-none (I was scared about
this)
>Applied to 110 programs on September 14th and
Added 30 more till Mid of November. (Total- 140)
>Number of Interviews- 8. (1 September, 4
October, 1 November, 2 December)
>Worked as a Medical Officer for 9 months
in home country.
Here are few things that I think was good and bad
in my application which might potentially help other candidates in future.
These are just my opinions and may not necessarily apply to everybody out
there.
>The Good-
1. Good scores in steps
2. Hands on clinical electives
3. Changing the application status to “pending
green card” though I did it late but I am glad that I did it. It might helped
me fetch those 2 later interviews.
4. No gaps in my CV
>Things that I did wrong
1. No research experience
2. Uploaded Peds LOR for IM ( as I had no USCE
apart from that)
3. Did not research the program well- I applied
more programs in Georgia amd neighboring states as I live here. I think these
states are not as IMG friendly as east coast and later, I added more programs
and their interview spots were filled already.
4. Did not contact many acquaintances on time who
might have helped me
get more interviews and by the time I realized
and contacted them, the interview spots were filled.( So guys work on your
contacts and know where your relatives, or seniors are working as a physician
or residents in US)
5. Not applying as “pending green card” since the
beginning.
Thank you to this group for being a huge support
during the entire process. I know how painful and exhausting this journey is
and sharing my experience is the least I could do. Good luck to all future
candidates!
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