Omnia Mohamed Saeed--- Match 2019

Congratulations to everyone who matched :)) and those who didn't hopefully you'll match next cycle!
I matched in Internal Medicine, my #1 choice :)) First match cycle..
To all the old grads out there, it's never too late 😀

YOG 2010 (2009 without internship)
I took the steps throughout many years cuz I was working and travelling a lot..wasnt ready yet to apply for the match till now.

Step 2 CK: 260 done in 2011
Step 1: 245 done in 2013
Step 2 CS: Pass in 2014
Step 3: 259 done in 2018
No USCE
No research
No US-LORs
No contacts
Non US-IMG, need a visa
Continuously practicing medicine since graduation, did 2 years residency in home country n quit (internal med) then started and finished another residency abroad (family med)
4 LORs from non-US doctors - one waived (3 were from FM doctors and one IM doctor!)

Applied to only around 90 programs IM (biggest mistake, it was my first match cycle and I did not research well, I only looked through FREIDA which was missing a lottt of programs i was eligible for)

I only had good scores and a lot of clinical experience to count on to get interviews so I was worried, specially when I saw that most ppl r younger grads with a lot of USCE but thank God I was wrong :))

Received 5 invitations (3 strong community hospitals, 1 not-very-popular university program, 1 prematch community hospital) , went to all of them of course!
Got the prematch offer in beginning of february and I declined it (tough decision but thank God I did) as I did not like the place especially compared to the other 4.

Ranked 4 programs and got my number 1 choice

My opinion; for visa-requiring-people, scores are the most important factor to get interviews , then the YOG filter.. it is tricky but you can overcome it if you have a strong CV.
Bottom-line if you have strong scores u can overcome the lack of USCE/US LORs n lack of research..even YOG. If you have low scores then u need all of those to strengthen ur profile.
If u get a high score on step 3 its a big plus, I felt it helped me a lot. If u dont have step 3 it wont affect u negatively at all though except if u need H1.
Community hospitals dont care a lot about research or publications and they value clinical experience. Once you get an interview; its all about how well u perform on it, I've seen people with low scores n only 1 interview matching and others with amazing CVs n 10 interviews not matching.

Interviews were the best part for me...its ur chance to make it or break it. Being urself, outgoing and socially smart without trying too much , if u pretend to be someone else they will know..they interview hundreds of people every year.. so be genuine n honest n memorable, research the place very well n practice a lot. I'll post about my interview experience later.

And for people applying for next cycle, start preparing! Personal statements and LORs are hectic and take a lot of effort..research programs and make a list , dont just depend on FREIDA or match-a-resident..go through forums n look for lists prepared by applicants, find someone who's applying n do things together..will really make things easier and more fun.

Thanks for everyone who helped on this group and the overall support and best of luck for those applying next match ! Feel free to ask me anything ... and wish me luck now cuz the paperwork for the license n visa will b a nightmare 

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I started with the uworld biostats review cuz that was my weakest point , any concept i still didnt fully understand i simply googled it and read some more. (I had to do it again a few weeks later 😂) Then i started doing uworld mcqs; all mixed-timed qs, blocks of 20 qs then increased a bit. Finish 20-40 qs in a row then sit down n read every single word...took down notes and anything that needed more clarification i used uptodate specially the algorithms for review. For CCS I did the 6 cases on the website n then the uworld cases , took notes n made some schemes for myself. Every few days I would go over my notes quickly ..like a 10 minute read before I sleep. Step 1 and CK- i did not have time to review..However i had been practicing family medicine for almost 5 years at the time i took the exam and I had just finished an Arab board examination for family medicine so this helped a lot for step 3 as most concepts tested were already the work i do day to day, i had already done a lot of family medicine intraining exams and assessments and found step 3 exam to be similar in a lot of areas. 

The exam day 1 I had like 2 qs every block biostats..they were covered by uworld. A lottt of ethics and they were tough questions, step 1 qs were very simple , basic mechanisms of action n basic pathology. Drug ads i didnt even look at them till i had finished the whole block n would try to leave like 7 minutes for that..read it once n go with ur guts. Its a waste of time trying to digest them. Day 2 a lot of prognosis and longer clinical scenarios, no ads or biostats or step 1. Ccs only had 1 or 2 difficult cases, stuck to my schemes,

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u have to take step1 , ck, cs within 7 years. Validity is for life. For step 3 u can take anytime after getting ECFMG certified..however later on after finishing residency if u want a permenant physician license some states require that step 3 be taken within that 7 year period but thats for license not residency n not applicable in all states.