What is thoughts now about applying for Residency - student1960

[ArchivalUser]

@nanaki
thank you for all the information

@ student1960
did you get any credit as MD for RN study? what you did from beginning till working as RN?

thanks

[ArchivalUser]

nanaki that was then, this is now. It is you who is totally disconnected from what's going on. By work I meant residency positions, obviously. Check the no IV thread.

[ArchivalUser]

Yes, times have surely changed from what @nanaki described of back then and now (2015) ... hang in there guys

[ArchivalUser]

I do not get much credit and I'm older ( 1960) person which makes it harder, Grad 2012

[ArchivalUser]

For all future residency aspirants,

The single most important factor that can get you interviews in UNDENIABLY scores and ONLY scores.

Get a very high score and most programs will never care about research/LORs/PS. An IM PD told me that PS are never deal breakers (maybe they are in FM) unless they are outright ridiculous, they can be deal makers though. With that tier score, if you have US LORs ( even if one) your chances to be called for an IV are high. I have known ONE person in 250s match without a single US LOR last year.

The problem arises once you fall short on the scores and land in the very very crowded pool of applicants that have average scores. Once you land in this pool you need to have that extra something that makes you stand out, research, extra-ordinary LORs/PS, all of it is even better. ALSO, once you fall in this category, LUCK plays an important part as well, you might be called for an IV with multiple attempts and low scores while someone with better stats might not be called at all. PRAY!

For conventional FMGs ( not from offshore US medical schools ) , It can be suggest that one keep the USMLE track as a option WITH a plan of action in the home country. Once you get the high scores you can take a couple months off your job/internship to have US experience and then return to continue to work in the home country until you have IVs and match. Landing in the US without IVs or matching, trying to find one way or another to stay longer and keep trying for a match can work for some but is ABSOLUTELY NOT a certain indicator of success and would literally drain you financially and emotionally to the point of depression.

There are far too many AMGs and offshore medical grads who are getting first dibs nowadays (and rightfully, my country does not give all of its own people residency spots forget about foreigners ), but remember ONE thing, SCORES are ONLY the single most important indicator for a successful match. If you land in the average range, its worth a try but not worth putting the whole weight of your life on it.

[ArchivalUser]

jjrodz: Who is disconnected? Maybe You, posting in the forum and discouraging people without considering hard real numbers before.

Are forums even a reliable indicator? This place is also full of trolls. I remember AMGs in my time discouraging people from even trying because they sucked.

How do you know what is here is true?
Would you go around telling everyone here what interviews you got and where? Probably not. You don't want 500 other applicants emailing a PC or PD because another IMG got an interview there.

Check the NRMP statistics. In 2011 40.9% of non US citizen IMGs had a match rate of 40.9%. In 2015 that number rose to 49.4%.

This is straight from the ECFMG page according to NRMP.
"Of the 7,366 IMG participants who were not U.S. citizens, 3,641 (49.4%) obtained first-year positions. The number of non-U.S. citizen IMGs who obtained positions in 2015 increased for the fourth year in a row, this year by eight"

Each year more people apply and as you can see in the NRMP page, more people match.

[ArchivalUser]

Oh, and if you check those stats, the no rank number remained the same over 5 years.
That means the same number of people applying for interviews year after year, did not get an interview or got a
pre-match and didn't submit a rank order list.

Higher no rank numbers with the same or higher number of active applicants would mean that programs are not taking IMGs, and that is not what is shown there.