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please help any advice is helpful!
#1
Hi everyone!, SUPER LONG POST AHEAD, SORRY!
I am an IMG(graduated in 2019), I am a US Permanent Resident with TWO FAILED attempts on Step 1, passed on my third attempt last year. I finished my OET too. I am currently preparing for Step 2, my recent NBME 9 was 231. I am planning on taking Step 2 end of next month hopefully bump my score a bit higher by then. I want to apply for Residency this year in September. 
I have those two major red flags, I know its super hard to match but I am determined to at least try my best. The reason for my gap and failed attempts was basically I had to move back to India during COVID for family and had to stay back, I got married and then got pregnant. I took my exam 2 months Postpartum and it was chaotic. I was not at the right mental or physical state for it, I was pumping during break time since I was breast feeding my baby. I ended up taking it since my eligibility period was ending and I just wanted to get it done with.
I know I messed up, but now I want to try to see if I even have a chance. I previously did two rotations back when I was a student in 2018-2019, but I know they wont be valid now. I plan on doing 3 clinical rotations through a paid IMG rotations program, since its hard for IMG to get rotations directly. 
I know Family Medicine or Internal is the best option to try. The question I have is, is it better to do all 3 rotations in Internal Medicine or Family Medicine? or Should I do 2 Internal Medicine and 1 in Family Medicine. The closest chance I have for matching would be in FM or IM. So please advice on which rotations are better in matching and how I can improve my chances in matching, literally any advice regarding this whole process is super helpful. I am also volunteering at few places like Hospice, other non profit organizations. I tried applying for research but didn’t go further with it since I have to move to another state for a year and I can’t do that with my baby who is 17 months now. I really am trying now to clean up my mess, please be kind and give any advice regarding my situation.

THANK YOU! I REALLY APPRECIATE YOU FOR TAKING TIME TO READ AND COMMENT!!
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#2
(04-19-2023, 10:28 AM)img1993 Wrote: Hi everyone!, SUPER LONG POST AHEAD, SORRY!
I am an IMG(graduated in 2019), I am a US Permanent Resident with TWO FAILED attempts on Step 1, passed on my third attempt last year. I finished my OET too. I am currently preparing for Step 2, my recent NBME 9 was 231. I am planning on taking Step 2 end of next month hopefully bump my score a bit higher by then. I want to apply for Residency this year in September. 
I have those two major red flags, I know its super hard to match but I am determined to at least try my best. The reason for my gap and failed attempts was basically I had to move back to India during COVID for family and had to stay back, I got married and then got pregnant. I took my exam 2 months Postpartum and it was chaotic. I was not at the right mental or physical state for it, I was pumping during break time since I was breast feeding my baby. I ended up taking it since my eligibility period was ending and I just wanted to get it done with.
I know I messed up, but now I want to try to see if I even have a chance. I previously did two rotations back when I was a student in 2018-2019, but I know they wont be valid now. I plan on doing 3 clinical rotations through a paid IMG rotations program, since its hard for IMG to get rotations directly. 
I know Family Medicine or Internal is the best option to try. The question I have is, is it better to do all 3 rotations in Internal Medicine or Family Medicine? or Should I do 2 Internal Medicine and 1 in Family Medicine. The closest chance I have for matching would be in FM or IM. So please advice on which rotations are better in matching and how I can improve my chances in matching, literally any advice regarding this whole process is super helpful. I am also volunteering at few places like Hospice, other non profit organizations. I tried applying for research but didn’t go further with it since I have to move to another state for a year and I can’t do that with my baby who is 17 months now. I really am trying now to clean up my mess, please be kind and give any advice regarding my situation.

THANK YOU! I REALLY APPRECIATE YOU FOR TAKING TIME TO READ AND COMMENT!!

I was a residency coordinator for 15 years. Here is my perspective.

Don't worry about research at all. When there are step failures, the concern is that the clinical knowledge is not there. You are directly addressing this by getting paid clinicals. As long as you are doing externships and not observerships and you get good letters, you have a chance. Programs are looking to see that you are passionate about your specialty. I know that it is really tempting to hedge your bets, but it looks really bad from the program perspective, like you're only half in. You will be competing against people who are fully committed to one specialty and have three letters attesting to that fact. You need to have that, too. Which one are you more passionate about?

You have a valid reason for doing poorly on your steps. I would address that up front in your program emails when you apply. Right now, focus on researching IMG-friendly programs and networking. You can reach out to residents working at hospitals in the state that you're moving to. Offer to buy them a coffee, let them know that you have no expectations that they will do you any favors, you just want to get information about IMG friendly programs/program culture. Beware of paid IMG-friendly lists--every year I would get a call from companies asking if we were IMG-friendly. I always had to answer yes, even when we had zero IMGs. I guess we were IMG-friendly, if you had a PhD and a 30-page CV listing your publications.

Network as much as you can, and keep in touch with the people you've networked with to let them know your progress and that you've acted on whatever advice they gave you.

Good luck! Feel free to email me at kristin@residencyhero.com. I'm putting together some crash courses on this topic. They're not done yet, but I would be happy to share some rough draft resources with you.

Kristin
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