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Did not match - advice ?


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1 hour ago, medical_grad said:

Hi everyone,

I am an IMG graduate and did not match this year with one interview. 

Done research, publications, observerships, etc. Any advice on how I can get more interviews and make sure I match? 

Thank you 

As an IMG the odds are stacked against you, trying to keep making connections and work on your interviewing is best you can do. 

Consider writing USMLES and get US clinical experience perhaps, to try and open up a door there.

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On 3/17/2020 at 7:02 PM, medical_grad said:

I applied to FM and IM.

I did most US electives also.

 

Did you fail a USMLE step? FM is not a hard match at all if you pass all of your step exams. I have IMG friends who failed a step and still managed to match FM. IM on the other hand is more competitive. 

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On 4/21/2020 at 3:55 PM, RadCdn said:

Did you fail a USMLE step? FM is not a hard match at all if you pass all of your step exams. I have IMG friends who failed a step and still managed to match FM. IM on the other hand is more competitive. 

Yes I have one attempt for USMLE step 1. 

Any advice on what helped your friends match with the failed attempt? 

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I think it's important to network, programs will generally pick a candidate they've met or worked with, over a random name on piece of paper.

Try using FREIDA if you haven't yet to find programs that'll sponsor visas for residency/fellowship for Canadians. New York is very IMG friendly from what I've been told, but I've heard (from friends in NYC) that the residents are very miserable there compared to elsewhere in the US. The USMLES aren't the easiest exams by any means, so I think many programs will overlook a failed attempt, as long as you finish the USMLE step 3, network, interview well, etc

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FM and IM aren't what they used to be, nowadays even for CMG applying to IM they have to try hard and apply broadly. The only fields that are relatively uncompetitive are laboratory specialties like pathology/microbiology. Pathology in the US is also relatively uncompetitive for many cities/centers who are IMG friendly, some research experience or grad degree are definitely looked up favorably there.

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On 4/24/2020 at 6:24 PM, medical_grad said:

Yes I have one attempt for USMLE step 1. 

Any advice on what helped your friends match with the failed attempt? 

This makes things difficult as most programs have a Step 1 screen. But I do know people who failed and they matched. My advice is to network, network, network. 

Matching IM will be quite a bit more difficult than matching FM.

With networking, I've seen people match to very competitive specialties, and they didn't have amazing Step scores at all. It can work. 

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On 4/24/2020 at 6:38 PM, happyuser said:

I think it's important to network, programs will generally pick a candidate they've met or worked with, over a random name on piece of paper.

Try using FREIDA if you haven't yet to find programs that'll sponsor visas for residency/fellowship for Canadians. New York is very IMG friendly from what I've been told, but I've heard (from friends in NYC) that the residents are very miserable there compared to elsewhere in the US. The USMLES aren't the easiest exams by any means, so I think many programs will overlook a failed attempt, as long as you finish the USMLE step 3, network, interview well, etc

New York is definitely IMG friendly. I can speak from experience and I matched at one of the best programs in NYC. The residency is hard though. I think residency is hard at most places on the East Coast though. This was my impression. I do not think it's just New York. I interviewed all over the US for IM. However, I had very high scores on Step 1 and Step 2 CK (I did Step 3 in residency so it was not taken into consideration). 

The USMLE's are not hard to pass, but difficult to do very well on. The pass mark is really not that high. A failed attempt can be a very difficult thing to overcome. But it's not impossible. 

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On 5/1/2020 at 2:43 PM, RadCdn said:

This makes things difficult as most programs have a Step 1 screen. But I do know people who failed and they matched. My advice is to network, network, network. 

Matching IM will be quite a bit more difficult than matching FM.

With networking, I've seen people match to very competitive specialties, and they didn't have amazing Step scores at all. It can work. 

Thank you! I really need to work on my networking skills and come out of my shell.. 

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