Worth it to write the USMLE to apply to the US and expand options for a medium competitiveness residency?

[karussell]

Hey guys, I'm still in preclerkship but am interested in a couple of specialties that are not that competitive but not completely uncompetitive (roughly halfway down the list in terms of supply versus demand in Canada). The thing is, I'm really set on living in a big city, so that narrows things down to 3-4 programs in Canada. I'm wondering if it would be worth it to write the USMLE to apply to American schools for residency, but I would only be doing it to potentially train in "desirable" cities (i.e., New York, Boston, places in California, etc.). This would probably only amount to approx. 10 US programs I would be interested in (of the ones that even sponsor student visas).

Do you think it's worth going through all the trouble of writing the USMLE and filling out US applications? Are there any major downsides to doing this that I might not be considering? Thank you.

[Edict]

2 hours ago, karussell said:

Hey guys, I'm still in preclerkship but am interested in a couple of specialties that are not that competitive but not completely uncompetitive (roughly halfway down the list in terms of supply versus demand in Canada). The thing is, I'm really set on living in a big city, so that narrows things down to 3-4 programs in Canada. I'm wondering if it would be worth it to write the USMLE to apply to American schools for residency, but I would only be doing it to potentially train in "desirable" cities (i.e., New York, Boston, places in California, etc.). This would probably only amount to approx. 10 US programs I would be interested in (of the ones that even sponsor student visas).

Do you think it's worth going through all the trouble of writing the USMLE and filling out US applications? Are there any major downsides to doing this that I might not be considering? Thank you.

I think its worth it if you are going to a 4 year program, since you need the time to really prepare and do electives in the US. 

Just keep in mind that all your US choices need to be behind your Canadian choices due to the Canadian match happening before. Realistically this would mean you can't use Canada as a backup for going to a top tier US residency and you also can't really use residencies in smaller towns in Canada as a backup for the US as well. 

The decision to do it is really up to you. It is doable and if you are a highly motivated, hardworking and driven person, you could probably achieve it. It probably is a good idea in general because writing the USMLEs will also help you during clerkship. But I would make sure to not study for the USMLE if it means you sacrifice time for research, networking and the like, if you are confident this can come out of your free time then it is probably a good idea provided you don't work yourself too hard. 

 

[karussell]

13 hours ago, Edict said:

I think its worth it if you are going to a 4 year program, since you need the time to really prepare and do electives in the US. 

Just keep in mind that all your US choices need to be behind your Canadian choices due to the Canadian match happening before. Realistically this would mean you can't use Canada as a backup for going to a top tier US residency and you also can't really use residencies in smaller towns in Canada as a backup for the US as well. 

The decision to do it is really up to you. It is doable and if you are a highly motivated, hardworking and driven person, you could probably achieve it. It probably is a good idea in general because writing the USMLEs will also help you during clerkship. But I would make sure to not study for the USMLE if it means you sacrifice time for research, networking and the like, if you are confident this can come out of your free time then it is probably a good idea provided you don't work yourself too hard. 

 

Thanks for the reply; it's too bad the Canadian match happens before, because yes, I would only be applying for very desirable US programs that I would likely take over programs in Canada, but those are at the same time very difficult to get into so it would obviously be very unwise to withdraw from the Canadian match for that "longshot" chance. Combined with the fact that my specialty of choice is uncompetitive enough that I'm pretty confident I would get one of my top 4 choices in Canada, so I probably would never even see the results of the US match.

The only way I could see it being worth it is if you could somehow "pre-match" before the Canadian match, which I have anecdotally heard is possible (though that might be specialty/program specific). Does anyone know anything about that process?

[Edict]

9 hours ago, karussell said:

Thanks for the reply; it's too bad the Canadian match happens before, because yes, I would only be applying for very desirable US programs that I would likely take over programs in Canada, but those are at the same time very difficult to get into so it would obviously be very unwise to withdraw from the Canadian match for that "longshot" chance. Combined with the fact that my specialty of choice is uncompetitive enough that I'm pretty confident I would get one of my top 4 choices in Canada, so I probably would never even see the results of the US match.

The only way I could see it being worth it is if you could somehow "pre-match" before the Canadian match, which I have anecdotally heard is possible (though that might be specialty/program specific). Does anyone know anything about that process?

Anecdotally i've heard of this happening in the past, but i'm not as sure if it still happens. Essentially, you contact the program of your choice in the US and basically tell them your situation and they may tell you where they ranked you, i.e., if they ranked you to match. aka, they ranked you within the # of spots in their program, i.e. they have 7 spots and you are ranked in the top 7. 

With this information, people have withdrawn from the Canadian match, but again, this is very gutsy as you are trusting your career on the hope that the program is honest with you. The US match rules specifically state that you shouldn't listen to any "promises" of matching, as you have no legal recourse if a program promises you something and doesn't deliver. 

There is a reason the Canadian match happens first. If it didn't, the brain drain would decimate the Canadian healthcare system. This one rule has basically saved the Canadian healthcare system, very few Canadians bother with applying to the US for this reason. 

 

[blah1234]

3 minutes ago, Edict said:

Anecdotally i've heard of this happening in the past, but i'm not as sure if it still happens. Essentially, you contact the program of your choice in the US and basically tell them your situation and they may tell you where they ranked you, i.e., if they ranked you to match. aka, they ranked you within the # of spots in their program, i.e. they have 7 spots and you are ranked in the top 7. 

With this information, people have withdrawn from the Canadian match, but again, this is very gutsy as you are trusting your career on the hope that the program is honest with you. The US match rules specifically state that you shouldn't listen to any "promises" of matching, as you have no legal recourse if a program promises you something and doesn't deliver. 

There is a reason the Canadian match happens first. If it didn't, the brain drain would decimate the Canadian healthcare system. This one rule has basically saved the Canadian healthcare system, very few Canadians bother with applying to the US for this reason. 

 

I agree with this. Do not pull out of the match because of a "promise". You have no legal protection and being disqualified from future CaRMS Round 1 matches is disastrous. I can't blame Canada wanting to keep its physicians. I can imagine much more nefarious things the government could do if they really wanted to keep us from leaving.