No interview invitations for Family Medicine IMG: seeking advice

[tabeeb84]

Hello everyone,

I wonder if someone who received an invitations from Family Medicine programs as an IMG, can advice me and others in my shoes as to what you did different.

It is my second year applying. I applied to all the English Family medicine programs and I received zero interviews invitations.

MCCQE1 score 471 (2017)

NAC OSCE score 432 (2019)

Alberta CAP 4.48 (2019)

Alberta MMI  0.55

British Columbia CAP; Total score: 72.94% ,Quartile score: 2.

I got my resume and personal letter edited and I have three Canadian family physicians as references.

Thank you

[JohnGrisham]

Higher scores and lots of luck. Not getting invites doesn't mean you aren't strong, just that other people were more lucky and maybe bit better scores.

Why not write usmles? I would write them ASAP. If you didnt get interviews this time, it will be just different luck if you even get considered next cycle.

[tabeeb84]

On 12/28/2019 at 4:14 PM, JohnGrisham said:

Higher scores and lots of luck. Not getting invites doesn't mean you aren't strong, just that other people were more lucky and maybe bit better scores.

Why not write usmles? I would write them ASAP. If you didnt get interviews this time, it will be just different luck if you even get considered next cycle.

Thank you. I don’t really want move to the US. I will keep applying next year, however, I don’t think I have many options left to improve my application.

[JohnGrisham]

40 minutes ago, tabeeb84 said:

Thank you. I don’t really want move to the US. I will keep applying next year, however, I don’t think I have many options left to improve my application.

Okay, good luck then - but unless you are tied to Canada because you have PR in process, I would strongly urge you to reconsider leaving out the US. The chances are you will not match in Canada at all, and even if you did, you would very likely need to move from your current city anyways...so why not move to the US, where you have a much higher chance of securing a residency somewhere(pending strong scores), and then making your way back to canada to practice?

 

[Intrepid86]

Your MCCQE1 score is probably the limiting part of your application. A 471 is below average when referenced on the old scale. Chances are you would still be a capable resident, however for the purposes of selection that score likely works against you. Not reaching cut-offs could explain the lack of interviews. This situation is difficult. Hope things eventually work out.

Good luck

[iyin0991]

@Intrepid86 How long does it take to grade MCCQE1? Match day is March 2 this year and my exam is Feb 7. I'm trying to take it less than a month before match (assuming it takes a month to grade).

[Maha_sim]

Hello. I have almost similar results as you but I want to apply for CARMs this year. I just want to know does it worth to apply or I should do is on USmle? Are you recent graduate? Any research experience? 

Thanks in advance

[JohnGrisham]

2 hours ago, Maha_sim said:

Hello. I have almost similar results as you but I want to apply for CARMs this year. I just want to know does it worth to apply or I should do is on USmle? Are you recent graduate? Any research experience? 

Thanks in advance

Applying to CaRMS and doing the USMLE shouldn't be mutually exclusive. You have nothing to lose by applying to CaRMS this upcoming year AND also working on USMLES if you think that you would apply to the US.

[MD_scientist]

On 12/28/2019 at 3:29 PM, tabeeb84 said:

Hello everyone,

I wonder if someone who received an invitations from Family Medicine programs as an IMG, can advice me and others in my shoes as to what you did different.

It is my second year applying. I applied to all the English Family medicine programs and I received zero interviews invitations.

MCCQE1 score 471 (2017)

NAC OSCE score 432 (2019)

Alberta CAP 4.48 (2019)

Alberta MMI  0.55

British Columbia CAP; Total score: 72.94% ,Quartile score: 2.

I got my resume and personal letter edited and I have three Canadian family physicians as references.

Thank you

What's your year of graduation and what's your most recent clinical experience (hands on clinical experience I mean) ? that makes a huge difference and it is as important as exam scores! a lot of programs have strict exclusion criteria for IMGs based on scores and recency of practice, any of which can exclude you automatically from the pool of applicants even before looking into your application. 

 

[futuredoc206]

On 12/30/2019 at 1:26 AM, Intrepid86 said:

Your MCCQE1 score is probably the limiting part of your application. A 471 is below average when referenced on the old scale. Chances are you would still be a capable resident, however for the purposes of selection that score likely works against you. Not reaching cut-offs could explain the lack of interviews. This situation is difficult. Hope things eventually work out.

Good luck

What is a good score of QE1?

 

[moonwalker2099]

On 12/28/2019 at 5:14 PM, JohnGrisham said:

Higher scores and lots of luck. Not getting invites doesn't mean you aren't strong, just that other people were more lucky and maybe bit better scores.

THIS! ^^^.  

Just stay strong and keep working hard.  No matter how crappy the result/feeling of not matching, just keep working at it - it really is about timing and luck.  

Just remember:  Hard work pays off and dreams come true.  Bad times don't last, the bad-asses do!   

Keep working hard and stay that strong bad-ass!  One day, you'll be laughing at all of this