loseyourself Posted July 27, 2009 Report Share Posted July 27, 2009 Hey guys, I'm just finishing third year of meds and I'm thinking about entering both CaRMS and the US match. Although I can probably see myself being happy in more than a single field, I have a strong preference for radiology based on my exposure so far. I thought I might be able to open a few more doors by applying to the US with a pretty solid Usmle step 1 score, but my advisor is not encouraging me to take this path (the main reasons being that "very few students have done this before" and "if you don't match to Canada you probably won't match to the states"). I'm just looking for a little advice from anyone who's been through the process or who knows something about this. My questions are: 1) Given that the Canadian match happens first, are US schools even going to care about my applications? From what I understand, programs in both countries will assume that Canada is going to be my first choice, which leads me to believe that US schools I have applied to won't want to bother with arranging VISAs. 2) I haven't done any electives in the US.....should I see this as a major barrier to my chances in the US? My med school (like most others I assume) has limitations on the # of elective weeks in a single specialty. As well, I was trying to be strategic by banking on a good usmle score while maximizing my exposure to Canadian schools. I know I probably sound like a really indecisive person, but I am royally confused about the dual match! Any advice on this would be great. Thanks for reading this, Lose yourself Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lactic Folly Posted July 27, 2009 Report Share Posted July 27, 2009 Not familiar with the US match myself, but if you haven't already, try searching for Ian Wong's posts as he did his radiology residency in the US. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tooty Posted July 27, 2009 Report Share Posted July 27, 2009 he's the mother****ing MAN. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Wong Posted July 29, 2009 Report Share Posted July 29, 2009 Hey guys,1) Given that the Canadian match happens first, are US schools even going to care about my applications? From what I understand, programs in both countries will assume that Canada is going to be my first choice, which leads me to believe that US schools I have applied to won't want to bother with arranging VISAs. 2) I haven't done any electives in the US.....should I see this as a major barrier to my chances in the US? My med school (like most others I assume) has limitations on the # of elective weeks in a single specialty. As well, I was trying to be strategic by banking on a good usmle score while maximizing my exposure to Canadian schools. As the other posters have mentioned, I've actually made numerous posts regarding doing your residency in the US, including some of the difficulties of achieving this. Just click on my profile, and use it to find my old messages. Specifically in regards to your questions: 1) US programs generally won't over-think things when it comes to match timelines. Their bottom line is they want strong candidates who will be hard workers and achieve highly during residency. If they like you and your application, you will be ranked accordingly, irrespective of whether or not you are also entering the Canadian match. Most US radiology residency programs literally receive hundreds of applications for their 1-18 spots per year, so they know that applicants are applying to numerous programs. Before applying, you need to contact each US radiology program directly, and find out from their program coordinator (usually their program secretary, and NOT the radiologist attending who is their program director), whether their program sponsors visas, and if so, whether they do J-1 visas or H1B visas. You can often find out this information out from the program's website, but it's also a good idea to check over the phone/email as well, just in case things have changed. Often, these websites aren't regularly updated. If they have resident profiles, you can find out whether that program has any non-US med school graduates in their residency as well. 2) Having US clinical experience will always help. Not having it isn't a deal-breaker. If you have a strong Step 1 score, and hopefully some research and good letters, you have a decent chance. One key thing is that applying to the US is not at all predictable. You will likely get interviews at places you didn't expect to get, and get rejected from places from which you expected an interview invite. There is a lot of geographic bias when it comes to giving interviews, as most schools tend to interview applicants from close-by states. If it isn't clear that you have some sort of reason for applying to a far-away program, your chances of getting an interview will go down, because programs don't want to waste their interview slots on candidates who don't seem to have a good reason for wanting to go to that program. Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loseyourself Posted July 31, 2009 Author Report Share Posted July 31, 2009 Hey guys, thanks for the posts directing me to previous threads. Ian, thanks for giving advice related to my questions, i really appreciate it. Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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