monica76
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Topics: 13
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i am an IMG have given step 1 and wud start prep for step 2 soon...and i wanted to say thanks on behalf of so many people .(some have been extremely helping thruout their steps...eg retroviridae and people like elm, mash,nuprin,tasneem, have helped many many people unknowingly thru their posts so much)
I was just wondering if it wud be possible to start a thread which wud be of help to IMG's which wud give a list of IMG friendly hospitals...and hospitals which wud sponser visas...for the different residencies...and peoples experiences with interviews there
it is very confusing as to how to go about doing things when you dont have a close friend who has gone through this whole process....and i for one get absolutely confused at how, what has to be done....
retroviridae, i know i am asking for a lot , but if you are thru with ur residency interviews and have got prematch, could you please take the time out some day to give us a detailed overview of how things are to be done...
and what are the helpful sites.
thanks in advance... 
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| retroviridae
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well, as for IMG friendly places, that's why I wanted to get a thread going with places people got interviews at. Some of us have posted our interviews there, hopefully others will do the same after the match. What I would like to see in that thread are programs that have offered interviews to multiple people. That would be most predictive (or even better yet, places where IMGs actually match).
I'm a US citizen, so I can't offer much on visa issues. Maybe someone else can help.
Interviews for me have been pretty easy. Few medical questions. Mostly life philosophy and where I want to go with my career. Usually 2-3 interviews per program (although for my med-peds interviews it was 4-5). Programs that are mostly IMG, have tougher interviews and you could expect medical issues in those interviews. Read getting into a residency by KV Iserson. Personally, my only confrontational interview was at Prince George Hospital Center in Cheverly, MD (all residents are IMGs). All my other ones were very laid back. Go to any night before dinners or events with their residents. They are great ways to get a good feel of the program. Ask questions on your hospital tour, because your tour guide is usually a resident and not one of the faculty. As BBB says, be nice and polite to everyone you meet. Dress well, don't smell bad, look presentable. Speak slowly and clearly (esp if you have a thick accent). Don't get offended or mad if you have to repeat yourself. Try and learn about the program before hand. Each programs website may or may not have useful info on it, but you should give it a look. Talk to people you know at those programs if possible. Having a current resident give the PD a heads-up about your application is also useful.
To research resdiencies, read www.scutwork.com They have a database of each program. I like it a lot. They ask people to comment on how many IMGs there were per program. Some reviewers answer that and some don't, but you can kind of get an idea based on that. The downside of that website is that it seems mostly US grads use it, so the programs they get lots of IMGs tend not to be reviewed.
FRIEDA is also invaluable
www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/category/2997.html
This lists all programs per discipline with some useful info
To apply go through the ECFMG website to get a token for AMCAS. Fill out your application as directed, but pleas be sure to list your USCE somewhere, either in the volunteer work section or elsewhere. There is no place to mention it, and many programs expect it to be there (I didn't do this). You might also try and explain your transcript in the honors section, as at least for the British system, US PDs don't really understand it. You should try and have your application done by the middle of Sept if possible (completed application, personal statement, all exams and ECFMG cert, and LoR). The earlier programs see your application and like you, the more interviews you will get (at the times you want). They say to apply to as many programs as you can afford to apply to. It does get expensive to apply and then go interview at places. Most programs that take FMGs don't offer hotel expenses, but some do. Try not to be stuck on a particular area of the US if you can help it. In general, apply to rural or inner city programs. Any place US students don't like to go.
Prematch. This is a good and a bad thing. I think many FMGs get so scared that they won't match that they rush into a decision and may not get as good a program as they would have. That is of course what these PDs want when they offer you the prematch. They want to snare you before someone else does. It is a great relief to be done with your search and know you have a position, but I almost wish they couldn't offer you prematch, since then you would go through the match and rank programs and see where you would end up that way (if all the programs did it that way, you wouldn't fear losing a spot by not prematching because programs would offer all their spots in the match). As for how it works, I never asked for it, it was just offered to me. None of the programs seemed to advertise that they offered prematch (Except Prince George whose program coordinator (very nice lady by the way)) mentioned it when I called to schedule an interview date. My two good prematch offeres came from programs that I didn't think would even offer them. I wonder what those programs would say if you called and asked if they accepted prematches. Of course I too accepted a prematch to get out of the rat race of interviews. It gets expensive travelling all over the place to interview.
I don't know what else to say. If you have any specific questions, I will try and answer them.
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| ELM
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Topics: 28
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Retro, that's very informative!
Thank you very much!
Would you clearify little bit about how and why we need to mention about our med.school transcritps in the honor section? Don't all programs have that with our application material?? I wanna know about this! What should we say and why we should?
Thanks again!
It must be tough that you are all done with everything :lol: ...so what are you up to now? Just messing around? Can't wait till my turn!!! 
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ELM
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| Alina T
Forum Elite
Topics: 17
Posts: 388
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Hi retroviridae,
Thank you for your detailed and helpful posts. I noticed you had an IM interview at Washington Univ, St Louis. I'm interested in this program, as I will probably want a ST louis spot next year (yes, i know this limits a lot my possibilities, but i'll surely apply to other programs also). I know WASHU to be one of the best univ in the area and i was pretty surprised to find out that they even consider IMGs. Could you please tell me more about their program, the interview (if you went for it), and any other useful info you know?
Thank you in advance.
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| retroviridae
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Hi ELM,
Yes they have your transcript, but they don't have a clue what it means. I can tell you, for US students, no one ever fails a class and the average score is ~80% (a B). So if you are from India, getting an 80% already says that you are pretty brilliant. So just getting distinction or first class is a worthy score (as is never having failed, although you can't write that). I didn't do this, so I am not sure what I would have written, but unless they program has British system docs reviewing applications (and several do) or unless the PD has had a foreign doc from that country as a resident explain things to him/her, they don't really know. I think it was at Georgetown that I had to explain my transcript.
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| ELM
Forum Guru
Topics: 28
Posts: 936
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Woow Retro,
I am even more confused now:roll: !
I am not from India....and my average point is A, never failed and have only few Bs. My credit score is 4.0.....which is the highest one can get. ( well, at least in my country) So what do i say now? Why can't they understand our transcripts? It's in English....sorry if this sounds silly. All my grades are in A,B,C,D system plus with numbers from 69-100....eg
Pathology- 98 (A)
Microbiology-90 (A) ....ect
Clear this please? :lol:
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| retroviridae
Forum Guru
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Hi ELM,
If your transcript is in an A,B,C,D,F format, then I wouldn't bother explaining your scores. It is the same as here in the US. It is only for countries that have different scoring systems. Oh what I am doing now, I am still a research fellow! So my job is not over. Still doing HIV work and trying to publish a few more papers before I leave.
Alina T,
I too was surprised that I got an interview at Wash U. It is one of those prorgams that take very few IMGs but do take a few which they consider to be exceptional candidates. I only got the interview on 12/21 and then they only gave me 2 possible dates to chose from. So they are trying to fill up their last interview spots, and to me that means that I am on the bottom of their desired applicant list (so perhaps not the best chances for matching). Of course, my step II scores did come out until end of Nov, so maybe it would have been different if I had had complete scores earlier. At any rate, I had alread accepted my prematch at a school which my faculty here in Texas tell me is equivalent to Wash U. Doesn't matter if it is as good or better than what I have, I am already committed. So I didn't go for an interview. I would guess it would be laid back as all my other university-based program interviews have been. I would say that Wash U is a large research-focused med school, and I bet they value highly someone who has made a committment to research. Schools do like local applicants though. So living in the St. Louis area should be a plus. I would say don't hang your hat on a St. Louis position and apply to other areas, although I think St. Louis does have several programs that take IMGs (but I could be wrong). Good luck! Wash U is in my opinion a top 5-10 IM program. I would have liked to have been able to really rank it. You can read scutwork.com for a review of the program. The review by an intern there points out one of the shortcomings of that program and many others in that you have to see patients from both private attendings and university based ones. Whenever that happens, the private attendings almost always use residents as cheap labor and don't take the time to teach them why they do what they do. I personally like programs where that is not the case and all patients are followed by university faculty. Just something to keep in mind while interviewing.
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| ELM
Forum Guru
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I appretiated your replies Retro!
Aaahn you are havening fun with research, i suppose that's a good thing.
Anyway thanks again. Have a nice one.
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ELM
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| Alina T
Forum Elite
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detailed valuable post, as i expected, retroviridae. thanks a lot!
yes, i will be living in St. Louis by that time and as im not into research i just hope that programs like St Louis Univ are good IM programs and accept IMGs too. but i will apply to other areas also.
Good luck with your publishing and your upcoming residency!
and thank you again... 
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There are 3 types of people: those who make things happen, those who watch things happen, and those who wonder what happened.
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| monica76
Forum Senior
Topics: 13
Posts: 151
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thanks retroviridae....and congratulations for getting a residency of ur choice...gr8 work
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