sammie
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 Hi,thanks for the reply guys.I asked about those who are applying here in Texas because I am based here in Houston and I am working at the Texas Medical Center.I am at present working a different job but I am thinking of taking my MLE in the near future ,which I should have done a couple of years ago.In case you need any help with anything around Houston let me know and I'll see if I can be of assistance.Goodluck to all of you on your exams and residency applications. 
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| xthine
Forum Junior
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How's everybody doing?
When is the latest date that you could apply for 2008 matching?
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| ryemd
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Hi fellow pinoys! I've been reading this thread for a long time, but this is my first time to write a message. I seem to need some encouragement. I recently took Step ck, and I just got my results, I did pass but I only got a 75, and my step 1 is 77, and I would reaaly need a visa. I'm supposed to smile but I can't...I passed each exam on the 1st take, but my score is just too low... do u think, i still have a chance to be matched. I will actually be applying for the 2009 match pa naman...
I'm so depressed right now. I only have myself to blame for moonlighting while reviewing...i dont know if I should continue pursuing this endeavor or just stay here in the P.I. and do my residency here.I'm a 2004 grad by the way..Would u know anyone who got matched with same mediocre scores that I have...
Anyway, I wish you all the best of luck especially to those of you applying for the match. God bless us all!
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| george_md
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hello, my fellow countrymen! kumusta na kayong lahat? like ryemd, i've been reading the posts in this thread for quite some time now but i only got to register successfully now. i hope all who have applied for the 2008 match have received favorable responses in the form of interviews or better yet, prematch offers in the fields you want and in the hospitals you were aiming for. i myself am going for the 2009 match. i would like to go for neurology but based on what i have read in the neurolgy thread, the field is very competitive now more than ever, hence IMG's don't stand much of a chance getting in.  if i don't get into neuro, i'm aiming for categorical IM. I took my Step 1 a few months back and am now preparing for Step 2 CK, which is next week. obviously, i'm doing this on my break. kelangan maaliw sa ibang bagay minsan para hindi tuluyang maging praning.  ryemd, all the best of luck sa atin. unfortunately, hindi ko rin masyadong alam kung paano sa sitwasyon mo pero keep your hopes up. pumasa ka pa rin. what specialty do you plan on applying for?
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| xthine
Forum Junior
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Rye don't fret. I myself have mediocre scores as well and I am also going for the 2009 match.
The thing to focus on is what we should do to make up for the scores that we already have.
Take your CS, Step 3, and get USCE.
We still have a lot of time for that. Good luck
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| ryemd
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Hi George yup, im still keeping my hopes up. I will have to apply for the match and see what happens... I've always wanted to go into internal medicine, but with my scores, I'm not sure how I can get in. I would also be applying for FM... I ran into a message posted somewhere in this forum, and the person writing the post was told by a program director that for the 2008 match, a lot of applicants have high scores and they are having difficulties who to interview and accept. I dont know how true this is, but it doesnt change anything for me i guess, because my scores are really low. I just hope that for those who are still to take their exams, try to aim really high scores. GL with ur CK. Study smart.
Hi Xthine yup, we have work with our scores. Some people say, u can get more chances of being interviewed early if u have been ecfmg certified as soon as the match starts, so il probably take my CS before September. With regards to USCE, I still dont know how I can have one.
Anyways, the best of luck to all of us. God has plans for us i know. God bless us all.
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| george_md
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hey, xthine, did some backreading. did you push through with your trip to the US and Step 2 CS? how did it go? I'm a bit worried myself now that i saw the ecfmg newsletter about taking CS by Sept 2008. and that the earliest available date is May! that's only a few months leeway. I don't what to apply for first. A B1 visa or the exam.  Oh, well. I'll worry about it after the CK.
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| harrish
banned
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trishue your post is very interesting and informative
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| sammie
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Hi guys.Just want to share what some IMG's do to better have a chance of residency application/matching,aside from good scores-if your visa will allow you to stay for a couple of weeks,(better if you have relatives in the US)you can apply for a student visa conversion and enroll in any course-they even accept kaplan review course as a legitimate one.Then, you can apply for a research position-even part time(which is open here in Houston because of Baylor and MD Anderson) here in the US that will support your schooling.When you apply for residency,it will be easier because the md's involve in the hospital where you work will give you LOR's which counts a lot bec it is from here.I have spoken also to quite a few of the md's and they said they prefer those that have US experience/exposure.It's worth a try..
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| xthine
Forum Junior
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Posts: 113
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Hey there George_MD! How are you? So you're going for the 2009 match too? Nice!
Well, I think you should schedule for the CS first, so you have the ecfmg visa letter by the time you make an appointment for your B visa.
I took my CS last week in LA. WoW! What an experience, i loved every gruelling minute of it..but for sure I don't want to go through that again..ever. Haha. So hopefully, i did well enough to pass. *crossing fingers*
I am currently looking for USCE here. If everything works out today, i'm all set for 1 month of Pedia observership, after that I'll try to get a Psych observership. Whew!
Goodluck on your CK
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| george_md
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thanks for the tip, sammie. will keep that in my list of options.
xthine, it's great that you get to start piling up USCEs. did you just walk in on the hospitals when you were applying for observerships? and did the US embassy give you a B1 visa just on the basis of your taking step 2 cs? sorry if i'm asking too many questions. i'm trying to figure this out for my next move.
i'm done with step2 CK! Whew. I don't know what to think. At this point all I can do is hope and pray that it will be a happy new year for me (my result is supposed to come out around jan 2).
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| ryemd
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Hi George! Good Luck on your CK results.
Regarding the B1 visa, a couple of my friends were given multiple entry just on the basis of their Step 2 CS applications. However, a couple of them were also given single entries only. And I think, the reason is because they are doctors who are also nurses and PTs at the same time . My brother-in-law was denied 2x, for family background reasons: his wife came to the US with a tourist visa, and as a nurse, looked for a job, overstayed for awhile, before completely working there legally.
So if your pre-med is nursing or PT, i'm not sure about med.tech, most likely you'll be given a single entry. But if not, and without backgrounds of 1st degree relatives being TNTs or have overstayed, you won't have a problem applying for a visa. And another thing, if given a single entry visa, it is very hard to apply for an extension.
These are just my friends' and families' experience. I hope it doesn't really apply to all. In any case, Good Luck to you.
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| xthine
Forum Junior
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Posts: 113
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Hey there George! Congrats on taking the CK. Aren't you glad that part's done? Like a big boulder off your shoulder
I was given a single entry visa with annotation (how unfortunate huh?) for the CS exam. The only document that the consul asked to see was my visa letter for the CS from ECFMG.
For the USCE, i emailed a couple of hospitals (googled most of them) across the US. Most of them turned me down so it was so surprising that I found one here in the CA.
RyeMD: Seems like it's really hard to get approved for an i94 extension. I know of two people who were denied one. Man! Move on to plan B (wink)!! Just kidding. I am planning to file my extension next week. I hope it's the right move. 
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| george_md
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thanks, guys, for the very valuable input. xthine, good luck on your extension.
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| ustmd2006
Forum Newbie
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hey guys! i'm back! just finished a 5-week rotation at northwestern in chicago. been pretty busy so i haven't been posting here.
anyway for those planning on the match last year, be prepared. this whole process takes so much out of you in all aspects...financially, physically, emotionally. not trying to discourage anyone, just giving you a heads-up so you don't feel as overwhelmed as i did. i didn't realized all that it entailed. do your research now...how to apply, what you need, etc. start on your personal statements. get your credentials ready. go to your med schools and see how long it takes to get lors or the mspe. you want to be ready to hit the send button to apply on sept. 1st! i don't know if it really helped me to apply early since i've only received 4 invites, but imagine if i had waited until later in the season when programs already filled their slots for interview. i've been told by a few programs that my application has been put on hold and they'll consider giving me an interview later in the season IF a slot opens up...not likely!
as for competitiveness of programs, i think the general trend is that it's getting more difficult to match into anything. imagine, even the community programs where i thought i had some sort of chance rejected me and said that they've received over 300 strong applications for their 4 spots! hence, make your application as strong as possible. scores are definitely important. unfortunately, programs do use this as their first screening tool. pay attention to the program's score requirements so as not to waste money (like i did!). the world isn't ideal and we can do nothing but to go with the flow no matter how stupid it is sometimes! get usce...they will pay more attention to your lors if they come from u.s. physicians...better yet, from well-known u.s. docs. email programs (harvard, yale, duke...big name programs usually have observerships). call programs. it'll take work, but you'll find something if you're patient.
and most importantly, pray. believe me, there will be times during this process that you lose hope. but you just have to remember that GOD brought you this far and is not going to abandon you. you have to be patient and trust in HIS plans for you. have faith.
well, that sermon was long enough! if you guys have any questions that i may be able to answer, drop me a private message.
take care everyone!
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| ustmd2006
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hec, it's a shame that i didn't meet you...after all, i was already in chicago! by the way, i went out to interview at rush (that's where you're doing your research right?) and i thought they had an awesome program! hopefully they liked me as well! anyway, how are you? how's the match going for you?
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| ustmd2006
Forum Newbie
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oops...i meant NEXT year...i really should read my posts before clicking submit!!!
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| george_md
Forum Newbie
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thanks for the very helpful insights, ustmd2006. believe me, i'm taking notes.
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| crinckles
Forum Newbie
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hi! im from the PI too =) im really learning a lot from your posts...u guys are right, i didnt know that the mles would be taking so much of my time and resources grabe i have just realized from the posts here that passing all the exams is not a sure fire way to get into residency. hay...just took my step 1 last oct and im already bracing myself for a lot more hurdles to overcome. hopefully we all succeed and match next year! =)
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| xthine
Forum Junior
Topics: 2
Posts: 113
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Hey Crinckles! Welcome to the forum So how many of us are going for next year's match?
4 right? Me, Ryan, George, and you! Good luck to us! We should all keep in touch so we could exchange tips.
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| crinckles
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thx. i agree we should definitely help each other out. im sure more pinoys will be joining us for next year match
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| hecmd23
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ey ustmd,
yep, five weeks was quick huh? well, as for me, im quite surprised how 6 months passed just liked that, doing research here, and its still not finished! hahaha, hopefully we can have a final manuscript by the end of the year.
Yep, RUSH has a very nice program, just finished my interview there a couple weeks back, and it was really nice, though surgery there is very AMG dominated, so im not banking much of my chances there, but who knows, maybe next year i'll be sending some specimen to you on a 3 am call, haha.
getting beastly cold here, at least i'll be traveling again by next month, have another set of interviews to attend to, for fm though. Hows the interview trail for u ustmd? Anyway, sorry guys can't hang out more often, we're cranking up on our research. Just back read on some of our posts, its a goldmine of our advices out here. I'll try to help you out on any specific questions you may have. And to all applying for next year, im wishing y'all good luck, pinoy doctors have so much to offer, and in three programs i interviewed at, UST grads have a good reputation already, so we have proven pretty much that we can go head to head with their grads.
If there's one advice i can give, usce counts a lot. be it observership/research/externship. But still, even if scores matter, we still don't know what PDs are looking for. I got mid 80s scores, with a high 70 on step 3, got usce (observership and research) and from the PDs point of view "a well rounded application" thats why i got invited in 2 university programs, the rest are comunity univ-affiliated. But guess what, in one program, the PD told me that he would rather pick me than someone who had 90s plastered on his/her application but doesn't have anything else (social life etc). There's one program out there for each of us...we just have to find it. G'luck!
___________________
"I'm still the best there is at what i do best" -James Howlett
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| ustmd2006
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hey hec! nice to hear from you. thanks for sharing your experience...really encouraging.
as for me, i've been to 3 path interviews so far. and i have 1 scheduled for the first week of january. and although chances are slim, i'm still hoping for a few more invitations to trickle in. however, like hec said, there's one program out there for each of us and we only really need that one. i'm considering myself very lucky as my scores are also in the 80s. i'm thankful that the 4 programs that invited me decided to dig deeper and saw something in my application. you really can't tell what programs are looking for...i've been rejected by tons of programs, including community programs where i thought i had a chance...but the 4 that did invite me are all univ ones! what makes it even better is that i already found 2 that i'm very interested in and all 3 that interviewed me seem very interested in me. it's true what they say, scores get you the invite, the interview gets you the position (i've directly asked my interviewers what they look for in a candidate and most have said that once you get to the interview stage, the scores don't matter and it's all about personality).
anyway, like hec said, don't hesitate to ask us any questions.
good luck all!
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| ustmd2006
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where is everyone? busy with the holidays i guess.
anyway, just keeping our thread alive. nothing new to update except for a handful of new rejections i received after emailing programs. i'm glad i did that though, cause at least now i'm not in the dark with the false hope that i'll be getting invites from those programs! i guess i'm over the depression state you get when you receive a rejection. it's become a common thing and all you can really do is say, oh well...it's their loss they don't want me!!! lol!
hope everyone else is doing well!
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| NLP
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Hey Kababayans!
I've heard rumors/speculations that the test questions are easier in the US than the tests that are administered abroad, and I've also heard vice-versa. Does anyone know if there is truth to this?
The tests are standardized, therefore testing location should be irrelevant, right?
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