Residency Menu

 I just found an interesting article which i hope is helpful to all. Its a bit old article but i guess the basic requirements stay the same.. All the best to all and God bless .... A post by Dr.Mizani

'I was the Chief Resident of Morehouse School of Family Medicine in Atlanta, and 60% of our residents were IMGs. In our admission committees, we looked at the following (in order of importance):

1. USMLE SCORES and attempts

2. U.S. “Hands-on” clinical experience & acculturation – Up to one academic year (36 weeks); Observerships, externships or research didn’t count as it wasn’t clinical.

3. Research activities... In U.S a publication or a research activity is given a lot of value.

4. 3 to 5 recent letters of recommendation from licensed US physicians (< 12 months old), documenting your clinical experience in the US. The more LORs, the better, since not all LORs positively recommend an IMG, or carry a weight necessary to compete with American Graduate competition.

5. U.S. immigration status – if we liked an interviewee, we sponsored them… no problem.

6. ECFMG Certification

7. Passing score on USMLE Step 3, if taken – not a huge factor, but a good one. Definitely not as important as the top 6.

8. Interview skills and English COMPETENCY – of course, you have to get an interview first.

According to the NRMP, the following are positive Match predictors:
1. For all – #contiguous ranks
2. 2nd for all 4 groups – USMLE Step 2
3. Step 1 for less competitive specialties only
4. Research nor # of publications was not a significant predictor of Match
5. For U.S. graduates – Being a graduate of top 40 NIH research medical schools, PHD and AOA member

A Comparison of Residency Selection Criteria for 1996 to 2006 (AAMC Central Group on Education Meeting 2007) identified Most important residency secelction criteria to be:
1. Disciplinary actino in med school
2. Received a failure in a required clerkships
3. Failed USMLE Step 2 CK prior to passing
4. Failed USMLE Step 2 CS prior to passing
5. Failed USMLE Step 1 prior to passing
6. Taken extended time to graduate for academic reasons
7. Applied to more than one specialty
8. Graduates in lower 25% of class
9. Grades in required clerkships
10. Received a failure in a pre-clinical course

Although the above 10 are primarily for U.S. graduates, the fundamentals are the same for IMGs; therefore and IMG who has an application that looks very similar to a U.S. graduate, he/she will be assessed based on the above criteria.

Hope this helps during the regular Match, and especially during the annual Scramble.

All the best – Dr. Mizani'

hey dude, dats gr8 news if d bill's passd!

btw, did u get any positive response from the universities that u applied to?? wats d status???