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Tough Specialties

Tough specialties are tough for various reasons like being highly paid, good life style, favourites of American medical graduates and many other factors. If you are interested in a tough specialty like surgery, opthalmology, radiology etc, then you should follow a carefully planned path.
Before everything else, figure out ur interest, ask yourself do you have
interest in this specialty? Go to the wards(of that specialty) and work as a volunteer.
This is very important. Most of us come to US without even knowing what they "really" want to do. Some want to be cardiloogist just because it sounds good to their ears... some want to be surgeon just becuase of the charm of the name. With the passage of time, they dont find their specialty interesting anymore, so in the end they dont put enough effort in their work. You can get anything from Neurosurgery to Radiology but you need to be dedicated and really interested in what you want to do.

Once you finalize your interest, then do electives in US in that specialty, get good USMLE scores and try to find a research position later on.

Nothing is impossible. All you need is patience, persistence, smartness and hard work. If you want to get into a tough specialty, then prepare yourself for it right now. Take 95-99 in all steps. Do research even if you have to wait for one to two years. If you get the specialty of your choice then there is no match. Remember, "When you want something then all the universe conspires to help you achieve it". The biggest fear to achieve anything is is "FEAR OF DEFEAT" which is even worse than defeat itself. Don’t let it take over you. Trust in yourself and your abilities and work hard; finally you will achieve it. First deserve and then ask! You will definitely accomplish your dream!

When we jump in water, we all learn swimming! Work hard with persistence and patience! There is no short cut to success other than hard work!

GAUTHAM RAJ (not verified)

Thu, 07/01/2010 - 18:39

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Dear Umar Bhai,

                   I am really very thankful to you for keeping such a wonderful site. I kept visiting your site since 3-4 months only to see the list of universities and nothing else. But today I've read about you and have seen your site fully.  This gave me a lot of confidence and again made me realize that the Newtons III law holds good for good things too.. For every action, there comes an equal and an opposite reaction ( If you help people, people will help you directly/indirectly,.. If you do good.. You get some good things happen)...

   Finally, Never give up this good habit of helping under any circumstances...

- GAUTHAM                                             

Hi Gautham


Thanks a lot for your kind words. They are truly encouraging, inspiring us to do much more...


You are most welcome to join us by writing anything useful for this website and it would be published in your name and you would be provided a username and password to access this website... God bless you!


Thank you very much for your kind words... they mean a lot to all of us, trying to help others....

GAUTHAM RAJ (not verified)

Tue, 09/14/2010 - 20:15

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Hi Umar Bhai,

                         I am ready to share my experience with you all.. Currently I got acceptance from Northwestern for Vascular surgery and Transplant surgery. I want to do a residency in Surgery. I am starting my journey now and I would update each thing I do in your site as soon as I finish it off.. Please provide me the username and pwd... Hoping to see you soon... 



Visitor (not verified)

Sun, 11/14/2010 - 20:19

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Dear Umar Bhai i am in my final year and so eager and desperate to get accepted to elective programmes. I still havent decided which speciality to go for as far as the residency is concerned. At the moment i have an acceptance for a neurosurgery elective in ny. I am striving for another one in medicine. The question is when il be applyin for a match in medicine will the elective in neurosurgery be of any major value and viceverca for a neuro surgery application.

2nd question is that how realistic is it to get a neurosurgery match? I am pretty confident and have faith in allah that if i work hard, good score in the steps will be guaranteed! Now with 2 months clinical electives, 1 in NS and the other in medicine, 96+ in all the steps and some research publications in other specialities; will i have fair chances to get matched into the bottom ranked programmes even preliminary ones?


This site has always been usefull to me and you are doing some great work for all the IMGs, thumbs up to you and keep up the good work!

Thanks a lot for your kind words!

Something is better than nothing; though it is best to get electives in the specialty of interest!

For Neurosurgery, good research experience with publications along with good USMLE scores is the key!

krishna chaita… (not verified)

Tue, 01/18/2011 - 07:40

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hi Dr umar,

 my name is chaitanya.i am a foreign medical graduate.i completed my MBBS along with internship by may 2010.i have not attended any electives in US. i just completed my step 1 with a score of 99 and three digit score of 251.planning to have step2 in may.i want to do residency in surgery.what can i do to improve my chances of getting matched in surgery residency.please help me. 

mehak (not verified)

Thu, 02/03/2011 - 21:04

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umar bhai pls tell me does dermatology also come under the list of difficult sspecialities?what electives should i coose that would help increase my chances?


 

Visitor (not verified)

Tue, 02/08/2011 - 15:00

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Hi Umar Sir,

I m presently doing my internship in India...I wanted to know dat wat r d chances of getting an elective n hence residency in Psychiatry ?? How to go bout it ?? PLZZZ help me out vid ur valuable suggestions...

Thanks a lot !!

Visitor (not verified)

Sat, 02/19/2011 - 05:54

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hi.i wud abmit u hav created a great support system for mle aspirants via this website.n thanx so much for that.here i was in a little bit of confusion.i have a certain preference for stream as in radiology or opthalmology....bt as told by my seniors it is totally unrealistic to hope for these branches in US.n if there s a chance i wud hav to go for an year of research there in these fields before i go applyin for my elective.and loss in terms of time is also a bothering.that too tied wd uncertainity.wat s ur take on this?

Thanks a lot for your kind words. Good scores in USMLEs and then couple of years of research can help you get in a competitive specialty like radio, opthalmo etc.

Visitor (not verified)

Fri, 02/25/2011 - 00:17

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hello umar sir,

thanks for helping us with your valuable information time and again.

i have got into an elective in radiation oncology for 6 weeks. i was looking for internal medicine electives but instead of getting those i got this elective as the others got filled up and this one somehow remained vacant.

now i would like to know how difficult is to get a residency in radiation oncology and what i should do in terms of score and research to get into this residency. also are there many img's who are doing this residency and are there programmes in this field which are img freindly.

Thanks again and best wishes.



salman (not verified)

Sun, 03/06/2011 - 17:16

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hi dr umar....i wanted to know whethe should you should start research after giving ur USMLE or before

Amit Ganvir (not verified)

Thu, 06/16/2011 - 09:15

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Hello Umar Sir,

    i am about to finish my internship in India in coming 2 months.. i am very much interested in doing MD Radio-diagnosis.. I have not done any electives in US.. as i was not sure until now of what i wanted to do.. could you please help me know the plan of action stepwise so that i can get a residency in Radio-diagnosis..

Dr Neetika (not verified)

Tue, 08/09/2011 - 13:50

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Hello Umar Sir,

I am in a great confusion..I am a Dermatologist, recently completed my MD Dermatology, Venereology & Leprology from India. i am desperate to go to US and pursue my carrier as a dermatologist.. How should I pursue.. I have already completed my 3 years course of MD & what I have heard is USA does not recognize that.. What should I do now..do i have to start right from the scratch? If yes, what should be my plan of action.. should i start searching for a research in dermatology in US & if yes, where should I apply or should i give my USmle step 1 first. Please do help me out in this Sir. 

RaviGurbani (not verified)

Sat, 09/29/2012 - 13:52

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 Hi Umar,

I am a practicing orthopedics surgeon based in India. I did my postraduation in 2007 and after that i am into active private practice. Now, due to personal reasons, i wish to appear for USMLE and get a residency in US in Orthopedic surgery.I 've read  your blogs and i am starting to make a list of all the reading material that i will need for USMLE Step- 1 . Is it mandatory to do research work in US before applying for residency in Orthopedics? 

You can get ecfmg certified and apply for fellowships in orthopeadic sub specialities. if you get a fellowhip of four years done,i think there is an alternate path to practise orthopeadic surgry in the US. Many indians are doing so. This is a suggestion , you should confirm this info.

Visitor (not verified)

Sat, 12/22/2012 - 12:25

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Respected Sir,

Thank you so much for this very informative site!

I am in final yr MBBS and am interested in Ophthalmology.However as has been pointed out by many it is extremely difficult for IMG's to get into. Nevertheless I have a few queries:

1.Apart from excellent USMLE scores and 2-3 electives in Ophthalmology vat more do I need to do?

2.Is a 1 yr research post better or a research elective with observerships more sound?

3.They require 1 yr of internship in either internal med/gen surg/transitional med..meaning I will have to separately apply for these programs and get matched into them as well right? So will the electives in ophtahl b gud enough for internal med or will I have to do a separate elective in internal med as well?

4.Is it true that they only accept IMG's with a green card for getting electives? Or does a green card not matter at all? My green card will b done in a year's time before I apply for the match.Will it be beneficial?

5.As a back-up option I am interested in OBGYN..Again how difficult is it to get into the same. And will doing only 1 elective in it suffice?

Kindly reply.Thanks!! :)

Tarun Khare (not verified)

Wed, 01/29/2014 - 18:27

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dear sir, I came to know about your website through a friend of mine, and i have been visiting it quite often now, i have just graduated and will be starting my internship from March. I have always been keen to study my post graduation in U.S. I have keen interest in Orthopaedic surgery and want to do residency in that, i have not given any steps, i have to, but i have talked to many people and they almost all of them say that i will never get a surgical branch because the americans get it and also other major branches are given to them. I dont know how much of this is true but it confusing me to choose between USMLE and my indian PG.I am scared now because i fear i will be nowhere neither in U.S. nor anywhere in india cuz here also it's pretty much tough. Please help me to know what should i do to get that orthopaedic surgery residency or a major branch, also what probably is given to foreign graduates. in need of urgent help thank you Tarun Khare

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