Applying to backup specialties?

[dggopal]

I realize this may be discussed to death already but I am looking for personalized advice on what I should do.

I am a US citizen IMG who applied to 250+ IM programs all over the country as I failed to match last year. I am a 2012 grad with a 222 on step 1 on first attempt, 227 on step 2 (second attempt) and passed the CS on my first attempt.

My wife matched at a community program in the Detroit area last year.

So far I have gotten 4 interviews including one from my wife's program. This was after my wife met with her PD informing him that I had applied and also after meeting with him for 30 minutes to casually go over my app. During our casual meeting the PD said my personal statement was really good but stressed that my scores were bad and that I should take step 3. I have a pretty well known cardiologist who also happens to be the assistant PD at an interventional program ready to call my wife's PD to advocate on my behalf as well. Also, I interviewed at 2 of the other 3 programs that invited me last year.

I want to go into IM but at this point I need to get into any residency. I am not averse to FM, or even Psych. This is not desperation speaking as I was considering these specialties prior to realizing I don't particularly care for OBG and also that IM deals with a lot of psych as it is.

Having said that I have no Psych LOR's and my app caters to IM as my latest work experience is in cardiology. I would say that my personal statement though is pretty well tailored to psych though.

This late in the game, should I even think to apply to psychiatry/FM or just hope for the best with the apps I have submitted already?

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[Law2Doc]

So did you listen to that PDs advice and take step 3? That seems like your best shot. No reason not to have this cardiologist call too but if he wants you to sit for a test that's probably what he needs to see to ignore your scores.

I see no reason not to apply to FM and psych programs and see if you get interviews. Hoping for the best is not a proactive approach that I would recommend for an IMG reapplicant.

 

[clausewitz2]

You are going to need a letter or two from a psychiatrist to get psych interviews. The places that genuinely don't care about interest in psych are mainly also the places set up to depend on IMGs who have already been practicing for several years elsewhere.

 

[AMEHigh]

Well this late in the game, if you're going to apply, you should literally do it tomorrow.

I applied a little late (beginning of Oct) to family and have 11 interviews so far. Some still just coming in at the end of this week and a few programs have emailed this week saying they are just starting to review applications and will follow up soon.

I had one letter from a family physician, however I asked her to write it generic. The other 2 letters were from non family physicians and also generic. And lastly, I have 1 letter very clearly from a different specialty that I'm pretty sure says I will be good in that specialty. But since I was applying late and at that time it was my 3rd letter, I submitted it.

Did you take step 3? What have you been doing since 2012? That seems like the biggest red flag unfortunately as I know some programs have a cut off that you have to have graduated within the past 3 years.

So really you have nothing to lose (other than money) in applying to more programs, so go for it. I have no experience in regards to Psych letters. Good luck.

 

[dggopal]

Thanks guys. I went ahead and applied to psych and fm programs and also surgical prelims.

I should clarify that my meeting with my wife's PD was only a couple weeks ago and I have since begun preparing for step 3. I hope to have that score available by ROL deadlines.

I did about 6 months of research since 2012 and and more recently have been doing a cardiology externship for the past 3 months and will continue that until matching. In addition I am volunteering at a university affiliated student run clinic on the weekends.

I know there are no easy specialties, but are there any less competitive specialties that I should look at applying? I have applied to IM, prelim, ty, FM, psych and now surgical prelim. I only have IM/cardiology letters. I have an FM letter from a couple years ago and an EM one that is also old. I have heard Pathology is easier to get into but I can't say my app is tailored to that field at all so I am hesitant to apply to it and moreover I don't know how much more competitive I will be for IM after having done a PGY-1 in pathology. Nevertheless I am open to applying path too if that seems like a roundabout yet viable route to clinical practice. Are there any other specialties I should look at?

 

[metopic]

What are you thinking? Dude... with your record you need to be applying the minute ERAS opens. Which, FYI, was not this weekend. You need to get organized and act like an adult if you want a job. Decide what you are applying to before ERAS opens, get letters relevant to the specialty, and apply the day it opens. Everyone in my class did that, and guess what we are US grad's applying as seniors with good scores. Get your act together.