Chances of Pathology residency

[TrojanRaggy]

I am a pathology resident(PGY3) in India. I am aspiring to match for a pathology residency in US after completion of my residency in India. I have 3 international publications(1 case series + 2 case reports). I will apply in 2017 match(meanwhile working as an Asst. Professor) and by that time, my YOG would be 6 years. I have a few questions. I would request senior members like "Yaah" to put forward their thoughts too.

1. To what degree will my Pathology residency + 2 years experience as an Asst. Professor help me when I apply for the match?

2. Will my YOG of 6 years be a huge setback(even when I was involved with pathology throughout the period)?

3. What should I do to make my profile more attractive(besides trying to score good in steps)?

4. What kind of USCE should I be looking for? I know shadowing/observerships are not counted at all in clinical subjects but in a subject like ours(where "observation" is the key), don't you think observerships would count? If I work as a lab technician for one year, will that be counted as a USCE in pathology?

Thanks in advance!

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[Johnny Sunshine]

I can't comment on the USCE aspect, but as far as your experience helping your application I would say it will help, but possibly not as much as you may hope.

US medical school grads rarely have much exposure to pathology practice. Most US grads have zero clue where to begin if you show them a slide. It's uncommon for even those applying to pathology to take more than a 1-month elective. I was an exception however, and took every pathology rotation I could in med school: Two months general surg path, a month of pediatric path, a month of blood bank, a month of forensics, a month of clinical chemistry, 2 weeks microbiology, and 2 weeks cytology.

I thought this would set me apart in the applicant pool. After all, the vast majority of applicants only have a 1-month general surg path elective under their belts, and half of them will eventually discover they don't even like pathology. Yet here I was, with a lot of exposure already, knowing a fair amount of the basics, and being enthusiastic about the field (because I had actually experienced it).

To my surprise, no one cared at all about my experience. Even though they all acknowledged the fact that most of their applicants were pretty clueless about what pathology practice actually entails, most of them were still surprised I thought my experience was even worth mentioning.

All anyone really cared about was my USMLE scores, my English proficiency, and whether I seemed like a good guy and would be easy to work with. (The department chairs were interested in my research and publications, but not terribly.)

 

[TrojanRaggy]

I can't comment on the USCE aspect, but as far as your experience helping your application I would say it will help, but possibly not as much as you may hope.

US medical school grads rarely have much exposure to pathology practice. Most US grads have zero clue where to begin if you show them a slide. It's uncommon for even those applying to pathology to take more than a 1-month elective. I was an exception however, and took every pathology rotation I could in med school: Two months general surg path, a month of pediatric path, a month of blood bank, a month of forensics, a month of clinical chemistry, 2 weeks microbiology, and 2 weeks cytology.

I thought this would set me apart in the applicant pool. After all, the vast majority of applicants only have a 1-month general surg path elective under their belts, and half of them will eventually discover they don't even like pathology. Yet here I was, with a lot of exposure already, knowing a fair amount of the basics, and being enthusiastic about the field (because I had actually experienced it).

To my surprise, no one cared at all about my experience. Even though they all acknowledged the fact that most of their applicants were pretty clueless about what pathology practice actually entails, most of them were still surprised I thought my experience was even worth mentioning.

All anyone really cared about was my USMLE scores, my English proficiency, and whether I seemed like a good guy and would be easy to work with. (The department chairs were interested in my research and publications, but not terribly.)

Thanks a lot for the reply

 

[gbwillner]

I am a pathology resident(PGY3) in India. I am aspiring to match for a pathology residency in US after completion of my residency in India. I have 3 international publications(1 case series + 2 case reports). I will apply in 2017 match(meanwhile working as an Asst. Professor) and by that time, my YOG would be 6 years. I have a few questions. I would request senior members like "Yaah" to put forward their thoughts too.

1. To what degree will my Pathology residency + 2 years experience as an Asst. Professor help me when I apply for the match?

2. Will my YOG of 6 years be a huge setback(even when I was involved with pathology throughout the period)?

3. What should I do to make my profile more attractive(besides trying to score good in steps)?

4. What kind of USCE should I be looking for? I know shadowing/observerships are not counted at all in clinical subjects but in a subject like ours(where "observation" is the key), don't you think observerships would count? If I work as a lab technician for one year, will that be counted as a USCE in pathology?

Thanks in advance!

Trojan,
I actually think your experience would help quite a bit, especially in the larger programs that have a lot of residents who are research focused and they want others to push the glass. Your experience makes you perfect for this role. At my residency program, we always took international applicants as a minority of the class who were stellar residents and they often had already finished path training in other countries.

Good luck.

 

[TrojanRaggy]

Trojan,
I actually think your experience would help quite a bit, especially in the larger programs that have a lot of residents who are research focused and they want others to push the glass. Your experience makes you perfect for this role. At my residency program, we always took international applicants as a minority of the class who were stellar residents and they often had already finished path training in other countries.

Good luck.

Well thanks a lot! Could you please help me with the names of such programs that look for few residents like me? Thanks in advance!

 

[yaah]

1. To what degree will my Pathology residency + 2 years experience as an Asst. Professor help me when I apply for the match?

2. Will my YOG of 6 years be a huge setback(even when I was involved with pathology throughout the period)?

3. What should I do to make my profile more attractive(besides trying to score good in steps)?

4. What kind of USCE should I be looking for? I know shadowing/observerships are not counted at all in clinical subjects but in a subject like ours(where "observation" is the key), don't you think observerships would count? If I work as a lab technician for one year, will that be counted as a USCE in pathology?

I do not work with residents now, so my perspective is limited. But I highly doubt being 6 years from graduation would be a big setback. It would probably be helpful since you are an international grad. It is harder for international grads, the spectrum of ability among international grads is very wide, and many residency programs have been burned by such grads before, so they hesitate and they evaluate carefully. More experience is probably better. I don't know how much these things will help you, unfortunately as you are an international grad that makes it difficult at baseline. Many international grads have more success when they have personal contact with specific residency programs (either a relationship with faculty or experience in the department as a researcher).

I do not know what USCE means, but exposure to pathology is obviously improtant. Working as a lab technician may be useful or it may not be, it depends on the context and where you work.

 

[TrojanRaggy]

I do not work with residents now, so my perspective is limited. But I highly doubt being 6 years from graduation would be a big setback. It would probably be helpful since you are an international grad. It is harder for international grads, the spectrum of ability among international grads is very wide, and many residency programs have been burned by such grads before, so they hesitate and they evaluate carefully. More experience is probably better. I don't know how much these things will help you, unfortunately as you are an international grad that makes it difficult at baseline. Many international grads have more success when they have personal contact with specific residency programs (either a relationship with faculty or experience in the department as a researcher).

I do not know what USCE means, but exposure to pathology is obviously improtant. Working as a lab technician may be useful or it may not be, it depends on the context and where you work.

Yay! "Yaah" replied!
Thanks a lot!

 

[jp123ok]

1. To what degree will my Pathology residency + 2 years experience as an Asst. Professor help me when I apply for the match?
2. Will my YOG of 6 years be a huge setback(even when I was involved with pathology throughout the period)?
3. What should I do to make my profile more attractive(besides trying to score good in steps)?
4. What kind of USCE should I be looking for? I know shadowing/observerships are not counted at all in clinical subjects but in a subject like ours(where "observation" is the key), don't you think observerships would count? If I work as a lab technician for one year, will that be counted as a USCE in pathology?

Regarding your questions:
1) Unfortunately, having finished a path residency in India may not help you as much as you might think. Some US path residency programs would consider it a negative. They prefer having less experienced trainees who they can mold rather than trained pathologists who are set in their ways.

2) As long as you are < 10 years post YOG this shouldn't be a big factor.

3 and 4) USCE and LORs from US pathologists are the most important things you can do to boost your chances of getting a residency spot. The problem is that USCE is hard to get.

 

[TrojanRaggy]

Regarding your questions:
1) Unfortunately, having finished a path residency in India may not help you as much as you might think. Some US path residency programs would consider it a negative. They prefer having less experienced trainees who they can mold rather than trained pathologists who are set in their ways.

2) As long as you are < 10 years post YOG this shouldn't be a big factor.

3 and 4) USCE and LORs from US pathologists are the most important things you can do to boost your chances of getting a residency spot. The problem is that USCE is hard to get.

Yup exactly! The thing I am most concerned about is the USCE part!
So few programs want to pick up fresh residents and (going by the previous responses) few prefer pathologists. Could you please suggest me a few programs that I should apply to(IMG/Pathologist friendly)?