I have a scholarship, how should I communicate this with programs?

[applicant2016]

Hi,

I am an IMG, ECFMG certified and applied to the match this year for peds. I did some clinical and research experience in peds in the US and all my letters are US letters. I have a scholarship from my country (based on merit) where I am finically funded to pursue my residency training and fellowship in the US then go back again to serve in my country. Although I stated this scholarship thing clearly in my personal statement and in my eras application, but I doubt many programs ever noticed it. I totally understand that the decision of any program to invite or rank me will be mainly based on my merits (scores, letters. CV..etc), but I thought the fact the I have a scholarship will be attractive to programs, am I wrong? if no, then how should I communicate this with programs? I started sending short emails to programs but haven't seen the effect of it yet .

Thanks for help.

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[NotAProgDirector]

If you've put it in your PS and in your application, programs will see it. Some programs will see this as a big positive, since you come with your own funding. Some will see it as a PITA, since it means that the GME office need to deal with the paperwork / extra work of figuring out how to get the money to flow, and there is always some chance that this scholarship will evaporate in the middle of your training. We've had that happen with grant based funding in the past. In any case, I wouldn't do anything more about it.