- Joined
- Mar 13, 2018
- Messages
- 395
- Reaction score
- 804
Hi all,
I'm asking for a family friend who is trying to match.
I'm not sure of all that is needed so forgive me if I say something wrong or miss out some information.
She graduated medical school in West Africa in 2012.
Completed 1 year of what is called 'house job' over there - basically a residency from what she describes.
Arrived in the US in 2015.
She is on a student visa which I know is a huge hindrance.
Completed a masters in psychology in 2016.
Currently getting an associates degree in substance abuse counseling (she needs to be in school to maintain her F1 visa).
Match Attempts: 2 (2018, 2019/2020 cycle). She is interested in psych and applied to 60 or 70 programs with no interviews.
Her clinical experiences are all in psych, including her work in home country
USMLE:
Step 1 (3 attempts), most recent score 206 (2017) - It seems like this is a red flag.
Step 2 (2 attempts), most recent score 217 (2018)
Step 3 (1 attempt) 199 (2019).
Currently, shadowing and observerships cancelled due to COVID.
Clinical experience:
Currently working as a psychology/ substance abuse counselor which is a paid position (volunteer since 2018, paid starting 1 year ago).
Hospital volunteer last year - She says she was mostly working with the nurses.
Letters of rec: 4 letters
All from experiences in home country.
(I told her these were old and she needed more recent ones).
Can you please advise on what she should do in order to match for this upcoming cycle.
Where should she apply? Specific programs? (I'm an incoming MS1 so I'm not sure how people find places to apply to, I'm sure she does).
Any particular states?
I have told her she absolutely needs to apply to a ton of family medicine (As I've seen said on here) and limited psych (is this correct info?)
I have told her to also try to connect with physicians in some capacity to establish relationships and give advice. Limited right now due to COVID.
Thank you so much!!
I'm asking for a family friend who is trying to match.
I'm not sure of all that is needed so forgive me if I say something wrong or miss out some information.
She graduated medical school in West Africa in 2012.
Completed 1 year of what is called 'house job' over there - basically a residency from what she describes.
Arrived in the US in 2015.
She is on a student visa which I know is a huge hindrance.
Completed a masters in psychology in 2016.
Currently getting an associates degree in substance abuse counseling (she needs to be in school to maintain her F1 visa).
Match Attempts: 2 (2018, 2019/2020 cycle). She is interested in psych and applied to 60 or 70 programs with no interviews.
Her clinical experiences are all in psych, including her work in home country
USMLE:
Step 1 (3 attempts), most recent score 206 (2017) - It seems like this is a red flag.
Step 2 (2 attempts), most recent score 217 (2018)
Step 3 (1 attempt) 199 (2019).
Currently, shadowing and observerships cancelled due to COVID.
Clinical experience:
Currently working as a psychology/ substance abuse counselor which is a paid position (volunteer since 2018, paid starting 1 year ago).
Hospital volunteer last year - She says she was mostly working with the nurses.
Letters of rec: 4 letters
All from experiences in home country.
(I told her these were old and she needed more recent ones).
Can you please advise on what she should do in order to match for this upcoming cycle.
Where should she apply? Specific programs? (I'm an incoming MS1 so I'm not sure how people find places to apply to, I'm sure she does).
Any particular states?
I have told her she absolutely needs to apply to a ton of family medicine (As I've seen said on here) and limited psych (is this correct info?)
I have told her to also try to connect with physicians in some capacity to establish relationships and give advice. Limited right now due to COVID.
Thank you so much!!