What are my chances?

[imfmapplicant]

Hi ya'll

I am an FMG, wanted your opinion about my situation.
I did my high school and then went to India for Med School, then did a residency in EM before coming back.
My YOG is 2013
So basically I finished med school in 2013, residency of 1 year, then practiced as an ERP for almost 2 years till Jan 2017.
Gave Step 1 with 2 months of prep scored 20X, then did CS a month later.
Started USCE in Jan 2018, then joined as a Research Fellow in Psychiatry in March
Gave CK recently 2018 - 23X
Now preparing for Step 3, intending to apply for 2019 Match.
My research position gave me opportunity of 2 poster presentation and 1 oral presentation, maybe an abstract down the line in few months.
Apart from my research planning to join as a medical scribe in a busy medical practice.

With this background I am aiming to apply for IM/FM/Psych.

Do you guys think, whether it will be possible to get any interviews in IM/FM/Psych or I am shooting at stars?

Thank You in Advance.

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[curiousneuro]

Hi ya'll

I am an FMG, wanted your opinion about my situation.
I did my high school and then went to India for Med School, then did a residency in EM before coming back.
My YOG is 2013
So basically I finished med school in 2013, residency of 1 year, then practiced as an ERP for almost 2 years till Jan 2017.
Gave Step 1 with 2 months of prep scored 20X, then did CS a month later.
Started USCE in Jan 2018, then joined as a Research Fellow in Psychiatry in March
Gave CK recently 2018 - 23X
Now preparing for Step 3, intending to apply for 2019 Match.
My research position gave me opportunity of 2 poster presentation and 1 oral presentation, maybe an abstract down the line in few months.
Apart from my research planning to join as a medical scribe in a busy medical practice.

With this background I am aiming to apply for IM/FM/Psych.

Do you guys think, whether it will be possible to get any interviews in IM/FM/Psych or I am shooting at stars?

Thank You in Advance.

The fact that you have been practicing all this time is good. However - what is your LOR situation? Do you have US LOR writers? That will be very important to getting any residency position, at all.

The biggest red flag I see is your step 1 score. I think you may be able to match FM somewhere (apply very, very broadly), but IM and even psych will be very hard to match in.

Maybe you can pull some strings with the PD at the psych program that you are currently doing a research fellowship with...

 

[GoSpursGo]

I agree, sit down with the PD at the psych program you're currently at and have a frank conversation on whether he thinks you would be competitive for psych. My gut feeling is that with that score, IM or psych would be a reach.

 

[imfmapplicant]

Thank you guys for the responses.

First thing, I do not have any US LOR's. Hoping to get 2 from the research place. One from the Director of the research lab and one from co-director. The university where I am doing research is not at all IMG friendly, and more over the research center is far away from the med school/hospital location and I never came in contact with the PD or to say any attendings.

The only thing that motivated me to join research first is that, almost all of the people who did research there, they either pre-matched or matched if not the first then in their second attempt, I do not know the credentials of those who matched.

This Doctor, under whom I am doing the research also has private clinic where I did an externship for 3 months before he accepted me for the research position. So he is the one who is going to give me an LOR on his private practice letter head, and an LOR on the University letter head.

And, I have an observership coming in soon, may be next month or the month after.

So basically before the match I am expecting 3 LOR's - 2 LOR's from the same doc one for research and the other for externship, and 1 from the Co-director of that research center btw that person is not an MD, so I don't know how much water the LOR from the co-director holds. As I said above I am arranging for another observership at a community hospital but they do not have any residency program at their hospital.


CuriousNeuro - what makes you say that I will be able to match in FM.. I have no FM USCE, what I think as of now is if I apply for anything else than psych I wont be able to substantiate it. I do not have any USCE for FM, and I believe that FM PD's would like to see LOR's from a FM doctor.

Do you guys think that I should line up FM obsie's and apply to FM too? Wouldn't my CV obviously look like I that of a confused candidate who is taking either FM or Psych as a backup?

Or should I just leave this research and just do observerships in IM and FM? and leave pursuing psych all together?

Thank you in advance.

 

[imfmapplicant]

I agree, sit down with the PD at the psych program you're currently at and have a frank conversation on whether he thinks you would be competitive for psych. My gut feeling is that with that score, IM or psych would be a reach.

So you think PD's would entertain my request to go over my CV ?

 

[GoSpursGo]

So you think PD's would entertain my request to go over my CV ?

I don't know. if the hospital isn't IMG friendly then it doesn't sound like you have much to lose by just asking.

I think it's fine if you apply to psych, but I would find a way to get some FM experience as well and apply there too.

 

[imfmapplicant]

I don't know. if the hospital isn't IMG friendly then it doesn't sound like you have much to lose by just asking.

I think it's fine if you apply to psych, but I would find a way to get some FM experience as well and apply there too.

Thank you for your response. I will take a shot at it. And yeah FM I think I should find some FM externships and apply for it too.

 

[Celexa]

You'll get more answers about your chances in psych in the psych subforum. Several PDs are regular posters.

My gut says trying to go for psych without clinical experience in psychiatry in the United States is going to be very difficult to impossible to get. You'd probably need a letter from an American psychiatrist who can speak to your clinical (not research) abilities to get a foot in the door.

Edit: Realized I misread your post initially. It's always unclear to me what 'externships' consist of but if that provided clinical experience that's definitely good. But why you would submit two letters from the same person confuses me; I don't see why he can't address both clinical and research work in the same letter. Frankly, the psych residencies that are most likely to take someone with your background are not going to be research powerhouses. The research-heavy places take only American MDs and a few exceptional FMGs with more research background than what you describe here. It's not that the research is a bad thing to have done, but it's not what's going to convince people to take you as a resident.

 

[W19]

I agree, sit down with the PD at the psych program you're currently at and have a frank conversation on whether he thinks you would be competitive for psych. My gut feeling is that with that score, IM or psych would be a reach.

With all the community IM programs out there, is IM really more competitive than FM?

 

[GoSpursGo]

With all the community IM programs out there, is IM really more competitive than FM?

I'm honesty not sure, I'm just going based on what I've always heard. Either way, the OP should probably pick one and focus on getting USCE and letters from one or the other; probably doesn't have time to do both.