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Name mentioned -- editing the post; apologies.
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ABIM research pathway
- Thread starter OtoBahn
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Your being considered competitive for the ABIM pathway depends on so many things:
SCORES SCORES ( mid 90s is a plus unless you are expecting to get in to any of the top 20 programs. IN the latter case a double 99 is almost a must)
Your medical school : A school like UAB doesnot even invite IMGs with "excellent scores" if they are not from certain Indian medical schools. For schools like Hopkins there is only one word for interviews : contacts ... OR some one from ur school shd have done well in their residency program. To be honest very few PDs know how medical schools are tiered in INdia : this cd be an advantage or a disadvantage depending on your situ. Remember an interview call doesnot mean that they will rank you high. The big programs are careful about how many IMGs they take every year 'coz of the signals it sends to AMGs : so you may be extremely competitive but still may be placed really low on their rank list.
Your residency application: its overall strength
The extent to which your PhD is relevant to internal medicine ( if itis in history then they will definitely question WTF u will do in cardiology and so on, if cards is your interest .. just kidding.... he he ........... I know how important cards is for indians with cards guys being treated like rockstars back home)
Publications- number and quality(?)
Hands-on US experience
Years since graduation ( this is a marker of how rusted you are); u must remember that PDs are looking for residents and not some IMG scholars who are out of touch with clinical medicine. But being a PhD u will definitely be a hot comodity once it comes to fellowship and faculty placements.
Your VISA ( very important); some top programs here are strictly J1 and dont even consider applicants who say that they are looking for either J1 or H1 . They fear that applicants will rank them low in favor of h1 VISA granting programs. Also Some specialities are not H1 b compatible with the ABIM pathway : cards and GI being notable ones ( they need seven years).
Another big question is that of NIH funding. Being a non-citizen and nonGC cd put you at a disadvantage as it would be difficult for the program to put you on federal funding in the later research years of your training.
Your interview: how "smart" you really sound on the interview day. So you better appear Oxford-worthy material!
Good luck!
SCORES SCORES ( mid 90s is a plus unless you are expecting to get in to any of the top 20 programs. IN the latter case a double 99 is almost a must)
Your medical school : A school like UAB doesnot even invite IMGs with "excellent scores" if they are not from certain Indian medical schools. For schools like Hopkins there is only one word for interviews : contacts ... OR some one from ur school shd have done well in their residency program. To be honest very few PDs know how medical schools are tiered in INdia : this cd be an advantage or a disadvantage depending on your situ. Remember an interview call doesnot mean that they will rank you high. The big programs are careful about how many IMGs they take every year 'coz of the signals it sends to AMGs : so you may be extremely competitive but still may be placed really low on their rank list.
Your residency application: its overall strength
The extent to which your PhD is relevant to internal medicine ( if itis in history then they will definitely question WTF u will do in cardiology and so on, if cards is your interest .. just kidding.... he he ........... I know how important cards is for indians with cards guys being treated like rockstars back home)
Publications- number and quality(?)
Hands-on US experience
Years since graduation ( this is a marker of how rusted you are); u must remember that PDs are looking for residents and not some IMG scholars who are out of touch with clinical medicine. But being a PhD u will definitely be a hot comodity once it comes to fellowship and faculty placements.
Your VISA ( very important); some top programs here are strictly J1 and dont even consider applicants who say that they are looking for either J1 or H1 . They fear that applicants will rank them low in favor of h1 VISA granting programs. Also Some specialities are not H1 b compatible with the ABIM pathway : cards and GI being notable ones ( they need seven years).
Another big question is that of NIH funding. Being a non-citizen and nonGC cd put you at a disadvantage as it would be difficult for the program to put you on federal funding in the later research years of your training.
Your interview: how "smart" you really sound on the interview day. So you better appear Oxford-worthy material!
Good luck!
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First off - congrats about the Rhodes scholarship - that's a huge accomplishment. I would imagine that getting something as prestigious as a Rhodes would open a lot of doors for you in terms of residency. I really don't know how FMGs fare in terms of residency placement if they also have a Rhodes. There are some FMGs at places like BWH, MGH, but many of these went to med school in Europe, so I'm not sure how easy/difficult it is for someone who went to med school in India. Regardless, I think your Rhodes award, in addition to good publications, will definitely help you to get into a good residency program. Those are just my thoughts. I would ask some program directors in the states what they think your chances are.
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it might not be a bad idea to see if any faculty at strong IM programs have research that overlaps with yours. if you guys click (by e-mail or phone) they might put in a word on your behalf, which can go a long way.
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A Rhodes, even from non-US/Canada/South Africa is going to help for residency in general. However, if you want to pursue a ABIM position, the key is not necessarily your clinical interests - your research interests are potentially more important. Your letter from your DPhil mentor along with quality of publications are very important when applying to the research pathway. DPhil's from Oxford are very prestigious, and certainly will help you get around the IMG background. Flipside is that I haven't seen any IMGs match to ABIM pathway programs yet - but it sounds like you're a special case.
Use this website to help. Advice is to obviously talk to these program directors first. Audition rotations may be reasonable opportunities.
http://www.physicianscientists.org/Training_Programs/Residency.html
That said, as posted above about UAB, they'll take students from AIIMS for IM - one works in the lab right now with me.
Use this website to help. Advice is to obviously talk to these program directors first. Audition rotations may be reasonable opportunities.
http://www.physicianscientists.org/Training_Programs/Residency.html
That said, as posted above about UAB, they'll take students from AIIMS for IM - one works in the lab right now with me.
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At the outset I must apologize if I sounded rude in my initial reply: I was just trying to be honest.
That done, ABIM research pathway is a doable thing here: But you would have to make a strong case for it in ur application. I can tell you from my personal expereince that if you want a particular speciality and set your heart on it and are ready to put in the hard work you wd definitely get it here. People from AIIMS with very mediocre scores ( read 80s and CS fail) have landed radiology at pretty much good places. No doubt having RHODES on your resume will make your applicaiton shine at almost every place. Baylor and UMinn are quite attainable. Feel free to pm me ( and tell me ur medical school : I will be glad to tell you which program would be aware of grads frm ur place).Another option wd be to enter a residency program as a categorical intern, shine on ur rotations and then transfer to the ABIM pathway the next year. I dont know if you know this about the ABIM research pathway, but it tends to be very intensive in that the inpatient rotations that one has to do over a span of three years get squeezed in to two years ( so it cd be q4 for 9 months in the second year)>But i cd be wrong on this.
If you are a nephro , endo or rheum person, it shd be definitely easier to get.
You wd have to make a strong case for doing internal medicine with background in cochlear implants: I have worked in audiology as an RA for a sem, and I had to play down this aspect during my interviews. But I did tell my interviewers how this RA was a great learning expereince and how I was able to learn about social and managerial skills needed for research by doing this job and so on.
I forgot to mention one thing in my previous post and I am only glad people have brought it up nicely: the importance of LORs. PDs and reviewers tend to read very carefully what people write about you ( the cultural practices here mandate reading btw the lines: but I am sure you must be well versed with this having experienced the likes of Vir Chauhan et al in Rhodes).
Also I wd advise to continue working on your application: dont let rhodes be an end in itself: use it to get opportunites u wd have otherwise not received. Being an Indian IMG and having gone through this Indian scholarship hoopla three years ago I know that you shd be a good candidate and can only wish the best for you.
To sum up ABIM research pathway is definitely attainable and good luck! We hope to hear great things about you on this forum.
That done, ABIM research pathway is a doable thing here: But you would have to make a strong case for it in ur application. I can tell you from my personal expereince that if you want a particular speciality and set your heart on it and are ready to put in the hard work you wd definitely get it here. People from AIIMS with very mediocre scores ( read 80s and CS fail) have landed radiology at pretty much good places. No doubt having RHODES on your resume will make your applicaiton shine at almost every place. Baylor and UMinn are quite attainable. Feel free to pm me ( and tell me ur medical school : I will be glad to tell you which program would be aware of grads frm ur place).Another option wd be to enter a residency program as a categorical intern, shine on ur rotations and then transfer to the ABIM pathway the next year. I dont know if you know this about the ABIM research pathway, but it tends to be very intensive in that the inpatient rotations that one has to do over a span of three years get squeezed in to two years ( so it cd be q4 for 9 months in the second year)>But i cd be wrong on this.
If you are a nephro , endo or rheum person, it shd be definitely easier to get.
You wd have to make a strong case for doing internal medicine with background in cochlear implants: I have worked in audiology as an RA for a sem, and I had to play down this aspect during my interviews. But I did tell my interviewers how this RA was a great learning expereince and how I was able to learn about social and managerial skills needed for research by doing this job and so on.
I forgot to mention one thing in my previous post and I am only glad people have brought it up nicely: the importance of LORs. PDs and reviewers tend to read very carefully what people write about you ( the cultural practices here mandate reading btw the lines: but I am sure you must be well versed with this having experienced the likes of Vir Chauhan et al in Rhodes).
Also I wd advise to continue working on your application: dont let rhodes be an end in itself: use it to get opportunites u wd have otherwise not received. Being an Indian IMG and having gone through this Indian scholarship hoopla three years ago I know that you shd be a good candidate and can only wish the best for you.
To sum up ABIM research pathway is definitely attainable and good luck! We hope to hear great things about you on this forum.
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The reason why I mentioned appearing smart on your interviews was becasue I know of other such schship winners from INdia (Inlaks) who ended matching at places that cd be best described as mediocre. One was even disqualified by the ECFMG for ten years
Did not mean to offend any one here or want anyone to read btw lines and make any judgements about you
Did not mean to offend any one here or want anyone to read btw lines and make any judgements about you
