advice for old img

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claver

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I am an old IMG, having graduated about 15 years ago. I have passed all the USMLE exams (Steps 1, 2 CK/CS, 3). I did Pathology residency in home country and what to do same in this country. The problem is that the process is difficult. This is my 3rd time attempting the match and still no success. I am getting frustrated. Do I do something else, maybe get a Ph.D in any of the biomedical sciences or do I try again. By the way, I passed all the exams at 1st attempt (with good scores) and have 1 year US observership in Pathology at a teaching hospotal and community hospital. I tried applying to some other specialities, but the question I am always asked is why do I want to go in for that specialy, after having done Pathology. It seems that my previous training is a handicap and to be honest, Pathology is my passion. Your input will be appreciated.

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I believe a PhD would greatly help you match in pathology, many IMG applicants that go on to match at university programs have PhD from their home country or here.
 
I believe a PhD would greatly help you match in pathology, many IMG applicants that go on to match at university programs have PhD from their home country or here.

I agree. You should do a PhD, preferably in pathology. Work with some big names, get some good 'ins' and then you should match. Be careful of USMLE time limits (check the FSMB website) as your scores may expire depending on the state, but I think this might be irrelevant if you've passed ALL 3 steps.
 
Hello Claver,
I'm in a semi-similar or perhaps soon to be similar situation as yours. I have as yet only taken CS2 and plan on taking the others. But I'm worried I might not match at all because of the "time" since graduation issue.

Just to find out what other factors might have affected your application - may I ask:

What was your 3 digit step 1 score? (I hear this is the most important score)
What is your US visa status/requirement?
Which country/city/school did you graduate from, i.e. is it a wordlwide recognised and reputable school?
How many programs did you apply to?
How many did you get interviews from?
Of those that you did interview with, if any, how many did you rank?
Do you have any publications? If yes, how many? Are they in "A" or "B" list journals?
 
I agree. You should do a PhD, preferably in pathology. Work with some big names, get some good 'ins' and then you should match. Be careful of USMLE time limits (check the FSMB website) as your scores may expire depending on the state, but I think this might be irrelevant if you've passed ALL 3 steps.

I agree that you should do a PhD, but not because I think it will help you match. Because I think it will help you get a (academic research/industry) job.

There is almost no reason for any program to take a chance on an "old" foreign grad when there is a huge crop of "young," fresh, just as qualified US grads out there every year. Path is slightly different than other specialties because clinical practice norms (patient interaction and the like) is less of an issue for foreign grads but still something programs will be concerned about.

Finally, if you do a PhD (and start in September of this year), when you finish, you'll be 20y out from med school graduation which will make matching even tougher. You may have a chance at a spot in the program you do your PhD in but it will still be quite slim unless you are a total rock star.
 
Agree with gutonc. The PhD might not help you match but might allow the OP to gain some employment in the US and in his chosen field (albeit not as a pathologist).

The OP doesn't say what he/she has been doing for the last 20 years. Many programs do have a limit on the number of years from graduation as a max they will consider applicants (5 is a common number). But if the OP has not been working as a pathologist recently, this may also be a factor. Perhaps if he/she told us a little bit more we could identify where the red flags are.
 
It seems like it will be really hard or impossible to get a residency 15-20 yrs out. Even a US grad would have a hard, hard time doing that.
You can likely get into a PhD program, if that's what you want.
 
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