Am I a competitive Pathology Candidate?

[ScienceGrl]

---

Members do not see this ad.

I'm an FMG, graduated in 2006, passed all three Steps on first attempt, scores 85 and above. Three years of Residency, then had a change of heart and want to do Path. I have 10 years Pharmaceutical/FDA experience including 8 years of Lab experience. Top of my class in Med School. I've applied to Oklahoma, 8 programs in TX, all 4 in Louisiana, 1 in Georgia, 1 in TN, 1 in CA. Total of 17. Not sure if I should apply to more. Have an interview in OK, but my LORs have not been uploaded yet, so I am getting nervous. Any advise? All comments are appreciated!!! 🙂

 

[KeratinPearls]

I'm an FMG, graduated in 2006, passed all three Steps on first attempt, scores 85 and above. Three years of Residency, then had a change of heart and want to do Path. I have 10 years Pharmaceutical/FDA experience including 8 years of Lab experience. Top of my class in Med School. I've applied to Oklahoma, 8 programs in TX, all 4 in Louisiana, 1 in Georgia, 1 in TN, 1 in CA. Total of 17. Not sure if I should apply to more. Have an interview in OK, but my LORs have not been uploaded yet, so I am getting nervous. Any advise? All comments are appreciated!!! 🙂

Have a very good reason why you want to do Path. You need to show you have some Path related background. Apply to as many programs as you can afford.

 

[ScienceGrl]

Have a very good reason why you want to do Path. You need to show you have some Path related background. Apply to as many programs as you can afford.

Thanks!!! I believe I have a good reason for the switch, but I had a hunch I should apply to some more. 🙂

 

[Gyric]

I'm an FMG, graduated in 2006, passed all three Steps on first attempt, scores 85 and above. Three years of Residency, then had a change of heart and want to do Path. I have 10 years Pharmaceutical/FDA experience including 8 years of Lab experience. Top of my class in Med School. I've applied to Oklahoma, 8 programs in TX, all 4 in Louisiana, 1 in Georgia, 1 in TN, 1 in CA. Total of 17. Not sure if I should apply to more. Have an interview in OK, but my LORs have not been uploaded yet, so I am getting nervous. Any advise? All comments are appreciated!!! 🙂

Wow, there are 4 residency programs in Louisiana! I would guess you could match somewhere in that list if you are good at interviewing.

 

[Patho2009]

You might have a good chance due to passing Step 3.

All the programs you are applied to are not very friendly to FMG but not impossible to get into one of them. Apply to the east coast programs, especially the northern-east (NY, PA, CT, Michigan). The eastern coast programs in general are very friendly to FMG, NY programs in particular. If you just want to stay in the south or near west due to family reasons, this is a different story but always keep something as a back-up.

I would recommend adding NY programs to your list..this should increase your chance. However, avoid NY programs if you get a chance some where else otherwise go for them as a last option.

Your personal statement should be also strong. Explain very well why you are interested in Path.

 

[exPCM]

Since you have been a resident for 3 years you have used up 3 yrs of GME funding. Pathology (AP/CP) will require 4 years of additional training. The program will not be fully reimbursed for all 4 years by Medicare if they take you. This puts you at a huge disadvantage. Many programs will not even consider taking residents who do not have full funding. If you want to get into path you should be applying to many more programs IMO.

Here is a discussion of the funding issue:
http://www.medpac.gov/publications/congressional_reports/Mar01 Ch10.pdf

Good luck.

 

[Patho2009]

I never heard with such a thing. I have seeing residents switching between the programs and repeating years of their training without having the funding issue....

I personally know two residents who switched from different residencies to pathology. They have started from the beginning and gave up the years they spent in the previous programs. Moreover, I saw people doing two residencies in two different specialties without any problem.

 

[ScienceGrl]

What's IMO?

 

[yaah]

IMO = In My Opinion

I agree your application is somewhat at a disadvantage. The fact that you finished at the top of your med school class means essentially nothing (from what I have heard) since you are an FMG.

That you passed step III is critical. FMGs also need to make sure everything in their application is complete and adequate. Connections with path departments also help. Can't tell whether your application is competitive enough to land more interviews. It should be, I think, but it's hard to tell for FMG candidates. And exPCM's point is valid for most residencies. I think some programs will not let that impact their decision, but many will.

 

[2121115]

If you want to stay in the south, I would recommend also applying to the University of Mississippi (good regional connections), University of South Alabama in Mobile (favorable to FMG's), and the Baptist community program in Birmingham AL (good community program and I believe often takes FMG's).

 

[exPCM]

Here's an example for a resident who changes training programs. Dr. Smith begins an internal
medicine residency on July 1, 2005. Internal medicine has an initial residency period (IRP) of 3
years. Dr. Smith soon realizes that she'd rather do a surgery residency (which has a 5-year
initial residency period) and would like to begin training the following year. However, even if
Dr. Smith is accepted into a surgery program, her initial residency period remains 3 years.
She would be counted as 1.0 FTE during her first and second year of the surgery residency
and 0.5 FTE during her third, fourth, and fifth years. The hospital will be paid less for Dr.
Smith's last three years of training than for a resident who began training in surgery right
out of medical school and thus had an initial residency period of 5 years.
..
see: http://services.aamc.org/publicatio...version57.pdf&prd_id=153&prv_id=180&pdf_id=57

 

[exPCM]

I never heard with such a thing. I have seeing residents switching between the programs and repeating years of their training without having the funding issue....

I personally know two residents who switched from different residencies to pathology. They have started from the beginning and gave up the years they spent in the previous programs. Moreover, I saw people doing two residencies in two different specialties without any problem.

Switching from surgery to path after a year is easier since a surgery residency has a 5 year IRP. Switching from IM to path is very difficult due to the loss of funding. See my post above. Many cash strapped hospitals would rather take a fully funded FMG than a partially funded AMG doing a second residency. I have a friend who did IM residency and then applied to pathology that was AOA and had excellent board scores who got very few interviews due to the funding issue. She felt very lucky to match at a low tier path program.

 

[ScienceGrl]

My mistake...only 3 programs in Louisiana....thanks for bringing that to my attention!

 

[ScienceGrl]

Didn't realize that my application seems to be "handicapped." I'll apply to more programs and hope for the best 🙂 Thanks to all for advice and please feel free to share more!

 

[2121115]

What residency are you doing now? Be very sure you want to switch. What ever you're in now may very well offer better prospects after residency than pathology will. Pathology is a tough job market for AMG's and I can only imagine it being tougher for FMG's (just the facts, no offense meant).

 

[BrainPathology]

IMO = In My Opinion

I agree your application is somewhat at a disadvantage. The fact that you finished at the top of your med school class means essentially nothing (from what I have heard) since you are an FMG.

That you passed step III is critical. FMGs also need to make sure everything in their application is complete and adequate. Connections with path departments also help. Can't tell whether your application is competitive enough to land more interviews. It should be, I think, but it's hard to tell for FMG candidates. And exPCM's point is valid for most residencies. I think some programs will not let that impact their decision, but many will.

I think it depends on what school you went to. I worked along side a resident who graduated from med school in Tehran, as a female she was at a disadvantage to get in in the first place. Then placing in the top of her class along with her excellent english made hiring her not much of a gamble. 1 resident left there matches her skill, nobody exceeds it. If I ever had the chance to work with her again I'd jump at it.

 

[exPCM]

What residency are you doing now? Be very sure you want to switch. What ever you're in now may very well offer better prospects after residency than pathology will. Pathology is a tough job market for AMG's and I can only imagine it being tougher for FMG's (just the facts, no offense meant).

I strongly agree with this post.