chances of getting residency

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egydoc

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i am an IMG and i have 3 years to finish my degree.
i am starting 2 prepare for step 1 but i have 3 questions on my mind and i was hoping someone will guide me.

1.how difficult are the 3 usmle steps.i was told by some that its very very hard work but also u have to be so smart and witha good clinical experience.

2.hopefully i ll b appling 2 the match after 3 or 4 years and i was wondering like ALOT of people how competitive it will get....i am actually hoping 2 apply 2 internal medicine.

3.how important is it 2 have good english skills or a native speaker...because i heard of many people getting reasonable scores and getting rejected for no reason..a friend of mine faced this situation but i cant blame the program director..his english is quite weak.

and thax alot guys
this site is gr8 cuz of u people and again thax alot

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1. Super hard. No matter how well you do, you feel as if you failed after you are finished

2. It depends on many factors, but IM has been a steady intermediate-difficulty residency although the better programs are much more competitive.

3.English skills are paramount and SHOULD dictate whether one matches in to a residency spot. Clear communication is an absolute necessity in medicine because miscommunications cost lives, not just money.
 
come on mcgill - you can't think this post is serious. nobody who's gone to medical school seriously types like that. nor do they ask questions as silly as, "do i have to speak the language of the citizens of the country i'm going to be working in?"

agree with your comment about IM getting more competitive at the better programs, however there are still plenty of places needing warm bodies.
 
The use of such lingo is pretty common on international forums and the user is a teenager, so regardless of the questions, the structure of the post is befitting the OP's age and experience with internet BBs.

On that note, the OP would be well advised that on professional forums, such as SDN, chat language, abbreviations, etc. are not well received (but then, given the posts above mine, you probably already figured that out). In addition, there certainly is some stigma attached to those without a good command of the English language and rightfully so. If you cannot communicate well with your patients and colleagues, you run the risk of confusing people at best, or making mistakes, at worst. An accent is fine, but you must have a command of written and spoken English to be seriously considered for a US residency.

The difficulty many FMGs have with the USMLEs are not only with English comprehension but the minutiae that is asked on Step 1. However, there are plenty of review books available on-line and many FMGs do extremely well on the exams, given enough time to study and understand the format and what is likely to be asked.

I would disagree with McGillGrad in that many IM programs are considered in the least competitive category, with only a few in the intermediate category. I would venture that few if any approach the competitiveness of Derm, Ortho, Plastics, etc. even at the "best" programs. That is not to say that there are not IM residencies which are more competitive, but I am not aware of any ratings which places IM in the intermediate category wholesale.

Finally, to the OP: there are many factors which go into choosing a resident. Certainly English comprehension and use of the language is one of them; we usually recommend having US clinical electives. Since you have 3 years left you should start investigating this now...does your medical school allow this, will they provide you with medical defense while training in the US, etc? Most US clinical electives require that you be in your final year, and some may require passing Step 1; so you have a couple of years to get ready.

best of luck...
 
thanks alot everyone.
 
thanks alot guys....ESPECIALLY mlwo3
i thought this forum was for helping...if u have nothing useful 2 say just dont post ANYTHING.
...and thanx again everone.

if you're asking real questions, then i will apologize for blowing you off. i've been on here long enough to see plenty of "troll" posts that start off a lot like yours. i would also note that the way you typed the message is simply not common on this forum. and if you want to YELL at me, well, get over yourself.

if you want to practice medicine in the United States you need to be fluent in English - I've seen too many older FMGs who got in before strict language testing, and it's incredibly frustrating for patient and other doctors. I don't care how smart you are - if your patients and colleagues can't understand you it doesn't matter. So if coming to the US is a goal of yours, for the sake of practicing good medicine and not because of some eurocentric attitude of mine, make sure your English is fluent, grammatically correct, and understandable through whatever accent you may have. Also work on your written English because many places still use paper and pen charting - legible, fluent written English is vital as well for successful patient care.

as to the USMLE - step 1 is probably the hardest because it's mostly memorization of facts with little clinical knowledge. step 2 i found much easier and I found that by simply learning material during MS3 and preparing for the various shelf exams I was more than ready to do well on step 2. i cannot yet speak to step 3. however the comment that you have to be so smart to pass is simply not true - plenty of people whose intelligence i find very mediocre pass. to excel (score > 250) takes intelligence and the ability to memorize, but to merely hit 190 is something that > 90% of american allopathic students do on the first try.
 
2 legit, 2 legit to quit [shuffles side to side in Hammer pants]
 
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