Desperately need some informed advice

[Vitaliano333]

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Hello! I'm a 32 year old IMG from Italy. I finally got around to taking Steps 1 and 2 in the past year, both of which I passed on first attempts with respective scores of 243 and 249 (96 and 95). I am thinking of applying for an IM Residency beginning in 2003. I would deeply appreciate it if anybody could answer all or some of the following questions:
1) How important of a factor will my age be?
2) How important is it for me to obtain a Dean's Letter and a Transcript (since my graduating Med School isn't familiar with either concept)?
3) Granted that Letters of Recommendation are vital and granted that I should be able to receive one from an Italian Professor who is a true authority in his field (He's even included in the latest "Who's Who" for his work in Endocrinology), do I still need to look for Letters from American doctors ?
4) Are there any Residency programs which I might want to consider over IM programs because they might be more "IMG-friendly"?
Thanks in advance for your patience!

 

[Goofy]

Your age and grades should not be a factor. Your board scores are very good. Unfortunately you are severely disadvantaged by being an IMG. Most IM programs fill their slots with AG before IMG's simply because there is financial incentive to do so. An AMG with lousy numbers comes before an IMG with stellar ones.

Having said that, there are more university positions than there are AMG's. This is excellent news, especially for a highly qualified IMG. With your numbers, you should be able to secure a good IM residency somewhere. Unfortunately it will be next to impossible to gain entrance in top programs. It's just how the system is set up. AMG's come first.

 

[Voxel]

I think top IM programs in the US are not really possible unless you know someone on the inside and even then it is very difficult. There are several mid-tier community/university hybrid programs that take a few IMGs with stellar numbers and personality every year. I know Beth Israel hospital in NYC has done this for the past several years. Good luck in your search. And dean's letters and letters of recommendation are necessary. So start working on getting them, even though your numbers will open up the interview doors, you need a complete application.

 

[navs]

Hey there,

I agree completely with the previous replies. It would be near impossible to get into a top or even a pretty good univ. program due to the wealth of AMGs. But with ur no.s u should get consideration for a middle tier univ. or less.

I hope u don't need a visa otherwise even that will be difficult!! And there is a discrimination towards older IMGs when applying.

U need recs from U.S. guys. Doesn't matter if ur Italian doc is world renown they don't mean anything. People want to see recs. from people who have gone thru the sys. of med. in the U.S. so they can vouch for ur knowledge and personality fitting into the U.S. system of medicine.

Good luck.

 

[nychick]

Remember that you still have to take TOEFL (first) and then the CSA (it doesn't seem that you have taken these already). So let's take your questions in turn.

1) How important of a factor will my age be?
Personally, I don't think it should be an issue.
2) How important is it for me to obtain a Dean's Letter and a Transcript (since my graduating Med School isn't familiar with either concept)?
Molto importante. Se ti servono esempi fammelo sapere e teli mando. I'm sure mine looked nothing like those from American universities; the transcript was essentially a list of "esami e voti" on university letterhead. I also used a description of the Austrian medical school system the University of Vienna uses for ERASMUS students as an attachement--it explains which rotations etc are required for students in Austria. There are examples of Dean's Letters on the Web. Fai un bozzo basato su questi e portalo all'universita.
3) Granted that Letters of Recommendation are vital and granted that I should be able to receive one from an Italian Professor who is a true authority in his field (He's even included in the latest "Who's Who" for his work in Endocrinology), do I still need to look for Letters from American doctors?
I only had letters from European docs (1 French, 3 Austrian), and I pre-matched in peds (I had several offers). So it is possible. That said, I'm sure a letter and an elective done in the US help, though. Network. There are lots of italian doctors here. Maybe one of your professori has a contact. Also try the people on this list -- http://www.italconsulnyc.org/science/index.htm -- what do you have to lose?
4) Are there any Residency programs which I might want to consider over IM programs because they might be more "IMG-friendly"?
No, the specialties are likely harder to get than IM, and while, as the other posters suggested, you may not get a match at Hopkins or whatever you should be able to get a spot a good community place and even a university spot. The difference mainly lies in the fellowship opportunities available. Also, while there may be a bias against IMGs at most super-competitive places they will pull your application out of the pile sometimes if they have a reason to know you, i.e. you did an elective there or say you endocrinology prof is buddies with one of the docs at the hospital.

 

[nychick]

http://services.aamc.org/eec/student.cfm

has info on all the US med school procedures for electives. Some take internationals, some don't.

Also, I interviewed at three IM prelim years (all also offered categorical residencies). I highly recommend St. Raphael's in New Haven, CT. I really liked the place, and it is affiliated with Yale. They offer a clerkship. Go here for more info.

http://www.srhs.org/gme_clerkship.asp

Oh, and I hated St. Vincent's Brooklyn Queens. I would steer clear if I were you.

I also recommend looking at www.scutwork.com

 

[Vitaliano333]

It's nice to see that people are still thinking of me after all this time...........

Hey chick: although your advice does come a year late (which I know you've realized by now!), I'm sure there are many here on these forums which will find it useful. Now that I've been through the process, I can say that you all gave some pretty sound advice. So thanks again to all.