ecfmg certification

[doctorsingh]

I had a question regarding the ECFMG certification. I'm doing med school in India.
I've taken my step one and passed it. And will be takin my step 2 ck and cs before july or august this year. But i won't be gettin my med school degree till december. That means that i will prolly get my degree in december 2011 or jan 2012. Will that be an issue if i start my applications via ERAS and NRMP?
Will residency programs look at my application even though i haven't completed the requirements for the ECFMG certification? Or do you think its better that i wait a year and apply for the match next year where in i can say that i am ecfmg certified?

Please advice if you know anything about this. In dire need of some help. thanks!

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[ozzidoc]

Wait a year. You wont be ECFMG certified in time for the 2012 match.

 

[mamagir]

Some programs require ECFMG certification to look at your application, others require it before ROL deadline(feb of the match year).
So, it all depends on how much of the latter programs you can find in your desired specialty. But then again ECFMG certification takes a while(depends mainly on how soon they can verify your transcripts and diploma from your school). From your proposed dates of getting your diploma, it looks you might be cutting it too close.

Definitely waiting a year seems like a good idea, that way you can conveniently include all potential programs you are interested in. The downside of waiting is you are farther from your graduation year which constitutes a red flag for some programs, except you are actively involved in clinical work during this period.

You may want to talk to someone from your medical school who has been through the process to give you an idea of the time line for ECFMG certification.

 

[Ger]

From my own and others experience, I can tell you, that the whole certification process takes 3 - 6 months. I would assume, that'll be to late for the 2012 match. You could start looking for a research spot at a place you are interested in and go for the match in 2013.

 

[Ishie1013]

I had a question regarding the ECFMG certification. I'm doing med school in India.
I've taken my step one and passed it. And will be takin my step 2 ck and cs before july or august this year. But i won't be gettin my med school degree till december. That means that i will prolly get my degree in december 2011 or jan 2012. Will that be an issue if i start my applications via ERAS and NRMP?
Will residency programs look at my application even though i haven't completed the requirements for the ECFMG certification? Or do you think its better that i wait a year and apply for the match next year where in i can say that i am ecfmg certified?

Please advice if you know anything about this. In dire need of some help. thanks!

I would definitely go with the suggestion of checking with your school, because I'm not sure if the timeline would be different than with my school. Part of the process is how long it takes your school to certify your diploma.

Just based on my experience so far:

Some programs screen IMGs/FMGs by ECFMG certification status, thus will not interview or rank without it, but many don't.

Once you have completed USMLE Step 1/Step 2 CK/Step 2 CS, you will be considered ECFMG verified, which is fine for many programs. Also, on the websites of a lot of programs, they mention an ECFMG certification requirement when what they *mean* is a verification requirement, so email the program coordinator to confirm. There were at least ten programs I applied to that had websites claiming ECFMG certification status requirements that wound up only requiring verification, not certification.

Also, if you're planning on applying to California, it pushes it a bit closer because the PTAL takes a notoriously long time, and some programs there won't rank without both ECFMG certification and the PTAL.

For reference, I'm an IMG; graduating next month, matched in July, thus will get ECFMG certification between then, so I would think December/January is on the early side of that.

Not any kind of expert though; just my experience/opinion. Also check the timeline/match status on students that graduated before you, if you can, to see if they required a year off.