IM for Iranian IMG (US Citizen)

[Stewie]

Hello to all. I'm posting on behalf of a friend who is applying for a residency position in IM this year. He graduated from Tehran University Medical School in 2006, completed his internship, and took Step 1 (220s) and Step 2 (210s) within the past year. He is scheduled to take his Step 2 CS in the fall, after which he will begin a research project somewhere in the US. He is looking into programs in Colorado, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Oregon, Washington (state), and California...actually, anywhere will do, but those are his preferred states. He is working on some research projects in Iran, but he has not published anything yet. He is interested in clinical research and primary care. Could you guys provide some names of residency programs in IM that would consider an applicant with his credentials? He is also a US citizen, but i'm not sure how much influence that has during the application process. I'm a current US medical student but i don't know what schools to suggest for an IMG with average scores. Thanks in advance.

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[dragonfly99]

I think being a US citizen will be helpful, since the program knows that he won't have VISA issues. It's important to them.

He USMLE scores are fine for internal medicine - he'd be a shoe-in if he went to a US med school. The foreign medical degree is a wild card, and I don't know enough to know how it will affect him. I know it is very important that he should pass the Step 2 CS on the first try - since it sounds like he's already done an internship and he is US citizen and thus I'm sure is fluent in English, would think he would do well on that. I never had to take it b/c they didn't have it when I was in med school...I hear it can be tricky so I'd get a book and study up on the grading for that exam.

I know that it's quite hard to get a medical license (even a trainee one) in California...it takes several months, and if your degree is from a nonUS medical school they require more paperwork. OK to apply there but I would have backup plan(s). I would consider places like Colorado and Oregon because I would think (though have no personal knowledge) they might be easier to get in. I did meet an applicant while I was interviewing for a fellowship at U of Colorado in Denver who was an IMG and was at an internal medicine program in Colorado (I think in Denver but it wasn't the main U of Colorado). She seemed very nice and seemed bright...might want to investigate internal medicine programs in Denver, which is a nice city, or maybe elsewhere in Colorado if there are any.

I don't know about any of the other places you mentioned, except that I know that Maimonides in New York (Brooklyn) takes IMG's. I know one who went there (not medicine, another specialty). The work is pretty hard and it's a busy city hospital, but I think she likes it.

What state is this person from? Might be easier to "sell" a program on a US citizen IMG whose family lives in the same geographic area.