IMG applying to electives

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irishmedgrad2016

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I don't think its that hard to find a 3 week elective. I'm pretty sure most places that offer electives can offer a 3 week elective. Btw, are you a US citizen or Canadian citizen? Just wondering because if you aren't a US citizen how do you plan on going straight from med school to residency?
 
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Really, looking online most places seem to quote that their electives start on the first Monday of each month and run for 4 weeks. I guess I'll keep looking, I would appreciate any recommendations. No I'm a US or Canadian citizen. My understanding is that once you are ECFMG verified (have pass step 1 and 2 exams) then you can participate in the match and most programs will except this with the expectation that you will be certified once you graduate. Please correct me if I am wrong.

Rotations are institution dependent. At my school's university hospital, visiting students must schedule rotations with start and end dates that align with the schools calendar. At my school's associated community hospital, they are much more flexible and allow you to pick start and end dates.

Regarding ECFMG, again, it is program dependent. There are programs that generally don't look at foreign grads, there are programs that will only interview ECFMG certified applicants, there are programs that will interview without certification but not rank you unless it is done by the time rank lists are due, and there are programs who will interview and rank you without being certified.
 
Thing with ECFMG certification is it can't be given out until you graduate from medical school + a period of lag for them to verify everything. In most cases, you graduate sometime in May or June, meaning you won't have ECFMG certification in hand until just before or when you start residency. I think most programs either require certification when you apply or certification before you rank, both of which are not possible for someone in final year to do.

Sorry, i didn't get what you said irishgrad. Are you a US or are you a Canadian or are you a non-US/Canadian citizen?
 
I am Irish so non US/Canadian citizen. I will graduate the May after I was hoping to match. So you think not be ECFMG certified until then will rule me out of a lot of programs. Would it make much of a difference if I already had a visa for the US. My girlfriend is American so there is a chance I will have a relationship visa or visa through marriage by then. Is there any way to research what level of certification programs require.

I don't know if it will help, i'm not an expert, but if you have a Green Card by then you would be fine but if you have a Visa i'm not really sure.

I'm actually the one with questions. I've seen that non-US citizens from Ireland match to the US often directly out of medical school so I was actually wondering how they managed to do that. Was it that they just found programs that would rank them with expectation of a certification. I think a lot of programs especially the top tier ones specifically require ECFMG certification before rank or at application while community or mainly IMG programs will rank you even without ECFMG certification.

Best way to do research is go on FREIDA, which is a database of all residency programs and they will link you to all the websites of each program. Then you just need to go to the "how to apply" page and find out what they require.
 
If you want to do IM in Pittsburgh, your best bet will be Allegheny General Hospital. They are generally IMG friendly and take multiple categoricals from overseas (generally Carribbean) every year.

Regarding electives, you could try contacting AGH directly.
 
I don't know if it will help, i'm not an expert, but if you have a Green Card by then you would be fine but if you have a Visa i'm not really sure.

I'm actually the one with questions. I've seen that non-US citizens from Ireland match to the US often directly out of medical school so I was actually wondering how they managed to do that. Was it that they just found programs that would rank them with expectation of a certification. I think a lot of programs especially the top tier ones specifically require ECFMG certification before rank or at application while community or mainly IMG programs will rank you even without ECFMG certification.

Best way to do research is go on FREIDA, which is a database of all residency programs and they will link you to all the websites of each program. Then you just need to go to the "how to apply" page and find out what they require.

Some schools issue their diploma soon after finals so they can submit it earlier, rather waiting until graduation.
 
Some schools issue their diploma soon after finals so they can submit it earlier, rather waiting until graduation.

Still, a lot of programs want ECFMG certification by application or by ranking, only the IMG friendly programs will sometimes allow you to have ECFMG right before residency.
 
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