IMG friendly anesth programs

[sunsetsurfer]

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dear forum members,


can anyone of you recommend any locations in the US where IMGs might be successful in obtaining an anesth spot?

I heard that for example Univ. of Illinois Chicago does take some IMGs, any other programs which give IMGs a chance?


Also I would like to know how many recommendation letters do you usually need on an average for an application and do all of the LORs have to be from anesthesia?

I appreciate any helpful comment and thanks in advance

 

[cajunmoon]

Dear Fellow IMG,
I am a non-US citizen IMG (non carribean). I understand that some programs have a history of taking carribean IMG's and are rated as IMG friendly on some forums. They may not be too accepting of non_carribean IMG's.

Many programs which were known to be IMG friendly in the past like U of Virginia, U of W Virginia etc did not call me for an interview this year. Some programs which are not considered IMG friendly like California programs etc. called me for interviews.

I think this classification of IMG friendly & IMG unfriendly is not very accurate. It all depends the applicant pool that year, your board scores, research experience, LOR's etc. A better question would be which programs called IMG's this year and which ones matched them.

I met a lot of IMG's at U of Arkansas, Wayne State, SUNY Upstate and NYMC Westchester. Florida programs did match IMG's this year.

Be cautious of some programs which may be non-accreditted or placed on probation by ACGME, as they may tempt you with offers of a pre-match etc. You can get this information by looking up the program on the ACGME website.

Also scroll down to another string for IMG match data on which other IMG's have shared their experiences.

 

[sunsetsurfer]

Dear Cajunmoon,


thank you very much for your detailed and very helpful reply in this matter.


I understand from this forum and from other sources that anesth. is getting more difficult year after year, so how can one possible gather some research experience as a reseach assistant perhaps to increase one's chances of getting a spot?

I wrote to a couple of labs, but it seems that if you do not know the right persons at the right spots , it is even hard to get a research assistant post, which , I honstly admit, is probably related to the fact that I do not have any prior research experience, but then hey, I know some IMGs, who in order to enter their particular residency, worked in some research labs, without having prior experience either, and this in the end boosted up their application profile.

Dear IMG do you know what makes it so difficult, nearly impossible adminstration wise to obtain a residency spot in CA as an IMG ( something about a California letter , is that right?)


If it is not too indiscrete, would you mind my asking you where you finally got successful this year?

anyways, I would like to thank you once again for the info and I would like to stay in touch via e mail, if you had time, interest or motivation to discuss specific topics on this issue, my e mail is [email protected] .

cheers

sunsetsurfer

 

[cajunmoon]

Regarding research: It is not enough to contact 1 or 2 labs, send an e-mail with your resume and USMLE scores to everyone who is working on a topic that interests you in your city. Aim to contact at least 50 people. Obviously helps to know someone but I can tell you from personal experience that it is just a question of being at the right place at the right time.

If you live near a big University research center, it will be a big help, as you will have more opportunities.

Regarding California, getting the California letter wasn't hard, getting interviews was also not hard (3 of 4 universities applied to) they just didn't match me. This year they got a lot of very good candidates.

If you are determined to get a residency in Anesthesia, you will surely get it. It is only a question of judging how competitive you are and applying to programs appropriately. Even Johns Hopkins took IMG's this year, but they were probably people of truly exceptional caliber. So don't think you wont get it just because you are an IMG.

I think scores of 230 & above will get you interview calls at most programs, obviously higher the better. But REMEMBER to apply at THE EARLIEST>Get your ERAS application in latest by mid-September.

 

[sunsetsurfer]

Dear Cajunmoon,


thank you once again for your kind help.
I appreciate the info you gave to me very much and I sincerely wish you all the best in your professional life ( residency ) and private life as well.


Keep up this brilliant attitude

sunsetsurfer

 

[lotanna]

My cousin's husband, did his residency in anest at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit. He went to med schl in England, was practicing there, did a fellowship at University of Michigan hospital, then decided to apply to Henry Ford.