IMG matching into harvard neuro?

[wannabeneurologist]

Hi, I want to know if it is at all possible for an IMG to match into Harvard partners program.
what step scores would be “competitive” and what other aspects of the application are most important?
What to do to maximize chances of acceptance?
I know it’s extremely difficult if not impossible, but any stories/personal experiences with application would help (not necessarily with this specific program but these huge highly competitive programs in general).

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[studentxx8800]

Hi, I want to know if it is at all possible for an IMG to match into Harvard partners program.
what step scores would be “competitive” and what other aspects of the application are most important?
What to do to maximize chances of acceptance?
I know it’s extremely difficult if not impossible, but any stories/personal experiences with application would help (not necessarily with this specific program but these huge highly competitive programs in general).

Find a cure for Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, or Dementia then you will have a chance. Half kidding but seriously, I think if you can somehow manage to have 250+ on boards and an accomplished research profile then maybe it’s possible?

 

[OnePunchBiopsy]

Rotate there, or rub shoulders with one of their big wigs at a neuro conference.

 

[Goro]

Hi, I want to know if it is at all possible for an IMG to match into Harvard partners program.
what step scores would be “competitive” and what other aspects of the application are most important?
What to do to maximize chances of acceptance?
I know it’s extremely difficult if not impossible, but any stories/personal experiences with application would help (not necessarily with this specific program but these huge highly competitive programs in general).

I suspect that a DO will match there first.

 

[sella.turcica]

Hi, I want to know if it is at all possible for an IMG to match into Harvard partners program.
what step scores would be “competitive” and what other aspects of the application are most important?
What to do to maximize chances of acceptance?
I know it’s extremely difficult if not impossible, but any stories/personal experiences with application would help (not necessarily with this specific program but these huge highly competitive programs in general).

Why Harvard?

 

[Tozanzibarbymotorcar]

I suspect that a DO will match there first.

I doubt it given IMGs have already matched at Harvard-affiliates programs where DOs have not. It’s unfortunate

 

[aSagacious]

They already have multiple current IMG residents on their website (literally 20% of their senior class).
- Ignacio A Stanos
- Cairo University
- University College Dublin
- Tech Israel
- Peruana Cayetano Heredia
- McGill (doesn't really count)
- Humanitas University
- Pompeu Fabra

 

[Osminog]

They already have multiple current IMG residents on their website (literally 20% of their senior class).
- Ignacio A Stanos
- Cairo University
- University College Dublin
- Tech Israel
- Peruana Cayetano Heredia
- McGill (doesn't really count)
- Humanitas University
- Pompeu Fabra

Those are almost all FMGs, not IMGs. I’m assuming that OP is talking about US citizens who went to offshore medical schools, not individuals outside the US who attended medical school in their countries of birth. There’s a difference between an American who went to Grenada as a last resort after getting a 40th percentile score on the MCAT and a brilliant Egyptian who attended a top medical school in his country and excelled.

The only IMG I see in the roster you linked to did the TEAMS program at Technion. Among offshore schools, the Israeli ones seem to have (relatively) high admission standards and strong outcomes.

 

[aSagacious]

Those are almost all FMGs, not IMGs.

My mistake. I forgot that some people don't use the terms interchangeably. Agree that they're definitely different populations.

 

[sloop]

I don't know for sure about Harvard, but I am at a different institution that has a highly esteemed neuro program. As a psych resident, I've rotated through neuro, so I have a decent amount of knowledge of the composition of our neuro program and I don't think that any of them are IMGs. As with any field, prestigious places are very selective. At some point, there are just going to be enough applicants that, in most cases, for a given IMG there is going to be some applicant with a comparable application that does not bear the mark of someone who was rejected from the more traditional options. I really don't mean that last point pejoratively—I really applaud people who are able to turn their academics around and work hard to make medicine work, but this is generally an accurate interpretation of IMG status and programs know that.

I will also say that I've heard from friends that neuro has traditionally been more welcoming to FMGs (not necessarily IMGs) than other fields. I can't say for sure, but I'm guessing that the history of neurology probably plays some role in this. Many of the idolized figures in psychiatry and neurology have not been U.S. citizens and, for much of the 19th and early 20th centuries, continental Europe had a comparatively strong tradition in these fields. This is speculative, of course, but I have heard that neurology has been particularly welcoming of FMGs.