Interviews Outside of CA

[ndmd89]

Hello everyone,

IMG who participated in the match last year. Thought I had a very good chance as I had plenty of research (13 publications), good LORs, step scores were well above average, and I like to think I come across as a well likable person.

I always knew that being an IMG was something I would be immediately judged for when it came to interviews. I did not think that the fact that I am from and did my residency in California, it would affect me being offered for interviews. In total, after 54 applications sent, I got 5 interviews. All in California, all in the UC system. Suffice it to say that I did not match. I did participate in the scramble and managed to get an interview at the only spot that remained open in Louisiana. The PD did asked me how willing I would be to leave California. I mentioned that I was unmarried and without children and would be happily ready to move should I be selected. They did not offer me the position and it makes me wonder if being a native californian was the factor.

I plan to apply again and more broadly this time around. Is there anything I can do to make is obvious that I am willing to leave California for my training? I intended to try and get a job outside the state as a hospitalist for a year to see if that could help, but with COVID, jobs were quite sparse and I ended up getting a hospitalist job with my residency program for a year contract.

Would greatly appreciate anyone's input. Kind Regards

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[lulu09]

You definitely need to apply to more programs. I'm AMG with a very bad step 1 and applied to 48 programs 2 years ago to be safe as I get screened out a lot by programs when applying to residencies/fellowships. Ended up getting 12 interviews, but half of them were in the "lower third" of my perceived rank list of all the programs I applied to.

Your post reminded me to look at this year's NRMP match data and it shows that of the 615 seats available AMGs took 334, leaving 281 seats for 428 non-US applicants (809 total - 381 US applicants). Sure, the non-AMG match rate is 2/3 (66%), but consider the AMG match rate is 88%. Given this, I think you should definitely cast your net wider with 149 programs available nationally (and get ready to move).

That being said, I agree there is definitely a geographic bias and I noticed that fellowship especially interviews pretty geographically compared to residency (east coast interviews had a lot of east-coasters, Cali interviews were saturated by Cali folks to the point I was often one of 1-3 non-Cali on the same interview day). That open spot in the scramble probably did go to someone with geographic ties, but there's not much you can do about it during SOAP as the PD was probably just looking to fill it with someone they know can commit and start quickly without any hassle.

Overall, I would say not get too caught up on the geographic thing. I think it was probably a factor but I don't think it's the only one. I don't think doing a hospitalist year outside of Cali will add that much. I think the bigger issue here is applying too thinly, unfortunately, given how competitive it is for IMG/FMG.

(FWIW, I am currently at a program where I had NO previous geographic ties. When asked about whether I would move here for fellowship, I simply said yes because the training is great. I may have said something else along the lines of looking for a change in scenery...etc. but these questions about geography came up intermittently and it never felt like it was make-or-break. I'm even married with kids!).

 

[ndmd89]

You definitely need to apply to more programs. I'm AMG with a very bad step 1 and applied to 48 programs 2 years ago to be safe as I get screened out a lot by programs when applying to residencies/fellowships. Ended up getting 12 interviews, but half of them were in the "lower third" of my perceived rank list of all the programs I applied to.

Your post reminded me to look at this year's NRMP match data and it shows that of the 615 seats available AMGs took 334, leaving 281 seats for 428 non-US applicants (809 total - 381 US applicants). Sure, the non-AMG match rate is 2/3 (66%), but consider the AMG match rate is 88%. Given this, I think you should definitely cast your net wider with 149 programs available nationally (and get ready to move).

That being said, I agree there is definitely a geographic bias and I noticed that fellowship especially interviews pretty geographically compared to residency (east coast interviews had a lot of east-coasters, Cali interviews were saturated by Cali folks to the point I was often one of 1-3 non-Cali on the same interview day). That open spot in the scramble probably did go to someone with geographic ties, but there's not much you can do about it during SOAP as the PD was probably just looking to fill it with someone they know can commit and start quickly without any hassle.

Overall, I would say not get too caught up on the geographic thing. I think it was probably a factor but I don't think it's the only one. I don't think doing a hospitalist year outside of Cali will add that much. I think the bigger issue here is applying too thinly, unfortunately, given how competitive it is for IMG/FMG.

(FWIW, I am currently at a program where I had NO previous geographic ties. When asked about whether I would move here for fellowship, I simply said yes because the training is great. I may have said something else along the lines of looking for a change in scenery...etc. but these questions about geography came up intermittently and it never felt like it was make-or-break. I'm even married with kids!).

Really appreciate the input and Ill definitely take your suggestions and apply them this upcoming cycle.
Some additional info: Before applying last year, I spent a long time researching every program in the nation and sort of hand selecting which programs were more geared to IMGs. I applied as far west as Washington state and east as Florida. I was definitely prepared to move. Its just that I did not get any interviews outside of CA...

 

[HEMOT]

Really appreciate the input and Ill definitely take your suggestions and apply them this upcoming cycle.
Some additional info: Before applying last year, I spent a long time researching every program in the nation and sort of hand selecting which programs were more geared to IMGs. I applied as far west as Washington state and east as Florida. I was definitely prepared to move. Its just that I did not get any interviews outside of CA...

Opposite to your geographic situation, I have tried really hard to return CA due to family reason. The hem/onc application was stressful, and somehow unfair for an IMG last year, but I do see IMGs matched to good h/o programs in nice locations. You just need to meet a PD who values your background and experience. Based on my experience, AMGs don’t need real publications to get matched, but you may need to put everything on CV.

As Lulu said, maybe apply broadly, you never know without trying.


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[ndmd89]

Opposite to your geographic situation, I have tried really hard to return CA due to family reason. The hem/onc application was stressful, and somehow unfair for an IMG last year, but I do see IMGs matched to good h/o programs in nice locations. You just need to meet a PD who values your background and experience. Based on my experience, AMGs don’t need real publications to get matched, but you may need to put everything on CV.

As Lulu said, maybe apply broadly, you never know without trying.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks for the reply! Yea Ive decided to cast as wide a net as possible this time around. Fingers crossed I get an interview or two outside of california

 

[collegestud2013]

You should sit out this cycle and wait until you have strengthened your application and your connections more. The 2 most important factors that fellowship programs screen for first in selecting candidates is their med school graduation type (USMD vs DO vs IMG) and reputation of their residency (eg university vs academic affiliated vs community) before looking at the rest of their app. I'm assuming you went to a community IM program that is not well known outside CA and doesn't have an in-house heme/onc fellowship. An IMG and from a community IM program is thus going to have an uphill battle. You already applied to over 50 programs last cycle which is already greater than the average number of apps but only received 5 interviews despite having above average USMLE scores and a strong research record, so just applying to more programs with nearly the same application won't solve issue, and programs who see re-applicants will expect to see a stronger application. The IMGs from community IM programs that match often complete 1-2 years of a research fellowship or non-ACGME fellowship (eg BMT, transfusion medicine) as these allow networking to potentially bypass the screens that programs use.

 

[Pembro1]

If

Hello everyone,

IMG who participated in the match last year. Thought I had a very good chance as I had plenty of research (13 publications), good LORs, step scores were well above average, and I like to think I come across as a well likable person.

I always knew that being an IMG was something I would be immediately judged for when it came to interviews. I did not think that the fact that I am from and did my residency in California, it would affect me being offered for interviews. In total, after 54 applications sent, I got 5 interviews. All in California, all in the UC system. Suffice it to say that I did not match. I did participate in the scramble and managed to get an interview at the only spot that remained open in Louisiana. The PD did asked me how willing I would be to leave California. I mentioned that I was unmarried and without children and would be happily ready to move should I be selected. They did not offer me the position and it makes me wonder if being a native californian was the factor.

I plan to apply again and more broadly this time around. Is there anything I can do to make is obvious that I am willing to leave California for my training? I intended to try and get a job outside the state as a hospitalist for a year to see if that could help, but with COVID, jobs were quite sparse and I ended up getting a hospitalist job with my residency program for a year contract.

Would greatly appreciate anyone's input. Kind Regards

If you do not mind, which programs in California did you receive interviews from? And do you need a visa?