It is possible: my story.

[icedoverfire]

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Who I am: US IMG.

My background: BA psychology/neuroscience concentration. Didn't have the GPA or the MCAT scores to get into a US medical school. Applied Caribbean.

- Did not get into SGU straight away - they put me in their Charter Foundation Program: passed.
- Withdrew from anatomy first term - ex-girlfriend passed away.
- Retook anatomy next term - passed.
- Passed all other classes.
- Step 1: 22x
- Did well in clinicals - very strong LORs.
- Step 2 CS: Pass, first attempt
- Step 2 CK: 21x
- Applied broadly - for neurology and internal medicine.
- 9 total interviews: 1 prelim, 4 IM, 4 neurology (3 categorical, 1 advanced) - Interviewed well (IMO, hehe)
- Partially matched on March 14 - Advanced without prelim.
- SOAP begins: send out the 45. No calls first day.
- Day 2 of SOAP: One call from transitional year program in FL, very nice conversation (14 slots up for grabs). Radio silence the rest of the day. Late evening - email for a facetime interview with MI transitional year program the following morning (8 slots up for grabs), also a call from a NY IM-Prelim program (4 slots up for grabs).
- Phone interview evening of Day 2 with NY IM-prelim PD: "You have fantastic letters of rec." Hook, line, sinker... or so I thought.
- Day 3 of SOAP, AM: Pleasant facetime interview with PD of transitional year program (8 slots up for grabs). A few hours of anxious waiting.
- Round one of SOAP: NOT A SINGLE OFFER. ZERO. MI program fills completely in round one. FL program fills all but 3 slots. NY program fills all but 1 slot.
- PD's start calling, FL program first: "anything?" "negative" "OK, putting you back in." Then NY: "Anything?" "nope." "hmm, really..." (obvious shock in voice) "Dr. XX I'm devastated." "I know, I know. Just relax."
- 3PM rolls around (Round 2): 2 offers pop up (THANK THE GODS!!!!!) - FL and NY.
- Accept NY, reject FL after consulting with deans. Wanted NY anyway.

And here I am today: matched to a university neuro program, of which I am the only IMG they took in their entering class of 3. Prelim at a well-regarded NY hospital.

Moral: Someone like me, with all my bumps and bruises and middling performance still made it out. Uphill battle, but battle still won. Never say die.

Future applicants: feel free to message me if you need a pep talk or a sympathetic ear 🙂

 

[Mad Jack]

Congrats!

 

[rokshana]

unless your neuro program is in NY, why would you "want" NY anyway? far more scut...

and what the heck is a "new Ivy"? i would quit saying that...sounds a bit pretentious and douchey...

 

[icedoverfire]

unless your neuro program is in NY, why would you "want" NY anyway? far more scut...

and what the heck is a "new Ivy"? i would quit saying that...sounds a bit pretentious and douchey...

First off, I only mentioned "new Ivy" once, mostly because I don't want to give out the name of my school. Hardly douchey.

And second, my father himself trained at NY programs. Besides - the FL program was newly-accredited, the chance of losing accreditation if I took this program was far too great a risk to take.

Besides, I didn't get to where I am by NOT shoveling ****. I'll happily take my NY program any day.

 

[Dr. Death]

unless your neuro program is in NY, why would you "want" NY anyway? far more scut...

and what the heck is a "new Ivy"? i would quit saying that...sounds a bit pretentious and douchey...

Not just a "bit". It is pretentious and douchey.

 

[Psai]

new ivy LOL
this is almost as bad as when some dude was talking about his ivy league fm program

i would have went florida though, ny got too much scut due to bad support staff

 

[icedoverfire]

new ivy LOL
this is almost as bad as when some dude was talking about his ivy league fm program

Corrected, FYI.

 

[rokshana]

First off, I only mentioned "new Ivy" once, mostly because I don't want to give out the name of my school. Hardly douchey.

And second, my father himself trained at NY programs. Besides - the FL program was newly-accredited, the chance of losing accreditation if I took this program was far too great a risk to take.

Besides, I didn't get to where I am by NOT shoveling ****. I'll happily take my NY program any day.

actually no...accreditation is never lost that quickly, but what ever...and there is a difference between having to work hard and handle a lot and scut...when NYC programs boast that they have an IV team from 7a to 7p and interns act as transport...this does not add to your education...nevermind the crappy weather and high cost of living...

but anyways, congrats on matching and soaping...you really did beat the odds...

 

[J ROD]

Yeah, I would have taken Florida. But, nice job on matching advanced Neuro.

 

[Doctor4Life1769]

I'd take FL over NY any day.
NY is overrated. Yup, I said it.

I like how folks like to claim they went to an Ivy League residency. WTF is a "new Ivy?"

 

[icedoverfire]

actually no...accreditation is never lost that quickly, but what ever...and there is a difference between having to work hard and handle a lot and scut...when NYC programs boast that they have an IV team from 7a to 7p and interns act as transport...this does not add to your education...nevermind the crappy weather and high cost of living...

but anyways, congrats on matching and soaping...you really did beat the odds...

Thanks ^.^

I spoke with my advisor at length about this (who also happens to be the assistant dean of SGU) - his exact line of thinking was yeah, on one hand it would be cool to be a part of the charter class of a program but his exact words were "if something goes wrong, like they lose their accreditation or the program folds" (I'm paraphrasing - he basically said if the **** were to hit the fan with the FL program) then I'd be out of luck. Lose everything. Safer to go with the NY program which has been around for a while. Time tested.

Besides: most of my family is in and around the NY area anyway, so that's a plus.

 

[icedoverfire]

I'd take FL over NY any day.
NY is overrated. Yup, I said it.

I like how folks like to claim they went to an Ivy League residency. WTF is a "new Ivy?"

"new ivy" was me referring to my undergrad, not the residency. Didn't want to give out the name of my undergrad so used that instead - not trying to be a dick but I guess it came across that way. Edited it out.

 

[Doctor4Life1769]

"new ivy" was me referring to my undergrad, not the residency. Didn't want to give out the name of my undergrad so used that instead - not trying to be a dick but I guess it came across that way. Edited it out.

I didn't see it in the OP but I saw the replies and thought it out loud by posting it.
Cmon... Don't tell me you're one of those who thinks of his undergrad school as some elite school.
It's like Emory calling themselves the "Ivy of the South" when really they're just a buncha crybaby socialists.

 

[Doctor4Life1769]

Anyways, congrats. Seems like you get to be close to family too. Win win.

 

[Doctor4Life1769]

new ivy LOL
this is almost as bad as when some dude was talking about his ivy league fm program

i would have went florida though, ny got too much scut due to bad support staff

Who mentioned the Ivy League fm program?

 

[rokshana]

Thanks ^.^

I spoke with my advisor at length about this (who also happens to be the assistant dean of SGU) - his exact line of thinking was yeah, on one hand it would be cool to be a part of the charter class of a program but his exact words were "if something goes wrong, like they lose their accreditation or the program folds" (I'm paraphrasing - he basically said if the **** were to hit the fan with the FL program) then I'd be out of luck. Lose everything. Safer to go with the NY program which has been around for a while. Time tested.

Besides: most of my family is in and around the NY area anyway, so that's a plus.

one there isn't just one assistant dean at sgu...and frankly they are not that knowledgable about programs outside of NYC/NJ...

can be helpful to have family close(not that you will get to see them much anyway).

 

[zzlaf]

I didn't get to where I am by NOT shoveling ****

Agreed. Got to take what we can get.
Sounds almost exactly like my story, I was at a different Carib school though. I had to wait until ROUND 3 on Thursday morning to get an offer for my prelim position (partially matched into advanced program on Monday). Congrats!

 

[icedoverfire]

@ zzlaf: Thanks! All the best!


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile

 

[Law2Doc]

"new ivy" was me referring to my undergrad, not the residency. Didn't want to give out the name of my undergrad so used that instead - not trying to be a dick but I guess it came across that way. Edited it out.

Just to beat a dead horse, the Ivy League is a group of 8 undergrad schools who were historically members of an IV division for college football in the northeast. There are no "new" ones, and never can be, just the original 8. If you didn't go to Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Brown, Dartmouth, U Penn, Columbia or Cornell you didn't go to an "Ivy League" undergrad (old, new or otherwise). You may have gone someplace as good or maybe even better, but it's by definition not in the Ivy League. That's why people slammed you down -- for pretending your school was something it isn't.

 

[icedoverfire]

Just to beat a dead horse, the Ivy League is a group of 8 undergrad schools who were historically members of an IV division for college football in the northeast. There are no "new" ones, and never can be, just the original 8. If you didn't go to Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Brown, Dartmouth, U Penn, Columbia or Cornell you didn't go to an "Ivy League" undergrad (old, new or otherwise). You may have gone someplace as good or maybe even better, but it's by definition not in the Ivy League. That's why people slammed you down -- for pretending your school was something it isn't.

Yeah I realized this after I made the post and replies started coming in. Lousy choice of words on my part - subsequently edited the post.

 

[mymembernames]

Who I am: US IMG.

My background: BA psychology/neuroscience concentration. Didn't have the GPA or the MCAT scores to get into a US medical school. Applied Caribbean.

- Did not get into SGU straight away - they put me in their Charter Foundation Program: passed.
- Withdrew from anatomy first term - ex-girlfriend passed away.
- Retook anatomy next term - passed.
- Passed all other classes.
- Step 1: 220
- Did well in clinicals - very strong LORs.
- Step 2 CS: Pass, first attempt
- Step 2 CK: 212
- Applied broadly - for neurology and internal medicine.
- 9 total interviews: 1 prelim, 4 IM, 4 neurology (3 categorical, 1 advanced) - Interviewed well (IMO, hehe)
- Partially matched on March 14 - Advanced without prelim.
- SOAP begins: send out the 45. No calls first day.
- Day 2 of SOAP: One call from transitional year program in FL, very nice conversation (14 slots up for grabs). Radio silence the rest of the day. Late evening - email for a facetime interview with MI transitional year program the following morning (8 slots up for grabs), also a call from a NY IM-Prelim program (4 slots up for grabs).
- Phone interview evening of Day 2 with NY IM-prelim PD: "You have fantastic letters of rec." Hook, line, sinker... or so I thought.
- Day 3 of SOAP, AM: Pleasant facetime interview with PD of transitional year program (8 slots up for grabs). A few hours of anxious waiting.
- Round one of SOAP: NOT A SINGLE OFFER. ZERO. MI program fills completely in round one. FL program fills all but 3 slots. NY program fills all but 1 slot.
- PD's start calling, FL program first: "anything?" "negative" "OK, putting you back in." Then NY: "Anything?" "nope." "hmm, really..." (obvious shock in voice) "Dr. XX I'm devastated." "I know, I know. Just relax."
- 3PM rolls around (Round 2): 2 offers pop up (THANK THE GODS!!!!!) - FL and NY.
- Accept NY, reject FL after consulting with deans. Wanted NY anyway.

And here I am today: matched to a university neuro program, of which I am the only IMG they took in their entering class of 3. Prelim at a well-regarded NY hospital.

Moral: Someone like me, with all my bumps and bruises and middling performance still made it out. Uphill battle, but battle still won. Never say die.

Future applicants: feel free to message me if you need a pep talk or a sympathetic ear 🙂

Congrats! May I ask if you had any gaps in your education? Time off to study for step 1, etc?

 

[icedoverfire]

We were given time by the school between the end of basic sciences and clinicals to prepare for step 1, I took a month off to prepare for step 2 CK (scheduled my clinicals such), prepared for CS during my IM sub-I... As far as other education gaps I did a few lab work jobs in the year after college before I got into the CFP - otherwise the only other gap is right now waiting for July 🙂


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile

 

[Keep Exploring]

unless your neuro program is in NY, why would you "want" NY anyway? far more scut...

and what the heck is a "new Ivy"? i would quit saying that...sounds a bit pretentious and douchey...

Not just a "bit". It is pretentious and douchey.

new ivy LOL
this is almost as bad as when some dude was talking about his ivy league fm program

i would have went florida though, ny got too much scut due to bad support staff

Jeezuz people. Here's what should be a great story about someone who was able to overcome many obstacles and finally match into a great program, and all you can do is rant about "new Ivy" this or "scut" that. Can't you just be happy for the guy? SDN is getting to be such a downer these days.

 

[Law2Doc]

Jeezuz people. Here's what should be a great story about someone who was able to overcome many obstacles and finally match into a great program, and all you can do is rant about "new Ivy" this or "scut" that. Can't you just be happy for the guy? SDN is getting to be such a downer these days.

The presentation always matters. If you want to serve an appetizing steak dinner you can't set it out next to a dumpster fire and expect it to overpower the stench.