Need some advice

[greatdoc]

Hi everyone,
I am currently doing intern year in IM. My scores in step 1 and 2 are 99/244 and 99/260. I want to switch to radiology. I have no research experience. And worst I am a FMG. I have experience of working in radiology in my home country and as Ultrasound tech in US (1 year).
I was advised by some faculty members at a radiology program, that I interviewed at, to complete intern year in medicine and then get into doing some research in radiology and reapply for 2010 year match. But this puts me in a very uncertain situation.
The other option, that I have, is to continue with IM and reapply to radiology, but this has some funding issues.
In the meantime, I am also applying to the PGY2 / R1 vacant positions.
Please advice me, if the first option is a good one or should I stick to IM for now and reapply for this years' match.
Thanks in advance.

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[DrGregoryHouse]

Hi everyone,
I am currently doing intern year in IM. My scores in step 1 and 2 are 99/244 and 99/260. I want to switch to radiology. I have no research experience. And worst I am a FMG. I have experience of working in radiology in my home country and as Ultrasound tech in US (1 year).
I was advised by some faculty members at a radiology program, that I interviewed at, to complete intern year in medicine and then get into doing some research in radiology and reapply for 2010 year match. But this puts me in a very uncertain situation.
The other option, that I have, is to continue with IM and reapply to radiology, but this has some funding issues.
In the meantime, I am also applying to the PGY2 / R1 vacant positions.
Please advice me, if the first option is a good one or should I stick to IM for now and reapply for this years' match.
Thanks in advance.

Forget the research. Take a language class. Speaking English well is invaluable. If your personal statement looks like this, they'll throw it in the trash faster than you can say "arteriomesenteric duodenal obstruction."

 

[shocker]

Nevermind.

 

[hans19]

Hi everyone,
I am currently doing intern year in IM. My scores in step 1 and 2 are 99/244 and 99/260. I want to switch to radiology. I have no research experience. And worst I am a FMG. I have experience of working in radiology in my home country and as Ultrasound tech in US (1 year).
I was advised by some faculty members at a radiology program, that I interviewed at, to complete intern year in medicine and then get into doing some research in radiology and reapply for 2010 year match. But this puts me in a very uncertain situation.
The other option, that I have, is to continue with IM and reapply to radiology, but this has some funding issues.
In the meantime, I am also applying to the PGY2 / R1 vacant positions.
Please advice me, if the first option is a good one or should I stick to IM for now and reapply for this years' match.
Thanks in advance.

I admit the English proficiency comment was a little harsh, but there is some truth behind it. No interviewer will admit to it, but if you can't communicate effectively in English it WILL adversely effect your interview score.

Apply for the match. The numbers should you get you a lot of interviews. You have a better chance at matching by doing 15+ interviews than hoping for an R1 spot to open up. These spots are advertised by word of mouth, and they tend to preferentially go to people switching out of surgery or surgical subspecialty. These the people usually getting the spots are usually american grads with competitive numbers, so your numbers will not put you at an advantage. But your numbers should place you in the top half of the applicant pool in the match.

Good luck!

 

[AD2020]

No interviewer will admit to it, but if you can't communicate effectively in English it WILL adversely effect your interview score.

Why would no interviewer admit to this? Is it discriminatory to expect all residents to be able to communicate effectively in English?

I would think that communication skills would be fair game for interview scoring, and that there is no reason it shouldn't be discussed openly among the admissions committee.

 

[hans19]

I would think that communication skills would be fair game for interview scoring, and that there is no reason it shouldn't be discussed openly among the admissions committee.

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