prelim surgery for an img

[purpleortholady]

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overview: I am currently a medical student in Nigeria hoping to do my residency training in Orthopaedic Surgery in the USA. I've been reading about the requirements and all that, one of which is clinical experience and strong lors, but my major issue is that my school no longer allows external clerkships. Externship as an img is an option but some schools don't recognize that as USCE so another option is internship.

My questions now are:
1. how does one get a surgery prelim position. is it the same as applying for residency?
2. Which schools in/hopsitals offer surgery prelim positions that rotate in ortho because that's my area of interest and I need lors from there

 

[Mad Jack]

You might be able to sneak your way into general surgery, but getting into ortho as an IMG will be damn near impossible from a prelim spot. It just doesn't happen damn near ever.

Applying for a prelim surge position is the same as applying for any other prelim spot in the match though. Just keep in mind that there's more than enough left over every year for a reason- the lower quality ones are basically just a bridge to nowhere that allow programs to use IMGs as cheap labor. Tread carefully.

 

[SouthernSurgeon]

You might be able to sneak your way into general surgery, but getting into ortho as an IMG will be damn near impossible from a prelim spot. It just doesn't happen damn near ever.

Applying for a prelim surge position is the same as applying for any other prelim spot in the match though. Just keep in mind that there's more than enough left over every year for a reason- the lower quality ones are basically just a bridge to nowhere that allow programs to use IMGs as cheap labor. Tread carefully.

I would go a step further and say that a student from nigeria will have even more difficulties than the average IMG, as the quality of their education will be a near complete unknown to most programs. Without real US clinical experience the likelihood of securing even a prelim surgery spot will be very low.

 

[purpleortholady]

I would go a step further and say that a student from nigeria will have even more difficulties than the average IMG, as the quality of their education will be a near complete unknown to most programs. Without real US clinical experience the likelihood of securing even a prelim surgery spot will be very low.

I know that my chances are very slim, but I don't believe in impossibilities. What other path(s) can I tow to at least have a fighting chance. I know a killer step 1 score is one way, but that alone is not enough. How good do externships match up as USCE? I just want some guidance pls.

 

[SouthernSurgeon]

I know that my chances are very slim, but I don't believe in impossibilities. What other path(s) can I tow to at least have a fighting chance. I know a killer step 1 score is one way, but that alone is not enough. How good do externships match up as USCE? I just want some guidance pls.

(a) I think you need to recognize that getting an ortho residency is essentially a non-starter. You could put in 5 years working in a lab (unpaid or minimum wage) for the chair of a prestigious department, have a 270 step one, and still would be extremely unlikely to get an ortho residency.

(b) "observerships" or "externships" are not viewed particularly highly, because they don't really have any patient care responsibilities (and often legally you aren't even allowed to so much as touch or interview the patient since you have no malpractice insurance). The best bet for a FMG - especially coming from a country where the US residencies will have no familiarity with your school's caliber or level of training - is months and months of actual US clinical rotations, with accompanying strong letters of recommendation from US faculty.

(c) A killer step one score is not "one way". It is a bare minimum necessity for you. Necessary, but not sufficient.

 

[purpleortholady]

(a) I think you need to recognize that getting an ortho residency is essentially a non-starter. You could put in 5 years working in a lab (unpaid or minimum wage) for the chair of a prestigious department, have a 270 step one, and still would be extremely unlikely to get an ortho residency.

(b) "observerships" or "externships" are not viewed particularly highly, because they don't really have any patient care responsibilities (and often legally you aren't even allowed to so much as touch or interview the patient since you have no malpractice insurance). The best bet for a FMG - especially coming from a country where the US residencies will have no familiarity with your school's caliber or level of training - is months and months of actual US clinical rotations, with accompanying strong letters of recommendation from US faculty.

(c) A killer step one score is not "one way". It is a bare minimum necessity for you. Necessary, but not sufficient.

Tnx for your response