Quick Question

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As an IMG studying in India, I wanted to know in terms of a residency point of view whether having a score of 80-85 before you finish your fourth year is looked at more highly then taking off two years after you finish and getting a 90+?

Assuming you have no other soft factors (publications, abstracts, research), which is looked at more highly in terms of landing a spot at a decent residency program. (not the bronx)

 

[gutonc]

As an IMG studying in India, I wanted to know in terms of a residency point of view whether having a score of 80-85 before you finish your fourth year is looked at more highly then taking off two years after you finish and getting a 90+?

Assuming you have no other soft factors (publications, abstracts, research), which is looked at more highly in terms of landing a spot at a decent residency program. (not the bronx)

Are you actually asking about taking 2 years off after graduation to take 3 days worth of exams? I don't think you could possibly score high enough to justify that. You have to explain any such gap when applying for residency and "I needed 2 years to study for Step 1 and 2" is perhaps the lamest excuse imaginable. If you don't also get a couple of first author papers in those 2 years, you can kiss anything but the most malignant programs goodbye.

Based on your other posts, it sounds like your dad talked you into going to "the home country" for med school after you didn't get into a US MD school because "you'll have no problem getting a residency because I had no problem 25 years ago." He was dead wrong. (I may have this wrong, in which case I apologize, but it's such a common theme that I doubt it.) And if you're not at AIIMS, CMC Vellore, JIPMER or AFMC, you will have little luck in getting a good residency spot.

I've said it before and I'll say it again here, nobody who has been out of training for >5 years and isn't involved in the residency selection process has ANY idea what it's like now or how competitive it is and any advice they give you should be considered extremely suspect if not downright useless.

 

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Are you actually asking about taking 2 years off after graduation to take 3 days worth of exams? I don't think you could possibly score high enough to justify that. You have to explain any such gap when applying for residency and "I needed 2 years to study for Step 1 and 2" is perhaps the lamest excuse imaginable. If you don't also get a couple of first author papers in those 2 years, you can kiss anything but the most malignant programs goodbye.

Based on your other posts, it sounds like your dad talked you into going to "the home country" for med school after you didn't get into a US MD school because "you'll have no problem getting a residency because I had no problem 25 years ago." He was dead wrong. (I may have this wrong, in which case I apologize, but it's such a common theme that I doubt it.) And if you're not at AIIMS, CMC Vellore, JIPMER or AFMC, you will have little luck in getting a good residency spot.

I've said it before and I'll say it again here, nobody who has been out of training for >5 years and isn't involved in the residency selection process has ANY idea what it's like now or how competitive it is and any advice they give you should be considered extremely suspect if not downright useless.

I decided to go to the "home country" because I thought it would be better in terms of saving time (not having to learn non-medical subjects) and money (save atleast 150K).

It is self-evident that the Indian physicians in the U.S. today that took the exam 25 years ago when it was not as tough and not as hard to land a residency spot won't be giving solid advice.

I don't go to a government college so thats out of the question but there are many people from the private side that land decent spots in IM with mediocre scores (80-85) w/out having U.S. clinical experience or having research/papers/first authors as long as they took the boards within the time frame of their medical school. The ones that took time off as you said don't give a good impression to the interviewer as to why they had to take so much time off and end up going to the bronx, staten island, or miami's programs.

If they don't even land those spots, they end up driving taxi cabs in new york.

Did you do your training abroad or in the U.S.?

 

[SouthernSurgeon]

I decided to go to the "home country" because I thought it would be better in terms of saving time (not having to learn non-medical subjects) and money (save atleast 150K).

Your plan to save time and money may well cost you the chance to train at a good US residency. You need to prepare yourself for that possibility. Your repetitive postings such as "does residency really matter", "does anatomy really matter", etc. show that you are already trying to justify your decision when faced with the reality that your "shortcut" might not work out perfectly.

there are many people from the private side that land decent spots in IM with mediocre scores (80-85) w/out having U.S. clinical experience or having research/papers/first authors as long as they took the boards within the time frame of their medical school.

This ignores the fact that in another 5-6 years the entire residency application process is going to be more skewed against FMGs, since the US schools are all increasing their # of slots.

Additionally, it is essentially wishful thinking even at this time. Look at the data from the NRMP - for IMGs applying to IM with a board score of 200-210 (~85 2 digit score), 531 went unmatched whereas only 196 matched. Those are pretty crummy odds.