Residency Chances?

[Nucleus Accumbens]

Hello Everyone!

So I will be applying to the 2019 match for EM, and wife will be applying to the 2020 match for either FM or IM. I'm a bit concerned since I spent some time on forums and listened to some horror stories. Either way, my wife is a US-IMG at a Big 3 (or 4?) and she took Step 1, struggled a bit to achieve a 210 (first attempt). I was concerned since she was already at a significant disadvantage. I want to know, are there any US-IMG's who matched with similar or worse board scores? She has yet to take Step 2, but I have started to help her a bit with how to study for the boards. I feel super terrible that I did well on Step 1 and she did not. I cant bare the thought of her not matching. Any suggestions, advice, strategies are welcome!

Thanks everyone

I may also delete this post once I get answers, since she frequents SDN every now and again. Don't wanna ruin her day since she may discern that this is about her.

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[TennisShoeChic]

There are way too many “maybes” that would influence her chances of matching. First pass Step 2 CK/Cs is crucial, followed by her scores, then will she apply on time, to IMG friendly programs, apply broadly, interview well, etc etc. I’d focus on helping her best as you can w Step 2 scores and go from there.

 

[Nucleus Accumbens]

There are way too many “maybes” that would influence her chances of matching. First pass Step 2 CK/Cs is crucial, followed by her scores, then will she apply on time, to IMG friendly programs, apply broadly, interview well, etc etc. I’d focus on helping her best as you can w Step 2 scores and go from there.

Thanks for the advice! I was more or less trying to see if there are any FM docs who were in a similar position.

 

[Natividad Resident]

There is official public data on nrmp.org.

The match was yesterday, so the data from this year are not available.

Two reports for you.

1. Charting Outcomes in The Match for International Medical Graduates.
http://www.nrmp.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Charting-Outcomes-IMGs-2016.pdf
Look at page 87 and stop being worried about a 210.
Digest the rest of the FM and IM sections and get to know what "contiguous ranks" means and why it matters.

2. Main Match Results and Data
http://www.nrmp.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Main-Match-Results-and-Data-2017.pdf
Table 2 on page 8 is a good place to start. Generally any specialty with unfilled positions isn't rejecting applicants with 210's.

A few suggestions:
- figure out what the most important couple of things are for you, and focus on those
- if you need to be in a particular town, start studying the residencies in that town and nearby
- if doing an IM fellowship is on the table, focus on the residencies at academic hospitals (usually at med schools)
- residencies that publish pictures of their residents, with their medical schools, are generally more competitive/popular
- residencies that have unfilled positions in the match are generally less competitive/popular
- my rule of thumb is if you want to rank X residencies, you have to interview at least at X+5. Depending on the strength of the app, this means you should apply to (X+5)*3 or (X+5)*4.
- FM residencies have huge variance in their reason to exist. A residency with a specific focus, such as border medicine, and only 10 spots, isn't messing around when it wants to know an applicant's experience with border med.
- A lot of FM residencies, therefore, require a separate essay explaining your alignment with their mission.
- find the match lists at the Carib schools, this will help you see where her colleagues are getting in

Good luck!