Thanks WS, helpful as always.
So doing a year of internship is a waste eh? In that case I'm all in for 2012 match.
I don't know that its a "waste" I just don't see it adding anything to your US application.
I'm expected to graduate June, 2012. I thought that I could get ECFMG certified with Step 1 and Step 2 CK/CS, which I should have all 3 done by September, 2011.
No, to be certified you have to have graduated
and been awarded your final diploma. Taking all the Steps only put you in position to be *eligible* to be certified, not actually be certified. It is required that all Steps be done in time for submission of the Rank Order List. And bear in mind that some programs won't accept applications from those without the certificate in hand.
That is why I asked - if you graduate in June and then it takes them several weeks to get you your diploma, you won't be able to start on time. I don't know what the turn around time for ECFMG is now, but "back in the day" it was about 1 month if everything was in order, from submission of diploma to getting the ECFMG certificate. My program let me start with the ECFMG certificate # without having the actual piece of paper in hand...that will be program variable.
What I heard is that my medical school can swing a special request to ECFMG, because I actually get my exam results early May, 2012, so they will make exception since I am IMG and give me diploma around May and to keep ECFMG happy. I'm not worried about that, cause I know a lot of guys (Canadians) go from Ireland to the U.S on J1, straight after graduation as well.
That should be fine then.
But yeh, my follow up question is: Would the extra year out of graduation actually be detrimental to my app? Will I actually have a much better chance of matching if I applied this upcoming year? I thought that maybe doing a year of internship will look good on CV, something I can put on my personal statement/talk about in my interview. But if you don't think thats the case....fair enough.
I didn't think 1 year out of Med school would be a big deal, but if you say so...then I'll definitly switch gears and apply this september. I guess it helps that I'm doing 4 months of electives in the U.S this summer (April-July), so my LORs will literally be hot off the press if I apply in September. Plus, we all know J1 is much easier to match than H1, so another motivation factor to just apply this upcoming Sept. I don't want to burn a year of internship, and still end up matching on J1 and not H1. That would be a waste of time.
Thx again 🙂
Again, I don't think the year of internship adds anything to your application - after all, what is important to US faculty is training in the US. They *may* fear (and remember GS is conservative) that they will have to "train you all over" - this is a common concern about FMGs who are fully trained outside of the US - they tend not to understand the hierarchy, do not follow US standards of practice and tend to be difficult to retrain.
So I don't think it helps you at all and it might (very slightly, but possibly) hurt you. The year out is not a big deal - as long as there aren't any other red flags in your application.
The advantage to you of doing the internship year is to make it easier to stay in the UK should you have to/want to. I would not do it simply to get more training, to have something to talk about during interviews (I would think you already have plenty in terms of comparison of a national health system and what the US may/may not be heading towards).
An H1 is desirable but may not be obtainable. I would ask aPD if he thinks that is worth waiting for (we didn't have residents on visas so am not sure about the issues surrounding this factor).
