US FMG - 4th year Clerkships

[ishryan]

I woud like to start this thread specifically for US citizen FMG's, because statistically and situationally our situation is different from IMG's from foreign schools and US grads.

This year about 1670 spots were offered for EM, 100% of them filled. There were 69 US FMG's amongst that group matched in EM, according to the NRMP 2012 results. That's about 4%.

I am an SGU student from California, rotating in NYC for 3rd year cores. Step 1 scores - 240's.
From our match reports, just over 30 reported matching EM in 2012, mostly in hospitals in Detroit and the NYC area. This has been the trend for our school in the last few years for SGU. Obviously to maximize our chances, we should try doing rotations at these hospitals (assuming they are ACGME accredited) known for taking our students in EM.

Are there any SGU alumni that have matched in EM that can give advice or comment on how to go about maximizing our chances scheduling 4th year electives? Where would be the choice hospitals for one to do 4th year electives, and which electives should be taken? Does it matter? What things can we do to stand out?

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[ERdocSGU]

First off, its pretty late in the game to be booking ER electives. You should be rotating now, and I'm sure you are, getting letters from EM programs with residency programs. When November comes, I will have completed 3.5 months of ER rotations at Newark Beth Israel, Brooklyn Hospital, SUNY Upstate, and Beth Israel in NYC. All these programs have multiple SGU alums on their rosters except the last, which actually gave me a complimentary interview for rotating there. All my rotations were booked months in advance so I find it hard to imagine that any of the programs that take more than a few SGU students have much availability. You can try to Wayne State programs which are out of network as you know, but I don't know how many students actually rotate there from SGU. Not the few that I knew atlteast that matched. Would definitely be worth your while to have exposure to one of those programs. Lincoln is the other program that loves SGU. They were booked for up to a year when I checked in March however. Hope this helps

 

[Glitterbox]

The OP is in his third yr right? If so this is probably a good time to a least be thinking abt electives, but as far as I know, most clerkships don't start taking apps until like January or so....

 

[ERdocSGU]

The OP is in his third yr right? If so this is probably a good time to a least be thinking abt electives, but as far as I know, most clerkships don't start taking apps until like January or so....

In that case, I didn't read your post quite carefully enough. It would be smart to book EM at Lincoln and Newark Beth Israel. At these SGU friendly programs in the NY/NJ area, especially the SGU clinical centers, you will find that the EM resident from SGU actually rotated there. Start booking now and early. I waited until March and Lincoln and NBI were full. Inquire now and book only at residency programs!