What should be the best course? Advice Needed!!

[jigga]

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Well i have been a regular visitor since a month and going through some posts has greatly increased my knowledge about some things. I really appreciate members who take out time and help others. I am in a confused state of mind and i will be grateful if fellow members can guide me...

I am an IMG and i graduated in Jan 08. Post graduation i did an internship year that finished in Feb 09. I am preparing for my steps now and i am about to take step 1 in July. CS in September and CK in Dec. I have one failed attempt in CS in the CIS part. I applied to John Hopkins MPH and was admitted for this year program, but due to some family probs i had to defer my admission to the next year i.e starting from July 2010.

I plan to complete my steps and get 3-4 months US observership/externship experience and then start my MPH and apply in the match on Sep 01 2010 as a JH student. The MPH will finish by May 2011 and if i am successful.. i will start my residency in July 2011.

I am getting mixed advices that do not delay the match. Complete your steps and sit for scramble in March 2010. As an IMG it will be extremely difficult to get even a single interview call without ecfmg certification before the deadline i.e OCT 31, so scramble is the only option. If I have great scores I might get a spot and say the MPH bye-bye. Otherwise next year, I will be 3 years from graduation in the 2011 match.

My interest has been orthopedics.. but sanity is suggesting me to take up anything. I would be willing to take prelim surgery in the scramble if available at a good program, Even IM/Neurology. Not FP and pediatrics for sure.

Should i plan for the scramble next year? I have a visa and will be in the US since August this year, so i might be able to make contacts that prove beneficial in the scramble. Or should i get some USCE and do my MPH and apply for the 2011 match?

 

[dragonfly99]

Your chances of getting ortho as a US IMG or foreign citizen FMG are vanishingly small, even if you had already passed all the steps and had great scores. You would have needed ortho related research, US clinical experience, and even then it would have been next to impossible. IMHO you need to pick another specialty.

The failed step will hurt your application, and being further out from graduation will likely hurt you. I don't have a strong opinion about whether being in the JHU MPH program will help your application much, or whether trying to scramble vs. applying in the regular match (but 6 months later) would be better. Perhaps someone who is an FMG and/or graduate of the JHU MPH program could be more helpful. I kind of wonder what kind of MPH program this is that you can finish in <1 year...or did I read your post wrong?

 

[jigga]

I changed my mind long ago of not going for ortho because the chances are not vanishingly small but non-existent. I stated it just because i like it.. but i will marry next year and will have a wife to take care of, so have to think rationally. I am open to IM or Neurology. In the scramble i will be willing to pick up even a prelim surgery/medicine and then reapply next year.

John Hopkins MPH is a 11 month program for people already holding advance degrees like M.D or M.B.B.S. If i do it i plan to concentrate in Epidemiological and Biostatistics methods of clinical research and do the clinical research capstone project required for graduation in a field i want to go for residency for eg maybe im/neuro.

Will the failed CS hurt that match that i might not get a residency just because of that? I have seen colleagues with a failed CS covering it up with excellent step scores and research and matching into surgery even. I do have 2 published papers and i hope to get good scores. The CS was more of a bad luck i think. One problem with MPH is the cost i.e. 73k for the 11 months.

I was thinking to enrolll in a proper observership program this fall like the Drexel University Structured Clinical Preceptorship Program in the coming dec-feb period.

http://webcampus.drexelmed.edu/refresher/preceptorship.asp

It will cost around 10-12k.. but will give me some experience of the us medical system. I think it is the best possible structures observership program and drexel is a good name. If i will be lucky i might get a scramble spot anywhere. BUt if i am not succesful in the match, alot of money would have been spent and then it will affect finances for my MPH.

I have a visa valid till 2012 and I can stay in the U.S for a max of 6 months/visit. Go back and then come back again in 15-20 days if i am doing an observership or a unpaid research project. Can do this for the whole next year till my interviews if i am unsuccesful in the scramble or alternatively do MPH?

 

[jigga]

And thank you dragonfly for your reply