That is what my daughter did. 2 years clinical, 2 years research and now on 3 more years clinical . I have to say that her 16 months of covid for her research being at home was a blessing. Too many zoom calls but was safe at home
Tried to pm you but you are set to Private. I think if you send me a PM, I can respond
They decided it was too risky to do an indoor event in October and now moved it to early November - a month.
Late to the update, but D1 is in year2 of 7, exhausted all the time, but loves surgery! Looking forward to her research years! D2 is in year 2 of med school… and y’all can all fill in the blanks “it’s ——-, it’s ———-“ lol!! But she’s doing great, and has even kept up with her training and running a marathon in a few weeks! Youngest D graduated college and working in NYC, living her dream… and is treating her big sis to NYC shows and vacay next week!! I’ll get a few days with 2of them this week, 1 next week, and then all 3 should be home for a few days at Christmas!
@oldmom4896 did they have the white coat ceremony! Our weekends of late have been unusually warm for this time of the year 
it all happened!
Younger D’s school made up a ceremony called ring ceremony couple of weeks ago for year IIs a day before year 1 whitecoat ceremony. It was done outside in 45 degree weather which is quite unusual for texas early November but those are the breaks you get. Older D is finally done with Step 3 at the end of October and is looking forward to some well deserved vacation next month. Apparently the new interns are pretty badly trained everywhere due to covid shutdowns and second years are all under a lot of stress for first few months in every program. They seem to have caught up now.
Younger D was hired as “Visiting Faculty” at her residency site. She’ll start in July after she graduates from the program. D will also be doing a fellowship at the same program so the visiting faculty position allows her to work part-time for her department and keep her surgical skills up-to-date while she pursues her non-surgical fellowship.
D2’s fiancé starts his DPT program at the same university in May. D2’s appointment as faculty means her fiancé will get a very nice tuition discount for his program–a nice perk!
CONGRATS to D2 and a very nice perk for her fiance on that tuition discount!! I think its great she gets to keep up on her surgical skills.
Son is at his new position as an attending/hospitalist/faculty at the school of medicine at one of his educational rivals/basketball. It is interesting as in the game last week!! He is still dealing with covid patients but it is not like it was last year at a different hospital system as chief.
He’s now looking for a home to purchase but he will take his time.
Hope all others are doing well through this hectic time.
Kat
The sacrifices one must make for their significant others…
Hi,
I am looking for some big help here. D is applying for residency this year. She is IMG student. She has 213 (step 1) and 230 (step 2). She could only apply for SOAP and didn’t get any match. Now she is looking for observership and clinical experience and need to build a good case for residency next year.
I am looking for pointers. As a dad it’s all new for me and want her to succeed.
thanks
S!
@dallas_dd
Keeping her clinical experiences fresh will be key.
Observerships are good, esp is she can get a LOR from her supervising physician, but as a IMG (I believe) she’s limited by state statutes as to the number weeks she’s allowed to do this. There are services that claim to arrange observerships for IMGs/FMGs and charge students thousands of $$$ per rotation. These businesses are for the most part scams. Avoid them.
Another clinical experience she should be looking for clinical research assistant, particularly in specialties that are IMG friendly. (FM, IM, neurology, pathology, maybe peds, maybe EM) She may be able to get a US LOR from her research supervisor (something that will be useful when she applies to ERAS net year).
If she can’t find a clinical research assistant position, even working as medical scribe might get her some clinical exposure. Besides clinical exposure, she also needs to get involved in community service with disadvantaged and medically underserved groups to demonstrate her continuing commitment to be of service to others.
Besides being an IMG with average/below average STEP scores and 2022 YOG, does your D have any other red flags on her application? (Any STEP failures? And failed classes or clinical rotations? Any disciplinary actions from the school, especially any professionalism complaints?)
Does your D have LORs from practicing US physicians who supervised her during rotations? She must have at least 1, and preferably more than 1, from her US clinical experiences.
Since her USMLE scores are average/below average, she will need to apply very widely next fall to as many programs as possible. 100-200 if she can afford the fees.
Unless she has some specific high level research or significant exposure relating to a certain specialty, her best opportunities for a Match will be at community-based FM and IM residency programs. Maybe a community hospital based HCA EM program in the SE US if she has prior EM exposure and can build a creditable application for EM. (NOTE: EM has some very, very unique and specific requirements for residency applications.)
Another idea–if your daughter attended an off shore med school that has any close clinical contacts with US hospitals, the Office of Student Affairs may be able to assist her in finding an off-cycle (non-Match) residency placement. Most of these placements are 1 year contracts that do not guarantee further training beyond that one year,** but they will help her get a foot in the door where she can prove her worth to program/ senior residents/ attendings.
**IMGs are required to have at least 3 years of residency training before they are eligible to apply for an independent medical license.
One more option to possibly pursue…
Is your daughter fluent in a language other than English? (In particular, is she fluent in Spanish?) Is she a member of a group that is under-represented in medicine (UiM)-- Native American, Mexican-American, Puerto Rican American, black?
If the answer to either of those questions is yes, then she may be eligible for a special program at UCLA’s David Geffen SOM.
The UCLA International Medical Graduate Program provides US clinical experience, STEP coaching and a guaranteed FM residency position in a community clinic program in CA. In return, the IMG is contractually obligated to work for a minimum of 3 years post residency in a community clinic in a medically underserved area of CA.
The program accepts ~15 students/year.
One more place to keep an eye on: FRIEDA’s Vacant Position Listing
Most of the vacancies will be PGY2 and above, but sometimes vacant PGY1 slots pop up.
Your daughter will apply directly to the program via the contact person listed in the posting.
And since your daughter SOAPed, I assume she has an ERAS account. She should be checking ERAS daily to see if any PGY1 vacancies pop up between now and July 1.
Going forward to new application cycle in the fall, she should start researching NOW which programs are IMG friendly (FRIEDA and ERAS can be useful for this) and what the requirements are for admission consideration at each program she identifies. .
She should also completely rewrite her personal statement for her next application cycle. If she plans to apply to multiple specialties, she should have a PS tailored for each field. Additionally, she will need a LOR from a preceptor in each specialty she decides to apply to.
Another thing to try–does your daughter belong to any professional medical specialty organizations?
Like ACP (American College of Physicians) for internal medicine; AAFM (American Academy of Family Medicine) for family medicine, AAP (American Academy of Pediatrics) or APA (American Pediatric Association) for pediatrics; ACEP(American College of Emergency Physicians), AAEM (American Academy of Emergency Medicine) for EM. ASCP (American Society for Clinical Pathology) for pathology; ANA (American Neurological Association) for neurology.
Your daughter may want to consider joining one or two of these organizations as a student member (open to med students) and attending local and regional meetings as a way to network and get her name out in front of residency directors/assistant residency directors. If she can network effectively she may be able to find observerships and clinical research positions that wouldn’t otherwise be advertised.
As a IMG without a buiit-in network of US preceptors who will make phone calls to PDs and colleagues to recommend her, she needs to put herself out there and be her own best advocate with residency programs.
Thank you so much. These are very very useful info. I will share with D. She has lot of things to cover.
She doesn’t know Spanish. So that option is ruled out.
She is reaching out for observership through known people.I also learnt paid observerships don’t help much. I will keep you updated.
if you have any contacts for observership or clinical experience, can you please share ?
Thanks
S!
She doesn’t have any red flags ( no failures , no complaints etc.).
@dallas_dd Is your daughter permanent resident/citizen? What did she apply for?
In two years step 1 is considered pass/fail for 2024 graduates. I am not sure how they evaluate those with scores in that year vs on par graduates, i.e. 2020-2024 batch.
@texaspg She is citizen. Applying for internal medicine. USMLE step1 is already pass/fail starting Feb 2022. D completed step 1 in Jan '22.
What was her step 2 score? For FMGs most likely they will look at step 2 score
