Year: 2018

The Benefits of a US-Based Clerkship for Foreign Medical Students

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No matter where in the world you are earning your medical degree, you have to meet a certain set of core credit requirements — but you also have the opportunity to make choices when it comes to how you earn your elective credits. If you have your sights set on entering a US medical residency program after medical school, fulfilling elective credits with a clerkship in the United States offers a wide range of benefits, from both an academic and a practical standpoint. Read on to learn more about why foreign medical students are choosing US-based clerkships for their clinical electives.

Enhancing Your Academic Experience in Medical School

A clerkship in the United States offers an exciting and challenging academic experience that you can’t always get from the standard electives offered at your medical school. For instance, while you are completing your medical school courses, you may discover a passion for a medical subspecialty in which few physicians in your area have significant expertise. By choosing a US-based clerkship as a clinical elective, you could spend three months gaining hands-on experience with three different Attending Physicians who have dedicated their careers to the subspecialty. This would enable you to explore the subject in-depth and gain real-world experience that you wouldn’t be able to get at your medical school.

Alternatively, if you haven’t yet decided on your subspecialty area, there are clinical clerkships in the United States that empower you to explore three different specialty areas over the course of three months. Again, some of these clinical experiences could be in specialty/subspecialty areas that aren’t available in your area. In a US-based clerkship, you may also have the chance to decide between inpatient and outpatient availabilities — another choice that is not available at every foreign medical school.

Even if your medical school does offer electives in your specialty area of interest, it still makes sense, from an academic standpoint, to complete a US-based clerkship if you plan on applying for a US medical residency program in the future. A clinical elective also offers a real-world introduction to the complexities of the US healthcare system, which is a valuable learning experience for foreign medical students who aspire to enter US medical residency programs. The healthcare system in every country is different, and you can learn a lot about what it truly means to practice medicine in the United States over the course of a three-month clerkship.

Practical Considerations for Your Residency Application

For foreign medical students who are planning to enter a US medical residency program after graduation, earning clinical electives through a US-based clerkship makes even more sense from a practical standpoint. Completing a clerkship does not guarantee that you will be matched to a US medical residency program, but it can give you opportunities that will make you a more competitive candidate and help you throughout the application process. Here are a few of the things you would get to do during a clinical clerkship:

 

  • Make connections with US-based Attending Physicians. Some US medical residency programs require at least one Letter of Reference to be written by an Attending Physician in the United States. During a clerkship, you may be able to develop a positive working relationship with an Attending Physician who could potentially write you a letter of reference in the future.
  • Gain experience in a subspecialty area (or multiple areas) of interest. When you are writing your Personal Statement, you need to be able to lay out a clear set of professional goals and explain why you are a great candidate for a US medical residency program. If you already have experience working in the United States in your specialty or subspecialty area of interest, you can make a much stronger argument.
  • Start preparing for the USMLE. Before you can apply for a US medical residency program, you need to get certification from the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG) — and for that, you have to pass the USMLE Step 1, Step 2 – C2, and Step 2 – CK exams. The knowledge and skills you gain in a clerkship can help you prepare for success on these exams.
  • Learn what it’s like to live in a certain region of the United States. Because the United States is a large country with diverse regions, it is impossible to give a simple explanation of “what it’s like to live in the United States.” During a clerkship, you will have the chance to find out about the lifestyle of a medical resident in a particular location, which may help you narrow down your residency application choices based on regional considerations or a preference for an urban or rural residency program.

 

 

FMG Portal offers top-notch US-based clerkships for foreign medical students who want to earn elective credits in the United States. Contact us today to learn more about what makes our programs stand out!

 

Participating in the SOAP Process: A Guide for Foreign Medical Graduates

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The Supplemental Offer and Acceptance Program (SOAP) occurs during Match Week. As a foreign medical graduate looking to enter a US medical residency program, there are two ways in which you might end up participating in SOAP: if you don’t receive any interview offers, or if you find out on the Monday of Match Week that you weren’t matched by the algorithm after submitting your ROL. Read on for more information about each of these situations, and find out what you can expect from the SOAP process in 2018.

Next Steps if You Were Not Offered Interviews

After working hard on your application, it can be disappointing to find out that you were not offered any interviews. However, that does not mean that you won’t be starting a US medical residency program in July. You are still eligible to participate in the SOAP process during Match Week, so there is a still a good chance that you can find a spot in an unfilled program.

If you did not receive any interview offers, the only thing you need to do during the fall and winter is to register for the Main Residency Match. For the 2018 Match, the regular deadline passed on November 30, 2017, but the late registration deadline is February 21, 2018. If you haven’t yet registered, you will need to pay a late fee of 50 dollars, but you can still participate in the 2018 Match.  Although the late registration deadline is the same as the deadline for creating a Rank Order List (ROL), it is important to note that you do not need to worry about creating one if you were not offered any interviews, because the algorithm will not match you to a program anyway. All you have to do is get registered and wait for Match Week to arrive!

Participating in SOAP During Match Week

If you did not get any interview offers for the fall or winter, you will know before Match Week that you will be participating in SOAP. However, you might also find out at 11:00 am Eastern Time Monday of Match Week (March, 12, 2018), when the NRMP releases the Main Residency Match results. SOAP begins when the results are released and candidates find out whether or not they got matched. If you find out that you did not get matched, SOAP is your best option.

At 12:00 pm Eastern Time on the Monday of Match Week, you can start preparing your SOAP application in the AAMC ERAS system. It is important to be prepared, because programs can start reviewing your application at 3:00 pm, and they can start contacting you as soon as they receive your application. Communicating directly with a program on the first or second day of the SOAP process can significantly boost your chances of getting matched to an unfilled program, since programs start preparing their SOAP preferences lists at 11:30 am the next morning (Tuesday, March 13). The deadline for programs to certify their preference lists for Round 1 is 11:55 am on Wednesday, March 14.

Five minutes later, at 12:00 pm Eastern Time on Wednesday of Match Week, SOAP participants receive the Round 1 offers. At that point, you have two hours to accept or reject your Round 1 offers, and at 2:05 pm, SOAP Round 2 begins. This time, programs have only 50 minutes to alter and re-certify their preference lists, and you will receive your Round 2 offers at 3:00 pm. Again, you have only two hours to accept the offers, reject, or wait for Round 3 offers.

Programs have all of Wednesday night to alter and re-ceritfy their preference lists, which means that SOAP applicants get their Round 3 offers at 9:00 am on Thursday, March 15, 2018. SOAP ends two hours later (11:00 am Eastern Time), which is the deadline to accept or reject the Round 3 offers. After Round 3, SOAP officially ends.

After Soap: The Post-Soap List of Unfilled Programs

Once SOAP ends, candidates have the opportunity to access the post-SOAP list of unfilled programs. At 12:00 pm Eastern Time on Thursday of Match Week, candidates who have not yet accepted an offer can access the list of unfilled programs, including programs that decided not to participate in SOAP. If you have not yet been matched, you can take a look at the programs on the list and immediately start contacting any program about a possible offer.

Preparing to Participate in SOAP

Clearly, participating in SOAP (or post-SOAP matching opportunities) is a highly a complex process with a tight schedule. In order to be successful, you have to be prepared — regardless of whether or not you were interviewed, since you might find out on Monday of Match Week that you were not matched. Going into Match week, you should have a strong familiarity with the schedule discussed above, and you should be ready to provide programs with an updated CV and other information that shows them exactly why you are an excellent candidate for a US medical residency program.

 

If you’re a foreign medical graduate looking for success in the matching process, FMG is here to help. From the moment you start considering a US medical residency program to the day you get matched, you can count on our resources to help you through. Contact us today for more information!

 

Preparing Your Rank Order List: Do’s and Don’ts for Foreign Medical Graduates

 

Now that you’ve finished your initial application, completed your interviews, and finalized your registration for the 2018 Match, there is only one thing left to do: prepare your Rank Order List (ROL). Earlier on the blog, we talked about the basics of ROLs — what they are, how they work, and what foreign medical graduates need to know from the start. Today, we were going to go further in-depth and talk about some of the Do’s and Don’ts for creating an ROL. That way, when the Rank Order List Entry opens on January 15, 2018 (mark your calendar!), you will have the tools you need for success.

DO’s for Creating Your Rank Order List (ROL)

When it comes to creating your rank order list, there are key things that you should make sure to do.

 

  • DO rank programs in the order of your true preference. The ROL is the place where you get to tell the NRMP where you want to train. After spending months or even years scoping out programs and trying to get a feel for the different training options, this is your opportunity to let the NRMP know which programs you think will best support both your personal and professional goals. Even if you worry that a particular program might be a “reach” for you, you should rank it at the top if it is the place where you would most like to complete your training!
  • DO include a both competitive and less-competitive schools on your ROL. While you should definitely rank your preferred programs at the top — even if they are highly competitive — you should also try to include programs with less competitive profiles on your list. That way, if you don’t end up getting matched to some of the more competitive programs, you won’t run the risk of not getting matched at all.
  • DO remember to certify your ROL before the deadline. In order for the match algorithm to process your ROL, it needs to be certified within the R3 system by 9:00 pm Eastern Standard time on February 21, 2018. Also, you should note that the R3 system is notorious for running slowly in the last few days before the deadline, so if you have your ROL ready in advance, DO upload it early.
  • DO remember that you can change ROLs that have already been certified. If you decide to upload your ROL early, you still have the chance to change your mind before the February 21 deadline — as long as you remember to recertify your ROL. The Match algorithm will only process the last certified ROL.

DON’Ts for Creating Your Rank Order List (ROL)

Preparing your rank order list might seem simple enough, but don’t be fooled! There are a variety of pitfalls that you can easily fall into if you’re not careful. Here are a few major DON’Ts for foreign medical graduates who are preparing their ROLs:

 

  • DON’T rank programs where you aren’t interested in training. When creating your ROL, you may be tempted to rank all the programs where you interviewed, and that’s a great plan if you feel comfortable training in any of the programs. However, if you have misgivings about a program and are only including it because you feel desperate to get matched, you might want to think twice about adding it to your ROL. When you certify your ROL, you make a binding commitment to train at any program where you get matched, so you should only rank programs where you would feel satisfied about (and celebrate!) a match.
  • DON’T include programs where you did not interview. As you already know, the Match is a computer algorithm. It won’t recognize any programs where you did not interview as options for a match. Therefore, it’s not worth the time to include any of these programs on your ROL.
  • DON’T wait until the deadline to enter your ROL into the system. Creating an ROL requires more than just writing down a list of programs — the R3 system can initially be confusing, so you should give yourself enough time to figure it out. Also, the NRMP warns that its servers tend to get overloaded in the last few days before the deadline, so it’s a good idea to give yourself extra time to make sure that you won’t have to worry about unexpected technological glitches.
  • DON’T forget to save your ROL after making changes. When you add a new program to your list or change the order in the R3 system, you have to click the “save” button before you leave the system if you want to return to your ROL the way you left it. It is important to note that saving an ROL is different from certifying it. Saving your ROL allows you to develop and change your ROL as the deadline approaches, but it is only finalized and ready for processing by the match algorithm when you certify it.
  • DON’T try to import an ROL on a mobile device. These days, you can use your smartphone or tablet for just about everything. Unfortunately, that doesn’t include every part of the residency matching process. In order to import an ROL in the R3 system, you need to be using a traditional laptop or desktop computer.

 

 

Whether you’re anticipating the last few months of the 2018 NRMP Match, gearing up for the 2019 Match, or looking ahead to future years, FMG Portal is here to help you every step of the way. Contact us today for more information!