PGY-1 "Mom"
Here's an inspirational story of a mother of 2 who refused to give up on her dreams!
She is also an IMG & 13 years from medical school graduation!
Dear Dr.Barone,
I am a very very old IMG, I graduated from Med school 13 years ago. My usmle scores are very average, I would say low...85,85,86, cs pass...all first attempt. For the last 3 match, I went unmatched. This was my 4th time and I matched with a competitive family medicine program in California!!! I have done tons of observership, externship, had excellent LORS from faculty, had research experience from a top notch university....and last year I graduated with Master degree.
Every time I failed to match, I tried something new again, added volunteering activity in my resume or other clinical experience. I knew I had red flag in my application by being an old graduate. I did not get a single interview last year. But I never gave up, I did everything possible. And this time, I improved my interviewing skill a lot (At least I thought so....lol). I tried to figure out where I went wrong before and fine tuned accordingly.
This year I got 8 interviews (all interviews are genuine and not by any personal recommendation) and today I matched in California with my top choice of rank list. Last but not the least, I would like to thank you for the awesome live lectures by you in Kaplan. Still I remember most of the stuff that you taught for step 1. I wish sometime somewhere I will meet you again. It was a splendid experience of USMLE journey.
Thank you and takecare.
T.R. 3/15/13
I. When you say very very old IMG what do you mean?
I am 35, mom of 2 beautiful kids, and I finished my Medical school in a South Asian country 13 years ago.
2. What do you think made the difference between this year and last?
I think my master degree (global health) from a major univerisity as well as a hands on externship program helped me obtaining more interviews this time as well as lots of prayer.
3. Did connections help?
I heard from people that they got into some programs by connection or at least got some interviews, but for me it did not happen. I knew several people (we went to same med school) who were associate PD of different program, still they did not consider me a courtesy interview. But I think once some one gets an iv, later if she/he knows any person into that program, that makes difference.
4. Did you match at the same place you did the research/observership/etc?
No, I did not match where I did my Masters, observership and research. But the LORS were great and where ever I was interviewed, they have spoken highly about my waived LORS.
5. Anything you would recommend to students who are in the same position?
I am not a great candidate to recommend anything to others but I would like to say that " Never give up, just follow your dreams, If I can do it, so anyone can, just believe in yourself". At the end, I want to say that I wanted to practice nothing else other than medicine. I did not consider any other career path...
Thank you so much for taking your time to reply me. You are awesome as always.
Barone rocks. You saved my back!
T.R.