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 IMG13 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. 

 

 

 

Category: Success

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