THINKING 2008 RESIDENCY MATCH ? BOY U GOTTA START NOW !

Lately I have been power-cycling a lot on my 21 Speed Mongoose Bike into the dense Oak forest trails to take advantage of the lovely American fall season. The Fall happens so regularly, each year...just like the phases of moon keep repeating...or the way you keep coming back to same "Do Re Mi' notes octave after octave...Cyclical events, just like our residency applications, year after year. Yet, each residency-match year has its own distinct flavor and dynamics. Early planning has remained a vital credential for highly competitive programs and I would like this post to make hopeful IMGs aware of deadlines - both Technical and Logical. This year the Internal Medicine Program at Abington Memorial Hospital received 700 IMG applications with scores above 90 on both steps WITHIN the first week of September ! Competition is intense ...So read on...and plan while you still have time ...

Sometimes, while planning, it's best to work our way backwards from our ultimate target, so that you not only know what and when to do stuff, but also WHY to do it. So know the deadlines and act on them, otherwise its all futile, as Soren Kierkegaard puts it :

"It is perfectly true, as philosophers say, that life must be understood backward, but they forget the other proposition, that it must be lived forward."

Lol...I see that I have built up enough drama for this post ;-) Hmmm, So lets suppose you were planning on starting a Residency in 2008 ( All Residencies begin on the 1st of July of the year)



1. The 'Match' is a computer algorithm owned by the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) that will occur around Mid-March 2008. The algorithm will 'match' program preferences on the list submitted by candidates with interviewed candidate preferences submitted by the residency programs. These lists are called "Rank Order Lists" (ROL).



2. When are these ROLS Submitted to NRMP ? That will be around the Middle of February 2008



3. Now, in order to have your name added on that ROL of the residency programs that you interviewed at, before the middle of February 2008, this is what program directors want to see from you :

a. Be 'ECFMG Certified' by then (i.e. Cleared Step 1, Step 2 CK, CS and have Medical documents/credentials verified with medical school)

b. Have passed Step 3 (if you need an H1b Visa) - please note that you can apply for a Step 3 Permit only after you have RECEIVED your ECFMG Certificate - which takes two weeks to arrive after passing all the previous 3 steps - Step 1, 2 CK and 2 CS.



4. Technically, applying to residencies and then participating the match is handled by different organizations - ERAS does Residency applications while NRMP does the matching part , so by December 2007, do not forget to Register yourself for the match - costs 40$

Hmmm, so far so good, Lets continue backwards further...



5. The peak Interview season will be Oct-Nov-Dec 2007 , while some programs (especially the ones that offer Pre-Matches) will send out Interview offers to applicants as early as September 2007, often on a first-come-first-serve basis. In order to be called for Interviews, obviously you should finish applying to programs through the ERAS (Electronic Residency Application Service) before the Interview season. To maximize your chances for interviews and get an edge over the competition, it is highly recommended that you apply EARLY (ideally 1st of September 2007) and your application should be complete (with Step 1 , Step 2 CK scores reported and Step 2 CS Passed by then)



6. Now, let's give a thought to what credentials you should have completed BEFORE applying on September 1st 2007 ?

a. Step 1 , Step 2 CK and Step 2 Passed and scores reported (Step 1 and Step 2 scores take 4 weeks for reporting and CS scores take about 8-10 weeks)

b. US-clinical Experience (US Clinical Electives, Observerships or Externships) - either completed or ongoing or secured [ so that you can mention on your application while applying itself]

c. All documents scanned by ECFMG and uploaded to the ERAS virtual mail-box so that they are ready for programs to download by the time you apply - as explained in point 7


( At this I point I would to state again that this timeline is an IDEAL scenario so stay ahead of competition - it does NOT mean that you cannot technically apply without all scores in hand - you can apply even on a single score... but people with all the above ready will always have that advantage..so do aim for this! Also read about ECFMG Certification)



7. Next, in order to be able to apply on 1st September 2007 deadline these are the things that must be taken of BEFORE 1st Sept. 2007:

a. you should have finished sending required documents [MSPE , LORs ,Copy of Medical school Transcript] to ECFMG-ERAS for scanning, by the middle of August - ECFMG says it will take about 10 business days for finishing scanning everything and making them ready to be attached to your ERAS applications - but this year, the time taken was more ! So the earlier you are , the better. Let me say something more ....actually, all your documents should REACH ECFMG by the middle of August. Hence, based on which part of the world you are applying from, you will need to have ready and mail them even earlier that middle of August 2007.

b. Completed filling up all the details the online Common Application Form (CAF) on the ERAS website and completed writing Personal Statements for all specialties. Note here that Personal Statements are often underestimated on the time that they will take to prepare and finalize. I would say, to a get a completely satisfactory Personal Statements, it takes 7-10 days of drafting, editing, tweaking, polishing and feedback from friends :-)

c. Completed compiling a list of programs to apply - i.e. your own 'IMG-Friendly List' of Programs - again it's best to prepare this by individually calling/emailing programs from the various IMG-friendly Programs listed Here. This takes a lot of time too. Thus, all this pre-application prep is easily gonna make August 2007 your busiest month - so dont plan a vacation then ;-) !




8. Next, in order to have ECFMG accept your documents and to be granted access to the ERAS website, you first need to have an AAMC ID - and that is obtained ONLY after you purchase the electronic 'ERAS token' online through your OASIS account on the ECFMG.org. And when will ERAS tokens for the 2008 Match be available ? First week of July 2007 ! So grab it as soon it is available (for 75$) and get the ball rolling - coz even the ERAS Token takes anywhere between 5-10 days to be granted after you have made the purchase :-)


So if you wish to have an ideal situation as described below....the time to act is now !

:-)


NOTE: This post was to help understand the timeline that 2008 residency aspirants should aim for - to learn Tips and Tricks about making your application more competitive. Remember that only USMLE scores are no longer important - to undertand what else matters for getting interview calls - please read : 'Application Strategies: Lessons from the Past'