[Seetal]

Hi guys

I spoke to a friend of mine who is doing his residency in Cleveland and when I told him I wanna take anesthesiology he was all supportive of me. According to him its not a competitive field as it once was. So he recommends I do 8 weeks of anesthesiology rotation in New York (where I would like to get Matched). He said there are a lot of elective programs in New York. But he also says that I have to pick FMG friendly elective programs so that I can get Matched there easily once I graduate. He said there is no point of doing my electives in highly recognized programs when they are not FMG friendly because at the end of the day I won't get Matched.

So my questions:
1) is there anything seniors would like to add to my friend's advice?
2) Can u please tell me of the many elective programs available in New York so i can get focused now on my goals and start planning slow and steady?

thank u.

 

[rasheed]

Re: Anesthesiology in NY

I agree with your friend about the better chances of IMG matching in anesthesiology nowadays.

I also agree with him on the elective part.

However, I may not completely agree with him on doing electives in IMG friendly programs "only". Because although rotating in an IMG friendly program increases your chances of getting matched in it that does not mean that doing a rotation in other "non-IMG" friendly programs is not useful.

If you do clerkships in a "high profile" university program this will significantly enhances your CV and thereby increasing your matching chances in "other" IMG friendly programs.

A program director (anywhere in the US, including New York) who sees that you have an LOR signed by a Harvard faculty will definitely consider you more than in the case if you had a simple LOR from a hidden street in NY.

One more caveat here. Do not postpone your electives to after graduation. Because in that case it will be significantly more difficult to get it and it will be named "Externship" by then, not Electives.

As to which NY programs are IMG friendly I recommend this webpage
http://anesthesiologyimg.blogspot.com/ created by our active member ApplicantGuide

You may also want to check our IMG Friendly Programs database which is still in its infancy and needs more listing.

You may also contact Molly Fraser as she may help you with paid elective opportunities.

Alternatively, do your homework. See this article to know how
http://www.usmle-forums.com/usmle-a...our-img-friendly-residency-programs-list.html

 

[Seetal]

thank u for the reply

yes ill be doing my electives whilst still a student. ive been told about the LOR received during electives is best.

and ive seen the blog my applicantguide. very very helpful. so if i look at doing one month of electives in NY and one month in NIH. is that good enough? with a total of 4 LORs (2 from each place)

 

[rasheed]

thank u for the reply

yes ill be doing my electives whilst still a student. ive been told about the LOR received during electives is best.

and ive seen the blog my applicantguide. very very helpful. so if i look at doing one month of electives in NY and one month in NIH. is that good enough? with a total of 4 LORs (2 from each place)

Yes, of course, that's fantastic!