Hello how are you? I am more than happy to help answer your questions. Obtaining applicable experience and earning letters of recommendation in the US would be 2 important steps to your residency application. I would also suggest if you have the ability to participate in field applicable research. There are many programs that feel this will help an applicant.
This specialty is also very "USMLE and grad date" driven, which means that they tend to not consider an applicant with any failing attempts (this is not in all cases, I have worked with those with fails that have gotten into surgery, I would say the general criteria is no fails) or a veteran graduation date (5 years typically the latest they will consider an applicant depending on the program, some will not look at an applicant with more than 2 years it will depend. This is not for all programs though. I worked with someone last year who graduated in 1994 who matched in surgery).
I hope that this helps guide you a little. Regarding when you need to begin enrollment, please private message me here so I can check into your plan with a little more detail
Molly
hello there,i m an old grad n preparing for step 1.if i m looking for surgery field in what way u could help me find externship and how much will it help me increase my chances to get into surgery.when do i need to enroll myself in ur program,n whats the duration ,is it flexible in a way to target externship in the field i m interested in?any more info will help.