Hello all,
For those who are applying to US residency match this year, I have some tips that might be beneficial during your application:
LORs: You need to waive your right to see the letters all the time. It would be great if your letters mention the specialty you are planning to apply to. So, if you are applying to two specialties, you better try to have two letters from the same attending. Remember, it goes back how good your attending is in uploading the letters because you don't want him to miss up the two letters so you end up showing wrong interest lol. All my four US attendings agreed to upload two LORs for me last year.
Personal statement: You must write a personal statement for each specialty you are applying to. Make sure it is revised by at least two native speakers from US. You can write the name of the program in the letter. I wrote the name of each program in each letter so I ended up uploading 180 letters in ERAS 📷:p It might benefit but won't harm for sure.
Program selection: I think Match A Resident website is the best way to go. Previously, this website had many errors but it is working very well for the past few years. The website will ask for your credentials and will tell you how many programs you can apply to. The website coordinators call all programs every two months and update all the information there. The websites of residency programs are not updated all the time and so is Frieda. So, in order to avoid the hassle of calling all programs, you better prescribe match a resident and get all details there. Another advantage is that you can find some information about applicants who were interviewed in programs along with their feedback about the interview and the program.
Good luck to all those who are applying this year and may Allah grant you success in your career.
On average, you better have six months elective in US. Please note that you need to have higher electives in the field you are applying to. None of family medicine programs wants you to have more electives in IM and vice versa.
I delayed my Step 1 exam until my internship so I couldn't do many electives in US. Either I had to pay a lot or to know someone there both of which were not easy for me. I did one elective and one externship only. So, I strongly suggest you start applying 6 months ahead of your internship and you better have step 1 result at that time. If not, you need to either use your connections or pay more for programs that don't require step 1 and you still need to apply 6 months ahead of the planned elective at least.