This page is dedicated to the new updated info. As I am no more doing electives, so I wont be a regular contributor of this page but all the visitors can contribute here. I am really pleased to copy paste the first contribution from vaibhav in the form of a comment under list of universities page. Others can also simply contribute this way by adding a comment and the content would be uploaded here. Thanks!
Mandatory Training Infection Control new
dear himanshu, i also needed the infxn ctrl training for MSKCC n NY letter.
MSKCC directed me to this NY state nurses association training which would suffice even for NY letter..........the link u mentioned has this course also.........goto ur link-> scroll below ->> NY state nurses association --->> new york -----> infxn ctrl training course ---> register
or http://www.elearnonline.net/coursedesc.aspx?ClassID=463&s=44
It costs 25$ to do that online...............took me an hour to complete and then do the questions in the end. The qs r arranged sequentially as they are in the modules. so u just need to go back n revise while u r doing the qs.......(sorry for my cheating methods; but that way i sorted out the important topics) and u have 3 attempts to do that exam, otherwise u'll have to give again 25$. i passed on 1st attempt...u can too.......
Best Wishes
University of toronto query for immigration medical examination
Hi umarbhai & others, I have got accepted for university of toronto in march for an elective in forensic psychiatry. I had to go to orthwestern university in february for another elective..Till then i wasn't getting any confirmation from university of toronto. But I still had hope, that i would get the elective, but i was running out of time in visa. So I applied well in advance for a visitor's visa for canada. After I applied and got the visa, I got acceptance from UoT. Now they write me an email that I will be requiring to undergo a immigration medical examination which will b required of me at the time of entry to canada. Now I already have the visa, so how should I go about it. Is there any1 who has done past electives at UoT or is gonna join me in march or would b goin in feb.
Q: Does the college ask you when you report them for electives, whether you gave the immigration medical examination or not ?
Q: If you enter Canada under reason that you want to meet your relatives, will it be ok if i am not able to give the exam.
Q: What is the exact way for applying this medical examination , in case u have the visas b4 handed bcoz I hav emailed the consulate, but they haven't replied back. Plus they don't answer on phone, they say to write an email. I am running out of time as I am leaving India on 27th and incase I don't get to do any medical examination, can i b under trouble because I already hav the visa and can enter canada with the purpose to meet relatives. The concern is if I will have any explaining to do to Elective office on 1st day.
Any past student will be best to guide me on this.
Thanx in advance
1. You have to get your new
1. You have to get your medical examination done and you have to submit it once you reach Canada.
2. You MUST have your medical examination done in either case.
3. You can be in trouble if you dont have medical examination done, according to the best of my knowledge. Visit the following two links
http://www.canadainternational.gc.ca/united_kingdom-royaume_uni/visas/me...
http://www.cic.gc.ca/dmp-md/medical.aspx
Enter your continent and country at the bottom of the webpage of the second mentioned link. Look for the medical officer/ hospital in your city and call them to make an appointment.
For your ease, I am posting the links of designated medical practitioners in Pakistan & India (as I don't know which country you belong to).
http://www.cic.gc.ca/dmp-md/medicalinfo.aspx?CountryID=1999&CountryName=...
http://www.cic.gc.ca/dmp-md/medicalinfo.aspx?CountryID=1995&CountryName=...
You can also look for your country from this link http://www.cic.gc.ca/dmp-md/medical.aspx in case you are not living in Pakistan or India.
@ ALL new
I just found an interesting article which i hope is helpful to all. Its a bit old article but i guess the basic requirements stay the same.. All the best to all and God bless .... A post by Dr.Mizani
'I was the Chief Resident of Morehouse School of Family Medicine in Atlanta, and 60% of our residents were IMGs. In our admission committees, we looked at the following (in order of importance):
1. USMLE SCORES and attempts
2. U.S. “Hands-on” clinical experience & acculturation – Up to one academic year (36 weeks); Observerships, externships or research didn’t count as it wasn’t clinical.
3. Research activities... In U.S a publication or a research activity is given a lot of value.
4. 3 to 5 recent letters of recommendation from licensed US physicians (< 12 months old), documenting your clinical experience in the US. The more LORs, the better, since not all LORs positively recommend an IMG, or carry a weight necessary to compete with American Graduate competition.
5. U.S. immigration status – if we liked an interviewee, we sponsored them… no problem.
6. ECFMG Certification
7. Passing score on USMLE Step 3, if taken – not a huge factor, but a good one. Definitely not as important as the top 6.
8. Interview skills and English COMPETENCY – of course, you have to get an interview first.
According to the NRMP, the following are positive Match predictors:
1. For all – #contiguous ranks
2. 2nd for all 4 groups – USMLE Step 2
3. Step 1 for less competitive specialties only
4. Research nor # of publications was not a significant predictor of Match
5. For U.S. graduates – Being a graduate of top 40 NIH research medical schools, PHD and AOA member
A Comparison of Residency Selection Criteria for 1996 to 2006 (AAMC Central Group on Education Meeting 2007) identified Most important residency secelction criteria to be:
1. Disciplinary actino in med school
2. Received a failure in a required clerkships
3. Failed USMLE Step 2 CK prior to passing
4. Failed USMLE Step 2 CS prior to passing
5. Failed USMLE Step 1 prior to passing
6. Taken extended time to graduate for academic reasons
7. Applied to more than one specialty
8. Graduates in lower 25% of class
9. Grades in required clerkships
10. Received a failure in a pre-clinical course
Although the above 10 are primarily for U.S. graduates, the fundamentals are the same for IMGs; therefore and IMG who has an application that looks very similar to a U.S. graduate, he/she will be assessed based on the above criteria.
Hope this helps during the regular Match, and especially during the annual Scramble.
All the best – Dr. Mizani'
Impact Factor! new
I would like to one note about the relative reputation of journals. Its decided by 'Impact Factor' of each journal. When you have got a very good study and you have many options; then it is wise to decide between journals by its IF. The worlds most reputed journal is NEJM(New England-, published in Massachhussets). Its IF is around 40. And it is very diffcult to get a publication there. Even PhDs and faculty are continuously striving for it. The Indian Journal of Medical Research(official pub of ICMR) has an IF of 2-3(yes between 2 and 3!) and IJMR claims to be having the highest IF among all indian journals. So IF is a good way to decide the relative reputation of indexed journals. The calculation of IF is done by the # of references cited by other journals to the articles of journals being tested for its IF. Its a complex statistical process beyond simple understanding.
But having said that any article in an indexed journal is good. If possible try for journals with high IF. But a non-indexed publication is fine too, coz it will prove that you are well aquainted with the process of writing an article and getting it published, than others who dont.
Friends.. this is the procedure at this company for MPI
Academicins procedure -
1. You mail Steve saying you need a MPI for a certain period.
2. He mails u back a student form in which u have to fill in details.
- here u mention all the colleges you are going to apply.
3. This is processed and a quotation is sent for the period u demand an MPI.
note- the quotation is based on the no. of months and has nothing to do with the no. of colleges.
( i got a quotation of $ 523 for 3 months).
4. Then if u accept this quotation u mail steve stating that u accept.
5. Then when u accept this quotation the documents are sent.
- one is the letter which will state that u will be covered for MPI when accepted.it is a general letter so it can be presented to any college u apply.
- second is the agreement between you and the company. u hae to sign and return this to the company.
-third is the payment u have to make
note- the payment has to be made before hand. i enquired in detail. if in case u r not selected for the electives the money will be refunded fully.
So this is the procedure . It takes minimun of 6 days and a max of 20 days to get all this done.Depends on the processing.
I hope this clears everything about this MPI.( Andy hope this helps)
All the best friends...
God bless Umar bhai, Medisid, Purav
thanx pal! well as per my experiences, if u get >26 in speaking in toefl n good overall toefl scores; they seem to matter the most. PLUS u need to send in LOR from dean n faculty through their email , which is also a hassle, since this and >26 score filters most of the applications and the few applications that the nih ppl they get, they accept. i had avg cv, small research exp, no publixn(yet) but good personal statemnt regarding y i want that particular specialty rotation. when u fill out your form online, near personal statement box, u'll see them describing what u should write there. reasons for choosing speacilaty, reasons for choosing NIH. try to give em an attitude that u want to have research based clinical experience. they like that a lot. this year i have seen 5-6 ppl getting into nih in specialties like cards, endocr, etc. EARLY application, COMPLETE paperwork, GOOD personal statement which shows your true intent in that specialty and instituion; makes you stand out of crowd. BUT keep in mind electives that were easy b4 have applied or may do so in future stringent rules like step1, high toefl scores, authorization # etc and hav become inaccessible due to that.(mainly because of high number of applications from indo-pak). so apply online early(4-5 months in advance), send in your trancsript by post and u may send your saved html page of toefl score from your ETS account page.( i did that! and they accepted it). the elective co-ordinator is very freindly and co-operative. be kind n polite to her. PS- try to post other queries in the respective section; i usually troll the whole website everyday so will try to respond there also.NIHnew
Baylor Authorization # tips
Baylor has become quite impossible this year compared to last year when many people got in.
Now b4 applying u have to send in ur particluars by email to get an authorization number. as per their norms they have rationed the amount of applicants from each country and issue auth # for such purpose. if they have issued the total ration/quota for that country, they will not issue more. and u wont have a chance to send in your applications. PLUS these authorizations numbers are issued only during the beginning of academic year. like for 2009-2010 year, they had put up on their website that they will issue auth # for all aplications in academic year(09-10) in early april 2009. i used to check regularly but they suddenly put up a notice inviting requests for auth # on 10th Apr etc( im not sure abt the date) and within 24-48 hrs the whole quota for INDIA was fulled and i was rejected a request for auth # stating that my country limit has reached. i missed by a day. IMAGINE THAT. So if you are thinking for applying for 2010-2011 better put that baylor site on your mozilla fastdial and check for it everyday (begininning 2010).
Analogy the H1B visa cap/limit thats gets filled in day or two for every year!
RACE AGAINST TIME!
@ ALL .. FEW MORE UPDATES
1. The following universities has stopped accepting students for this academic year 2009-2010
a.Uni. of Massachusettes
b.Uni of Connecticut
2. Many students complain that most E.C's dont respond to your Emails.But believe me most of them do and are friendly. the only thing is they get a lot of mails so u should know how to write a mail.The tips i am mentioning here are my views.(so if anything is wrong umar bhai kindly correct it) -
a.Start with Dear ...........
b.Dont give your history there,they dont have time to read that.
c.Be short and to the point.
d.Be clear about your question.
e.And if u need clarifiction of any info which is already on the website,dont forget to mention that u did not understand the info mentioned on website.If u dont mention this they will send u link to the same website which is waste of ur and their time.
f. Be polite when u mail them.Dont show that u are ordering them to respond.
Eg- i have seen students mailing in this way - 'i want to know is step 1 necessary? reply 'Yhis gives a bad impression.
the correct way may be- 'i would like to know whether step 1 is mandatory? kindly reply
thanking u in anticipation.'
HOPE THE GUIDELINES HELP.
ALL THE BEST TO ALL.
AND AS ALWAYS 'GOD BLESS U UMAR BHAI'
Note : The university of chicago does not accept students from india.. they accept students from LCME accredited schools only....
Toefl Scores card delivery sucks
i passed on 30th may, i waited for my score report for 6 weeks but i didnt reach me.
i emailed them and they said they had resent it, but gaian after 6 weeks it didnt reach me. same happened with a friend from my city who sat the exam with me.
Eventually i had to change my home address in ETS to my relative in USA and again ordered candidate score report at 17$ to that address. he then scanned n sent it to me. 'Thanks'
MY SUGGESTION:
if u have any reliable relative/friend then give their address in the ETS website as your own and let the score reach them. when they get it ask them to scan it properly n send it to you or ask them to speedpost it to u in Ind/Pak. It takes 2 weeks for domestic delivery in USA n 4-6 weeks for international delivery. Plus the ETS guys send it by normal mail, and u know the condition of them in India. no guarantee that u'll have them.
So if u receive it in USA u save 2-4 weeks in time and a guarantee of sure delivery.
I got my score after 6
I got my score after 6 weeks..In between i mailed them that i didn't get the scores...so they mailed me again..eventually i got 2 score reports in the end :p
hi, I also got my report
hi, I also got my report withtin 3 weeks but couple of my friends did not even get their reports in Pakistan while they got it when they submitted a US address..
hi umar....how r u doin? i
hi umar....how r u doin? i jus wanted ur input on a query. I hv been accepted to northwestern in ped radiology in jan and to ped infectious disease in weil cornell in feb...also awaiting suny's reply so in this scenario which would be the best to take since i cannot do more than 2 months acc to my university...thnks and happy diwali:-)
hi ashwathy... m fine...
hi ashwathy... m fine... thanks! well all of them seem pretty good... but it depends upon ur priorities... if u look financially then I would say Northwestern and SUNY... if you want to save money on shifting/ flying to Chicago... then SUNY n Cornell is the best... if u go after big names then Northwestern n Cornell are my choice... so it all depends upon your priorities... however all of them seem pretty good...
Updated link for Tufts
http://www.tufts.edu/iao/documents/Elective_App.pdf
Friends this is the updated link for Tufts internation application form.
And for the dates,blocks and catalog of electives please refer the site link of tufts under 'list of universities section'.but for the application form refer the above as this is the form for international students.
I know it is confusing but please dont scold me if u did not understand .Its not east to gather info.. Do post ur queries if u do not understand or mail me at vaibhav.doc@gmail.com if it is urgent.. i check my mailbox every hour.
hope this helps this is the best i could do...
God bless Umar bhai.
@ Umar bhai
Bhai here is the updated site for North shore university.. they have stopped accepting online applications...now we have to fax or email them.
Before posting this link Please confirm about the correctness of the link . I am not 100 % sure .. so please go through the link before updating.
http://www.northshorelij.com/NSLIJ/Undergraduate+Medical+Education+Programs
God bless u...
MSKCC elective now requires step 1
Friends,
Plz note that MSKCC has made USMLE step1 a mandatory requirement from the yearjuly 2010 - august 2011... visit this link http://www.mskcc.org/mskcc/html/62983.cfm
Bad luck for guys like me
nuclear medicine
hi umar bhai,
happy new yr, i hv got nuclear medicine at nw for feb, i hv no idea abt this subject ,its importance. sud i go for it, wat do u suggest?
hi Happy New year to you too
hi
Happy New year to you too and everyone else...
If you have nothing else... its worth-going... Try reading about Nuclear Medicine from various sources.. m sure u wud find it a interesting subject...
miclear medicine at Northwesrtern
Hello Umar Bhai,
I have got nuclear medicine at NW. Does it come under radiology or is it still counted as a art of internal meidicine? Would this elective be helpful while applying fr an elective in IM?
Awaitung your reply,
Thank you
hey even i ve got nuclear
hey even i ve got nuclear medicine at nw for april..can u tell me more about it if u ve found out
Hi I see that u v done an
Hi
I see that u v done an elective in nuclear med at NW. I have been accepted for the same and was hioinf u cud provide me with some guidance on it. How was the elective experience? Did u also do it under Dr. William Spies?
Your guidance will be a great help.
Thanks!
@vaibhav
hey i had a query regarding malprac insu.. after i mail d completed application for, steve sends me the quotation. i mail him back dat i accept d quotation... am i supposed to make the payment at dis juncture or after he sends me the letter?? do u physically sign d agreement letter, scan it and mail it back??
1 more questn - how did u make d payment? online wid a credit card or personally mailing a Forex draft?
thanking you in advance
hi umar can u tell me what
NIH 2 Dean
Hi,
They just email the dean to send your recommendation letter thru email/internet.
when you are accepted they send you a letter which is some form of agreement that your dean has to sign stataing that u have health insurance, malpractice insurance and that ull be benefitted by the program and u r in final yr med school.
As for final year medical school, the harvard website has pretty clearcut lines about how foreign students in internship are eligible for electives......try to reacd the whole harvard elective information on registrar page. Any dean would conisder harvard as reputable and agree with its statements...
Best Wishes.
they just ask for a letter of
they just ask for a letter of recommendation for electives.... as there is no 5th year in US, so obviously 4th year is last year in US. Moreover they are awarded their degree before internship, like Pakistan, so their internship year is not the last year of medical school.
thanks for the replies, it
thanks for the replies, it helped but for now lor n deans letter was sent and i scanned my toefl scorecard but did not send the transcript do i need to send it right now??
how long does it take for them to accept or reject me??
Dear Umar bhai, I have a
Dear Umar bhai,
I have a few more queries.
1) I sat for my TOEFL exam when i was in my A Levels. Its been 4 years since then. Will the universities acept this score cuz i think its officially valid for 2 years. If yes, is a CBT core of 283 good enough or do i need to sit again?
2) Are there any universitites offering electives in 4th year of MBBS(5 years programme)
Thanking you in anticipation!
Arsalan
1. No, to the best of my
1. No, to the best of my knowledge
2. research electives in most of the universities.
Neurosurgery clerkship
I wanted to knw that where could I apply for clerkships in neurosurgery, in 2012. I think i would have to set things early, because of the rush!
Please guide me in this regard, and is it possible after 4/5 months of neurosurgery clerkship and 2 years of research in USA in neurosurgery , to get a residency spot in neurosurgery in US ??
It is quite possible/wise to
AmeriClerkships?
Hey all,
Could you please provide info about this service.. AmeriClerkships..
Accepted at NIH
Dear Friends,
I am a frequent visitor at this wonderful site created by Dr.Umar Tariq, and have benefitted a lot from it. I want to thank Umar Bhai, and all those who have worked to guide people like me interested in pursuing electives/residency in the US. What you are doing is truly amazing!
I got accepted for electives at NIH for the month Jan and Feb 2012, in the subjects of Sickle Cell Anemia, and Endocrinology.
Another friend of mine got accepted for Endocrine in the month of Feb 2012.
I would like to provide some info about NIH.....
1. It does not accept medical students for electives in Medical Oncology outside LCME schools (which is not mentioned on their site).
2. I applied 8 months before for Hematology in March 2012, SCA and Endo in Jan and Feb respectivelly. I had a TOEFL score of 116 (with 30 in speaking), strong CV with many research projects, including two publications (one of them being in Hemato/Onco), a carefully structered cover letter, good LORs(my Dean was my guide two years ago for a research project and so wrote me a very beautiful LOR). I had won a competition in Clinical Hematology at Tata Hospital, Mumbai, done symposiums in Hematology, and attended conferences in the same. Allt his was in my CV.
YET I DID NOT MAKE IT TO HEMATOLOGY (WHICH WAS FIRST CHOICE). SO, THIS SUBJECT IS COMPETITIVE!
3. Through my friends, I have learnt that Sickle Cell, Endo, Rheumat....are the subjects people get through from International Med schools. There may be more but this is what I could gather.
I hope this helps. I just wanted to do my bit for helping out aspirants like me! Any problems, plz mail me at abhi.advent@hotmail.com
All the best!
Regards,
Abhishek
malpractice Insurance
Does any one know about any Medical School in New-york City which doesn't Require Malpractice Insurance or anything like that for Clinical Electives?
Umar Bhai do you any Medical School like that in NYC?
Me and my 3 friends have good
Me and my 3 friends have good experience with Tofel Score Card Delivery.. we got it within 6 weeks by post in India