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. Activities since medical school GRADUATION

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

delirioustk: The best part is; NZ recognizes USMLE as part of its qualifying exam too! So, if u pass USMLE but never got to US, NZ is enough. You just have to take an extra exam for clinical skills.

1 year of USCE is definitely tougher than I thought! With the B1 visitor’s visa limit to only 3 months stay in the United States, an international medical graduate must go back and forth at least 4 times for USCE alone.