Residency Program Requirements
After months of studying and stressful USMLE test days at Prometric, you've come
to the most exciting point of the process. You are preparing your ERAS application
and getting ready to apply. As for many other International Medical Graduates, soon
you realize that your application budget must be balanced very carefully. Application
fees get really expensive after first 30 programs in each specialty.
Our personalized IMG Residency Requirements List will help you maximize application
effectiveness. Your personalized residency list lets you sort the programs in order
of application preference. You will know which programs are a must, so that you
do not miss your best chance.
How many programs to apply
It depends... The better your profile matches the specialty, the fewer programs
you need. It is also very important to find out upfront what a program requires
from its applicants. Usually each program has specific requirements for USMLE scores,
attempts, year of graduation, ECFMG certification, etc. In general, Application
to Interview ratio varies from 5 to 20. In other words, if your profile is on a
low part of the scale, you should expect about 5 invitations for 100 applications.
How much to budget for the Match season
Simple math: ERAS fees, travel, NRMP fees. You should budget $600.00 per interview.
It will cost less if you combine your trips. You should not however select interview
dates just because you want to combine the trips. For example if you are applying
to 70 programs in IM and 70 in FM, your ERAS fees are $2,610.00. Assuming you got
7 interviews, one of them in your city and 2 combined, add $3,600.00. Total -
$6,210.00
Best time for scheduling interviews
Being at the right place at the right time is the key. You want to go to a few interviews
that you do not rank very high first. Your "best shot" should be scheduled after
that, for the end of October - beginning of November. This is when you are at the
top of your performance and prematches are very likely. Scheduling late (December-January)
may have advantages for the programs that do not do prematches. However, if a program
does prematches, most likely it will get filled by then and your late interview
canceled.
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