My wife and I are considering moving to the U.S. Our decision in dependent on whether she has at least a good chance of getting a US ENT residency on her first try. She is an Indian ENT who did her training in India and has worked in a prestigious Indian hospital's ICU for about a year. Below is an email I just wrote to her estimating her chances of getting placed on her first try. Would you say my analysis is accurate? Is there anything you would add to it? What are her chances of getting placed would you say? What can she do in the coming year to maximize her chances of getting placed?
"So the bad news is that ENT residencies are some of the most competitive in the US, including for foreign medical school graduates. It sounds whether you would get a residency depends in large part on several factors:
1. Your medical school and PG grades.
2. Letters of recommendation.
3. Volunteer activities.
4. Previous work experience.
5. Exposure to the clinic where you're trying to get a residency, i.e. connections. I've made several phone calls and left messages for the head of the ENT residency program at the local hospital, the local hospital, as well as several other hospitals, asking for a call back. I plan to ask them how likely it is you would get a residency in their programs, as well as inquire if there's any kind of job you could do in the mean time that would familiarize you with the US medical system (which would significantly boost your chances of getting a residency after passing the USMLE).
6. USMLE scores on Steps 1 and 2. We would need to figure some way to estimate how well you would score on the test ideally.
Here's is some info on how well foreign medical school graduates who got placed as ENT residents did on the USMLE in 2009:
47 foreign medical school graduates applied to ENT residencies. 37 got rejected, and 10 got placed. The median score of those who were placed was 231 on Step 1 and 232 on Step 2. To put that into perspective, the median scores of those who were rejected were 216 and 218 respectively. So essentially, if you can score 231 or better on Steps 1 and 2, you have a good chance of getting a US ENT residency.
All other factors being equal, if you score 260 on Step 1 you have a 70% chance of getting placed as an ENT (~2 out of 3 chance). If you get a 240 you have a 50% chance. If you score 220, you have a 30% chance (~1 out of 3 chance).
Another important factor based on the numbers appears to be the number of abstracts, presentations, and publications the applicant can take credit for. In other words, research experience matters. The average number of these for unmatched foreign graduates was 5.8. The average number for foreigners who did get ENT residencies was a whopping 11.8.
8 out of 10 foreign ENT applicants who got placed had 5 or more abstracts, presentations, and publications. So, if we moved to the US, one of our main objectives would be to get you a job assisting an ENT researcher at the local hospital so you can rack up the research experience points.
Average number of work experiences was pretty consistently 2.5 for both matched and unmatched applicants. Since you've worked extensively at a prestigious Indian hospital, this factor shouldn't be an issue for you at all.
Average number of volunteer experiences for matched foreign ENT applicants was 3.2, whereas for unmatched applicants it was 3.4. I don't think you've volunteered much, so getting at least one or two volunteer experiences under your belt would be a good idea as well, although it doesn't seem like a very important factor, as several of the foreign applicants who got placed had no volunteer experience at all.
Another important thing to remember is that it is vital that you apply to ENT residency programs ONLY. 16 foreign graduates applied to ENT programs as well as one or two other types of programs, and not a single one of them got placed as an ENT. However, of those who applied to ENT programs exclusively, 21 were rejected and 10 were accepted (which is a 1/3 acceptance rate).
Overall, based on the research I would say that you can probably get a US ENT residency on your first try provided that:
1. You score at least 231 on Steps 1 and 2 of the USMLE.
2. You get your name on at least 5 abstracts, presentations, and publications in the coming year.
3. You apply to ENT residencies only.
I'll figure out if you could get a research job at the local hospital. The only thing I need you to do is to estimate your baseline USMLE score without extra studying. To do that, go here: and download the program for Step 1. Take that practice test, and tell me your score. We can then use your score to estimate your USMLE Step 1 score here:
You should also look over this content outline for the USMLE Step 1 and see how much of it you think you already know versus how much you would have to learn:"
"So the bad news is that ENT residencies are some of the most competitive in the US, including for foreign medical school graduates. It sounds whether you would get a residency depends in large part on several factors:
1. Your medical school and PG grades.
2. Letters of recommendation.
3. Volunteer activities.
4. Previous work experience.
5. Exposure to the clinic where you're trying to get a residency, i.e. connections. I've made several phone calls and left messages for the head of the ENT residency program at the local hospital, the local hospital, as well as several other hospitals, asking for a call back. I plan to ask them how likely it is you would get a residency in their programs, as well as inquire if there's any kind of job you could do in the mean time that would familiarize you with the US medical system (which would significantly boost your chances of getting a residency after passing the USMLE).
6. USMLE scores on Steps 1 and 2. We would need to figure some way to estimate how well you would score on the test ideally.
Here's is some info on how well foreign medical school graduates who got placed as ENT residents did on the USMLE in 2009:
47 foreign medical school graduates applied to ENT residencies. 37 got rejected, and 10 got placed. The median score of those who were placed was 231 on Step 1 and 232 on Step 2. To put that into perspective, the median scores of those who were rejected were 216 and 218 respectively. So essentially, if you can score 231 or better on Steps 1 and 2, you have a good chance of getting a US ENT residency.
All other factors being equal, if you score 260 on Step 1 you have a 70% chance of getting placed as an ENT (~2 out of 3 chance). If you get a 240 you have a 50% chance. If you score 220, you have a 30% chance (~1 out of 3 chance).
Another important factor based on the numbers appears to be the number of abstracts, presentations, and publications the applicant can take credit for. In other words, research experience matters. The average number of these for unmatched foreign graduates was 5.8. The average number for foreigners who did get ENT residencies was a whopping 11.8.
8 out of 10 foreign ENT applicants who got placed had 5 or more abstracts, presentations, and publications. So, if we moved to the US, one of our main objectives would be to get you a job assisting an ENT researcher at the local hospital so you can rack up the research experience points.
Average number of work experiences was pretty consistently 2.5 for both matched and unmatched applicants. Since you've worked extensively at a prestigious Indian hospital, this factor shouldn't be an issue for you at all.
Average number of volunteer experiences for matched foreign ENT applicants was 3.2, whereas for unmatched applicants it was 3.4. I don't think you've volunteered much, so getting at least one or two volunteer experiences under your belt would be a good idea as well, although it doesn't seem like a very important factor, as several of the foreign applicants who got placed had no volunteer experience at all.
Another important thing to remember is that it is vital that you apply to ENT residency programs ONLY. 16 foreign graduates applied to ENT programs as well as one or two other types of programs, and not a single one of them got placed as an ENT. However, of those who applied to ENT programs exclusively, 21 were rejected and 10 were accepted (which is a 1/3 acceptance rate).
Overall, based on the research I would say that you can probably get a US ENT residency on your first try provided that:
1. You score at least 231 on Steps 1 and 2 of the USMLE.
2. You get your name on at least 5 abstracts, presentations, and publications in the coming year.
3. You apply to ENT residencies only.
I'll figure out if you could get a research job at the local hospital. The only thing I need you to do is to estimate your baseline USMLE score without extra studying. To do that, go here: and download the program for Step 1. Take that practice test, and tell me your score. We can then use your score to estimate your USMLE Step 1 score here:
You should also look over this content outline for the USMLE Step 1 and see how much of it you think you already know versus how much you would have to learn:"