US residency after UK medical school

[paludatus]

Hi,

I plan to move to the US after I graduate from medical school, I understand that I will have to complete the USMLE steps 1 and 2 before applying. Could someone explain the ECFMG and additional preperation steps for the USMLE exams on current UK medical school knowledge and approximate years to take them in.

I will have a residents visa for the US as my wife lives there, so applications will not be complicated by visa issues, could someone also list the different residency applications as I am unfamiliar with the system. Is it as simple as applying for internal vs. surgical? or do you specialise straight out of medical school?

As for applying straight out of medical school, is it impossible to go straight into a progam given overlapping dates of graduation and residency program start dates?

Sorry for the list of questions, thanks in advance for your help.

[jtlc2345]

You need to sign up with ECFMG in order to apply for the USMLE examinations - it is relatively straight forward, my only hurdle was getting the verification form from the medical school to ECFMG. There isn't too much in terms of additional knowledge that you need to know, only really local nuances e.g. epidemiology of their infections, vaccination schedules, etc... I took Step 1 and Step 2CK after two years of clinical medicine and I think it was a good time to do it as I had covered pretty much all areas of clinical medicine. I pan to do Step 2CS after finals this year.

This website (AMA - FREIDA Online) has a database of residency programs which you can search so you get an idea of what is available.

I think the major problem with applying for residency straight out of medical school is that as an IMG, you need ECFMG certification in order to apply which requires your degree certificate to be verified by ECFMG which clearly won't happen for a number of months after you graduate - check this though.

Jonathan

[Amrapali]

Hi, just to complete what Jonathan started with, you have to do observership in any program
that offer observerships for IMGs because you need US LORs (letters of recommendations,
preferably in the speciality you want to apply to).
You cannot apply directly to programs, instead there is a program called ERAS, its function is to
distribute your application to many programs at the same time. You can register on 1 July and apply
on 1 Sept. I think it is too early for these details, I advice you to work hardly to score high because
the pool of high scored unmatched IMGs is increaseing each year.