𝐈'𝐌 𝐀𝐏𝐏𝐋𝐘𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐘𝐄𝐀𝐑.𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐨 𝐈 𝐝𝐨?

VERY IMPORTANT NEWS GUYS!! 𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝗛𝗼𝘀𝗽𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗹𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗯𝗲𝗴𝗶𝗻 𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗻𝗰𝘆 𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗢𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝟮𝟭.

What does that mean? You‘ll have one 𝗲𝘅𝘁𝗿𝗮 𝗺𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗵 to work on your application.

𝗪𝗛𝗔𝗧 𝗧𝗢 𝗗𝗢 𝗧𝗜𝗟𝗟 𝗢𝗖𝗧𝗢𝗕𝗘𝗥 𝟮𝟭?

•𝐄𝐑𝐀𝐒 𝐓𝐎𝐊𝐄𝐍

Sarting June 23 you can get you token, it costs $145 and it will give you access to the ERAS website, where you can start filling up all the info

Note: You can get your token today, in one month, 2 months or at anytime!! These is no difference!!

The only think is: The sooner you get it - The sooner you can start working on your ERAS CV :)

•𝐋𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐑𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 ✉️ Request your LORs to doctor ASAP so you have them ready

I explain on this post how to request them

•𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐩 𝐒𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐬📝 Try to have at least STEP 1 & STEP 2 CK scores

Take STEP 2 CS, if you don’t get your results by that time don’t worry! You can still apply! It’s better if you have your CS results of course, but programs understand this current situation, most of them will still consider you if your result is pending [CLARIFICATION: This year STEP 2 CS is suspended, disregard this part]

As soon as you get your pending result 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵 𝗼𝘂𝘁 to the program letting them know, it’s also a good opportunity to express your interest towards them!

This year programs will start reviewing your applications October 21, that means you need to take your STEP 1 & CK at least 3 weeks prior than that to have your results ready.

•𝐄𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐲 🗣️

Since STEP 2 CS is suspended, 2020 applicants will have to take an english exam to show their English proficiency and get certified with that +STEP 1 & CK.

ECFMG will announced soon which exam. (I think TOEFL or something similar)

•𝐂𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐮𝐦 𝐕𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐞 🗒 Work on your CV, you will have to write down all your detailed experience on everything that you worked on, volunteered, research, etc. So make sure to explain everything, correct your grammar and have doctors review it.

•𝐌𝐒𝐏𝐄📊 Request your MSPE to your school, most international school won’t do it for you, they will send you the info that you need and then you will have to do it yourself. (I didn’t submit a MSPE because I didn’t have it on time, but I did send a dean’s letter, which they consider it as a MSPE's replacement)

What is MSPE?

"The Medical Student Performance Evaluation (MSPE) is a summary letter of evaluation intended to provide residency program directors an honest and objective summary of a student's salient experiences, attributes, and academic performance." -AAMC

•𝐏𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 ✍🏼 Start working on your Personal Statement and make sure to have as many people as possible read it and get their feeback, if you are doing a rotation in the USA ask the doctors that you meet if they could read it, most of them will be happy to do it! Make sure to 𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐦𝐦𝐚𝐫! PDs find it very bad if you make spelling errors in your PS!

•𝐇𝐨𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐬 🏥 Check program’s requirements and if you are eligibily to apply to that program. You can apply to any program but if you don’t have all their requirement they will automatically filter you out.

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗶𝗻 𝗮 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗺?

▸Check what they ask for YOG ▸If they ask for USCE and how many months of it ▸If they sponsor visa ▸What's the minimum STEP score to apply if your have low scores ▸If they have IMG's in their program, etc

▸Do they sponsor visa

You can find all the requirements in the program's website & also using FREIDA.

𝐅𝐑𝐄𝐈𝐃𝐀 This is a the official website of the American Medical Association, and it's used to find all the programs and their information

Page: https://freida.ama-assn.org/Freida/

Search by specialty, and and you will find everything that I mentioned previous about looking for in a program

Go to the 𝗜𝗠𝗚𝘀 𝘁𝗼𝗼𝗹𝗯𝗮𝗿 and you can move it so you find programs that have 10%+ IMGs, 20%+, 50%+, 90%+, and even some program have almost 𝟭𝟬𝟬% 𝗜𝗠𝗚𝘀! you can find all that find there.

Follow these steps to check what's the IMGs % in that program:

I 𝗵𝗶𝗴𝗵𝗹𝘆 𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗻𝗱 to use FREIDA to search for programs

You can 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝗻𝗼𝘄 doing that to have an idea

What IMG percentage in frieda will be most optimal so we don’t miss any IMG friendly programs?

-It really depends on the specialty that you are applying!

Eg, OB/GYN doesn't have as much spots as IM, and also is less IMG friendly.

I put the IMG filter starting at 5% and went from that.

I'll do a LIVE INSTAGRAM VIDEO about what to look for in a program on my ig @doctor.sebas

•𝗦𝗲𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝟭,𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟬 Applicants may begin submitting applications to residency programs. •𝗢𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝟮𝟭,𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟬 Residency programs may begin reviewing applications. 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐇𝐨𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐧 𝐎𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝟐𝟏?

• Hospitals will start reviewing applications almost right away.

• Within a 𝗳𝗲𝘄 𝗱𝗮𝘆𝘀 to a couple of 𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗸𝘀 you will receive e-mails inviting you for an interview.

-Make sure to have your phone all the times, some programs over-invite candidates, so you have to reply almost right away. I don't want to scare you, but I heard people that didn't get an interview day to book and got in the waiting list for replying only 10 minutes later!! You really wanna make sure to reply right away if you want to get all your interviews booked! (I was overseas with a 13 hrs time zone difference during my first interviews, so I would had to reply at like 11pm and sometimes 2-3 AM!

• During 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫-𝐉𝐚𝐧𝐮𝐚𝐫𝐲 you will have your interviews.

• 𝐎𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐡 with 𝐚𝐥𝐥 your interviews you will have to submit your rank list for the Match.

-𝗗𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲 is by the last week of 𝗙𝗲𝗯/ first week of 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵

(It's usually the on Feb but due to Covid I think this year it will be the first week of March)

• Around the 𝟑𝐫𝐝 𝐌𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡 you will get an e-mailed if you matched, and that same week on 𝐅𝐫𝐢𝐝𝐚𝐲 you will find out 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 you matched, Congrats!! YOU HAVE 𝐌𝐀𝐓𝐂𝐇𝐄𝐃! :)

Good luck guys, you are doing a great job! Keep working hard!

If you want more information about all these, check out my other post called: "Everything that you need to know about USMLE. There I explain 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗼 𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗹𝘆 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗰𝗵, what’s 𝐄𝐑𝐀𝐒, when to get your 𝘁𝗼𝗸𝗲𝗻, etc. Make sure to read it if you have any doubts about it.

•I want you to succeed and 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐠𝐨𝐚𝐥𝐬 matching in your dream program!!

I’ll make a post on how to 𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄𝘀 by reaching out to programs, how to improve your 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄 𝘀𝗸𝗶𝗹𝗹𝘀, and 𝗳𝗿𝗲𝗾𝘂𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗮𝘀𝗸𝗲𝗱 𝗾𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 during the interview. Also explaining what’s expected in 𝗽𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄 𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗿. Stay tuned!!

I start my OB/GYN residency July 1 - If you wanna check out my life as a resident in NYC make make sure to follow me on Instagram: @doctor.sebas

If you are feeling stressed due to the current pandemic, your exams, studies, application, family problems, it’s very normal, just try to cope with your stress:

HOW TO DEAL WITH STRESS?

✅𝐃𝐎’𝐬: ▸Meditate🧘🏻‍♂️ ▸Exercise🤸‍♂️

▸Eat healthy🥗

▸Think positive🙌

▸Work on your beathing🙇🏽

▸Read a book that you like 📚

▸Listen to music, watch a movie 🍿 ▸Sleep hygiene💤 ▸Talk to others🗣 ▸Take care of yourself💆🏽‍♀️

▸Seek profesional advise

❌𝐃𝐎𝐍’𝐓𝐬: ▸Don’t smoke🚬 ▸Don’t drink alcohol🍷 ▸Don’t drink too much caffeine☕

▸Don't procrastinate

▸Don't overwork

▸Don't argue

▸Don’t overthink🤯

▸Don't self medicate💊

▸Don't blame your problems to others

Share this post with your friend that are applying this year😀

If you have more doubts, I made a post explaining Everything that you need to know about USMLE, and also on 17+ ways to improve your CV

Trust yourself & the process, stay positive, you have been working so hard to get this far, continue pushing that extra pound, you 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐢𝐭!! 👊

Sebastian Arruarana, MD Fb page: Doctor Sebas 𝗜𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗺: @doctor.sebas