Guide to Global Entry by an Indian citizen

I used to always feel jealous when I saw the TSA-precheck customers zip through the TSA line and I have always wanted to do that. As I am an Indian citizen, I do not qualify for TSA as only American citizens and LPRs qualify for the same. However, there is something that is called Global entry which includes the TSA precheck which I applied and got approved for. This post is regarding the same.

First off a brief overview of what is Global Entry: 

Global Entry allows expedited processing for pre-approved, low-risk travelers when they arrive in the US at select airports. Instead of standing in line, program members proceed to Global Entry kiosks, present their machine-readable passport or U.S. permanent resident card, place their fingerprints on the scanner for fingerprint verification and complete a customs declaration. The kiosk issues a transaction receipt and directs the traveler to baggage claim and the exit. Aside from avoiding processing lines and paperwork, another benefit of the program is TSA Precheck eligibility.

People who can apply for Global Entry: U.S. citizens, U.S. permanent residents, and citizens of Colombia, the United Kingdom, Germany, Panama, Singapore, South Korea, Switzerland, and Mexico. (Depending on the country, visas may be required.) Canadian citizens and residents are also eligible for Global Entry benefits through membership in the NEXUS partnership (the agreement that allows members expedited processing when entering the United States and Canada).

 My application process is as follows. 

1. Create a trusted traveler profile here. https://ttp.cbp.dhs.gov/ 
2. Select Global entry and then create an account and then fill in the details as asked. One will be asked to pay a $100 non0refundable application fee (many credit cards will refund the same) In addition to personal information—name, email address, gender, eye color, height, language preference—it requires you to fill in your employment, travel, and address history over the past five years. It also asks if you've violated any customs or immigration laws or been convicted of a crime. Fill out the application and submit a $100 fee, which covers your five-year membership if approved, but is non-refundable if your application is rejected. You can pay by credit card or electronic bank transfer.
3. Once you have submitted the application, within 1-2 hours you should get an email from passport.admin@passportindia.gov.in with instructions on how to set up an appointment in India vs USA (the USA part is new and has just started in the last couple of months. The earlier rule was to make an appointment when going/planning to go to India). You will have to pay ₹500 in the Passport Seva Portal,  for their background check in India. Once the payment is made and appt is confirmed, the page will tell you the things to take to the appointment (E.g. Proof of address (Passport, aadhar card), application confirmation page or SMS confirming the appointment). During the interview, your fingerprints and photo will be captured and there will be some other formalities
4. Once this interview is done, one has to wait for the police clearance which can take anywhere from 1 day to a week. My dad and I went to our nearest police station to ask if this could be expedited and they obliged. They will need 2 neighbor Aadhar card photocopies with signatures to attest that you live at the home address that you have in your Aadhar card.
5. After this, it is all sitting back and wait for the conditional approval to be granted. (takes anywhere from 6months to a year). A good place to look for is FlyerTalk, where one can see what is the current status.
6. Once you are conditionally approved, you have to go to a nearby airport/GE location to attend an interview where they will ask why you want GE, show your documents. Do take your visa documents in addition to passport and driver's license.  Please note that scheduling an interview is painful as there are no dates for most cities. However, keep checking the list and you might pounce on a date should someone cancel 

My personal experience

• Passport appt 04/29/2019
• Police verification 04/30/2019
• Conditional approval 12/19/2019
• Interview 1/12/2020

A few sites that I found useful

• https://indianewengland.com/2019/10/indian-citizens-are-now-eligible-for-global-entry-program-in-the-us-here-is-how-to-apply/
• https://passport.in.ckgs.us/gep
• Application centers in the USA https://passport.in.ckgs.us/application-centers
• https://www.cbp.gov/travel/trusted-traveler-programs/global-entry/international-arrangements/global-entry-indian-citizens

The road to residency: how I got into a competitive specialty with low Step 1 score, no research and no electives

The following post is from one of my colleagues and good friends from residency. I know a lot of great medical students give up on their dreams should they not match in the first attempt. This post is for such individuals to tell you that there is light at the end of the tunnel! Dream big and you will make it!

"I first decided to study for the USMLE when I read questions from First Aid to USMLE that was sitting on my friend’s shelf (Thanks Nishchit). After reading that book, I was convinced that the training I would get in the United States would be the kind of training that would suit my personality and allow me to grow. I was right. I am a fourth-year Med-Peds resident at Case Western Reserve University- MetroHealth Medical Center, Cleveland, about to enter a fellowship in Critical Care Medicine at University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC), Pittsburgh. I am living my dream.

It wasn’t easy getting here though. In addition to being an IMG from India and needing a visa, I had a low Step 1 score, a good Step 2 score, passed CS and Step 3 in first attempts, and had no elective experience. I had only one month of observership when I first applied for Internal Medicine. I had no research or volunteer experience. Oh, and did I mention that I was three years out from my graduation? Needless to say, I didn’t match the first time. It was hard. It was crushing. After almost two years of studying, spending money to go the United States and having the right intention of simply wanting to learn, I didn’t match. I sat on the curb of a busy street in Bandra and cried my heart out. My partner who was sitting next to me cried with me.

I woke up the next morning, opened my laptop and looked at my resume. I looked at all the things my profile was lacking. I needed more US clinical experience and I needed to do volunteer work. At that time was working in an ICU in Mumbai. My work was shift based and it wasn’t hard for me to find another job. I found an LGBT clinic in Mumbai and started working as the staff physician. The clinic was located within the office of a large non-profit which had connections to the United States. (I did not know that at the time) I worked hard and made connections with two US physicians. One I reached out to myself- a Med-Peds physician running an LGBT clinic in Ohio and the other a Family Medicine physician who had come to the Mumbai clinic for a conference. The Med-Peds physician decided to take me on as an observer. The Family Medicine physician got me interviews at his program. I worked hard during my observership with the Med-Peds physician and got into the residency program there. 

It all seems smooth now, as I recount the steps I took to get a residency in the United States. It wasn’t easy though and often I wondered what I would do if I failed.

My path is unique and can hardly be replicated. But I have found that the common thread between my story and other success stories is ‘persistence’.

USMLE scores are extremely important, but they’re not all that matter. If your scores are not good, make sure the recruiters see your other qualities that will make you a good resident. My profile wasn’t very good on paper, so I set out to correct that. I also knew that I was a hard worker and people liked my work, so my goal was to demonstrate to my future boss that I would make a good resident. It worked. I got into a highly sought after residency program.

The road to a residency in the United States is a long and hard, but in the end, it is fair and I assure you that you will grow as a physician. However, before you embark on this journey, make a commitment to yourself that you will get into a residency program in the United States.

You WILL fail if you give up! But you WILL succeed if work hard and persevere! Failures that come along the way are only to make you stronger, to make you a better professional. So take that in your stride and work on making yourself a more attractive candidate. The rest is, as they say, up to what some call God, some luck and some providence. 

Varun Shetty

varunshetty@protonmail.ch"

His story continues here http://neilnf.blogspot.com/2017/12/the-road-to-fellowship-aiming-for-stars.html

The road to fellowship: aiming for the stars

This post is by my colleague who I had to hound to write this post once I knew where he matched. The reason I wanted him to write this was to prove that IMG’s do have what it takes to get into prestigious institutions and to not listen to the disbelievers!

"I was ecstatic when I got into the Med-Peds program. It was the perfect program for someone with a global health interest like mine. Also, after having worked in Mumbai in non-academic settings for a year, I was hungry to learn. Medicine became my life and I enjoyed every day at work. Finding my way into residency also gave me confidence.

I then made a decision. All my life I was aiming low, telling myself that I would never be good enough to go to AIIMS, Harvard or any of the Ivy league programs. I told myself that this time I will try. I will work hard to find myself in the best program in the specialty of my choice.

So, from the beginning of my residency, in addition to focusing on my clinical growth, which I must add is extremely important and indispensable, I starting thinking about what fellowship I wanted and how I was going to get there.

My interest is in the practice of critical care in a global health setting. I decided that I wanted to do Infectious Diseases and Critical Care- an unusual choice but an upcoming specialty in medicine. With my program director’s help, I found a mentor and worked on an ID research project. I completed it within the year and submitted it to IDWeek, an international ID conference. I presented there the year after. I also worked on workshops, papers and other teaching projects.

I realized in the course of applying to residency, that being on a visa is big negative for programs. H1B visa narrowed my fellowship prospects further. So I had to be the best candidate possible.

Somewhere in my third year, I realized that Med-Peds being a four-year program, left me with just two years for fellowship as the limit on H1B is 6 years, after which we have to have applied for a green card or leave the country for a year. I had to then make a choice. ID or Critical Care. I couldn’t do both, at least not initially. This was really hard. I knew I loved both but I couldn’t decide. Also, my profile was better suited for an ID program than a critical care program. After weeks of thinking about what I wanted, discussion with visa lawyers to get the specifics of visa and green card right, I decided to apply to both ID and critical care. My philosophy was that what I really wanted was to be in academics practicing global health medicine. It was important for me to land in a program that supported my career interests and helped me grow. And as I found out through the fellowship interview process, it is predominantly about finding a mentor.

I looked at ID programs and realized that I could not even apply to some Ivy league programs because they wouldn’t sponsor an H1B visa. I looked at 30-something critical care programs and found that only about 15 programs sponsor an H1B visa. I was indignant, but thankfully I had put in all the work to become a good candidate.

I heard from some really strong ID programs and I was drawn to all of them! Amongst the critical care programs, UPMC, Pittsburgh seemed most interesting. It is probably the oldest critical care program in the country and arguably one of the best. When I interviewed at UPMC I found out that they have a global health track. I also found a physician there who I knew would be the perfect mentor for me. My interview went well. I was well prepared (make sure you prepare for some behavioral questions) and my enthusiasm for my future career interest and the program was apparent. I got a pre-match offer for critical care (most critical care medicine programs are not part of the match) and I was thrilled to accept it.

I look back and see how far I have come. How many years it took me and how hard it was. But when I was inside it all, I never dreamed I would come this far. But I did not doubt my love for medicine, my enthusiasm or my stamina to do what it takes. My only motivation was, and is, to become the best physician I could become!

I won’t oversimplify the process of getting into residency and fellowship by saying that all that is needed is motivation and love for the field, because I know that unearned privilege like having money to stay in the US to do rotations, luck, meeting the right people and bunch of other factors all make a difference. But I can tell you that you will absolutely need hard work, motivation and perseverance to make your dream come true. It is possible to become that successful physician you want to be.

Dream big. It will happen.

Signing out

Varun Shetty

(varunshetty@protonmail.ch)"

Medical training license for Ohio residents

The application for training license for new residents is pretty straightforward and self-explanatory. But here is the simplest explanation for filling out the form.

State of Ohio Training Application Medical Training Certificate applications are available online at the State Medical Board of Ohio website: http://med.ohio.gov/DNN/PDF-Folders/Applicant/TrainingCertificateApplication.pdf

It is a 27-page document. The following page numbers are to be co-related with the same.

Page 8-

- Choose MD

- If you do not have SSN leave it blank

- For physician address- you can use your home country address if you do not have a US one at the moment

Page 9-

Leave ECFMG certificate expiry date blank

Page 11

Put the dates you stayed in USA and state traveling for interviews

Page 19-

You can use your home country's notary for the Affidavit but let them know it is a legal document and then do some fancy stuff and charge you the same

Page 24

Leave the expiration date blank

If you are an IMG you do not have to fill pages- 23, 25  

Once the form is done contact your program on how to go about after the same.

J1 Visa process by Zeeshan Mansuri

J1 PROCESS (for INDIA)

1. Match day – YAYYYYYY! Match day done and dusted. Now, what’s the next step?

2. Wait for the email from your program coordinator. They will send it by next week.

3. You will receive a packet of your residency contract plus 100s of other forms from your program, which includes the same info to be filled in a gazillion times.

4. For J1, browse the MOH (Ministry of Health) website. Download the Statement Of Need (SON) application (attached with the post) and complete the bond papers and get it signed by 2 people, your father/mother and a gazetted officer (Check the application form for details). The bond basically states that IF you fail to return to India to complete the waiver, you/your Dad/Mom will pay 5 lakh rupees to the Government of India and IF you/your Dad/Mom fail to do so, the gazetted officer who signed the form will be liable to pay. Also, the gazette officer should have more than 7 years left in his/her service and CANNOT be a blood relative. Also, you will also require a sign from the gazetted officer’s boss to confirm that the gazetted officer is speaking the truth and has furnished the correct information.

5. Make sure to sign each and every page of the SON application at the bottom. Make sure to fill all the different annexure forms in the application as applicable.

6. Please plan to travel to New Delhi once they start issuing. They usually will give you a token number and will process only 25 a day (This varies from year to year). If you or your friend can go (your friend will need an authorization letter signed by you, authorizing him to get the SON in your place).

7. No bribing in the MOH office last year. It may change this year. (You get the point!!!)

8. ONCE YOU RECEIVE THE SON, MAKE SURE DATES OF YOUR RESIDENCY, YOUR NAME, SPECIALTY ARE ENTERED CORRECTLY. Remember it’s a Government office and they will be casual and make spelling mistakes.

9. Pay your SEVIS fee early. Your application will be processed by ECFMG by the order u paid your SEVIS fee. Make sure that all required documents are uploaded properly.

10. Send the NOC to the program. They will upload it to OASIS on the ECFMG website. ECFMG will take approximately 1 -3 weeks to send your DS 2019 form. Once you receive in your hand, you can schedule your visa interview after paying the appropriate fee.

11. The interview is very chilled out consisting of 3-5 questions. The visa officer will sign your ds 2019 and give it back to you (if he/she forgets, ask for it and keep it safe).

12. Passport in 3-5 days - bingo!!

13. Book your flight tickets by April 15th. Anytime later than that will hurt your dad's wallet by extra 150-200$. I would suggest going back ASAP.

14. In between, your program coordinator will be sending your more documents to sign and return.

15. All J1 applicants can start from India 30 days before the official start date of your program. (H1B people can start only 10 days before start date).

16. Visit all places you want to go and meet everyone you want to meet. Once you start residency, you will start missing all of that. These next 100 days are going to be THE golden period of your lifetime. THE last big vacation. Enjoy every minute of it!! Feel free to add info, correct anything or ask questions. Cheers! Good luck :) God bless :)

Best,

Zeeshan Mansuri

zeeshanmansuri@gmail.com

SON

Internship

This is regarding internship aka 1st year of residency in my program

General rules

Most programs make each module lasting 4 weeks, and they generally start on a Monday in internship. There are a TOTAL of 13 modules for the academic year, with a month for vacation

The first month was more of getting used to the EMR system in the hospital while figuring out how to get from home to hospital and back! Another part of starting new in a place is figuring out transportation. Should you be in New York, the public system is well connected. However, in Cleveland, the same is not true! You will need a vehicle if you intend to survive internship, at least that is what I think! Let me give you the following example- If I take the bus daily, I will take an hour to reach work, but if I have a car I will reach the SAME place in 20 mins, which translates to 40 more minutes of sleep! Who says no to that! 

Lastly, it takes every resident, in my opinion, a good number of days to learn how to function in a new unit. But, I feel as long as you have good seniors, you will thrive, no matter where you are! 

EMR (Electronic Medical record)

Things that I would recommend future applicants to look for is definitely the EMR (electronic medical record) system which a hospital uses. For example, my program uses EPIC, which is PRETTY powerful. We do NOT have written documents and thanks to a tie up with different hospitals within the EPIC ecosystem we are able to access patient records in other hospitals as well. 

As an intern trying to learn the ins and outs of Epic, took me a GOOD amount of time ~a month, and that too I only knew the basics. Till date I keep finding out new things about epic, both from my current interns as well as the attendings I work with, to say the least.

Things the EMR is used for - writing daily progress notes, results for labs that were sent and at times to mail another physician via the patient workspace about patient information. When I started my residency, my PD and chief, realizing that we as IMG's have a lot to learn placed us in electives, which helped us learn how to function in epic without getting too overwhelmed. For my good fortune, I had a co-resident, with who I powered through learning EPIC.

Modules

Wise wisdom from a senior of mine- 'Internship is not about learning, it is more about surviving! You are in a new place, with new colleagues, learning new etiquettes and to top it you have a NEW EMR to figure out, the best you can do in this year is to survive! You will start learning in your junior and senior year; so make mistakes and don't be shy to ask questions, as you are here to learn!' And now that I am in the 2nd year of residency I cannot but express how true those words are! Internship is more about getting to work and getting your responsibilities done in time i.e. time management.

Most programs have the same set of modules, but just different names. Our program has a good mix of general floors, subspeciality floors, outpatient experience, ED, electives, NICU and vacation in internship. 

I started off with electives, which for me was perfect, I used to have a good amount of teaching, and given we had to get certified in BLS, NRP and PALS, my attending used to let us off for the needed amount of time! I loved the attendings who I worked with and I imbibed some of their signature moves, so to say, because they were so good! 

For the next rotation I went into NICU, this for many of the pediatric residents, seems to be the bane of their existence. For this, I went in with advice from a senior, who said 'You either hate the NICU or you love it, there is nothing in between!'  I had amazing seniors in the NICU, who helped me out, not only by helping me write progress notes, but by also doing some of them on my first day when they realized I was freaking out and sweating buckets!! Here knowing dot phrases (things we use in epic to auto populate results) plays a major role!

And then finally I went into the floors! Again I had amazing seniors! I still won't forget the first day I did my pre-rounds, I was a mess. My seniors, to whom I am ever thankful for, took me aside and pointed out what was wrong and ways that I could improve, and after that floors were a piece of cake. Towards the end of the rotation I even was told that compared to what I did on day 1, I was a much better resident at the end! The work times for floors as an intern is hard! You have to reach early in the morning, so as to finish pre-rounding, which includes knowing the overnight events, labs that were sent if any and a focused physical examination. Here I feel in addition to talking to the overnight resident, the nurses play a major role, as they know minute by minute play of what happened with each patient. Learning to admit and discharge patients along with discharge summaries, is a MAJOR role done by interns. Towards the end of internship you realize what labs to focus on and how to present cases better, things like lab trends make more sense that just reporting numbers! In floors, you depend on your co-residents to help you out with work like admission and discharges, seniors for tips and tricks with EMR and nurses and finally the attending on how to interact with patients!

In the States there is something called as a resident team clinic (continuity clinic)- This is a place where you get to see every week on a particular day, a set of kids for well child visits. You become a child's pediatrician, something that I am sure most of you want to do! You get to see a child grow up in front of you which is a wonderful experience.! In this team clinic, you are generally with a preceptor who helps in molding your general pediatrician skills. There are so many things you can learn from you preceptors if you only let them teach you! The urgent care clinic is considered the outpatient experience. You get to see a wide variety of illness from colds to rashes to asthmatics to what not! You learn to figure out which is a sick vs, not sick kid!

Lastly, we also have a rotation in the newborn nursery which I must say was really amazing for multiple reasons! One since you have cute babies there and 2 because my attending was amazing and 3 because my colleagues were hilarious! 

As your residency progresses, you will learn that your co-residents play a MAJOR part in how you like your program. Even seniors, since if you don't know anything they are the people who can guide you to the correct answer. In my program at least, my batchmates are really amazing! Everyone steps up if the work is too much for one to handle! Lastly, we throw random functions for no good reason! 

Fellows, though people say are not good, I feel if you use them in the right way they are the best people to have. For example, you are interested in a particular sub-speciality, fellows help in telling you what things you should look for in a program and they are also more approachable compared to attendings given they are younger as well as they know what a resident is going through! 

Now at the end of my internship, the only thing I look back and think, if I had to do it over again I would not change anything! The entire year was one roller coaster ride, but it was worth it!

If there is any grammatical error, please excuse it! Just wrote this in an hour for people who are going to come over for residency!

“I regret saying that I am denying you visa to the US”

“I regret saying that I am denying you visa to the US”

“Why?” asked me!

“Because your scores are very low and I do not feel that you will be able to do anything with these there”, said a slightly surprised visa counselor.

“Who are you to judge my scores? You are not qualified to do so. I know my scores are not good. But I have done my background research before deciding to commit so much of time, money and effort to this. It is tough but it is not impossible! When there is hope, why should I give up on my dreams?”

There was a whole minute silence. The shock on the counselor’s face was screaming that no visa candidate had ever argued with him like this. But for my pounding heart, it was a do or die moment!

“Ok, you will get one chance and only one to prove what you can do”

And so I got my first EVER international visa stamp, that too into the US and thus my journey to the States began!

Hi all, I was reading Neil's blogs and thought to share my experiences in the USMLE journey so that others who are in similar situations like mine are motivated to see through it until the END!

That being said let me start at the beginning.

In 2013, I was one amongst the thousand's of US residency aspirants and by no means a lucky one! I literally had every hurdle imaginable to an IMG.

Citizenship: I am from a third world country and NEVER visited any foreign country.

Exam scores:  My USMLE step 1 score was below the 90^thcentile and step 2 in low 90s.

Graduation: I had been working for 2 – 2.5 years after medical school and so I wasn’t a fresh graduate. 

Past 'Research' experience: I did do some clinical research work after graduation, but nothing too fancy.

US experience: I had a very short (2 week) observership in one of the University hospital's (from where I was lucky to get a good letter)

Interview call: of the 70 odd pediatric programs that I applied to, I received only 1 interview call.

Match day! – of course, to no surprise for all, I did not match :( 

However, I feel God must have heard my prayers, because on the day after 'Match' day – I received a call from the program coordinator of the hospital I interviewed at stating “One of our matched candidates is not able to make it to the residency program. Are you still interested in joining us?” 

And I was SHOUTING in utter disbelief! “Yes, I am.” J

Finally, when I did go to get my H1B visa stamped, the visa officer who denied my visa in the first place, saw me and looking at me came out, smiled and said: “Well Done!” Oh, the joy of proving someone wrong, Incredible!

So here I am, almost at the end of my pediatric residency and still living a dream! The sole purpose of writing my path to USMLE  is to  encourage you to keep trying! Don’t give up on your dreams, no matter how crazy people think you are! You never know what life might have in store for you. I faced hurdles, extra hurdles, in every step! Every person I knew looked at me as if I am crazy to pursue USMLE further. But I knew what I wanted and I was determined to do all that I can! So saying I end with this  

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

The Road Not Taken – Robert Frost

Building a HISTORY in the States

These tips and tricks are entirely based on the advice of a VERY wise senior. When you first come to the States for residency, you will need a couple of things to setup.

SIM CARD
Firstly a mobile number. Given that a good number of residents come from outside the States, having a network which gives you free calling to your home country is a BONUS. That's where UltraMobile comes into place. I know in my previous post I said H2O is good, but trust me when I say that UltraMobile is the real deal. For 30$ per month, you get unlimited calls to India with 1GB of 4G data, which is PRETTY IMPRESSIVE! It also has an option of getting nano sim, so in case you decide to upgrade your phone, which many of you will do, it has got your back covered! :) You can get the initial sim on Ebay for 10 bucks which gives you the first month for FREE!
It is totally up to you on how risky you want to be. If you want to buy it directly from UltraMobile, here is your link

BANK ACCOUNT
Next is for earning cash back when you open a bank account. Generally find the bank which your institute has a tie up with. Go to their site and check for any promos that they are running. They might have an offer that should you open an account with their bank you will get a bonus of $ XYZ for signing up!!! which is PRETTY AWESOME!
P.S.- I used Keybank and got 1/3 of a $1000 :P

CREDIT CARD
The last trick that again, my senior taught me, was regarding getting a credit card. Most of the USA banks DO NOT give you a credit card UNLESS you have a credit history. However, Discover does give you one with no credit history with a credit line of $1500 which is PRETTY COOL! So in case you are still hunting around for a credit card do head out to Discover and check it out. You can shoot me an email @ neilnf@gmail.com if you want a referral, following which you and I get a referral bonus for $50 each.

That's it, folks!

UPDATE: Just FYI for the bank you need a direct deposit to get the bonus. For both SSN is needed. For the credit card you need address proof as well.


If you do have any other tricks, please do let me know. After all we are here to help each other! :)

Personal Statement Tips

Firstly, ignore the grammatical errors in the post, was a bit tired! :P

Now to begin, a good number of individuals have asked for tips on how to write a Personal Statement for the Match. There are a million results that pop up when you google search personal statement & your specialty.  

Tips for writing PS

• http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/about-ama/our-people/member-groups-sections/minority-affairs-section/transitioning-residency/writing-your-personal-statement.page?
• http://www.med.unc.edu/ome/studentaffairs/residency-and-the-match/residency-application-process/cv-personal-statements
• http://www.cmu.edu/hpp/apply-to-schools/personal-statements/tips.html
• http://www.cws.illinois.edu/workshop/writers/tips/personalstatement/
• http://www.accepted.com/medical/residencyessays.aspx

These are a few sites which give you sample personal statements

• http://www.medfools.com/personalstatements/
• http://www.usmleweb.com/showarticleef.html

It is hard to create one, that is for sure, but you must attempt to make one at least. Firstly just read a couple to know what a personal statement should have. Keep reading online PS's till you get that one which strikes you that your life was shaped like that one. 

Once you have created your personal statement, keep reading and re-reading it. Send it to your OLDER siblings or friends to proof-read it. Once this phase is done and ALL GRAMMATICAL ERRORS are corrected send it to your seniors to check if they are impressed by it. For heaven's sake DO NOT THINK THAT THEY ARE JOBLESSLY sitting around just to read your PS. They have a lot of other commitments. If they do give you a feedback well and good, if not still thank them for going through, since they have taken time from their busy schedule to actually read it.

Lastly, before FINALLY uploading it on ERAS, do check it for Plagiarism. You really do not want to use a completely copied PS from the web. It there is NO originality in the PS, you can be rest assured it will be discarded by the PD. Try to have 80 or higher original content

These are a few sites that help you in the plagiarism area

• http://smallseotools.com/plagiarism-checker/
• http://www.plagtracker.com/

A reader even suggested the following link https://www.websiteplanet.com/blog/best-plagiarism-checking-tools/  with their review as follows 'What I like the most about the article is their honesty and objectiveness when choosing/ranking the best and more accurate plagiarism check tools available out there, in addition, they suggested a few free tools, so it’s great for someone who would want to try it'

Finally, this is how I structured my PS

1. An opening line by one of my profs or an online quote which hit me hard and caused me to think.
2. An event which caused me to like the field (in my case pediatrics)
3. Why this field, I mean to say what is so special about it and what I have done to show my interest in the field
4. Steps I have taken to be prepared for residency in the States
5. My strengths and why the program should choose me
6. Summary- Which has the HIGHLIGHTS of the PS

Guide by Dr Vikas Reddy

An exhaustive guide to the USMLE by Dr Vikas Reddy :)

Few sites that I felt were useful for the USMLE

This is most likely going to be among my last few posts regarding the Match process.

Do go through the following sites as they are useful in varied ways. Not only in interview tips but also in general :)

An amazing blog by Kaplan. Gives you good insight into many things :)
http://www.residencysecrets.com/

http://www.imgresidencytips.com/index.php - Has almost everything from the beginning to the end.

http://rookiedoctor.com/ - Written by a guy who has gone through the process and gives advice where deemed necessary

This is the closest to the best thing with which you can prepared for the residency interview questions :)
http://exams.emedicinelive.net/index.php/usmle/2/52-residency-interviews--real-interview-questions-with-answers
http://exams.emedicinelive.net/index.php

This is for the Tell Me about Yourself question for which most of us panic
http://career-advice.monster.com/job-interview/interview-questions/intreview-tell-me-about-yourself/article.aspx
http://www.theladders.com/career-advice/how-to-answer-tell-me-about-yourself-interview-question
http://www.theladders.com/career-advice/10-good-ways-to-tell-me-about-yourself

The following blogs are written by guys  like me
Dr Benji Ho (a Caribbean grad) -  http://www.caribbeanmedstudent.com/
Dr Jagjit - https://iamjagjit.wordpress.com/
Dr Karthik - https://helpingmedicalhands.wordpress.com/


On another note if you want to try your clinical solving you can try the following app Daily Clinical Case rounds

Hoping they help you guys in your journey. I'll keep updating it as and when I come across anything interesting :)

Best of luck!

Steps to H1B for new medical residents

1. Apply for the medical license to your respective state board- From Receipt to Acknowledgement around a week; from there to the actual license around 2 weeks. So, a total of 3 weeks.
2. Get yourself an attorney from the list that your program sends you/ ask your colleagues where they are doing theirs from
3. Talk to the attorney regarding fees and stuff (generally program pays for all except the premium processing fees) Fees find below
4. Depending on your attorney’s liking, apply for a visa based on an acknowledgment letter/Training license certificate
5. He then sends the application to the USCIS who then will issue you a petition number
6. Based on that you CAN complete the next 2 forms i.e. [you need the petitioner’s name and dates approved for, and your point of contact in the States which generally is your PC]
1. DS 160 - Tips for filling the forms can be found HERE (thanks to Dr. Vikas)        
2. US travel docs form 
7. OR  
8. You can wait for the approval and use the exact dates the petition got approved for and the Petitioner
9. Get an appointment- Pay the visa fees according to the exchange rate.
10. Go for the interview with the documents the Attorney sends and ta-da you have your visa.

OFC DAY

Take the following for the appointment

1. DS 160 confirmation page
2. Appointment confirmation
3. Passport

Stand in line, get your fingerprints and photo clicked and you are done for day 1. If you have already done for visitor visa(B1/B2), this should be a cake-walk since you know what to doJ

P.S. Please take a photo according to the instructions on the consulate website since there have been problems with the IT aspect for quite a number of my colleagues and me. {2*2 inches and stuff}

INTERVIEW DAY

Take the above and supporting documents which HAS to include (I-797B i.e. H-1B petition approval notice)

Please note- Some people also say that you have to take the other forms like i129 (Petition application for H-1B), I-797C (Receipt for the premium processing). But frankly speaking, they are not needed, if you have it, then well and good but, the I-797 B is a MUST.

Questions asked

• Where will you be working? – In a Hospital
• Oh, so you are a doctor? – Yes
• *He was delighted by that* May I know your salary? $ XXX
• Good, your visa is approved.

And I walked out a happy man J

For Chennai, passport collection is from the OFC. Please refer to the consulate site for documents to be taken while collecting the Passport.

Fee  Type	Fee	Who Pays for it ? Why ?
Base filing fee	$325	Program It is employer’s business expense
Fraud prevent & detection fee	$500	Program It is employer’s business expense. Just like above, it is mandated by law.
Fee based on attorney charges	$1000-$2000	Program. It is employer’s business expense.
Premium processing fee (Optional)	$1,225	Generally we pay for it ourselves, but you never know if the program will be good enough to pay for you J Please read the note at the end of the post
Visa fee (fee involved in getting H1B visa at US consulate)	varies by country	Your expense. All the costs involved in obtaining visa, including cost involved in translation of your credentials, etc. It will NOT be an employer’s expense. The employer will only send you the documents required for visa stamping.

NOTE THE FOLLOWING:

• Even if you are approved well in advance of your start date at your program, you cannot enter the US in H-1B until 10 days before the start date of your Residency i.e. June 20 considering your start date is July 1^st
• The Attorney generally requests for the full 3 years of H-1B, however, there is no guarantee that the immigration Service will give all 3 years. According to their regulations, they should give 1 year (even if we request 3 years) since the Training license is for 1 year (license issued by the State of OH). Some examiners will give 3 years (depends on your luck as to which examiner gets your case). So if you get 3 years, count yourself lucky. If you are approved for 1 year, there is no problem renewing the H-1B status again next year in the US.
• You will need someone, who has a bank account with a US bank to send a cheque for the $1225 premium processing fee. At least that is what my attorney insisted on, but guess this part varies from attorney to attorney.

Timeline for a Match!

Since a lot of people have asked me how to create a timeline and what happens when, thought will write this post so that all get benefitted :)

N= Your desired year of matching

By April-June (N-1)

• Request your ERAS token. (opens somewhere in April/June/July)- Frankly do not remember when- http://neilnf.blogspot.in/2014/08/how-to-get-eras-token-in-order-to-apply.html
• Start requesting letters of recommendation.
• Strengthen your application by having USCE 

By August (N-1)

• Be ready with your personal statements and have your LOR’s uploaded
• Be done with all your Steps (Step 1, Step 2 CK & CS) and if possible graduate and be ECFMG certified since some programs require ECFMG-certification before applying.
• Finalize your documents and upload as necessary. 
• If you haven’t taken Step 3 do consider taking it as it could strengthen your residency application.
• Know which colleges you plan to apply to, which are IMG friendly or so. Talk to your seniors and check where they applied and stuff.

 September 15^th (N-1) Check the date!

• AAMC’s MyERAS opens! Apply early and stay organized.
• Step 1 and Step 2 CK scores are strongly encouraged to be considered for interviews.
• Sometime later register with the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP)

 From October (N-1)- January or February (N)

• It’s time for interviews!
• Be patient as many programs invite interviewees late into January or February

 February (N)

• By mid Feb submit your rank order list.

March (N)

• Get your match results.
• If you didn’t match, consider the Supplemental Offer and Acceptance Program (SOAP) to find your spot.

March To June (N): 

• Matched Candidates should start and complete Visa Processing if needed and find a place to Stay during this period

July (N):

• Residency Begins after initial 1-2 weeks of Orientation and ACLS + BLS training 

PS- 

• ERAS creates a CV for you
• It is said that latest to apply is by September end at least since most programs finish downloading all their applications by the last week of September.

Some kind person named Dr Harshal Awasthi has painstakingly written about the Matching process and terms. You can find the link HERE or here

Another guide to Residency by some guys from Pakistan is HERE

My Match 2015 timeline

This is the simplest way I could tell how I Matched and what I did in each month.

Hope this helps some of you :) All the best.

P.S.- I applied with my CS pending on Sept 27th 2014.

Step 1                              Feb 10th                    
Step 2 CK                       July 24th                    
Step 2 CS                        August 12th                  Pass 1st attempt (Result- October 8th)
Graduated                       October 09th
ECFMG certified            October 29th
Step 3                              December last week     Awaiting results (Update 25th March 2015- Pass)

Research - 2 ICMR projects and 1 college project.

Applied to

Pediatrics
     42 programs.
     10 interviews.

People who MATCHED could you please fill in this Excel sheet :)

Year	Month	What I was doing
2013	March	M.B.B.S. Internship starts	Electives hunting without Step 1 scores
	April	Chilling plus Intercollege fests plus USMLE material hunting.
	May
	June
	July
	August
	September
	October
	November	Step 1
	December
2014	January
	February
	March	Proper electives hunting with Step 1 scores + little CK studying
	April
	May
	June	Step 2 CK
	July
	August	Electives +  Step 2 CS
	September
	October	Graduation and Credentials verification
	November	Interview season + Step 3
	December
2015	January
	February	Praying to Match + Junior Residency
	March	Match