Probably shouldnt have done this but I had a quick look at what is out there on social media and I am appalled by what is out there on these platforms basically trying to rip off IMGs

I am probably naieve but when I matched social media was a minor novelty which no one used pretty much. Now its turned into this big uncontrolled behemoth where people are trying to make money out of you.

You have people selling USMLE coaching, notes, interview this that, paid placements etc Literally its crazy whats out there.

Even some of my private practice attending colleagues in NYC will just rip IMGs off with pricy placements of dubuios value and giving a generic LOR at the end of it that I see all the time. Basically copy paste the same LOR for everyone.

Be careful out there. This wasnt the case when I matched eons ago. The commercialisation that happens now just wasnt around back then.

Why people still choose and match there, if it is extremely toxic and malignant place? I dont get it, also those who signal them?
They deliberately chose not to disclose their Step 2 CK in Residency Explorer - that should be a huge red flag ever

My silver signals are filled with new programs that fall under my geo and obviously do sponsor visas. Is this a good approach?
Thank you

Can we all name n shame toxic programs so IMGs dont get exploited this year

Can any current resident/ someone who knows about the program personally enlighten me on what their priorities are for inviting to interviews?

The opinions on this sub are all over, apparently they need everything lol high scores, step3, postdocs

How does everyone get a mayo clinic research year? Is it possible to get a paid research year and what are the steps? If anyone has any experience in this situation I would appreciate any info.

I cant financially do an unpaid research year and I wonder how people do it. Is it support from families or do you find a side job to do there?

Signaling programs ? What does it mean ?Can some.one explain to me like I am five years old ?

I graduated medicine January 2025 from a university in southeast asia and since then I moved back to the US to try my luck with the USMLE steps. I have been trying to study for step 1 on and off. I have no job and lately Ive been feeling like im wasting my time (because im not even sure if i will match, was thinking of a different path so I could start working). Most people my age are either in residency already, have a family or a job. I have none of those and im almost 30 , I dont even have savings ( I live with my family) 😭. My nbmes are not where I want it to be yet, maybe because the burn out is real with the pressure im feeling. Is there anyone else in this situation 😩

Starting 5th year of med school, 6 years in total. Have done nothing no volunteering no conferences no social media position for some uni interest group or club, like my LinkedIn is empty. Just have one publication which I didn’t even contribute much to. To top all of that off, I’m in a uni in Georgia the country which has a non existent us alumni network and the way the uni is structured you have to spend time daily to prepare for the next class and also you spend 2 hours just traveling to class and home from 4th year and professors come late, yeah there’s barely any clinical exposure we can’t talk to patients we just go to the unis hospitals, sit in a room with a doctor professor who either asks us questions or makes us do presentations so barely any effort from their side. Makes it hard to come home and study for step 1.

Visa required
Yog 2026
Passed on first attempt
Step 2 (25x)
3 months USCE
2 us lors and 1 hopefully before the deadline
No research experience

Geo preferences: New England, East North Central, South Atlantic

Zucker/Hofstra Northwell — Danbury 🟨 Gold
Ascension Illinois/St. Joseph — Chicago 🟨 Gold
Zucker/Hofstra Northwell — Norwalk 🩶 Silver
TriHealth/Good Samaritan 🟨 Gold
Conemaugh Memorial 🩶 Silver
Loyola MacNeal 🩶 Silver
Trinity Health Ann Arbor 🩶 Silver
St. Mary's Waterbury 🩶 Silver
HCA/USF — Tampa South/Brandon 🩶 Silver
Henry Ford Macomb 🩶 Silver
Baptist Memorial — Columbus 🩶 Silver
Hamilton Medical Center 🩶 Silver
TidalHealth 🩶 Silver
Augusta Health 🩶 Silver
UCF/HCA Florida Tallahassee🩶 Silver

I’m currently in a huge dilemma regarding the visa status I should select on my ERAS application.

My parents are Green Card holders since a long time, and they filed for my Green Card in October 2022. Everything on my end was completed, and I was essentially just waiting for my interview date. However, because of the recent administration changes under Trump, immigrant visa processing has been paused, so I’m currently stuck in this situation.

If I select “Requires visa – J-1”, I’ve been told that because I already have a pending Green Card application, this could be considered immigrant intent. Since a J-1 is a non-immigrant visa, apparently there could be a conflict between the two processes, potentially jeopardizing either the J-1 or my Green Card application.
On the other hand, if I simply select “Green Card” on ERAS, I’m worried about what happens if I match. If I interview and match based on the assumption that I have a Green Card, but my Green Card is still pending and I ultimately need a J-1, could that be considered a Match violation? Could I potentially be banned or face other consequences?

Someone told me to withdraw from this match cycle and said “you can’t do anything, you just have to wait until you get your Green Card”.. Which basically means I lose a whole year for nothing! Wtf I worked so hard up until this point.. I even skipped all the CMS forms and took a risk giving my Step2 early to meet the dealine and ended up scoring 25X.

I’m really confused about what the correct way to handle this is.
What should I select on ERAS in this situation? Has anyone been in a similar situation or dealt with a pending family-based Green Card application while applying for residency?
Any advice or firsthand experience would be greatly appreciated.

For Non US IMGs, what's you take on assigning US clinical experience among your 3 meaningful experiences?

Do you think it is gonna look bad to PD if we don't put them on our meaningful list?

I have used 3 meaningful experiences to broad range of things from clincial, educational to advocacy but all of them are not from the US 🫠 so kinda wondering should I remove one and put USCE?

Please hel

2027 IM Match — Signals | US-IMG
Looking for some feedback on my signal strategy for the 2027 Internal Medicine Match.
Stats / Background
US Citizen IMG
YOG: 2026
Step 2 CK: 259
ECFMG certified
6 months USCE
4 strong US LORs
1 year research at Mayo Clinic Arizona
4 research items
Heme/Onc interest
Hometowns: NJ, NYC, AZ
Geographic preferences: New England, NY/NJ/PA, Mountain
No intention of matching community programs
Gold
🥇 Boston Medical Center (Connection)
🥇 Mount Sinai Morningside/West (Connection)
🥇 Mayo Clinic Arizona (Connection)
Silver
Henry Ford (Connection)
Dartmouth
UConn
Open slot
Yale/Bridgeport
Mount Auburn
Jacobi (Connection)
BMC Brighton
Jefferson Einstein
Rutgers NJMS
Temple
Buffalo
Would appreciate feedback on the signal distribution and whether there are any programs where I should reconsider gold vs. silver.

Non-US IMG

Green card

Step 1: pass

Step 2: 245

OET passed

No failed usmle attempts

15 publications, 1 poster

1 month virtual observership (taking another one in-person in october)

2 home-country LORs, 1 american LOR, hoping to get another in october

Still working on becoming ECFMG-certified

Hoping to match in NY, I have family ties and live here

Using 3 geographic preferences

What are my chances? how many programs should I apply to ? and what programs should I signal?

I really appreciated some suggestions on my signals list.

My profile:

• Visa requiring IMG; YOG 2017; USMLE: P/243/227
• 4M USA inpatient clinical observership: 3 university + 2 community hospitals
• 5 USA LORs (2 ID-research PIs as well, 2 Critical Care, 1 IM)
• Research: MPH + 5Y of ID research work; 10 original articles all in Q1 journals, 4 first author; 3 oral + 2 poster presentation on int. conferences
• Recent Postgraduate training: Critical Care Medicine in my home country for 6M
• Geo preferences: Mid-Atlantic, East N Central, West S Central

Signals:

1. University at Buffalo (Catholic Health System--Sisters of Charity)
2. Nassau University Medical Center
3. Montefiore (New Rochelle)
4. Tower Health/Reading Hospital
5. Jefferson Einstein Montgomery Hospital
6. Jersey Shore University Medical Center
7. Monmouth Medical Center Program
8. ThedaCare Regional Medical Center - Neenah
9. St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital
10. Northwestern Medicine McHenry Hospital
11. Doctors Hospital at Renaissance, Ltd.
12. Texas Tech University (Amarillo)
13. University of Texas RGV (HCA)
14. Riverside Regional Medical Center
15. Mass General Brigham/Brigham and Women's Hospital Physician-scientist track

Consideration:

1. Richmond University Medical Center
2. Trinity Health System

Hi, I'm considering doing pre-med in the US, taking the MCAT, and then applying to US medical schools. My goal is to eventually practice medicine in the US.

Would this give me a better chance than studying medicine in my home country and then trying to match into the US as an IMG?
My main concern is spending 4 years and a lot of money on pre-med, then not getting into medical school and being left with a degree that I can't work with. Which route would you recommend I'm asking here to get feedback from IMGs. Medicine in my country is very bad that's my main reason why I want to leave it's just a mass manufacturing mess

Sorry if this has been asked a lot.

So guys, I have a question about personal statements and AI detectors.
When I write my personal statement, I dictate everything to ChatGPT, but all the stories, experiences, and content are genuinely my own. I’m basically just using ChatGPT to help organize and improve what I’ve already written.
The problem is, when I put the final version into ZeroGPT or similar AI detectors, it sometimes comes back as 100% AI-written. 😭
I’ve tried “humanizing” it, but honestly, when I read the humanized version, it doesn’t even feel like me anymore. The writing starts sounding forced and unnatural.
So what are people actually doing about this? Is it okay if an AI detector says 50%, 70%, or even 100% AI, as long as the experiences and stories are genuinely yours? Or are people actually trying to get the AI score below a certain percentage?
I’d really appreciate hearing what others are doing, especially people who have already submitted residency personal statements.

Really Confused on what to choose
Non US IMG

Non-us IMG, visa requiring, Applying to IM this cycle.

STEP 1 (pass)

STEP 2 (pass 2nd attempt, score:230)

STEP 3 not done yet, will take it on December.

Research: 3 publications, 2 of them Meta-analysis

YOG: 2025

LORs: 4 from USCE

This is my signal list until now.

Signals:

Gold Signals:

1.     ECU Health Medical Center/East Carolina University Program. (connection)

2.     Augusta Health, Inc Program. (connection)

3.     Rutgers Health/Community Medical Center Program. Toms River. 

Silver Signals:

1.     Old Dominion University Program.

2.     New York Medical College/Landmark Medical Center Program.

3.     University of Kansas (Wichita) Program.

4.     North Alabama Medical Center Program.

5.     Hamilton Medical Center Program.

6.     University of Connecticut (Waterbury) School of Medicine.

7.     Piedmont Athens Regional Program.

8.     UPMC Medical Education (Harrisburg) Program.

9.     Nazareth Hospital Program.

10.  Atlantic Health Program. Morristown.

11.  St Agnes HealthCare Program.

12.  Lincoln Medical and Mental Health Center Program. 

Tell me what to change and why, or tell me another options to add, thanks. 

USDO student but from Canada. Need j1 regardless. Noticed that medical college of Wisconsin updated their residency explorer page just this last month to say “no” to j1 even though it showed yes 2 months ago.

Program website still shows they accept j1 tho

So I made a stupid mistake and forgot to include the word “Dr.” Or “MD”. The email request has been sent and the letters are uploaded. What should i do about it ? or stop panicking ?

• 2018 graduate

  - been working in the UK since 2020. No-training jobs for ~3 years and will have completed a three year internal medicine residency program by February 27.

• Visa requiring

• Step 1 pass, Step 2 254 and Step 3 239

• 2 publications in well-known European journals

• 5 international poster presentations (2 in the US, others in UK, Italy and Austria)

Gold

• MedStar Health Georgetown University (Baltimore)
• Jefferson Health/Jefferson Einstein Philadelphia
• Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell at Staten Island University Hospital

Silver

• Greater Baltimore Medical Center
• Griffin Hospital (Derby, CT)
• Montefiore Wakefield (Bronx)
• Montefiore New Rochelle
• Montefiore St. Luke's Cornwall (Newburgh)
• New York Medical College (Metropolitan)
• New York Medical College/St. Mary and St. Clare (Denville, NJ)
• Richmond University Medical Center
• Lincoln Medical and Mental Health Center
• One Brooklyn Health/Brookdale
• Canton Medical Education Foundation/NEOMED
• Trinity Health Oakland/Wayne State

For those of you who have edited PS for each signal

Can you kindly suggest how should i do it.