Oh my god! Why did I find your channel so late?? You easily have one of the most organised and comprehensive videos on USMLE. Really appreciate your clarifications and your mindfulness for sharing the most unsaid parts of the match.
Thank you so much for such a detailed video, people like me who are becoming first gen doctors in their families really lack the guidance needed for ending up in the US for residency and videos like this are the only blueprint that is available to us. So thank you once again.
Hey doctor, thank you for sharing this information. Will it be possible to make a detailed video about your step preparations (resources, timeline, qbanks used etc)? Thank you again doctor 😄
Congratulations on your success. Inspiring!!! I have a question how did you manage to get electives while you had graduated from med school and weren't a med student anymore?
Hey Manzer. Thank you! Great question. The situation with me was such that I was supposed to do my elective initially in May before my graduation. It was then sadly suspended cuz of COVID, but luckily was reoffered to me later and did not pose any logistical or administrative issues.
Thanks very much for sharing such a great experience!!! Would you mind answering 1 qs.....Did u get all 4 LoRs from 1 month mayo clinic elective? Were the LoR writers fellows/faculties?
Hii Sreoshy! Yes I got 4 letters from that month and all were attendings. I'm not sure if getting letters from fellows is advisable but I would suggest you avoid that if possible.
JazakAllah brother , I am in the same situation , final year medical student from Pakistan (studying in china) ,done with step1 and preparing for step2 ,now I am searching for electives in US but I don’t know how to get this ,can you please help me how to get clinical electives there ,it would be very helpful for me,jazakaAllah
Hi Adnan. Thanks for watching. I'd highly recommend you watch my video on finding Electives. It's pretty thorough and should serve as a good starting guide. If you still have questions, please feel free to ask. Good luck
thank you for the informative video -do you think getting publications and chapters written up in a journal and book that my first degree relative is main editor in will be an issue when applying - how many total programs did you apply to? it will help me get a better idea of how many i should apply to
Hey Yousef! Thanks for the great questions - I dont think that would be a problem. I highly doubt programs would go as far as crosschecking your name with the name of the journal Editor lol - I applied to 210. Last year there was a trend of people applying to more and more programs due to concerns of interview hoarding since it was all virtual. So I would definitely recommend applying to a solid number of programs just to be on the safer side.
@@drbaqal I see, thank you very much. you had mentioned that you were a non visa requiring IMG, does being a US IMG make increase your chances of matching in your opinion?
@@yousefwaly6119 Think about it from a program's perspective. It is logistically much easier for them to deal with people with lesser requirements / restrictions, i.e. people who don't require a visa. From personal experience I have noticed the impact of a non-visa requiring status. At least it can likely get someone more interviews. Now whether the program ranks them high enough solely because of their non-visa requiring status is a different story.
@@drbaqal please include how to find/search for USCE ( Observerships) in the same video , appreciate u from the bottom of my heart in helping out thousands of applicants like me ,
Hello! I wanted to apply for the Mayo elective as well, but my school wasn’t part of the VSLO… Does that mean I have no chance? And many universities are still suspended now, quite disappointed… Not sure what to do now.
Hi Moon. Sorry to hear that. It has certainly been difficult to get us USCE. Yeah Mayo is now offering its electives through the VSLO portal and I feel like it is a good investment for any med school. So if you can talk to your med school leadership and convince them in getting a subscription that would benefit you all a lot. Electives are now opening up and several University programs have started offering electives so I would recommend you check what's the latest on electives. Good luck
Hey Bandar!! My situation before I did my Mayo elective was such the I had no clinical electives and no US clinical LORs. The only US letters I had were 2 letters from my US research experiences. But Alhamdulillah my Mayo elective went well and I was able to get 4 LORs out of it. From Saudi, I did have letters from my IM clerkship director, as well as a DOM letter (Department of Medicine Head letter). When you're assigning letters to programs on ERAS while applying, you would need to assess which letters would be most suitable to assign. Eg. For top tier programs, I would assign more Mayo letters. Some programs specifically ask for a DOM letter so I assigned my DOM letter for these programs. For some smaller programs, I'd assign my Saudi IM letter, so as to not intimidate them with too many Mayo letters 😀
Great video, I don’t know whether is it possible( in my curriculum) to do electives. So, will it be possible to match even in 2026 or 2027 seasons into internal medicine without electives and only with telerotation? Please let me know.
Thanks. I study for roughly 5-6 months for CK. Resources were the usual really - UWORLD twice, reviewed First Aid, make Anki cards from my UWORLD mistakes, reviewed Pathoma 1-3, Divine Intervention podcasts, reviewed Sketchy
Bro tell me best videos lectures or platform for step-1 step-2ck usmle preparation..like amboss..lecturio and Kaplan..videos lecture..and tell me also fees of this...I m first year med student . ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
Excuse me sir, did you publish and research in your homeland? Or did you do in US? Is there lots of difference in the sense of effectiveness for matching between researching in homeland and in US?(I'm from south korea) Thanks for reading
In addition, is it possible to submit step 2 score for applying for mayo clerkship? I've never heard about a case who did that before. For the last, is there any advantage with getting higher score in step 1? Or it's just same once we just pass it?
@@user-wt9ut2fn2u Thanks for your questions! Most of my research and publications came from my home country. Out of the total 3 months of research experience I had in the US, I only got an abstract out of it. Thus in terms of publications and poster / oral presentations, there is no difference whether you do research in us or in your home country as you will be publishing in the same journals. Some may decide to spend a few months doing research in the US and the main benefits of that is that you are able to network and make connections, get a research letter of recommendation from the US and possibly add a big name to your CV. I applied to the mail elective few years ago and I don't remember it asking for my step2 score, not sure if things have changed now. And whether a higher step 1 score gives one an advantage is difficult to tell because different programs will perceive it differently, and the scores may not even be visible to them anymore through the system. I'm uncertain what the latest is on this.
Great video, Is it possible to match into internal medicine without electives and if possible only with telerotation? I’m from India. Please let me know
It certainly is possible, particularly if there are other strong factors in the application that may help cushion the negative impact of not having USCE, for eg excellent USMLE scores, strong research profile. Any USCE is better than no USCE, so a telerotation is better than no rotation, and a telerotation would help you get US LORs.
Hey Mohammed. The key to OET is being familiar to the structure and format of the test. Thus, doing practice tests will help. There are several helpful UA-cam videos especially for the Speaking, Listening and Reading parts. For the Writing, it is important you practice and know what mistakes and errors to avoid. There are some practice tests on the OET website too that were helpful in understanding what the exam is like.
Oh my god! Why did I find your channel so late?? You easily have one of the most organised and comprehensive videos on USMLE. Really appreciate your clarifications and your mindfulness for sharing the most unsaid parts of the match.
Thanks for watching!
Thank you so much for such a detailed video, people like me who are becoming first gen doctors in their families really lack the guidance needed for ending up in the US for residency and videos like this are the only blueprint that is available to us. So thank you once again.
Glad the video was beneficial! Experiences like yours led me to setting up this channel and I am happy to see the content is helpful
Hey doctor, thank you for sharing this information. Will it be possible to make a detailed video about your step preparations (resources, timeline, qbanks used etc)? Thank you again doctor 😄
Hey Matthew! Thanks for the suggestion. I'll be working on that. Stay tuned :)
Great video! Absolutely loved your story! Congratulations on the match. Looking forward to more videos on your channel :)
Thanks for your support Shivakumar 🤩
You are very inspiring ! May God bless you in all your upcoming steps.
Hey Rana! Thanks for your kind words
Congratulations on your success. Inspiring!!!
I have a question how did you manage to get electives while you had graduated from med school and weren't a med student anymore?
Hey Manzer. Thank you!
Great question. The situation with me was such that I was supposed to do my elective initially in May before my graduation. It was then sadly suspended cuz of COVID, but luckily was reoffered to me later and did not pose any logistical or administrative issues.
Very useful information 👍
Thank you so much for this info. Did you do the SMLE? I’m wondering when can I do it between the 2 steps
I did! I think you should be able to do it between the 2 Steps.
Thanks very much for sharing such a great experience!!! Would you mind answering 1 qs.....Did u get all 4 LoRs from 1 month mayo clinic elective? Were the LoR writers fellows/faculties?
Hii Sreoshy! Yes I got 4 letters from that month and all were attendings. I'm not sure if getting letters from fellows is advisable but I would suggest you avoid that if possible.
@@drbaqal okay! Thanks for your response!! 😊
@@drbaqal you got LORs by electives right?
@@shaikwahidasulthana2458 yes
@@drbaqal ok
Hello, congratulations for the match.
How did you manage to get a US visa ?
Hey,great video.May I know where you did your MD/MBBS?
Hi Nitya! I did MBBS from Alfaisal University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
JazakAllah brother , I am in the same situation , final year medical student from Pakistan (studying in china) ,done with step1 and preparing for step2 ,now I am searching for electives in US but I don’t know how to get this ,can you please help me how to get clinical electives there ,it would be very helpful for me,jazakaAllah
Hi Adnan. Thanks for watching. I'd highly recommend you watch my video on finding Electives. It's pretty thorough and should serve as a good starting guide. If you still have questions, please feel free to ask. Good luck
thank you for the informative video
-do you think getting publications and chapters written up in a journal and book that my first degree relative is main editor in will be an issue when applying
- how many total programs did you apply to? it will help me get a better idea of how many i should apply to
Hey Yousef! Thanks for the great questions
- I dont think that would be a problem. I highly doubt programs would go as far as crosschecking your name with the name of the journal Editor lol
- I applied to 210. Last year there was a trend of people applying to more and more programs due to concerns of interview hoarding since it was all virtual. So I would definitely recommend applying to a solid number of programs just to be on the safer side.
@@drbaqal I see, thank you very much.
you had mentioned that you were a non visa requiring IMG, does being a US IMG make increase your chances of matching in your opinion?
@@yousefwaly6119 Think about it from a program's perspective. It is logistically much easier for them to deal with people with lesser requirements / restrictions, i.e. people who don't require a visa. From personal experience I have noticed the impact of a non-visa requiring status. At least it can likely get someone more interviews. Now whether the program ranks them high enough solely because of their non-visa requiring status is a different story.
really amazing video!! can u please share how did u find the research opportunities in US? like how can we find those?
Hey Sunny!! I'll be making a video about searching for US research experience very soon. Stay tuned 😉
@@drbaqal thanx!!
@@drbaqal please include how to find/search for USCE ( Observerships) in the same video , appreciate u from the bottom of my heart in helping out thousands of applicants like me ,
@@satishreddy5523Hey Satish! Check out my USCE and Research videos, they should help guide you about finding USCE :)
Hello sir. Did you take TOEFL exams to land clinical electives?
Hey Himangshu! Yes I did, but not all electives require TOEFL. In fact MOST probably dont. Mayo, Cleveland do require you to take the TOEFL
Hello!
I wanted to apply for the Mayo elective as well, but my school wasn’t part of the VSLO…
Does that mean I have no chance?
And many universities are still suspended now, quite disappointed…
Not sure what to do now.
Hi Moon. Sorry to hear that. It has certainly been difficult to get us USCE. Yeah Mayo is now offering its electives through the VSLO portal and I feel like it is a good investment for any med school. So if you can talk to your med school leadership and convince them in getting a subscription that would benefit you all a lot. Electives are now opening up and several University programs have started offering electives so I would recommend you check what's the latest on electives. Good luck
how many LOR did you submit ? did you have any from Saudi ? great experience and congratulations
Hey Bandar!! My situation before I did my Mayo elective was such the I had no clinical electives and no US clinical LORs. The only US letters I had were 2 letters from my US research experiences.
But Alhamdulillah my Mayo elective went well and I was able to get 4 LORs out of it.
From Saudi, I did have letters from my IM clerkship director, as well as a DOM letter (Department of Medicine Head letter).
When you're assigning letters to programs on ERAS while applying, you would need to assess which letters would be most suitable to assign. Eg. For top tier programs, I would assign more Mayo letters. Some programs specifically ask for a DOM letter so I assigned my DOM letter for these programs. For some smaller programs, I'd assign my Saudi IM letter, so as to not intimidate them with too many Mayo letters 😀
Great video,
I don’t know whether is it possible( in my curriculum) to do electives.
So, will it be possible to match even in 2026 or 2027 seasons into internal medicine without electives and only with telerotation?
Please let me know.
As answered previously, yes it is possible
@@drbaqal ok
Thanks a lot for the response
Great video,
Is there any limit for the duration of externship?
Normally externships are 4 weeks but this can vary and people can do longer externships
@@drbaqal ok
I heard some people do for 9-11 months at different hospitals for better chances is this true?
@@shaikwahidasulthana2458 Yes that's true, although not as common
@@drbaqal will chances increase by doing externship for more months?
How long did you study for CK? and what was your resources? Congrats btw.
Thanks. I study for roughly 5-6 months for CK. Resources were the usual really - UWORLD twice, reviewed First Aid, make Anki cards from my UWORLD mistakes, reviewed Pathoma 1-3, Divine Intervention podcasts, reviewed Sketchy
Bro tell me best videos lectures or platform for step-1 step-2ck usmle preparation..like amboss..lecturio and Kaplan..videos lecture..and tell me also fees of this...I m first year med student . ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
When did you start with research?
I'd say my serious research started in 5th year of med school
Excuse me sir, did you publish and research in your homeland? Or did you do in US? Is there lots of difference in the sense of effectiveness for matching between researching in homeland and in US?(I'm from south korea) Thanks for reading
In addition, is it possible to submit step 2 score for applying for mayo clerkship? I've never heard about a case who did that before. For the last, is there any advantage with getting higher score in step 1? Or it's just same once we just pass it?
@@user-wt9ut2fn2u Thanks for your questions! Most of my research and publications came from my home country. Out of the total 3 months of research experience I had in the US, I only got an abstract out of it. Thus in terms of publications and poster / oral presentations, there is no difference whether you do research in us or in your home country as you will be publishing in the same journals. Some may decide to spend a few months doing research in the US and the main benefits of that is that you are able to network and make connections, get a research letter of recommendation from the US and possibly add a big name to your CV. I applied to the mail elective few years ago and I don't remember it asking for my step2 score, not sure if things have changed now. And whether a higher step 1 score gives one an advantage is difficult to tell because different programs will perceive it differently, and the scores may not even be visible to them anymore through the system. I'm uncertain what the latest is on this.
@@drbaqal Thanks for your sincere answer:) I want you to be a great doctor!
How many years was the medical school course in KSA ?
Hi Noorafsha. The program at my med school was 5 years plus 1 year of internship.
Great video,
Is it possible to match into internal medicine without electives and if possible only with telerotation?
I’m from India.
Please let me know
It certainly is possible, particularly if there are other strong factors in the application that may help cushion the negative impact of not having USCE, for eg excellent USMLE scores, strong research profile. Any USCE is better than no USCE, so a telerotation is better than no rotation, and a telerotation would help you get US LORs.
@@drbaqal Thank you for the response.
So is it possible to get into internal medicine with telerotation?
@@drbaqal Okk.
Will online research be helpful?
@@shaikwahidasulthana2458 Short answer is yes, it is possible.
@@shaikwahidasulthana2458 What do you mean by online research? If it leads to publications and poster/oral presentations, it would be very valuable
How did you study for OET ?
Hey Mohammed. The key to OET is being familiar to the structure and format of the test. Thus, doing practice tests will help. There are several helpful UA-cam videos especially for the Speaking, Listening and Reading parts. For the Writing, it is important you practice and know what mistakes and errors to avoid. There are some practice tests on the OET website too that were helpful in understanding what the exam is like.