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Episode 39: Choosing your favorite residencies can be a very tough decision. Everyone has different priorities, but most of them revolve around a handful of central themes. Learn how to make sure that your deliberation isn’t wasted as Doctor Dan shows you how to certify your rank order list.

Watch the full video podcast here…

How do people decide their residency rank order list?

•Family

•Location

•Training

•People

–Research

–Money

–Career opportunities

There is a deadline to “certify” your Rank Order List (ROL), so do it weeks early!

Your NRMP dashboard should look like this when you are logged in. Don’t relax until you see this:

Episode 38: This video podcast discusses hidden residency program requirements which cause many thousands of wasted fees to be spent by International Medical Graduates every year. These can even apply to U.S. Nationals that go to Caribbean medical schools or those that have non-traditional residency pathways.

Watch the full video podcast here…

So far in this NRMP Match and Scramble video podcast series, we’ve started discussing the Top 5 Reasons Not To Match to a residency:

* Not enough interviews

* Ranking unvetted programs

* Failure to certify the Rank Order List

* Competitiveness (USMLE scores, med school performance)

* Incomplete documentation

Every year applicants don’t take the time to investigate hidden program requirements. This is especially harmful for International Medical Graduates.

•ERAS profits from each school chosen

•Many schools have different requirements

•They don’t tell you what they are

You can learn limited information about the programs’ requirements ahead of time from the AMA’s Frieda Online site:

https://freida.ama-assn.org/Freida/user/viewProgramSearch.do

There are lots of requirements that aren’t listed publicly. Here is a sample of the rest of the requirements, provided as a courtesy by www.ElectronicResidency.com. Members of the Medical Mastermind Community get a 20% discount to this site AND www.MatchAResident.com.

Have you registered for the 3rd Annual Medical School Conference in Dallas, this Memorial Day?

* May 29-30th at the Wyndham Hotel at Dallas Love Field.

* We have a lot of Sponsors for the event and registration is an optional $35 if you you want the Printed Handouts.

REGISTER HERE

See you there,

Doctor Dan

Episode 37: This video podcast will explain how many residency programs you should apply to based on your categorical background (allopath, osteopath, Caribbean, IMG, etc.) Based on the match rates of each category, general guidelines have emerged on the optimal number of applications needed to give you a statistical advantage to match to one program.

Watch the full video podcast here…

CATEGORY                                  NUMBER OF APPLICATIONS  RECOMMENDED

US Allopaths                               20-30

US Osteopaths                            50-75

US Intern’l/Caribbean             100-120

IMG’s                                              150-250

The cost of these applications is typically high.

•20-30 schools – US grads, $270 (base cost of 30 programs, then $25 each)

•75-100 Schools – US IMG’s, $2,260

•150 schools – Non-US IMG’s – $3,360

Episode 36: Did you know you find out if you’ve matched 2 days before Match Day? Learn all the ins-and-outs of the National Residency Match Program (NRMP) schedule so you don’t succumb to the common pitfalls that students and graduates get into every year.

Watch the entire video podcast here…

Every year about 13% either withdraw their NRMP application or fail to certify their rank order list, resulting in an incomplete and therefore irrelevant applications!

Make sure you follow the NRMP schedule exactly.

The algorithm:

* You rank programs only you interview at.

* The programs rank interviewees.

* NRMP software gives applicant preference

Episode 35: Learn the your chance of matching based on your background: allopathic, osteopathic, Caribbean, International Medical Graduates. No opinions here – only data released by the NRMP, AOA, and ACGME about the match rates of residency applicants.

Watch the entire video podcast here…

Here’s an overview the match rates for medical school graduates from all backgrounds:

* Overall 71.4%

* US Allopaths 93.1%

* US Osteopaths 76% overall (69.9% in allopathic residencies; 62.2% in osteopathic)

* US IMG’s 47.8%

* Non-US IMG’s  41.6%

Here are the data from the National Residency Matching Program. Download the full report here: http://www.nrmp.org/data/resultsanddata2009.pdf

Overall Applicant Pool:

Allopathic Residency Applicants:

Osteopathic Residency Applicants to ALLOPATHIC Programs (Osteopathic programs covered in subsequent podcast):

US Nationals From Foreign Medical Schools (Caribbean)  Stats for NRMP Residencies:

International Medical Graduates’ Application Stats to NRMP Residency Programs:

So, who’s at risk to not match based on this data?

1.Non-US IMG’s

2.US IMG’s

3.US grads in bottom 7%

* No or few interviews

* Small rank list

4.Anyone that doesn’t understand NRMP

5.Those with a gut feeling

Episode 34: Did you know that 23% of physicians in the United States graduated from foreign medical schools? Furthermore, over half of the increase in residency applicants contributing to increased competition in the last 18 years are coming from outside the U.S. Learn all about the Match Applicant Pool in this video podcast.

Watch the entire video podcast here…

There are 3 main categories of applicants for which match data has been released and analyzed.

* US Grads (allopathic and osteopathic)

* US Grads that go to International Medical Schools (IMG’s)

* International Medical Graduates from countries outside the US

(reference: http://www.nrmp.org/data/chartingoutcomes2009v3.pdf)

As of 2006…

•Non-US IMG’s came from 127 Countries !

•Non-US IMG’s constituted 185,234 physicians out of a total of 794,893 in USA (23.3%)

•44% PCP’s are Non-US IMG’s

Here are the top 10 countries that International Medical Graduates come from (reference 2006 AMA Workforce Study):

1.India : 24%

2.Philippines : 10.6%

3.Mexico : 6.7%

4.Pakistan: 5.7%

5.Dominican Republic: 3.8%

6.Russia: 2.9%

7.Grenada: 2.8%

8.Egypt: 2.6%

9.South Korea: 2.5%

Episode 33: Doctor Dan interviews Tanvir Kabir from the MCAT Elite course and Verbal Virtuoso, both successful programs guaranteed to raise your MCAT score.  Hear his insider techniques that he uses to teach these successful programs. Plus be entertained by his gauntlet challenge to other MCAT teachers!

Listen to the podcast here…

Tanvir Kabir put off his medical education for a couple years because of his father’s health problems. In that time he perfected a system he used to ace the MCAT and now shares it with the world.

Now, he offers two programs:

* MCAT Elite COURSE, not to be confused Princeton Review’s Elite MCAT Review Book. This program is an intensive, private tutoring program that ensures that every student masters some 500 fundamental definitions. This is like SAT Vocabulary on steroids!

* Verbal Virtuoso is a great way to improve on your ability to identify arguments made by the authors of Verbal Reasoning passages. It’s a mindset, really, and if you’ll put in the time to practice thinking like this, it will help you answer some of the hardest questions about the author’s intent with ease.

While some students have seen improvements in their scores go from 5 to 14 on a given section, the average student reliably scores 11’s and 12’s on each section. The disclaimer is that people spend 3-5 months in heavy preparation.

As we discuss in the audio podcast, these techniques CAN be learned. Let no one tell you that you “don’t have what it takes” to be in medicine.

You simply need to surround yourself with people that have what you want. Join the Medical Mastermind Community and get the mentorship that will set you apart from the competition.

Episode 32: Learn about the three categories of medical graduates from all over the world applying for the match:  first are the US graduates,  second are US Nationals that go to International Medical Schools, and lastly Non-US immigrants coming from one of the 2,161 schools. The question is how you can successfully apply for the Match. Learn how in this video series.

Watch the entire podcast here…

Residency and Match Course Overview:

1.      How to Match Successfully

2.      What are your chances of Matching?

3.      NRMP Match Day Schedule and Scramble Week

4.      Residency admission requirements

5.      How to rank choices for the NRMP Match

6.      USMLE competition and program credibility

7.      Required documentation – International Medical Graduate emphasis

8.      The Scramble – filling slots after the match

Standards of care vary among different countries. We’ll honor that in this podcast by focusing on the U.S. Physician Supply and Residency Match statistics.

And here are the Top-10 Countries that most non-US IMG’s came from (reference: 2006 AMA Workforce Study):

* India : 24%

* Philippines : 10.6%

* Mexico : 6.7%

* Pakistan: 5.7%

* Dominican Republic: 3.8%

* Russia: 2.9%

* Grenada: 2.8%

* Egypt: 2.6%

* South Korea: 2.5%

Episode 31: Princeton Review author Chris Manuel explains how to approach tests DURING the exam. He has written content for Princeton Review MCAT and developed 2 in-house Prep Courses, called Ultimate MCAT and Holiday Hell.

Listen to the podcast here…

Chris Manuel has taught 1,800 students and now trains MCAT teachers at the Princeton Review. He has had an influence on the MCAT Prep industry as a whole because he has now taught current MCAT teachers that are using his tips and advice to help would-be doctors around the country.

What’s different about Princeton Review?

Princeton Review emphasizes quality teaching by investing in their teachers, more than they do in advertising.

Often, students choose Test Prep companies based on word-of-mouth. Both Chris and I chose Kaplan because that was either all that was available where we lived, or all our friends ever talked about.

Doctor Dan decided to let Princeton Review tell us themselves about what they do that is different. Listen to the entire audio podcast to get the answer.

Here are 2 programs that the Princeton Review offers:

* Ultimate MCAT – This is a 36-day “boot camp”, where students live in a dorm.

* Holiday Hell – This course starts the day after final exams in December and goes straight through the holidays until the day before classes start in January. This intensive course covers all the same material as the long version, only it is condensed and, therefore, not for everyone! Morning and afternoon lectures leave several hours during the day for the student to study on their own, with teachers available to ask questions during that time. Listen to the podcast to learn more…

The top 2 tips that Chris has for students preparing for the MCAT are a balance between techniques and discipline. I offer a Comprehensive Study Techniques course to help you with techniques. If you’re having trouble with sticking to your study plan, then a prep course may help you with accountability and technique assistance.

Unlike Chris, Doctor Dan did NOT do better on the MCAT because of a Prep Course – and we both took the Kaplan MCAT Course! That is why the Study Techniques course was created!

What is the number 1 study technique? Proper use of practice tests.

Here are four categories of errors students make on tests:

* silly mistakes: physical sciences 2-3, verbal reasoning 1, biological sciences 4-5

* content gap: 2-3 points

* can’t understand it even when you see the answer: need access to a tutor

* guessing, or not reviewing correct or guessed: this is a study technique error