Early planning and executing your plans is at the heart of a successful match in your USMLE journey. Today we will share the top 10 actionable tips which will help you stay on track and lead to a successful match in 9 to 12 months. Each one of them is doable, is based on our experience with thousands of successful IMGs and designed for your match.
This plan which we will share is especially useful if you have 6-9 months before the ERAS application deadline and 3 after. Ofcourse So for example if the ERAS application opens up September 15, ideally you should start In January.

Some assumptions underlining this plan

1. The plan can work whether you are a repeat applicant or applying first time.
2. It does not mean you can’t start early (more than 12 months, for example).
3. Profile differs- for some 6 months may be enough. Other may need more than a year.
4. We will not talk about scores or attempts or long gaps. The ten rule of success match video covers that. Today we will talk about execution if you have 9 to 12 months or so
5. This does assume you put in a 12 to 15 hour a day- whether studying for CK, rotations, research- it will need that level of commitment.

#1 Evaluate YOUR PROFILE HONESTLY- don’t cheat yourself
To evaluate your profile you need to ask yourself some questions first, for example:

• What is your experience? In which specialty?
• What is your specialty of interest?
• What score do you have? Including step 3
• Have you thought of the timeline?
• If you are a repeat applicant do you know why you didn’t get interviews or didn’t match?
• Do you have long gaps?
• How much USCE do you have and need? Do you have electives?

Self assess and see what you can improve. For example, if you are coming off from a gap of 2 or 3 years, , with no work experience or little USCE,  regardless of your scores,  You have a mountain to climb in terms of USCE/understanding the US healthcare system and building your skill set. Also if you are thinking- "let me just focus on my CK for now. I will take it in July Aug and then worry about every thing else" then STOP!!. You will need to do things simultaneously. Learn to multitask. 

#2 Know the specialties
Research the specialties. Your interest in one thing. The requirements of the specialty another. Hopefully they will align but be realistic here. We have done quite an extensive analysis of the requirements of each specialty. You can also look at the NRMP data to see what you can change.
For example some students have low 210s, multiple attempts and ask us "Can I match in IM?"
It may be hard but doable? Some of our students took the MPH route- some did 2 years+ research published and matched at community programs.

So start with your self appraisal, then look into the requirements of the specialty. Lots of students ask us. Can I match into Dermatology? Neurosurgery? Orthopedic surgery?  Always start with what the specialty needs and what you bring in terms of the profile.

The first two suggestions are most critical and many students just keep spinning the wheels here till they have wasted a year or so. Take time to really assess- avoid for example one month in Pathology, One month in Pyschiatry, then a month in neurology before deciding you like IM.

If you have narrowed down to one or max 2 specialties that should be ok. Typically if you have about 9 months, I would say upto two specialty focus is ok. If you have 6 or less months, focus on 1.

#3- Decide on the rotations.
The best are electives ofcourse but if you could not do it focus on externships. Externships are typically more valuable than observerships but also depends on the brand.

Most good USCE is booked 6-7 months in advance so start early. The more you delay this the more you will
scramble at the end
May not get the adequate number of LORs on time.
If you are a repeat applicant, with less than 5 interviews in a specialty, book these now for next season
If you are  first time applicant, don’t wait to complete all your CK and other exams before you book the rotations. ACT now
For those of you who can’t travel or do onsite, consider tele rotations. These are here to stay till the Pandemic is over and the programs understand the situation.
If you need help in booking your rotations you can always check our website.
Outcome- by March mid you should have ideally booked or know what you are going to do for the next 4 to 5 months
 
Then #4 plan for 3 (atleast) specialty specific strong personalized LORs
Quality of LORs matters- strong personalized, customzed waived letters matter
One reason to start early is to get enough of the strong LORs
you can Stay long enough- may be more than a month at some places
Outcome- huge mistake and risk- can I apply to peds with IM, can I use IM for FM, the answer is yes but put yourself in PD shoes. Is it ideal, the answer is NO
That’s where if you have 6 or 7 months, you can actually plan for 3 letters each in a specialty and not look for filler letters- what are filler letters? As the name suggests- you either get some home country, some unwaived letters which are used just to fulfill the criteria
 
5 Know the programs/research them well
This is where repeat applicants have an advantage, if they have gone through a cycle they know about most programs.
You really need to spend time and effort to research programs- sarthi list, Frieda, Resi explorer etc.
You may ask why? When you have to randony apply to 200 in IM (almost random)
The point most of you miss is program outreach- you will need extensive research when you reach out to the programs later in the season- when you email them, call them. The knowledge comes in very handy. Programs like it. You will save time in IV seaon. Plan this well
Goal- know atleast 60-70 (IM) programs well by April.May rest before Sept
6. Research
Absolute golden, becoming important. Good solid work in research will help- case reports? Self directed research or ofcourse as RA in univ. But publications take time- starting in Aug and thinking I will put something in ERAS may not work for everyone. Plan in a way that you can pace yourself.
Goal- case report/conference abstracts
We have courses on research that can help you if you are interested. Please look up the website
 
7 Work work work most undervalued but don’t sit at home doing nothing. Along with the work I would like to add volunteering and hobbies
Many applicants very wrongly think the home country experience does not matter. It matters quite a bit. So if you get the opportunity work in busy hospital, primary care. COVID related experience for example is very impactful now a days. Programs are starting to pay special attention to home country experience as onsite USCE also becomes limited. our students with extensive home country experiences have gotten several interviews just on the basis of strong experiences in their country.
Along with your work, you need to start thinking about volunteering, giving back to the community. May or may not be in medicine. Volunteering activities are great discussion themes during the interview. Now is also the time to brush up on your hobbies. Whether you have a YouTube channel or play a guitar or are in sports, this aspect of  your personality is important as well and can help you differciate yourself from other applicants
8 Network- Now many IMGs think networking is just having the quote unquote connections. My uncle, aunt, spouse. If I have those connections in the programs, I will match, else I can’t match. What I mean by networking is professional networking. Attend conferences, reach out to your college alumni, build on your rotations contacts. Learn to use tools like LinkedIN, twitter- these will help you quite a bit
 
9 Take time to write a good ERAS application and PS- this is a major issue. Students push it out too much and in the end they do a shabby job. Mistakes in your ERAS CV and personal statements can come back to haunt you. They can prove very costly.  Start early and keep improving the ERAS CV. Target first draft by late July. Personal statement can be more time consuming for some students but it is a very important part of your application. Having helped over a thousand applicants over the years in their ERAS CV and Personal statement, we know the time and effort it takes and the common mistakes that can creep in. So spend time, and don’t rush on your ERAS CV and PS.
10 Last but may be the most crucial part is the interview preparation. This can be the make or break for your residency chances. For many of you residency interviews may be the first formal interviews you may face. But that does not mean you can’t perform well. It will need a lot of practice. What you will need is to start thinking about your experiences- from medical school, work, volunteering and so on. These experiences- will give you the content to answer most of the questions- for example around team work, leadership, mistakes, success and so on. Again, don’t leave the preparation till you get the first interview invite. As you are working on your CV and personal statement, the content for many of these interview focus areas should be gathered.
 
The match plan is all about Controling the controllables. Time is precious start early. We have had 20 year YOG, 15 year YOG, multiple attempts, visa seeking applicants match. Takes time, commitment and execution of well thought out plans.  If you need help, let us know. Like I mentioned, we have a free profile review that you can sign up for to get guidance on your match plan.