怎样在美国成为医生 (2): Interview and Match

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上次谈到了USMLE的一些基本问题. 这次谈谈如何面试和成功找到Program.

先澄清两个误解:

有的Program要求从医学院毕业不能超过10年(或者7, 5年). 确实有这种Program. 很多吗? 我看未必. 别忘了, 美国有几千个Program, 你可以申请别的Program. 如果你离开医学院超过10年了, 但是你已经做了很多年内科医生, 现在要联系内科的住院医生, 这应该是你的长处, 要善加利用. 因为有的专业是可以Waiver掉一年的. 作为有经验的医生, 你做住院医生的主要目的不是training, 而是为了有资格参加specialty board, 以便将来行医.

没有绿卡不能做住院医生? 错!

我有时候挺佩服印度人的干劲, 虽然对有些印度人的人品不是很佩服. 他们才不管什么J visa or waiver 的问题, 先当上医生再说. 曾经有个印度人跟我说过: 当上了医生, 什么样的好律师请不到, 哪有解决不了的身份. 至于H1B 签证怎么办, 如何通过J visa 办绿卡,我将在下一贴里详讲.

现在来谈谈如何申请Program.

1. USMLE score: This is the most important part for general people (I mean most of us have no experience in the US hospital).

2. Personal Statement: The second important part. This is probable the only way to show your written English to the program director. When the Hi-Tech was still hot, there were several pretty good websites run by some MD to present some wonderful sample PS for various specialties. Unfortunately, most of them are closed now. You can search Google to see if something could pop out. I do still have some collections, and would like to post here if anybody shows interests. But keep in mind, just as reference, do not copy them. If you can find them from internet, others can find them as well.

3. Recommendation letters: If you can get a letter from a MD, you may switch this with the 2nd part (PS). Most of us are working in the medical schools. Try to find some collaborators from clinical department. Trust me, most the US doctors are for practice only. They don’t really have any publications. Therefore, if you put his/her name on you paper, or even a conference abstract, they will be really happy.

这时候要封推荐信就是水到渠成的事了. 发挥你的聪明才智, 至少找到一封MD的推荐信．

4. Medical school tranxxxx and dean letter: The least important parts. Regarding the tranxxxx, average is OK. If you can’t get the dean’s letter, don’t even bother. Just tell ERASE you medical school does not provide it.

如果你想联系不同的Program，一定要下点功夫写完全不同的PS．一个专业一般申请20到30个Program应该就够了. 一般的规律是这样, 拿到了一个interview就会拿到很多, 拿不到的往往就一个也拿不到.

一般的申请范围包括: NY, New England area, PA, NJ, MD, TX, FL and CA. In Middle West, you can try IL, MI, WI, and IN. Those states, esp. NY, are called FMG friendly area. Here the “friendly” does not mean they are really nice to FMG. Instead, they need FMG to fill the residency position. Otherwise, they will lose the federal government support (mainly from Medicare financially). Unless you really have some special reasons, don’t bother to apply for the programs in the South.

Call the program before you apply through ERASE. Make a question list before you call, such as:

How many FMG do you have?

What is the minimal USMLE score?

What kind visa do you sponsor (if you have a visa issue)?

Do you have any house allowance (esp in some metropolitan area)?

etc.

现在到了interview的时候了. 一旦有了interview, 你就成功了一大半了. 因为一旦进入了interview, 其他的条件, 包括USMLE scores, PS, Recommendation letters已经变得无所谓了. 这时候 Program director看重的有两条: Communication ability and personality. Communication refers to your spoken English, and personality refers to how easy you can get along with people.

As for the communication ability, don’t be scared about your accent. As in CS exam of step 2, they know you are a foreigner, and they don’t care your accent. As long as they can understand you, you will be OK. For most of us, having working here for several years either as a student or researcher, this is not a big problem. Just practice some common questions before you go for interview.

Regarding the personality, you have to convince the program director that you are a team worker, instead of trouble maker. How? I guess you can write a book about this issue.

Actually, those two issues should have been addressed in your recommendation letters. All you need to do is just emphasizing those and impress the interviewers.

Sometimes, talking some life topics during the interview may be even better that the medical issues. Based on my personal experience (I had been interviewed and interviewed people), you should try to control the interview, but don’t let the interviewer feel any pressure. Having a casual talk, so people will feel you would be a nice one. Having a sport or music topic, people will feel you would be an interesting one. When you interviewer is a talkative one, your job will be very simple: just listening with a little bit of follow up. If your interviewer is a shy person, you should try to control the speed of the talk so that the interview won’t finish in 10 min while it is supposed to be 30 min. Don’t be too aggressive, because nobody like to be pushed forward.

如果大家有兴趣, 我还可以继续谈一些相关的问题.

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