How To Complete Your Most Challenging Tasks of 2022 as an IMG

If you are an international medical student or graduate seeking to start residency in any of the 135 specialites in the USA next June, then this is for you! You don't want to regret missing out on this HUGE opportunity! 

Join the waitlist to be considered for the next round of the IMG roadmap course. The only course that helps you become a more competitive applicant for residency. Seats are limited. Sign up here to be considered!

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Everyone has goals. It just takes persistence, discipline and consistency to achieve them. As an IMG you are sure to have challenging tasks that you need to accomplish in order to be successful. How do you plan to do so in 2022? Keep listening to this session held by Dr. Lum with the IMG Roadmap class where she outlines strategies that work and answers all of your burning questions!

What is the general strategy you can employ to identify and complete your tasks?

• Write down three things you want to achieve this year.

• Ensure that they are specific IMG career goals. 

• Ask yourself: What is standing between you and your goal?

• Are there any difficulties you have pinpointed?

Goals always start off with a vision. It takes small cumulative steps to achieve that goal. Do not view your dreams as insurmountable.

Self-improvement is important in accomplishing your goals. Here are some key tools to help you carry this out:

1. Self discipline: 

   • Be clear about what you are going for. 

   • Make yourself do what you need to do within the time you allotted for the task!  

   • Stay Focused and manage your time;

2. Mastery of your time:

   • How do you currently spend your time?

   • Do you have clarity? Write out your goals so that you can strategize. 

   • Write down what you did with every hour of your day.

   • How can you make more time? 

   • Be self-aware!

3. Rank tasks from most difficult to least difficult.

4. Begin with small steps.

5. Eliminate procrastination.

6. Stop taking on much more than you can handle. Avoid over committing yourself by prioritizing. 

How can you create a strong Letter of Intent (LOI)?

• Focus on answering this question: Why is it important for you to match there?

• LOIs should be sent in accordance with the rules of the program. Normally, they should be addressed to the program director.

• List the reasons you are interested in ranking the programl first.

• Then, let them know what you can do for the program. What makes you stand out?

• Make specific, concrete references to your  interviews with the program. 

What are some key considerations before creating your rank list?

• Do you truly want to train there and to live there for three to four years?

• Does it fit in with your long term career goals?

• What was the quality of your Interaction with the program on interview day?

•  Was there any post interview communication?  Use your intuition!

• If your list is shorter, rank the programs you feel instinctively that you have a higher chance of matching into. If you have more options, you can consider your desires. 

• Inform the programs that you are ranking that you will be ranking them.

How can you prepare for USMLE?

• You don’t need to stop what you are doing, you should keep your job to build your CV.

• Focus on study and work only.

• Use a Q-bank like USMLE world, and break it down into small pieces:

  •  Make notes to learn from each question. 

  • Identify the educational objectives of the question, look at the corresponding video resource if you did not understand the first time, then look for high yield points and write them down.

• Review the notes you have taken in your down time!

• Next time you do the questions, time yourself to improve speed and efficiency.

• Do NBME’s to assess your readiness. Use results to guide future studying 

Is doing research in your home country as valuable as having done it in the US?

• Program directors are not looking for experts, they are looking for students. They are just interested in whether you have mastered the fundamentals of research!

• IMGs such as Dr. Agrawal had never even been to the US, but matched partially due to the research she had done in India.

For more coaching like this feel free to sign up on the waitlist for the next cohort of the IMG Roadmap course. 

You can also listen to the full episode on Apple, Spotify & Google Podcasts.