A bit confused with the process!

[zeyad]

Hey

I've been finding it hard to determine how the matching into residencies process works. Do we start matching during final year? Do we not do the intern year (assuming we get one in Ireland)? And if we DO match in final year, do we go straight into our residency traninig or do we do an intern/general training year in the US before starting? Sorry for my ignorance!

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[leorl]

yes, this is a confusing subject. Basically what happens is this: Hopefully, you apply for the match during your final year (in September of your final year) if you have the necessary requirements completed (USMLEs, suitable electives, etc.). Hopefully you get some interviews, which you complete anywhere between November and February of your final year. You find out if you Match around March 15th of your final year. These jobs are due to start July 1st after you graduate.

Now, this gets a little confusing because some fields require a preliminary intern year in either medicine or surgery (for instance, some radiology, EM programs require it just to name a few). In which case, in your application and interviewing, you have also applied to preliminary programs as well. So you match both into a prelim and into the field of your choice. You do your prelim year first (intern year) and then go to the program you matched in for your specialty choice. Either way, these prelim programs also start on July 1st.

In order to do an intern year in Ireland, you would have not gone through the Match during your final year. Once you Match, it is binding...you have to start with the program you matched with on July 1st, and you will have to sign a contract. Unless you have a very very very good reason not to. Therefore, you would not even apply for an intern post in Ireland.

 

[zeyad]

Thank you for that, made things so much clearer. A couple more questions please:
1) Can you apply to match after/during your intern year in Ireland? What would be the benefits of doing an intern year in Ireland?
2) Can you match into prelim surgery/medicne and not match into your speciality? what happens then?

Thanks

 

[leorl]

yes you can. the benefits include full registration with the irish med council, which could be useful if you might think about returning to europe in the future. Also, money...you can earn a crapload of money during your intern year depending which specialties you do your intern year and how hard you're willing to work. keep in mind that in the future, it might become increasingly difficult for non-EU citizens to get a job here. It has already come to the point where non-EUs will be chosen last.

If you match into prelim and not your specialty, you just do your prelim year and reapply for the match that same year. try to get experience in your field in the first few months of your prelim for additional recommendation letters and to "prove" yourself.

 

[EricaGrl]

Hi!

This is a cool thread. I am hoping to start medical school in Ireland next fall and have been wondering about the timeline for matching into a US residency, especially since two of the specilties I am interested in- EM and Anesthesiology- require a preliminary year. So thank you for the answers Leorl.

I was wondering how the whole interview process for the match works if you want to go straight from med school into a US residency. I totally understand that Irish schools do not "cater" for NA students when it comes to USMLE prep and electives, the schools being _Irish_ medical schools. But are the schools accepting of NA/EU students wanting to do their residency in the US? And when interview time comes for those taking part in the Match, do final year medics get given time off to attend their interviews or do they have to inconspiciously sneak off?

Also, how many interviews do USMLE applicants from Irish med schools on average seem to get? You said that the interview period runs from November through February. Isn't it really expensive/inconvenient to fly to several different interviews (Ireland-USA) if they are not scheduled one after another? Or do you know if applicants can influence when they have their interviews?

Anyways, thank you in advance for your help! I'm sorry if these questions have already been answered elsewhere- I did try searching the forums but I'm still a bit confused.

 

[leorl]

Hallo! Basically, you try to schedule all your interviews at around the same time. It is vital that you get all your information into ERAS as soon as it opens (September 15th) so that you can hopefully start getting notifications of interviews and planning accordingly. Yes, you may be able to arrange interviews to suit your schedule but it's not completely flexible. No, the Irish hospitals do not give you time off...so yes, you basically don't tell them unless they ask. They usually will not penalize you if you say you're doing interviews and you'll make up the time with self-learning. However, it may hurt you in terms of putting in "face time" with the consultants, but at the end of the day, your interviews and even getting US electives is more important from your perspective. This is an issue that may be addressed by the angry mob that will descend on the schools and hospitals once exams are over .

There was a Canadian doing second iteration interviews in my year who actually had to fly home for an interview the weekend before the written examinations started. The Canadian schools are better at offering phone interviews as well.

Regarding how many interviews - that's difficult to say. It depends on what specialty and the strength of the application. For the two who actually went through the Match in my year, they both did IM and both got a good handful of interviews (10-12 or so?)...they say 7-8 interviews offered is the statistical magic number. And I think both of them got pre-match offers (they didn't accept them).

 

[Maevlyn]

Is it possible for an IMG to apply for an Internship in Ireland?

 

[EricaGrl]

Hi,

Thanks for the reply Leorl. The answers were helpful Getting 10-12 interviews sounds pretty impressive. They must have been pretty good applicants. Even 7-8 interview offers sounds like plenty to me. Then again, I'm but a lowly med school applicant

I know prematch offers are only given to indpendent applicants i.e. not US med school seniors. So do pre-match offers get given to people even before applications for the match are submitted? Or are they early offers given by med schools, without interviews, to independent applicants they really like?

Hope you don't mind me bugging you with these questions. I know it's a bit early to be thinking about matching when I haven't even started med school yet.

 

[leorl]

maevlyn, yes - although I believe this will become increasingly harder. Especially if you are non-EU.

Pre-matches are the perogative of the program directors. It would be very unusual for a prematch to occur without interviews or some prior knowledge of the applicant. However, perhaps someone has very high connections and is willing/committed to work with that program... again, it would be rare for it to occur outside the match. But not saying it's not impossible that someone could secure a job completely outside the match. This would be very very very rare.

Usually, pre-matches are given to applicants during the interview trail. A program directly really likes a particular applicant, and thinks he/she would do very well in the program. Or, has received prior information about an applicant (like the applicant used to work / do research for that institution, or has done an elective there and really impressed faculty/staff at that institution). It sounds very nice, but if offered a pre-match, you'd have to be very very careful about accepting it... you have to know that the program is what you want, and not just take it out of shear desperation.

 

[EricaGrl]

The deal with prematch offers makes much more sense now. Thank you for the clarification