Eras Caf Help I Got Nothin'

[Austin-Flint]

Guys, I've got nothing, that's how I feel about my ERAS CAF.

I'm an IMG.I have no medical school awards, nor other awards or accomplishments (not that I'm not a great guy), nor membership in any honorary or professional societies. During our first two years of Med school, we were given a month off after our summer modules and mainly I would use the month to regroup. I have two children, when I wasn't at school or home studying all the time, I was helping out around the house and spending time with them, is that so wrong. During the summer after our third year, I used my two electives towards writing my thesis for our university’s requirement of research, but it's not published in any literature, it only sits in our university library. Then, our entire forth year was a 12 month paid internship.

-Can I at lease include the internship as "experience", even though it was just normal curriculum?
-I do have some US clinical experience in Internal Medicine, aside from the LoR, is there a place in the CAF for this?
-On a side note, up until now I was always told just to go for US LoR’s, and that’s what I have done for the most part. However, now as I begin to research internal medicine programs, I see that they specifically ask for a letter from the internal medicine chair of my university. Aside from my MSPE, do I really need a letter from the chair of my international university?

On Step I I got a 218/88, Step IICK in early August (feeling confident), CS in Oct.

Thanks in advance for all input.

Austin.

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[chicamedica]

Guys, I've got nothing, that's how I feel about my ERAS CAF.

I'm an IMG.I have no medical school awards, nor other awards or accomplishments (not that I'm not a great guy), nor membership in any honorary or professional societies. During our first two years of Med school, we were given a month off after our summer modules and mainly I would use the month to regroup. I have two children, when I wasn't at school or home studying all the time, I was helping out around the house and spending time with them, is that so wrong. During the summer after our third year, I used my two electives towards writing my thesis for our university’s requirement of research, but it's not published in any literature, it only sits in our university library. Then, our entire forth year was a 12 month paid internship.

-Can I at lease include the internship as "experience", even though it was just normal curriculum?
-I do have some US clinical experience in Internal Medicine, aside from the LoR, is there a place in the CAF for this?
-On a side note, up until now I was always told just to go for US LoR’s, and that’s what I have done for the most part. However, now as I begin to research internal medicine programs, I see that they specifically ask for a letter from the internal medicine chair of my university. Aside from my MSPE, do I really need a letter from the chair of my international university?

On Step I I got a 218/88, Step IICK in early August (feeling confident), CS in Oct.

Thanks in advance for all input.

Austin.

Well first off, the thesis is DEFINITELY a publication. It's copyrighted isn't it? And it's available in the library for public perusal right? Just cite it as a proper thesis citation would be made. Also, if you presented any abstracts at meetings or conferences, those are pubs too. Dont worry if you dont have any awards. Most applicants dont.

As for your thesis experience. . .you should describe it in more detail somewhere on the application, either in the essay or in the section for research descriptions (if it was research) or in the work/volunteer experience section.

You should also describe major commitments you had in undergrad (if any).

As for your family, that definitely sounds like an extracurricular activity to me! You should definitely touch upon that being a major part of your extracurricular life in your essay.

I think you're gonna be fine!

 

[Austin-Flint]

Chica, thank you for your help, I feel better. Maybe you're definately right about the thesis, but I was thrown by the CAF having additional fields for organization/volume/publication etc...

Please, does anyone have any advice about including a 12-month paid internship as "experience" even it was just fourth year curriculum at my university.

Also, I've also been told not to rely on foreign/international LoR's. Now I see that many program directors request one from the department chair of your school. Do I really need to seek one out?

Thanks again chicamedica.