Developing Connections to Achieve your Dreams!
- Step 1 : 209 (First attempt)
- Step 2 : 229 (First attempt)
- Step 2CS : Pass (First attempt)
- Gap: 12 years
- One failed attempt to match
- Mother of 2 young children!
Here's the success story of a mother of 2 young children with a graduation gap of 12 years, low USMLE scores, and a failed attempt at matching who used her connections to reach her dreams!!!
Dear Dr. Barone:
I graduated from med school in Colombia in 2006. My goal was to come to the United States and take the USMLEs as soon as possible. When I got here I figured out I needed to improve my English skills so I enrolled in some classes. Also I needed money to buy good study materials to prepare better for the steps. I had to start from the bottom so I took a job as a housekeeper then a cashier and later on I found a clinic that allowed me to work as a medical assistant without a certificate.
On May of 2008, I went to Pasadena and took a Step 1 live prep class with Kaplan where I met you. When I came back to Reno I continued working as a medical assistant at the same clinic. Life happened and I fell in love. 
Unfortunately I procrastinated my studies, a mistake that I am dearly paying for. I started my own family and I decided to put my studies on a side so I could take care of my baby. When she turned 2-years-old I resumed my studies for step 1 but it was very hard to find enough time to study while working full time, being a wife and a mother. I spoke with HR and the CEO of the clinic to see if they would do an exception and let me work part time. I told them my story and they decided to help me. I was working Monday through Wednesday and I was studying the rest of the days.
Finally after about a year of studying I took my chance and I took step 1 on February of 2015. I passed on first attempt butI only scored 209. My mistake was that I got annoyed after studying for several years for the same exam. After studying with high yield Kaplan I did some questions with UWorld but I didn’t finish it and this affected my speed on answering the questions at the actual exam.
For Step 2, I decided to do more practice questions. I studied several months from Kaplan and I wanted to do Uworld twice but I got pregnant on the middle of my studies so because of the tiredness I was only able to do the bank one and a half time. I thought about postponing my exam but after I stopped my studies due to my first pregnancy and losing precious time I decided not do the same mistake and pushed myself so I took step 2 on November 2016 being one month and a half pregnant. Thank God I passed with a better score, 229. But again not high enough.
I kept pushing myself and after studying for a few months I took step 2 CS on February 2017. I was about 5 months pregnant. My mistake during this exam was that I didn’t practice enough in the computer typing the notes so in the actual exam I was always running out of time when I was typing my notes and writing my differential diagnosis after each patient. Again I was lucky and I passed! I barely made it on the written part of this test.
On July 11 of 2017, I had my baby boy. Since I was done with the steps required to apply for residency I decided to apply. Unfortunately I did not spend time doing research and did not ask around about how to apply smart for a residency. I only applied to 34 programs and only on the West coast. I was not ready to move across the country if I happened to match. Also I sent my application 2 weeks late. No wonder why I didn’t get any interview invitation. I still had hope and was very positive that I was gonna find a spot during SOAP but again I only applied on the West coast. I didn’t get any calls. I was devastated.
This time I did send my applications right away so I thought that the problem was not applying late for residency, it was me as a candidate. This kind of opened my eyes and made me realize that matching into a program after having a big gap after graduation and regular USMLE scores will be harder than I thought. I was very depressed and I thought that this was gonna be the end of my career. I didn’t think I have worthy connections and that I was lost.
After few weeks I put myself together and I decided to listen to that inner voice telling me to not give up and to have faith. That if I work hard and smart I can probably make it. So I remembered I met this girl that was volunteering at the clinic I worked at about 4 years ago. She was trying to get into med school and she did. She even invited me to her white coat ceremony. I tried to help her out when she was volunteering. I contacted her and she just graduated from school and she matched into a program at Rochester. I talked to her about my frustrations and I asked her for advise. She spoke with some IM residents that she met during her rotations and one of them actually texted me. She explained to me that I needed to do some research or some observerships in order to make connections with people from the programs and to work on Step 3.
I decided to focus building the connections and later take the step 3. Unfortunately the medical director of the IM program here in Reno created a policy last year stating that observers were not welcomed. Again I felt like this journey was proving to be impossible for me. I spoke back with the girl that helped me and she told me to text the other resident. He told me he knew an attending nephrologist that likes helping people and that she might let me shadow her. She was a blessing for me. She let me shadow her and had me work with the actual residents of the IM program. I was living the dream. Tagging along with the residents made me want more than ever to match into a program! I was desperate and I wanted to do more. Since I work in a clinic I thought I could use advantage of this so I asked 2 doctors if I can shadow them as well and they were very glad to help me. I think this helped a lot improving my CV.
At the same time I did research in how to apply smart for residency and I learned that candidates like me have to apply to at least 100 programs and that I needed to apply in the East coast and to make sure that the programs were immigrant friendly. So last September I sent my application again but this time I sent it to 134 programs. Mostly on the East cost and the program here in Reno.
Back in 2017, a classmate from med school offered to help me getting an interview with the program were she did her residency but I didn’t take her offer since this program was at New York. So Last year I contacted her and I told her I applied to most of the IM programs at NY. I asked her if she could still help me getting an interview. She tried to do it but my scores did not qualify for her program. She asked her husband’s best friend who worked at a hospital in New York to help me too. He was very kind and helped me getting an interview with them!!!
Because of the connections I made I also got an interview with the program here in Reno. Also I got an interview at a new program in Fresno which was shocking to me since I had no connections there. I didn’t do step 3. I tried joining a research but they only took medical students here in Reno. Since I couldn’t accomplish these other key points to become a better candidate I prepared extremely well for the interviews. My interview at NY was the third one and because of this I felt like It went great! Last March I received the best email ever saying, congratulations you have matched! I matched at the hospital in NY where my friends husband helped me get an interview!!! I think the observerships and the connections did the trick!
My advise; never give up! What are the odds for a mother of 2 with a graduated gap of 12 years and regular USMLE scores to match? Well for a while I thought that it was none. But I never lost faith! Something inside of me was telling me to keep pushing forward that I was gonna make it and I did. It is very hard for a working mother like me to overcome all the obstacles in order to match into a residency but it's not imposible! If I did it you can do it too!!
A.V. April 29, 2019