Couples Match in IM and Neurosurgery
- Non-US IMG
- Step 1 : 250
- Step 2 CK : 265
- Step 2 CS : PASS
- Step 3 : 233
- One prior attempt at matching
- Couples matched in Neurosurgery & IM
Hey Dr Barone,
I am an IMG from Brazil and I had classes with you for the step 1 in NYC in 2017. I have just seen your post and would like to let you know I’ve got a couples match in Neurosurgery and my fiancée in IM!
Thanks for the help with step 1, your classes rock! I took a picture with you and posted on my facebook and mentioned that some professors make things that seem “impossible” to learn or memorize “less hard”, and those are the real professors the ones that make us believe and make the difference in our lives as students. Especially when we are so naive in this process, starting the study for the step 1. So, I’m really grateful to you and everyone that helped me someway to get here!
I would love to help anyone, sharing my story or talking with someone interested in Neuro or couples match. I was helped a lot for the past years, I’d love to help people go through it. It’s possible!!!!
My story starts 5 years ago when me and my fiancé finally decided that we wanted to pursue our residency in the US, I was in the 3rd year of Med school (In Brazil we follow the European model so, 6 years of Med school). So I took the Kaplan live prep, did the Qbank, UWorld(2x), Anki(lots of cards every day), and FA (4x), studied for about 1 year, around 10 hours per day. Did my step 1 and got 250.
After that I took 4 months off (I needed because I was exhausted, but I would advice less time between tests because there is a lot of step 1 in CK). Then I tried to manage my 5th year of Med school with around 8 hours of study per day. Used to wake up early, and do a block of questions before going to the hospital, and every break I had I used to revise questions. For CK I basically used UW(2x) and UW for step 3(1x), also did the CMS at the NBME website, got 265. In my opinion CK depends a lot on what you learned during Med school and qbanks have a bit less weight here when compared to step 1, but they are still the best source.
After that I studied for CS for 1.5 months, did a prep course and took the test in Atlanta and passed(1st attempt). So before my last year of Med school I had all my tests done, missing just step 3. During my last year of Med school I did 4 Sub-Is, all hands on and got letters from all the places (3 in Gen Surg and 1 in Neurosurg).
By the end of my last year of Med school I applied (match 2020), but without my ECFMG certificate yet just got 3 IVs for Gen Surg and none for Neurosurg. So, I decided not ranking any of the programs as my main goal was Neurosurg!
…so started to look for positions as a research fellow. I emailed every single department asking for a position, I had almost no experience in research, and in the meanwhile I got an email from one neurosurgeon from my country saying that one of his friends from the US got one of my emails and wanted some reference from me. The position was not funded so it end up not working but in a conference he introduced me to another neurosurgeon who had an opening and I send my CV, interviewed and got the position. So after 3 months out of Med school I started a research fellow. I worked extremely hard, had no weekends, worked the whole days, my main goal was to have at least a manuscript written every 2-3 weeks. And end up being an extremely productive year.
In the following match season I had +50 items on my research part of my application and about 20-30 manuscripts published/accepted/submitted. I also did my step 3 during this year, got 233, studied almost 2 months and used only UW and CCS cases.
I end up having 15 interviews, 12 in Gen Surg and 3 in Neurosurg. We tried to apply as broadly as possible since we were doing the couples match. My fiancé ended up getting interviews in the places where I got interviews for Neurosurg, but in very few of the places that I had interviews for Gen Surg. We decided not display in our application we were applying as a couple, although being told that it would increase the chance by others because we thought as IMGs it might have changed the way programs were ranking us. As an IMG, applying for Neurosurg in a couple match, I have been told multiple times it would be impossible, but thank God we made it. We couple matched in Neurosurg + IM!!!!
At the end of this journey, I would say there is no linear pathway, or a successful playbook for the match. I believe each one has your own pathway and it can work. I would say for very competitive specialties having fairly high scores, clinical experience, and research is essential, but it does not guarantee you a position. You need to get into the system, really show your value to people in the US who can advocate on your behalf,it may take 1 year but most of the time takes more. This process is all about resilience, as the Rocky quote says “ It ain’t about how hard ya hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward... that’s how winning is done!” I am extremely grateful to God, my family, friends and all my professors that helped me made it possible.
N. S.
March 2021
Photo credit: ©2019 Robina Weermeijer Unsplash.com