board requirement chart

AK,
CT,
not both

usmle step3 reg

From the Federation of State Medical Boards "USMLE [United States Medical
Licensing Examination] Step 3 FAQs [Frequently Asked Questions]" web page.
http://www.fsmb.org/stp3faq.htm

"Is postgraduate training required to sit Step 3?

Most states require that an individual have completed a portion of their
postgraduate training prior to sitting for Step 3. However, the following
states do not require postgraduate training to sit for Step 3:

Arkansas
California
Connecticut
Florida
Louisiana***
Maryland***
Nebraska*
Nevada
New York
North Carolina**
South Dakota
Texas
Utah*
Virginia
Washington
West Virginia
Wyoming**

*valid, indefinite ECFMG certificate required for international medical
graduates
**applies only to domestic medical graduates
***Training required at fourth attempt
..."

There are some caveats to the states listed above and other states as
well, so you should read the referenced page for the details, such as
the following.

"Will I be required to apply for a medical license when I apply to take
Step 3?

The following licensing authorities require that you apply for licensure
at the same time you are applying to take Step 3: Alabama, District of
Columbia, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, New
York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Wisconsin."

I have found nothing that suggests that if you have completed the USMLE
Step 3 examination you would be prohibited from a residency program in
the states not listed above.

It appears to be more a situation wherein the medical licensing authority
for which you are sitting the exam determines if they require that you have
postgraduate training prior to sitting for Step 3, rather than the other
way around.

This makes sense in that if you start your residency in Arkansas, that
allows you to take your USMLE Step 3 before you started, and then you
wanted to complete your residency in Colorado, they are not going to
stop you because you have "pretested" for the USMLE Step 3.

Back From Interviews

Back from interview
Thursday, January 12, 2006

Finally, I am done with interviews.

The places are pleasant and attractive to me. Interestingly, the prospectives from different faculty members regarding the same residency program are quite different. Some are even contrary.

BMC has large volume of surg path, almost 45k per year for total 4 interns (last year 3). Busy schedule, such as 7-8pm with occasionally 10-11pm. They had wonderful faculty members, but no research projects are really carried out, except some small translational ones with abstracts in USCAP. Location wise, it's a good choice, however, it may not be that preferable for New Yorker.

N program has strong research, but apparently fewer clinical experts. Case vollume is reasonable in my view. The advantage is the research opportunities and maybe lighter schedule. Very friendly to IMGs. I guess AMG are not interested in such a program that produces good academic pathologist. They want to practice. Board exams performance was wonderful, partially due to their low work load.

M program has busy schedule and large volume. Supporsely, it gave one of the best residency training in clinical pathology. Research was minimal but still exists. Board performance sucks the year before, however, they were aware of the problem and last-year residents did pretty well.

Both M and N have good career outcome such as pretigious fellowship.

Called PDs

Today, I called several programs for status of their process for interview.

-W: Done with all interviews, and the rank list was set. Am I on it? Dont know.
-K: They're just done with interviews the day before. The committee will review tomorrow or the day after. BTW, their interviews are all hold on Mon.
-M: Not done with interviews till Jan 30. Have to wait...
-MS: Not done with interview till late Jan. Wait...
-N: Done with and had a good talk with PD. We'll both rank high. Also almost arrange an obervership, that'll enhance my experience.
-B: Good talk with PD. Nice person. Unfortunately, they did not have the pre-match available for me. Coz she took the offer. BTW, I met her at our interview with N.

Good Luck to all of our fellow residency candidates.