USMLE journey from scratch to match with the support and guidance of the people in our lives

Hey guys! So quite a few of us would agree to the fact that we are fortunate enough to sail through this whole USMLE journey from scratch to match with the support and guidance of the people in our lives. Some of us, as we go through this journey are unfortunately faced with ‘Red Flags’ on our application. This can often induce thoughts about whether or not we should continue this journey, what the consequences would be, what the outcomes would be so on and so forth.

I want to share the story penned down by a friend who in spite of these hurdles, braved all odds and matched during this season and I could be nothing but proud of this fighter. (I request you to respect the fact that the person concerned wishes to remain anonymous)



Hello everyone,

I have matched into IM with a red flag in my CV and I want to share my experience of this journey.

I honestly don’t expect or in fact want anyone to follow it but I believe there is a big learning point, actually many! I wasn’t really sure if this was what I wanted, so I decided to first do an elective to aware myself of the healthcare system in the United States and to know if I can fit in well. I was in my third year of med school then. However, when I learned that most of the affordable electives required a Step 1 score, I decided to prepare for the same while simultaneously exploring my elective options. Because of the limited time and multiple things going on simultaneously, I targeted a score of 230s (since most of the people I knew then told me that is the minimum you have to have to match into IM) and that’s what I got. I finally got 3 electives, however all in Pediatrics. I went for my elective rotations during my internship and I really liked it there. At the same time I got well versed with the reality and learned that with a score of 230s, it is going to be very competitive. I then went to take my step 2 CS exam after elective rotations. After coming back and finishing my internship duties, I started preparing for step 2 CK since I had plans to apply that year in September in Pediatrics since all my elective rotations were in Peds and I had started liking it more. However, I got my CS results one month before my CK exam and to my surprise, it was a fail. I had never felt that much dejected in life, especially because I had never experienced failures before. I always was one of the toppers but this made me feel devastated. I had my CK in a month and I didn’t even know if I should continue or give up. I started reading forums, talked to as many people as I could to inquire about available options for me. Some suggested I should go ahead and apply and take CS again after applying; others suggested to wait for a year, do research, take step 3 and apply the next year. I was so confused and then I decided to first take my step 2 CK properly, although honestly I wasn’t in the right state of mind to take the exam but I still did. I got a score of 240s but eventually did not apply that year, and started applying for observerships and research while joining a housejob (non-academic JRship). I finally got a research position in Pediatrics, however when I reached there, HR department had some issues and it couldn’t get through. But because I was already in the States, I started looking for observerships and found some in IM. During my observership, I helped my mentor with some research projects; she liked my work and offered me a research position herself. Now I was so confused if I should go for it or not, since by then I had realized that my chances of matching into IM were very slim. But I still went for it because I loved medicine and that was what I wanted to do initially and eventually.

I also prepared for step 3 exam and wanted to pass it before applying so that it could compensate for the red flag in my CV. I applied for both IM and Peds while simultaneously preparing for the exam and continued with my research as well. I worked a lot on my application, had to write two personal statements where I did discuss my failure. I then took my step 3 exam and passed it fortunately. I started getting interview calls in late September itself but got most interviews in Pediatrics and only a couple in IM (that too very late). I still didn’t lose heart because it was definitely more than what I had expected. I was in fact ready to take a pre-match position in Pediatrics, but the irony is that I got an interview call from a very reputed program on the same day as that of the interview at the pre-match program and there were no other available dates. I again had to make a tough choice. I then decided to take the risk and go for the interview at the renowned program. I think I did well in interviews and honestly it was my failure in CS along with my research work that gave me an advantage to talk more to the interviewers and be remembered. While ranking I was again very confused because by then I loved both IM and Peds (still I never considered applying to Med-Peds because I didn’t want to carry the confusion for long). I ended up ranking IM over Peds and finally matched into IM.
I now wonder what if I had passed my CS in the first attempt?? Perhaps I could have applied the previous year but I wouldn’t have even considered applying to IM because I had no observerships or research in the same. Or I would have never learned to do proper research.

Learning points-

  1. Believe in yourself even when the situations go awry.
  2. Even if you have some red flags in your CV, DO NOT give up!
  3. Resilience and persistence is what pays you at the end because as they say, it is a very long and tiring journey indeed.
  4. Talk to more people, always explore more options, and never be ashamed to discuss your failures because we all have had it at some point in life; and it’s actually good to have them sooner because they make you stronger and more confident once you overcome them.
  5. Work hard during your rotations. If your mentor likes your work, they will write strong recommendations for you and will make sure that you match somewhere by writing emails and even making phone calls for you.
  6. Be honest and be YOU during your interviews but that doesn’t mean you won’t prepare and just wing the questions honestly. Preparation is must!
  7. Always make informed choices. Nobody can give you an exact answer to any question that might arise during this journey but still seeking maximum people’s opinion and then deciding for yourself always helps.
  8. Lastly, just keep doing your best and leave the rest to God!

Hope this helps someone with any red flag in their CV, struggling out there and looking for some help.

Good luck for the upcoming match!