If you want to read in a super fast mode, just go through the bold typed sentences.
I am compelled to write about the whole process because I realize that there might be many FMGs who could get in situations just like I was in when applying for the USMLE exam. This document will help you in times when you get stuck somewhere in the process. This is especially intended for those who are from medical schools where not many students or graduates are USMLE oriented. The document is not a straightforward abc steps rather I have inculcated my personal experience along the steps sequence wise to emphasize on the facts that at some point you are likely to face some bumps and that you should get an idea after reading this on how to plan your time of application, how to go about the road bumps in your application and how much time each step takes. If you are in a hurry, jump to Application steps along with my personal timeline below. If you don’t give a crap about the long story I have written and want to go on a super fast mode, just go through the bold sentences.
Just some quick pro tips.
1. At the beginning of each year , USMLE fees are revised and are actually raised by almost 35 to 40 dollars (Form 186 fee + Exam fee) . Similarly Uworld online fees are also raised by 20 to 25 dollars so If let’s say you want to take the exam in June or July or any month in 2021 and are tight on the exam fee, you can save 60 to 70 dollars by applying for the exam before the start of new year (start the process in the beginning of December 2020) and also buying uworld before 31st December 2020. You don’t have to ‘activate’ uworld right away after buying. You can buy it and then activate it whenever you intend to use it the next year.
2. Always stay in touch with the ECFMG representatives on phone during the whole exam application process. Call them after every few days or a week. Ask them about your application status, whether your app has some discrepancies, ask them about whether your medical school is responding to them in time or whether your school is doing their job correctly on their part. Also keep in touch with your medical school designated official for the ecfmg after ecfmg starts correspondence with them for your credentials verification. There have been cases when medical school mistakenly sent wrong information about an applicant to the ecfmg like e.g. telling ecfmg that the applicant is not their student or graduate or sending wrong graduation or attendance dates or not even replying to ecfmg’s emails about applicant’s credentials verification.
Why am I writing about the process
I graduated from a medical school where not many students go for the US route after graduating so it is a bit hard to find someone in our school who could guide you about the process. Also in such scenarios the medical school officials are also incompetent, less trained and they may become the biggest obstacle in your way (e.g. not even knowing how to check the emails from ECFMG in their electronic web portal EMSWP, not communicating with ECFMG in time, sending wrong information about your graduation year or attendance dates etc). I tried to look up on internet about the process but I couldn’t find an updated guide as through years the application process gets some changes like the application becoming ‘more and more online’. Also the ECFMG have given guidelines on their website but they too have missed one or two very important steps in the application process and also sometimes don’t explain what to do when something goes wrong in the process. Also if your medical school participates in online correspondence with the ECFMG then they can really annoy you through the process if they are rusty and less trained. Also if you are just having bad luck, the ECFMG too can be annoying like in my case they were very slow in processing and verifying my application.
First of all you should carefully decide about when to start your application . When I was starting I read on the internet that the whole process can take from 30 to 40 days from the day of starting the application but in my case it took whole 4 months!!
Application steps along with my personal timeline.
Get an idea about time taken by each step from the dates from my personal experience
1. December 3, 2019. Get an ECFMG/USMLE ID. Go to ECFMG website. Click On-line services and then click IWA. You will apply for an ID there. They will ask for basic information at this time
2. December 13, 2019. Receive an email from the ECFMG with your new ECFMG/USMLE ID. Go to ECFMG On-line services and ‘establish an account’. Requires some basic information again. Receive a password in your email account afterwards.
3. December 14, 2019. Now you can log into ECFMG IWA using your ECFMG ID and password. You will first apply for ECFMG certification at this point . Pay $145 fee through a debit card and download Form 186 . You are required to notarize the FORM 186 online. Instructions are given with the form. Once you pay fee of $145, you will get an email from the notarycam. You will have to register with the notarycam online and then you can setup an online meeting anytime. It’s available 24/7. I set the meeting the same time. You need your original passport, computer with a webcam and a scanned formal photo of you in that computer. Now many people worry that whether they have to dress formally for that online meeting so the answer is that No! Don’t worry you can sit in your casual clothes but the online Notary rep will have to see your original passport and your face in the webcam and then you ask her that you would like to upload your formal photo which he/she will accept after matching it with your snap she took through the webcam. It takes 3-4 minutes. Then you will get an email from the notary that they have forwarded your Form 186 to the ECFMG.
December 18, 2019. ECFMG emails that they have received the Form 186.
December 24, 2019. ECFMG emails that my Form 186 has been accepted. Now you are allowed to apply for any USMLE exam (Step 1, CK or CS) through ECFMG IWA website.
December 25 and 26, 2019. I log into ECFMG IWA with my ecfmg ID and start online part of my USMLE Step 1 exam application. It’s a long application. You will have to enter details like start date of medical school, date of finishing your medical school classes, date of completing requirements for graduating medical school, date of graduation if you are already graduated. Keep your medical school documents with you at the time of filling the form. If you are not sure of some dates, try confirming with your medical school officials first because after you submit your online application, ECFMG will ask for the same information from your medical school afterwards and if the information don’t match, this may delay your application for very long.
After completing your online application, you will be asked to pay $1125 through your debit card. Now my debit card had a max limit of $700 transaction per day so I couldn’t pay the complete fee at one go. Here what you can do is to deposit half of the fee e.g. $560 one day. This money will go into you ECFMG Financial account and pay the remaining amount the next day. After your online part is submitted along with the exam fee, ecfmg will tell you at the end of application whether your medical school participates in the online verification of your credentials/documents or not. If your medical school participates in the online part then ECFMG will contact your medical school official designated for the job through EMSWP. If not then you will be asked to download Form 183. You will have to get that form signed/ stamped by your medical school dean and send it back through courier to ECFMG Philadelphia. But if at the end of your online part of application, ECFMG tells you that your school does this job online through EMSWP then you don’t have to worry about any Form 183.
The IMPORTANT part here (and this step is not even mentioned in the ecfmg application guidelines nor on their website nor do they notify you through email about this part) is that there is a requirement to send scanned photo of your original Medical School Diploma/Degree to ECFMG after you submit your online part of exam application. For this step you have to download My ECFMG app from google play store on your phone or tablet/Ipad, login with your ecfmg ID in the app and upload the scanned photo pdf of your diploma/degree in the My ECFMG application. You ‘dont’ have to upload your Transcript at this point.
December 26, 2019. My online part of exam application has been submitted, fee paid and uploaded medical school diploma through My ECFMG app on phone. (You can also email them your medical school diploma if you don’t have a phone that supports the play store My ECFMG app)
No email or update from the ECFMG after 26th December for 57 days!
I know this doesn’t happen to many but it happens to few. Especially I read on the internet that this can happen when you apply in January, February as ecfmg has huge work load in the residency match season so their priority is the match candidates and exam takers are the least priority.
February 21, 2020. After long 57 days, I get an email from ECFMG that they have received my medical education credentials and that they have contacted my medical school now to verify my credentials online and verify my graduate status (they were talking about my medical school diploma which I had uploaded online weeks ago! through My ECFMG app). In those 57 days I wasn’t just sitting on my ass. I would call the ecfmg after every 2 or 3 days and they would say that my application is ‘in process’ and the credentials department is going through my credentials. I was like what in the ever lovin’ fudge are they looking for in that single piece of paper. Then one day a nice lady representative of the ecfmg offered her courtesy that she would ask the credentials department specifically for ‘speeding up’ my application and that was when after 2 days of that call with her I got that email on 21st February. Still there was a long journey to go. All this crap was taking a lot of time off my exam prep.
Here is when my medical school official designated for the ECFMG related job showed her incompetency. She took almost 2 weeks to respond back to ECFMG with complete information. Again here is the part where ECFMG does not completely inform you about what requests they have sent to your medical school. They mentioned in My ECFMG app that they have requested my medical school for verifying my credentials and uploading my transcript on 21st February but they had also sent a separate request for asking whether I am a current student or a graduate. They had sent this request on 28th of february and had not mentioned this in My ECFMG app and also my school official wasn’t able to look for it in a separate tab in the online portal. I came to know about this over phone from the ecfmg after they repeatedly told me that my school has done an incomplete job. Sometimes school official would literally not find the emails in the EMSWP portal. Sometime she would be having internet issues. Some time she would go on a sick leave. I had to beg the ecfmg on phone to teach me how to use the portal so that I could teach the same to my school official on phone. After a few days she broke the news that the status verification is dealt by osme member of a faculty of our medical school and that she would ask him to check his part of the portal. After days they found the second request that ecfmg had sent my school and had not bothered to even mention in My ECFMG app. I should have been devoted to studying for the exam and yet here I was busy in this and getting super annoyed by it.
March 11, 2020. Received Email from ECFMG that my Step 1 application process has been completed, eligibility period (May-July) assigned. This email was sent to me 7 days after my medical school had completed request of credential verification and status verification through EMSWP on their part. Email mentioned that I would be notified about electronic scheduling permit for booking the exam date at prometric center later through another email.
March 14, 2020. Received my Schedulig permit from ECFMG in email. Book exam date within 10 minutes on prometric website.