Thanks Picard, FMG is in itself with its limitations, but I have noticed its not void advantages. Personally, I am sort of an international school junky.

Speaking of which, how does one's undergraduate education/universities and degrees play into the residency selection? Personally, the road to medicine was not a well mapped course for me, but I beleive I have strong (although very non-medical) undergraduate credentials. For example, my sometimes eclectic education ranges from a Harvard teaching certificate to Medieval Literature Scholarships at Queen's University in the UK or later working for the DEP as conservational researcher on endangered species to a history of atheletics really taking off with my olympic experience in '94 as U-18 Goalkeeper for the US soccer team. I sometimes don't know how I am where I am, but that this is exactly where I need to be. I know I was never from a family of doctors (I will be the first), and I did not take any medical realted fields in undergrade (I came to point where I had to take my MCAT without even taking Physics). The point being, I don't even know how one's undergraduate education or excurricular activities, or previous jobs are even connected to residencies, if at all. Does anyone know? Its nice to hear feedback, because everyone's advice and perspective are informational. So here I begin this road with a weird educational background, as an FMG with a 218 step 1....

Thanks for all the input, its useful.

*****