I'm wondering if any of you have a similar issue. My residency officially begins July 1st and as we all know, I'll need my ECFMG Certificate in order to start. Well, the only thing I need to get the certificate is a copy of my Diploma. I'm at SGU and our grad is hella late: June 12th. They've informed us that we only get our Diploma a couple of weeks AFTER that. Soooooooooooo as you can see there is no way in hell I'll have my certificate in time by July 1st. My residency program knows this and they are willing to let me have a "delayed start". Well screw that!!! Anyone know any ways around this??? HELP

I'm pretty sure that June 12 is just the ceremony date. I know they are having at least 2 diploma dates this year. They just had one on April 10 and another one is going to be in May. If you finish your rotations and have your evaluations in before the May date you should be good to go. They'll Fed-ex your diploma to you. Check with the school.

I end rotations May 31st and my orientation is June 12th. I doubt ECFMG will certify me in two weeks time unfortunately.

I'm in a similar situation...any more info on the whole graduation thing versus completing requirements?
I'll be done all my rotations October 23. Graduation is January 9.
It would be real nice if I could start the ECFMG process in October, so I could complete step 3 cuz i want the H1B.
Thanks for your help.

Unfortunately you can't get Certification until your diploma is in hand. However, I do belive that you can take Step 3 before then. Somebody else may be better able to explain how but there are some states, I think Connecticut is one, where you can take the Step.

I think ECFMG certification is required before taking Step 3.
Most states also require one year of post graduate training, but some states (i.e. CT) don't require it, so those are the states that you can register with in order to take Step 3 before residency in order to qualify for the H1B.
Please correct me anyone if this is not accurate.
Thanks!

Sounds about right - tryin to do it as we speak: graduate dec, take step 3 Jan. Hope it works out.