Are IMG's in first or second round of the match?

[bubbleboy]

Hi, can someone verify this?

I am a canadian citizen IMG thinking of matching to the US

A friend of mine told me that US citizens/Greencards, are automatically in the 1st round of the match in the US. Are all non-US citizens/Greencards to be put automatically into the second round? I just want to know where I would stand in this.

[AUCMD2006]

there is no 1st or second round, this isn't like the nfl darft. look up on the nrmp website for the algorythm they use but it is basically you rank your programs from top to bottom and the hospitals rank the applicants based on who they want the most.

it all goes in a computer and they pair up your top choice with the hospitals top choice. for example if your #1 hospital ranked you #12, and they only have 6 spots and they fill them, then the computer tries to match you at your number 2 spot. if they ranked you #1 for 4 spots then you get your number 2 choice...if they however ranked you #10 and they fill up then you go to your third choice and so on.

[wcb22]

but if your question refers to preference for US citizens/green card holders, then all things being equal, yes, they'd rather not have the hassle of visas.

[stephew]

not applicable. what is relevent is how in demand you will be as an IMG. on the whole, less than a US grad but with wild variation from person to person, and place to place and school to school.

[Drtobe?]

Originally Posted by stephew

not applicable. what is relevent is how in demand you will be as an IMG. on the whole, less than a US grad but with wild variation from person to person, and place to place and school to school.

also US does not accept Canadian board results so you have to write all 4(3 in some cases) USMLE exams to get residency there.

[bubbleboy]

Thanks for the response. The reason for my confusion is that Canada has a very different matching in that all IMG's USED to be put into the second round (leftover spots). NOW, however, there are 175 spots of various specialties reserved for IMGs (the parallel match), but there is heavy competition for them 10% chance of matching - Too many IMG's in Canada. The U.S. apparently treats all applicants equally which seems very noble.

On the NMRP website it says in general the match rate for US grads are around 90% versus about 50% for US IMGs, and 50% for Non US IMG's. (Ofcourse it varies according to specialty).

Since the success rate is less for IMG's I would have to guess that they would generally favour a US grad over and IMG, but whether you are a U.S. citizen/greencard does not seem to matter (statistically) in the match.

However, they mentioned that IMG's can get a residency OUTSIDE the match, which they dont keep track of. Does anyone know how difficult it is to get a spot OUTSIDE the NMRP match?

[dkpwalker]

getting a spot "outside the match" simply means that after the interview with the respective program, the directors offers the person a pre-match offer if they like them and if you accept it, then you have to withdraw from the match. you then do not count in the match statistic, a good number of IMGs get into programs that way, i am not sure of the statistics but it is a lot less hassling than having to hope and pray that you match come match day, especially if your application is not so stellar.