as requested, here is the timeline for all 3 semesters:

1) for MAY students, you start may'03 and usually finish all 10 semesters by sept'06 or oct'07. you then have to wait 10 months till the universal residency start date in the summer.

*thus, if you start in MAY, expect to match and start residency 4years later. may'03 starters begin residency july'07.

2) for SEPTEMBER students, you start sept'03 and finish jan or feb'07. you then wait 6 months til the universal residency start date in the summer.

*if you start SEPTEMBER, expect to match and start residency 4 years later. sept'03 starters begin residency july'07.

3) for JANUARY students, you start jan'04 and usually finish (rushing through of course) april or may'07. you then wait 2 months til the universal residency start date in the summer. CAVEAT: you need to be ECFMG certified to do residencies. for you to get this certification, you need to have graduated, passed USMLE step 1&2, passed CSA and passed TOEFL. this process may take some time...even though a january student techinically finishes clinicals two whole months before the july start date, the processing of the ECFMG may be the limiting factor. this is the reason why january students just tweak by and make the match for that year.

*if you start JANUARY, expect to match and start residency 3.5 years later. jan'04 starters begin residency july'07.


THUS, may'03, september'03 and jan'04 starters will all begin residency on july'07.

extrapolating:

may'04, sept'04, jan'05 start residency on july'08.
may'05, sept'05, jan'06 start residency on july'09.
may'06, sept'06, jan'07 start residency on july'10.
may'07, sept'07, jan'08 start residency on july'11.
may'08, sept'08, jan'09 start residency on july'12.
may'09, sept'09, jan'10 start residency on july'13.
may'10, sept'10, jan'11 start residency on july'14.

The information you posted was very helpful.

So I gather that students starting in January 2004 are crunched for time trying to enter residency in July, 2007. Do they usually succeed and make the universal residency match time?

Also, I am more concerned with start dates for clinical rotations- If I start in January, 2004, take Step 1 in ~ October, 2005, will I have trouble starting clinicals then? I am pretty confused as to whether or not your start date matters when setting up your 81 weeks of clinicals. If you have any info, that'd be great.

Thanks, Iris

Due to the fact that clinicals are of varying length (4 weeks, 6 weeks, 12, weeks, etc), clinicals are beginning and ending all the time.

MitchDC

__________________
MitchDC/MD
RUSM 2006 Graduate

Thanks for the info, Mitch.

Thanks Daniel. I was just thinking about this last night. This is an excellent timeline. I suggest that everyone print this out and save it.


JW

Ok so I have another timing question.

The way I've figured it out is that if I start in January, 2004, leave Dominica at the end of April, 2005, then spend 10 weeks in Miami, then spend August and September, 2005 studying for Step 1, I am now in the beginning of October in 2005. Is this too late to transfer (obviously if I have straight A's from Dominica) to an American medical school? Will American medical schools look at my MCAT scores when evaluating me?

If you have any info, that would be great. Thanks a lot for your help. By the way, are you guys students?

Iris