focus on the application process<\/a> and the what not.<\/p>\nKevin<\/b>: Ok, So, you said you spent about a year off. Where did you go by the way? The trips. Dr. Tamer<\/b>: No, I was just doing a, I did like research and what not. So, I was doing research Kevin<\/b>: about where you wanted to go
\nDr. Tamer<\/b>: I was doing a research in a medical school here. USC.<\/p>\n
Kevin<\/b>: So, during that year that you took off, you mentioned you were doing a research. Can you tell us a little about what the research was? And also, why did you to that? Was it to help build that application? And how did that go?<\/p>\n
Dr. Tamer<\/b>: Oh, yeah. Definitely. I was doing the research during med school, during my 4th year of med school, while I was doing rotations here in Southern California. And so, I was in USC doing a nephrology work, studies on like anti-clotting agents and what not. It was a very fulfilling research. And then I just extended it after I was done with my 4th year of med school. I did that because I was doing my time-off as well. I didn\u2019t do it to straighten my application because I already did a 4-year of it in my 4th year as well.<\/p>\n
Kevin<\/b>: So, you actually just wanted to continue. You enjoyed it?<\/p>\n
Dr. Tamer<\/b>: Yeah, I enjoyed it. It was just part of my routine and what not. It was helping me too, in terms of residency and what not cos it was hands on. Kevin<\/b>: Right.<\/p>\n
Dr. Tamer<\/b>: Patient training and what not.<\/p>\n
Kevin<\/b>: So, in terms of the research project, can you tell us a little bit about how you got that position. What actions did you take? Cause I knew that\u2019s an issue a lot of people face, is they don\u2019t know where to begin, who to reach out to. What are some of the first things you thought?<\/p>\n
Dr. Tamer<\/b>: Well, you know, I just looked on the internet to find different research facilities in the nearby area that I wanted to be in. For me, it was in Southern California. And so then, I looked on the internet what side they tell you to faculty during a research and what field of research they\u2019re doing and you just contact them and e-mail them and tell them, hey, I\u2019m in the area looking for some research in this field I\u2019ve interested in and then they e-mail you back or call you back. It was a too bad finding. And then, you just work out your schedules of them, if you\u2019re doing rotations at that time or if you\u2019re not.<\/p>\n
Kevin<\/b>: How many hours a week did you do when you have that year off?<\/p>\n
Dr. Tamer<\/b>: You know, I would do like 20-30 hours a week. It wasn\u2019t too bad actually. And that was all the same during my rotations as well, which is kind of tough doing that rotations. You have to work it in with the hours. There was actually a lot of foreign grads that were from my med school. They didn\u2019t do rotations in the US, but they were doing research with different professors. So, some students go to, if they are from a foreign country. If they are Indian, they go to different Indian professors. If you\u2019re Egyptian, like I am an Egyptian, I knew some Egyptian professors. And you kind of click with your own nationality. So then, you go that research and you see a whole bunch of other Egyptian people there, or a whole bunch of Nigerian people there who come from Nigeria, or Indian people, you know.<\/p>\n
Kevin<\/b>: Take advantage of that connection you have.<\/p>\n
Dr. Tamer<\/b>: Yeah, that connection, cultural connection. And in fact, mine was a mix. We had Indian individuals, Nigerian all over, you know. So, yeah. And then you just do research, and while you\u2019re doing that, you\u2019re, some of the foreign grads were studying for their step one, which is the biggest thing, studying for that step one. Some of those foreign grads takes years to study for, either because of the language barrier, or it\u2019s been years since they graduated in med school. That\u2019s where the biggest barrier is, the step one score and then how many years since you graduated because the migration process here takes such a long time, they may take years off since the time they graduated med school and then they\u2019re just trying to find a living here and get established here, situate here. And then they start studying for, I mean they\u2019re studying for years because the material, they forget and it\u2019s a different test, different language and what not. So, those are the barriers of getting into residency here. And then, of course, the English skills for some individuals, their English skills isn\u2019t that good. It takes some, and then they come here, it\u2019s a new country, so, yeah, it takes a lot to get used to that.<\/p>\n
Kevin<\/b>: Did you see people make a progress to that when you met them at the beginning of their project, or whatever after a few months you saw them? Are some people adapting better or are getting a hang of it.?Did you see anything?<\/p>\n
Dr. Tamer<\/b>: Well, definitely, definitely, especially in my med school, they had foreign grad, people from foreign countries there, their English is varied. There is accents, British accents. Is that you know, I was able to see them through the years and do the same rotations with them and then some even residency, you know. So, I knew them since med school or in residency, I would meet them at a conference or something. Oh, I went to school with you years ago. So, they\u2019re completely acclimated to the environment and the setting and doing great as physicians. So, definitely, being a doctor here, you\u2019re just used to seeing doctors from multitudes of different countries, different cultures, and backgrounds and practicing. That\u2019s just a typical thing.<\/p>\n
Kevin<\/b>: So, when we talk about the most important things for residency, one being the score, you mentioned, the other obviously being how long it was. What kind of score do you think is the absolute minimum or is ideal in terms of. .<\/p>\n
Dr. Tamer<\/b>: So, you know, getting into residency, you really care about passing step one. That\u2019s very important. There are people that they do really well on step one. They get high scores like 220, 240. Those are great scores. And then they get the pit, the residency selection of the choice, the higher the residency, they set higher scores. There\u2019s a residency program, like lower scores. But as the years are going by, it\u2019s gotten more and more competitive. Back in the day, in the early 2000\u2019s, you could get in even other people failed in step one a couple of times and still got residency, you know, by getting a good step two score or taking the step three, which you don\u2019t have to take until you\u2019re not obligated to take, to get into residency, you could take it during your residency, which a lot of people do. Some people didn\u2019t do well on their step one or step two scores, they take the step three score to show the residency program that, hey, they are competent enough to pass the step three cos step three is actually, you can\u2019t graduate residency until you pass three. So, for some residency programs like psychiatry program where they kinda lose the internal medicine knowledge that you have to know to pass step three, it may be more challenging for them. So, they decided to do to have a tougher time passing step, and they make multiple attempts to pass residency for the step program. And sometimes, some residency programs just drop them from their residency because they can\u2019t just pass it. And in fact they have a limit. Most residency programs, actually all of the residency programs have a limit now. That has been going on for a long time since 2007, 2008, 2009. And so, many people just couldn\u2019t do it.<\/p>\n
Kevin<\/b>: So, the third attempt, for some people or some applicants looks more attractive because it looks like a guarantee of, I\u2019ve already passed it. And so, in a residency program, they can see it. They don\u2019t worry that the person has to<\/p>\n
Dr. Tamer<\/b>: Not the third attempt, but the step three, passing that is a bonus for them, especially if you\u2019re a foreign grad, that\u2019 definitely a plus. But they really care though on step and step two. A lot of programs, they do just cut off, did you pass it not? And then they throw out that application, you know. And so, it is very important to pass step one. And then the tougher programs to get into, they have a minimum score: 220, 210, 200.<\/p>\n
Kevin<\/b>: What else do you think makes for an attractive candidate for a residency program? If you have already passed these 1 and 2, you\u2019ve obviously shown your competancy in terms of your knowledge, but that does not necessarily translate to being a successful doctor, an effective doctor. What else do you look for in a candidate?<\/p>\n
Dr. Tamer<\/b>: It\u2019s good that you bring that up because many foreign grads are very smart, they really do good on that step one or step two exam because they studied for many years, you know, they\u2019re just really smart. They have high scores, and residency programs, they\u2019re not sure about these people, they don\u2019t know if they\u2019d cut it as doctors cos they didn\u2019t do resident rotations here in the US. So, they\u2019re not sure how they\u2019re gonna do. They\u2019re not sure about their English skills and what not. So, another very important aspect is to getting into US programs here for foreign grads is, did you to rotations or internships in the US? And, of course, your interview is very important as well. Your interviewee skills, you know. Are you competent in English? Can you communicate well? You know, it\u2019s ok if you have an accent. That\u2019s fine, but as long as you\u2019re able to communicate well, very assertive, have good people skills, good listening skills. But even the interview can be misleading, they really wanna know you fare with the patients in the US hospital and how you do well with clerkships and internships. So, doing that is a key for US grads or foreign grads getting in. Like myself, the benefit of going in to a Caribbean school and also St. George\u2019s is that you do clinical rotations in hospitals here and you get graded by US doctors here, professors here. So, if you\u2019re a foreign grad, what you wanna do in addition to getting a good step one and step two score, and in addition to doing a good interviewee skill is to apply to clerkships or internships here, whether they are paid or unpaid, either one, so long as they could give you a 4-8 week experience or more. The more. the better. The more evaluations by those professors here in the US, those teaching doctors here in the US, the better, the stronger your application will look. And so, that\u2019s definitely something to get in on that will put you above the other applicants who may have the same scores as you. That will be applause.<\/p>\n
Kevin<\/b>: It shows that US experience, it\u2019s so important.<\/p>\n
Dr. Tamer<\/b>: Yes, definitely, it\u2019s truly important. Another bearing that you have when you apply to do the clerkships, you have to have insurance, you know, to cover your – cause your going to be seeing patients. So, they want the most hands-on experience. So, in order to see patients, examine them, get a good history from them and physical from them and get information from them to present to your attending physician who will grade you on how good of a resident you\u2019re going to be. That\u2019s kinda like your residency, that\u2019s what you\u2019re doing as a resident. You\u2019re a doctor. You\u2019re seeing and examining the patient. You come up with a treatment plan and you present that plan to your professor, your attending physician. And they seek, they question you, they ask you to make sure you know everything, a comprehensive evaluation, evidence based medicine on how to diagnose and treat these patients, and rule out important diagnosis and what not. So, they\u2019re gonna be grading you on that. So, basically, the clerkship and internship is like pre-cursor, it\u2019s like the training ground to being a resident physician, so how good you\u2019re going to be a resident physician depends on how you\u2019re going to do in your clerkship. Or for us, Caribbean grads, how you did in your 3rd year, 4th year clinical. So, that\u2019s very important, what evaluation you had, what program you went, very important. But in order to do that, you really need to, the application process involves getting insured and what not and their availability, their spots. So, there\u2019s a lot of people applying for those clerkships and<\/p>\n
Kevin<\/b>: So, it\u2019s pretty competitive for those sometimes.<\/p>\n
Dr. Tamer<\/b>: It can be competitive, especially with the paid program, most of them are not paid, most of them you actually pay them for those insurance and everything. It can be a little expensive. Yeah. But it\u2019s a money well-spent. It\u2019s worth doing that getting the experience. Both the experience and then it\u2019s like a grade showing them that, hey you can perform as a resident. That\u2019s where you\u2019re gonna be doing.<\/p>\n
Kevin<\/b>: So, in terms of your experience, how many schools did you apply to for residency? And how many did you interview?<\/p>\n
Dr. Tamer<\/b>: Many schools. If you\u2019re a foreign grad, you wanna apply to as many schools as possible. You know, there\u2019s people who really great scores, high scores, so they have a power to narrow their school number down or smaller number. Yeah, I mean did like average or little above average. I passed my steps and everything on first attempt. I did fair in it, you know. I didn\u2019t score exceedingly high though, like some people. So, for me, I did wanna apply to as many schools as possible.<\/p>\n
Kevin<\/b>: So, could it be, the more schools you apply to, the more costs it\u2019s gonna be. How do you know if you spent too much? How do you know if you\u2019re applying to too many schools? I mean, It\u2019s a balance, right?<\/p>\n
Dr. Tamer<\/b>: Yeah, definitely. It depends on how your application looks, how your boards scores are, did you pass your board, or your scores are flying scores. Or your scores are just barely passing the step one and step two scores. Or if you did good in your rotations, you did good in your medicine training. You had a good GPA. That\u2019s important too, they care about your GPA. You know, I you failed on the class, that\u2019s really bad on the application and transcripts. You have to explain that. So, definitely, if your scores are average, you wanna apply to as many places as possible. And you wanna look for the programs that are more accepting of foreign grads. And you can look that up on the internet. There\u2019s a website, scutwork.com, all these different sites that tell you where to apply to. And also, you can just do your own investigative work. Be Sherlock Holmes yourself. Look at each program, look at each of their graduating class of residence, see where they graduate. Look at their bio and everything. That\u2019s how I did it myself. And see which country where they\u2019re from, what school they\u2019re from. And you can look at the ethnicity of the programs as well. If you see a lot of program for Egyptian people, and you\u2019re Egyptian too. That can be a plus for you, you know. And so, there are various ways to go about picking programs.<\/p>\n
Kevin<\/b>: So, when they go to the websites and see actual pictures on, just read the text.<\/p>\n
Dr. Tamer<\/b>: Yes, definitely, especially if you\u2019re an interviewee in that program, you wanna know about the program as much as possible. And it strengthens your application. You know, it\u2019s good if you\u2019re foreign grad and you wanna hone in to programs that you wanna go to. And you wanna do in your rotations there, you know, do internship or internship. Pick the programs that are friendly to foreign grads and also offer internships and clerkships in those programs. So, when you apply to their internship or clerkship, and then you get in good with your program director and their attending physicians, their teaching physicians. They know you. They know who you are. They know what you do. So, then, they know, hey, you\u2019re gonna be a strong resident after program. So, then they could rely on you and they may rank you high in the ranking process. Or they can even offer you a spot outside the match, which many applicants do to secure a spot because the match is like a gamble. It\u2019s like the NBA draft, you don\u2019t know who\u2019s gonna, you rank some, you rank the programs in a certain order to your most favorable to your least favorable program. And then, they rank you from most desirable applicant to least desirable applicant. And, of course, if they don\u2019t rank you, they don\u2019t have a shot there. And if you\u2019re not gonna rank them, you\u2019re not gonna get in there.<\/p>\n
Kevin<\/b>: It\u2019s kinda a contender, isn\u2019t it? Who knew?<\/p>\n
Dr. Tamer<\/b>: Exactly. Yeah, who knew? But if they favor you, the applicant, it doesn\u2019t favor the residency program much. But definitely, you wanna apply to as any programs as possible. 5200 programs, if you really wanna do that. It\u2019s not that expensive. And it\u2019s definitely worth doing. And your competitors are gonna be doing the same thing, you know, applying to as many programs as possible to maximize your hits, cos you definitely wanna get in, if you don\u2019t get in, you\u2019re not gonna be getting any residency positions, you know, unless you go through the route of match day, a day of the match of the people. There are certain number of programs that don\u2019t get filled. And so, those programs now do a separate rank application process to try to fill their spots. So, then it becomes, that\u2019s a whole of another..<\/p>\n
Kevin<\/b>: that\u2019s a sort of a back-up.<\/p>\n
Dr. Tamer<\/b>: That\u2019s a sort of back-up. You don\u2019t wanna be in that situation although there are, if you are an applicant with high scores, you can actually come out favorable on those days because there are good programs that don\u2019t get filled for a certain reason because they are very strict on who they give interviews. So, they don\u2019t give enough interviews out. That pool of interviewees they rank other programs higher. So, they have a couple of spots unfilled in their prestigious programs and they\u2019re sought after programs and they need to fill someone. So, if you are a strong applicant, that day, you can make that day gold for you. But it\u2019s a scary scenario, yes. It\u2019s a risk because then if you don\u2019t match, you don\u2019t match. You\u2019re done for that year until next year. So, it\u2019s always better to have, like me, I have at least ten interviews, or 11 I think, 11 interviews. And most of the programs are pretty strong in matching in, a couple of them more like reach places. They just offer me the interview, but the other applicants are stronger than me, they have higher scores, and scores really are the most important thing. Hands down. Second is the experience here, during the rotation, showing them hat you\u2019re competent practicing in the US hospital interview.<\/p>\n
Kevin<\/b>: With you interview, can you talk a little bit about how did your interview go? What things came up? And what were some of the questions that remembered? Do you remember and questions to that.<\/p>\n
Dr. Tamer<\/b>: You know, of course, the usual typical questions like any interview has like, why did you pick medicine? Or are you good with people skills? Are you good with, are you caring with patients? And then there are those programs that you know have good interviewers and they try to ask you some medical related questions, see how experienced you are because they don\u2019t have the benefit of having you in a rotation program to see how you do. So, they\u2019ll ask some clinical scenarios.<\/p>\n
Kevin<\/b>: Any clinical scenarios.<\/p>\n
Dr. Tamer<\/b>: Definitely. What do you do? There are two patients in the hospital, two in the morning, sits up complaining shortness of breath. You\u2019re called as the on-call physician, what do you for the patient? What test do you wanna order? What is your type of diagnosis for the patient? What do you wanna give right away for the patient? Patient with shortness of breathe. See chest exacerbation and giving some lasix, dosome blood test. You do some x-ray, you know, some basic stuff like that. It\u2019s good to familiarize yourself with that.<\/p>\n
Kevin<\/b>: They\u2019ll see if they can go through these?<\/p>\n
Dr. Tamer<\/b>: Yeah, they wanna if have the real deal. If you don\u2019t look like you know what you\u2019re talking about, they\u2019d think, oh, it\u2019s gonna be a bad resident, you know, cos some programs are like, other programs, they trust your board scores and they don\u2019t do that. And some interviewees who have good scores, they look like that, that that\u2019s like an insult. You have my score. You have my med-school and rotation scores and clerkship scores, I don\u2019t like that you\u2019re doing that, you know. You must have a lot of people with high scores, but did bad in your program. What does that say in your program? Some foreign grads will act that way.<\/p>\n
Kevin<\/b>: ..will take it that way. Why this thing to show that though<\/p>\n
Dr. Tamer<\/b>: Definitely not, unless you\u2019re a strong applicant who has many interviews and you\u2019re gonna match somebody. For sure, most people don\u2019t fall into that range, and so you definitely want to be a good interviewee. And that\u2019s also a good thing to do being a good, having a good interviewee skills is very important when you\u2019re with patients, you know, how emphatic are you to patients, how well you listen and understand what they\u2019re telling you because most of the time, most of the diagnosis is from what they tell you. It\u2019s not what you\u2019re thinking, you know. And so, that\u2019s a very important thing for a physician, to listen and be a good listener.<\/p>\n
Kevin<\/b>: Yeah, not just making conclusions without listening to what they\u2019re saying first. Dr. Tamer<\/b>: Definitely.<\/p>\n
Kevin<\/b>: I wanna attest to that. We talked a little bit about mistakes people make as foreign grads, what would you say to, you mentioned a little bit about choosing in terms of what specialty you\u2019re going for. Can you talk a little bit about that.<\/p>\n
Dr. Tamer<\/b>: Definitely, so when you\u2019re picking what you love to do, of course, you pick medicine not for the money. You picked it because you love caring for patients, you love to interact with your patients, or that should be the reason you want to mess it, or else it will show that it is not what you like. So, the love and passion for the medicine and the science behind it, the disease behind it, that motivate you to research and do all the things that are necessary to be a good resident. And as a resident, you\u2019re gonna be a good physician and have good people skills, or you also have to research things that you don\u2019t know, or knew treatment modalities out there for different diseases. So, that passion drives you to do that, you know. And so, that\u2019s very important as..so, the same thing to becoming a doctor, that passion for medicine is also important that\u2019s what you wanna do in residency. You know, some people have a passion for surgery or ophthalmology, they love the study of the eye, or some people love the study of kidneys, nephrology, they want everything about it. So, that love drives you. So, that\u2019s important. But in addition to that, also knowing what, knowing your risks of every field, you know. So, if you know, you aren\u2019t good at hands- on, but you\u2019re in surgery, but you have very high scores and you\u2019re friends tell you, yeah, you should go to surgery, they make a lot of money. It\u2019s a great, it\u2019s a fun lifestyle. You love it. You\u2019re impassioned by it, you\u2019re into the whole lifestyle surgery but you\u2019re not very good at surgery, it can be a very risky thing. And you may waste your talent and high score on the program. You might get kicked out on the program at your first and second year because you can\u2019t just cut as being a good surgeon. So, you will know that when you do your rotations. So, that\u2019s very important to take advantage of.<\/p>\n
Kevin<\/b>: Have you met anyone like that?<\/p>\n
Dr. Tamer<\/b>: Yeah. I did. Definitely. Definitely. A lot of people apply to family medicine which was I went to were surgeons who didn\u2019t cut out as surgeons, in their surgery residency. They have high scores, so, they look favorable to the family medicine programs for the high scores. But then, the family residency programs kinda caught on when they\u2019d see that you\u2019re a surgeon. They kinda would get the idea, well, that maybe this person, family wasn\u2019t their first choice. And hence, maybe, they\u2019re not gonna do good in family medicine either. You know, we shouldn\u2019t be fooled by the high score.<\/p>\n
Kevin<\/b>: Also, you spent a lot of time on the other residency now.<\/p>\n
Dr. Tamer<\/b>: So, that\u2019s another thing, you know. Residency programs, they get funded by the government. So, they have a certain number of years they could spend on the resident. So, if you did one year already, you have four years to get money from the government through the residency programs. So, if you use one of those years, you only have three years left. So, you\u2019re kinda limited. So, if you\u2019re going to a family residency program and you wasted one or two years, you just kinda shot yourself on the foot. And they can\u2019t complete your residency there because they won\u2019t get paid by the government. I\u2019m not sure if all residency programs are like that, but I think most of them – at least the one I was in – so that\u2019s a big deal. If you waste two years and don\u2019t do residency and you\u2019re trying to laterally match to a residency program, you know as a second year position spot, it may be tough for you to do that.<\/p>\n
Kevin<\/b>: Choose wisely. Yeah, absolutely<\/p>\n
Dr. Tamer<\/b>: Of course, if you don\u2019t do good in that residency, of course it looks really bad on your programs. So, that\u2019s why you really wanna know that you\u2019re gonna be successful in whatever you\u2019re gonna be doing. So, you wanna know inside that and focus doing in your 3rd, 4th year clinical rotations, you wanna do a lot of, they give you a lot of electives to focus on what you\u2019re gonna specialize in. And so, you really wanna fill up those elective spots with that special thing you wanna go into. If it\u2019s surgery, do a lot of electives in surgery. If that\u2019s family medicine or internal medicine, you do a lot of internal medicine and family medicine.<\/p>\n
Kevin<\/b>: If you\u2019re not doing well, take a feedback, take action before it\u2019s too late.<\/p>\n
Dr. Tamer<\/b>: Definitely, cos they don\u2019t know how good of a resident you until you go in there and if you don\u2019t do well. And some programs are tougher than other programs. Also, doing the background in your program is very important. Know when they usually match in that program. You may be a resident with a very high score, and then you go to a very prestigious program and their grads are Harvard grads, they have hig expectation, they have a reputation for being tough and for cutting people.<\/p>\n
Kevin<\/b>: Real quick with the schools that say, they\u2019ll accept foreign grads so much more all the time, right?<\/p>\n
Dr. Tamer<\/b>: Well, definitely. They say one thing on the nerve, but it doesn\u2019t mean that you\u2019re gonna get in. They may say they\u2019re friendly to foreign grads, but they have one foreign grad. So, really, it\u2019s hard to say.<\/p>\n
Kevin<\/b>: Did it really concern you as you\u2019re going out when you had already seen other graduates from your school match?<\/p>\n
Dr. Tamer<\/b>: So, there\u2019s probably one aspect, I know I can at least make some and I\u2019ll be accepted to some programs. There\u2019s a good number of them. So, how much of a concern was that for you that you have that a bit of obstacle? You know, most of my fellow students, they don\u2019t match in programs. Cos it was a matter of matching what they especially wanted to, the harder sought fields, you know. I didn\u2019t know that many people didn\u2019t actually match at that time. So, I know the number of people don\u2019t match that was growing and growing yearly as there\u2019s more applicants year-by-year. But definitely, yeah, that was also a concern from day one, actually, going that route, definitely trying to improve and enhance my step one, step two scores, do well on my clerkships and my interview skills as well. So, those are all important things that was always in the back of my mind when I was going through med school and rotations. So, yeah, definitely, it was definitely challenging for a grad, an IMG to a residency here or a residency of their choice. But also, there are factors playing into the scores. If you have high scores, you\u2019re probably get into the program, definitely, you can say that pretty safely. Now, it depends on how you did on your rotations. Did you do clerkships, so those are all things that make you better, stronger as an applicant and will kinda seal the deal for you, the icing on the cake in terms of getting into the program of your pick.<\/p>\n
Kevin<\/b>: Dr. Tamer, you have given us so much incredible advice today. I know a lot of the IMGs watching our issue, I so appreciate is especially as a fellow IMG yourself, you know to talk from your experience, to give them these hints, these tips and tricks. Now, if you could give one parting piece of an advice to an IMG who\u2019s just ready to match in the next years, so they finish medical school, a little concerned about the process. What would you say to them?<\/p>\n
Dr. Tamer<\/b>: So, I would say you have to be confident and optimistic and positive and believe in yourself, definitely, that\u2019s very important because the process is very laborious and long and unpredictable. But you have to have the confidence in yourself that you can do this, and to be patient with it as well. And then, of course, ask for help from various resources: from friends, from colleagues, from people who live in the US and people who are practicing positions here. You know, there are many people who would love to give an advice and help. And that help will definitely make a difference in getting into a program versus not getting into a program. So, being very resourceful and persistent about it and never give up on your dream and your goal You know, I\u2019ve seen doctors try and try for years and years and they finally did it, they finally got into a program and now they are practicing positions. And many points in time, in their attempts, there are many failed attempts, they could have given up and quit from the advice of their friends and family and just financial constraints on them, this and that. They wanna go back home and what not and not fitting in to the new environment. But never give up in that drive and desire. That motivation will get you to your final destination and make you successful. And you can just talk to so many people who had that same struggle and they might have them even tougher back then than the time when they didn\u2019t accept foreign grads. And they are so persistent, and so confident, and so optimistic and positive- those are the key things you have to be and just never give up on that dream.<\/p>\n
Kevin<\/b>: Really loved it. I wanna ask you one last thing.<\/p>\n
Dr. Tamer<\/b>: I never gave up on my dream. I\u2019ve always wanted to be a doctor my whole life. And sometimes, it was tough in undergrad. Maybe, I didn\u2019t get the best scores in undergrad, in my undergraduate training before med school, but I never gave up. And the people around me told me, never give up. You could be whatever you wanted to be. I always believed in that. And that drove me to go to med school anyway I can whether it\u2019s foreign route or whatever route, and that drove me through med school through all the various, you know, going to med school and seeing other people fail their first year, do not like being in the island that I studied at, so they went home because they didn\u2019t have a subway there, some other silly reason. Never giving up. I just, being tough and having true grit and driving at what you\u2019re striving for, and just never give up. That was the big difference in my outcome that I want to impart to.<\/p>\n
Kevin<\/b>: I can feel it. I can feel your passion. And I just wanna thank you on behalf of Jimmy Kraft and also on behalf of all the IMGS out there that were listening. I think you\u2019re gonna make a big difference with telling your story. Thank you for coming up and talking to us today.<\/p>\n
Dr. Tamer<\/b>: My pleasure.<\/p>\n
Kevin<\/b>: You\u2019re lovely. Thanks a lot.<\/p>\n
Dr. Tamer<\/b>: You guys take care.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I had the opportunity to sit down recently with one of my favorite IMGs I know, Dr. Tamer: a practicing physician out of Southern California. Dr. Tamer helped shed some light on a number of helpful concepts for any IMG looking to match in the Residency Game these days. Topics Discussed: Importance of your […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2367,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[299,1],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[297,290,298,143,244,288,87,148,132,292,96,272,291,296,50,294,293,71,289,295],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/editing.internationaldentistcentral.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2363"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/editing.internationaldentistcentral.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/editing.internationaldentistcentral.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/editing.internationaldentistcentral.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/editing.internationaldentistcentral.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2363"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/editing.internationaldentistcentral.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2363\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/editing.internationaldentistcentral.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2367"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/editing.internationaldentistcentral.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2363"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/editing.internationaldentistcentral.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2363"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/editing.internationaldentistcentral.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2363"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/editing.internationaldentistcentral.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=2363"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}