More on the now Infamous Form 183

As a starving medical student with only the merest of provisions, I was forced to venture into the much dreaded public computer lab, aka germ central, to print off a copy of Form 183. Sounds simple enough, doesn't it? Well go ahead, try it. See if it works for you. I printed the page 3 times and each time the right margin was cut off. After fiddling with the page settings, I was finally able to print the now infamous form. Phew.

Now for the passport photo. Conveniently, there was a coin-operated photo booth on campus and for the low low price of US$9.00 (using today's exchange rate and rounding up to the nearest dollar) I was able to obtain 4 glamour shots that you might just see on the next cover of Vogue (or GQ. Am I a man or a woman?) I glanced at my watch and noticed that the time was suspiciously close to the end of office hours at the medical school. Running frantically towards the opposite end of campus, I reached my destination, hair still immaculately coiffed. My skill in arts and crafts, acquired during my formative years in grade school, served me well as I dextrously taped (not stapled or paperclipped! -- read the instructions carefully) my photo onto the page. I was surprised at how receptive the administrator was to completing the form, even offering to mail it directly to the ECFMG in Philly. I am not sure what the next step is. I will keep you informed.

What is Form 183?

That's correct, says Alex.

Form 183 is the next bureaucratic hurdle in this game we call "Who wants to be a US certified medical practitioner", sometimes referred to as "Who wants to make $250,000 / year?" (It's not about the money. It's not. Seriously. It's not.) It is a certification statement that needs to be signed by your medical school and then needs to be sent back to the ECFMG in Philadelphia, USA, along with a passport photo, saliva sample and some fingernail scrapings. Ok, I made the last one up. It needs to be mailed within 4 months (I think) of submitting the credit card payment of US$695.00. I'll go to the medical school office tomorrow. Let's see what their turn around time is like.

Registration Continued

Ok, I'm glad to report that I received my confirmation number from the ECFMG today. This means that I can now BEGIN the application process. Everything else before this was just part of the pre-application to see if you're eligible to write this exam. Isn't it comforting to know that you're just an average Joe? No express line in this operation. No pre-boarding, even if you're that obnoxious kid who doesn't deserve to get on the flight before everyone else. This is the ECFMG baby! The last bastion of egalitarianism on this thing called the internet. Ok, gets back on track here. Focus. It took about 20 minutes to fill out all of the forms with my details like my address, phone number, name of medical school...etc. I thought I might have to pick an exact date for the exam but it's actually pretty cool: you get to pick a 3 month eligibility period, so pick wisely. I picked the Jun-Aug period. You never know, I just might be sitting beside you while you are sweating it out trying to remember how many ATPs come out of Krebs cycle. Anyways, after all of this anticipation just to get the application started, I got the big reward: a $695.00 charge to the credit card of my choice! Nobody said becoming a doctor would be cheap.

Happy Belated Thanksgiving

For the Americans who visit here...Happy Belated Thanksgiving!...gobble gobble. We don't have turkey where I am (where am I anyways? -- that's the point! I'm not telling you. But if you keep reading you'll see clues hidden in the message. Maybe at the end of all of this, I'll publish my google earth co-ordinates) I celebrated thanksgiving with saag aloo and rolo icecream. I'm still waiting to hear from ECFMG...

ECFMG

Ok, I finally got the nerve to go to the ECFMG site. For those of you unfamiliar with the ECFMG, they are the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates, essentially a clearing house for the applications that flood into the USA every year. After selling my soul to the...emm...I mean..registering my contact details, they've said that they'll check out my info and get back to me within 1-2 days. It's all uphill from here on!

First Post!

Hi,

I'm starting this blog to record my progress as I prepare to write the USMLE Step 1 as a foreign medical student. What will make this different from all the other USMLE blogs out there? Hmm...well why don't you read it and tell me? If you want me to spoon-feed your opinions to you, maybe you'd be better off watching Oprah or Dr Phil. Actually...well, for one, I actually tell you about the hell that is the administrative / application process, as well as the studying. I'll be doing all of this while I balance a baby seal on my left foot. (since this is the year 2005, one could theoretically expect it to be non-clubbed. Now...am I talking about the baby seal or my left foot? You'll never know. muaahhh! Keep reading and I may tell you)

I was saying boo-urns.

QED :)