Failed in one of your USMLE steps? or the match last year? Feeling you have hit the bottom? Keep reading...

The perfect life of youngster

She was a college graduate with hope and all the optimism in the world. She was passionate about learning Arts and did BA in French and Classics. At 27,She married a man whom she thought was the love of her life and they had a beautiful baby girl when she was 28.

Life turns upside down Then the whole world started falling apart, first her mother died. She separated from her husband just after a year they were married. She was diagnosed with clinical depression, and contemplated suicide several time. She lived on government welfare and did her post graduate certificate to get a job she wanted. Dream, because in dreams begin achievements Among all this rubble she never gave up her dream, the one thing that was with her forever, her dream of writing a book based on a young wizard. She would take her baby for long walk so she would fall asleep and she can write in peace. Imagine a single mom going to college, living on a meagre welfare and raise a baby yet being persistent with your dream.

Figure: J.K. Rowling

Figure: The first book

The rest is history. Her seven series fantasy novel based on boy wizard Harry Potter was a smash hit! To say smash hit is an under statement. She created a new business - books, movies, toys, merchandise, a new theme park, ... Forbes has named Rowling as the first person to become a U.S. dollar billionaire by writing books. In 2008 Sunday Times Rich List named Rowling the 144th richest person in Britain. Rowling has a luxurious nineteenth-century estate house, Killiechassie House, on the banks of the River Tay, near Aberfeldy, in Perth and Kinross, Scotland. She also owns a home in Merchiston, Edinburgh, and a £4.5 million ($9 million) Georgian house in Kensington, West London near the Queen of England. Several honorary degrees and doctorates continued. What she has accomplished is an extraordinary feat of courage, will power and imagination. She will be a great inspiration for people who have had temporary set backs in their life. Watch below one of the best motivational speeches ever by one of the greatest inspirations of our time.

Video: J.K. Rowling Speaks at Harvard Commencement - from Harvard Magazine

So,

NEVER, EVER GIVE UP!

You have made it so far, if this is your dream,keep trying - your success might just be one step away.

Further Reading

J.K. Rowling - Wikipedia.org
Harry Potter - Wikipedia.org

When applying for a residency program it is important that you do your research before you applying for that program. The data from NRMP sheds some light on the probability of your match. Some programs have been historically more competitive that the others. Here is the data and the inference,

     

Table 1: The percentage of unfilled positions in programs for 2009
Note: All listed programs are categorical.

Chart 1: Bar chart of all programs offered and filled.

Inference 1: Table 1 above shows the programs sorted by the percentage of unfilled positions.  Family Medicine is one program that goes unfilled each year.  Family Medicine being a form of primary care that provides continuing, comprehensive health care for the individual and family is and will be in demand for several years to come. With the health care reform there is severe shortage of all primary care physicians across US. Read:

Associated Press – Doctor Shortage
Boston.com – Healthcare overhaul could strain shortage of primary care
The Portland press herald - Health care overhaul expected to amplify Maine's doctor shortage
 

Foreign Medical Graduates should pay attention to the positions that go unfilled in each program.

Inference 2: For International Medical Graduates (IMG/FMG) the data relating to the programs most popular among US Senior Allopathic applicants is also important to be noted. The competition is fierce in programs like,

Program                                 % Filled by U.S. Allopathic Seniors

1.Otolaryngology                     96.34
2.Radiation Oncology            94.44
3.Orthopaedic Surgery          91.72
4.Neurological Surgery         90.05
5.Plastic Surgery                    87.88
Table 2: Programs preferred by U.S. Allopathic Seniors

The U.S. allopathic doctors will tend to have more local experience and exposure and will be preferred. Some program do not accept IMGs/FMGs. For foreign graduates with very little experience in U.S. would be much better off choosing programs with less stiffer competition.

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