Season of Uncertainty

 SAK PASE!! 

Hey y'all! Some people asked me why I haven't updated my blog....as a matter of fact, one person specifically said "Bettyna you've been slacking on your blog posts" lol. See the thing is, I'm in a season of uncertainty. I mean life in general is uncertain but at least sometimes I know what comes next, but currently I feel blinded and uncertain about my future. Don't get me wrong, I am confident that things will work out for me but I still don't know how they will work out and because of that I just didn't have anything to share with you all until after the fact. I hope that makes sense. 

No? lol okay I guess I should be a little more clear. Last time I posted was in April and I think I was in my psych rotation then. From that time, I finished psych, started and finished my surgery rotation, passed and failed some exams, applied to residency and celebrated my BORNDAY. I mean it was probably one of the hardest summers of my life. During that time, I learned who was really there for me and who was not. Some people are there just to suck the life out of you but are never there when you need them. I def learned a lot of this summer, better late than never right? I learned to love some people from a distance. I still love you and care for you but i'm just not gonna give you my all anymore, simple. I'll give more details about my hard-ass summer after the Match lol.  

Anywhooo, I am currently a 4th year med student and doing my elective rotations. I am in my PICU rotation right now and mannn I'm learning sooo much, I LOVE IT! The only downside is the fact that I have to be up at 4:40 every morning. That def takes some getting used to lol.  I am also interviewing for my dream job and hoping that I get a match made in heaven when the third week of March rolls around. 

I think I explained it before so you guys should know how this whole dream job process works right? In a nutshell, a med student submits a bunch of applications to a bunch of residency programs. US med students can send about 15-20 apps and they'll be fine cuz they might receive 10-12 interviews (minus some outliers :)) International med students like myself? well, we have to send about 100 or more applications to receive the same amount of interviews. It's just the way life is folks and if you would like to come to a Caribbean school this is one of the things you have to come to terms with, K? cool cool. Anyway after you send your apps to these programs, they review your application and if they deem you worthy, they'll grant you an interview. That usually runs from October to January. In February, you start ranking those programs you interviewed at from 1 to whatever number, with number 1 being your top choice and then 2 your next choice, then 3 etc etc. The programs also rank the applicants they interviewed. Now programs and applicants send in their rank lists, then this computer algorithm put these lists onegether and tries to MATCH an applicant's preferred top choice with a residency program's top choice. Hopefully that wasn't too confusing lol. If it was, watch THIS. We find out where we MATCH the third week of March. And this is the uncertainty I was referring to in the first paragraph of this post. 

I HATE BEING UNCERTAIN OF MY FUTURE. But I'm choosing to trust my unknown future to a known God so that's also why I said above that I'm confident that it will all work out for me. Wherever I end up, I know it will be for the best!

I probably won't be updating this until after Match week so until then feel free to send me any questions or concerns you may have. 

TTYL 💜

Eras 2022 Timeline

SAK PASE!!

Hey ya'll! I'm sorry for the lack of posts these last few weeks. It's time to get serious so you're not going to hear from me as often this year. But I promise I will check in when I can and I will try to update you guys throughout the year. I finished my obgyn rotation and I passed that shelf exam about 4 and half weeks ish ago. I am now about two weeks away from being done with my psychiatry rotation. I am trying to focus on all the exams I have to take this year in addition to my rotations and shelves. These include the Kaplan CSPE that my school requires us to take as a graduation requirement so they can attest to our clinical skills, the comprehensive exam which we have to pass before our school clears us to take the Step 2 exam, the actual Step 2 CK exam and last but not least, the OET medicine exam that IMG's have to take to be eligible for the ECFMG certification which is required to match into residency. LOL, issa lot y'all. I promise i'll go into more details later on but right now yo girl has gots to focus!!

The main reason I'm writing this post though is to update y'all on the ERAS 2022 match timeline! They posted it on Thursday last week if I remember correctly. Residency applications are usually due on September 15th of every year but because of Covid 19, last year they postponed it to October 21st. This year, we were hoping that they would also extend the due date to October but they didn't. They did however give us 14 extra days and instead of applications being due on the 15th, they're due on September 29th this year!! So I'm still grateful!! You can see the timeline if you click HERE 

I'll be done with my psych rotation next week then i'll be starting 12 whole weeks of surgery lol. That should be interesting. Pray for me. But the good news is it will be my last core rotation then ill be a 4th year med student and I can start my electives woot wooot!! HOW EXCITING !!!! 

Time is literally flying but it's not over yet, there is still so much work to do and although I have been working HARD,  I've also been freaking out DAILY. But the God that has brought be to where I am today will get me to where I need to be next March. I believe it wholeheartedly.

TTYL 💜 

Match Week 2021

 Sak Pase!

Today is the first day of Match Week and I want to wish everyone participating, including my closest friends, much luck and sending y'all lots of prayers. This match season has been hella tough and confusing for you guys due to pandemic so I applaud your resilience and steadfastness. I can't wait to be in your spots around this time next year, God-willing.

Just a few more details on match day for those who don't know. Match week occurs on the third week of March. Today at around 11am (Monday), 4th year med students who applied for the 2021 match find out IF they matched at a residency program. On Friday that same week, they'll find out WHERE they matched. In between is the SOAP (Supplemental Offer and Acceptance program), which is a mini match process where students who didn't match can quickly apply to unfilled residency programs in a matter of hours. It's all overwhelming really. If you want more details visit here . 

Good luck to all this week, I'm rooting for all of you. 

*UPDATE* 

Congratulations to everyone who matched this week!!! All my friends matched y'all and I couldn't be more proud of them. I love them and I'm sooooo freaking happy for them! I've seen their journey and getting closure by seeing their match results is just indescribable!

I wanted to update you all because I wanted to share the results of this year's match at AUC. They posted it last night. If you want to see what hospitals and specialties AUC students matched in this year, click here 

TTYL 💜

STEP 2 CS Discontinued

 Sak Pase!

I've been meaning to update you all with this announcement but I umm...forgot lol 

Basically there's no more USMLE Step 2 CS. For those that are confused we are still required to take Step 1 and Step 2 CK. CS is the clinical skills portion of the exam where we see "patients" and do an interview and a physical exam on them. Afterwards we have to basically try to figure out what's wrong with them by coming up with diagnoses. To use better English, I took the following directly from the USMLE website loll "Step 2 CS uses standardized patients to test medical students and graduates on their ability to gather information from patients, perform physical examinations, and communicate their findings to patients and colleagues."

Unfortunately for Caribbean students like me, we have to do other things to meet graduation requirements. Just because CS is gone doesn't mean we're "off the hook." We still have to prove that we speak English basically :)  Yes, I know I'm a US Citizen but the fact that I go to a Caribbean medical school means I have to do extra ish like this. So basically there are several pathways we can choose from to meet those requirements. More information on that in a later post. But in addition to choosing one of those pathways, the ECFMG says....and I quote "Consistent with the requirements for the existing pathways, IMGs who pursue one of the six pathways for the 2022 Match will be required to pass the Occupational English Test (OET) Medicine to satisfy pathway requirements. OET Medicine is designed specifically for physicians, in consultation with physicians. The test assesses the health care-specific English language competency of physicians. It emphasizes the type of language physicians will need to communicate effectively in a clinical setting with peers and patients, including the ability to show empathy and to break down complex medical terminology and procedures into simpler language."

Sounds pretty easy right? Wrong! I've heard that a lot of people has failed the OET on their first try. 

So you see? It's bittersweet. We said goodbye to CS but there are still extra steps we as Caribbean grads need to face to graduate. Am I freaking out? Always! But it's not by my will that I've made it this far. God has brought me to where I am today and I'm trusting him to continue pushing me to where He's destined me to be. 

TTYL 💜