Frequently Asked Questions:
Q. Can you compare your program with other major programs in USA?
A. One key item to look for is the authenticity. We have verifiable testimonials. Check out our
competition’s testimonials. You will see meaningless initials, no student names, no email address, and no hospital
names. Our testimonial students ask us to put their names, email addresses, their specific hospital placement and
even photographs. So whom do you believe?
Q. What is the difference between externship, observership and clerkship?
A. In externship, the student can touch/examine most patients. In observership, the student merely watches as
the physician examines the patient. Clerkship is practical clinical training before a student has the medical
degree.
Q. Hospital training is very important to me. Which hospital will I be trained in?
A. Your assignment of physician and hospital is made in the last week before the session starts. We have
training agreements with top-notch physicians and hospitals in the Baltimore, MD area. Dr. Mehta personally
makes sure that each student gets proper training in accordance with his/her chosen specialty. In a hospital
environment typically a physician knows the patient well and does not go through the questions like in CS exam.
A new office patient exam is more like the CS exam. So, especially for the non-CS students, office training is
more helpful to pass the CS exam.
Q. When should I take your externship training?
A. Ideally, it should be done right after the Step I exam. You should email your CV with the Step I score.
The training is designed to help you pass CS at first attempt. The training and the studying you do will help get
a higher CK score. During the training, you will have many resources (teaching physician, Dr. Mehta, co-students)
to answer your CK questions.
If you are ECFMG certified, the training will provide required US clinical experience.
Q. How many LOR’s will I get?
A. The training is divided into 2 modules of 3 weeks each with a different physician or hospital. Typically, one is more office-based
and the other one more hospital-based. You get an LOR from each assignment.
Q. What is the guarantee that after doing my training, I will get a US hospital residency?
A. Naturally, we or anyone else cannot guarantee such a thing. Besides your USMLE scores, there are many things
like your personality, ability to converse and communicate, LOR’s, and sometimes just pure luck that play a role
in getting residency. No one knows for sure. All we can say is that we would not accept you in our program if we
did not feel that you have some reasonable chance to get residency. Our term paper program is specifically
designed to help you get a good start in your residency interviews. Also, for exceptional students we can provide
a recommendation to help obtain a research assistantship found by the student, which can give you some more
experience and an additional LOR.
Q. I have heard that for an Indian student, an LOR from a “white” doctor carries more weight than from an
Indian doctor. Can you provide me with a white doctor only for my training?
A. Bluntly speaking, a question like this, where a student says, “I want an LOR from a ‘Smith’ or ‘Jones’ but
not from Mehta, Shah, Patel or Wang,” is a shame. We have never experienced that any LOR’s are
discounted by anyone based on the race of the physician or the student.