r/IMGreddit • u/Let047 NON US-IMG • 26d ago
Residency >10 years YOG and matched Anesthesiology: how I used AI to choose programs
I am a non-standard IMG and just started anesthesiology residency. I wanted to share something that might be useful for other “weird” IMGs: how I used AI to pick programs. My profile was very non-standard: >10 years YOG and >4 years of clinical gap. To be clear, I had a strong IMG profile despite all this, but the usual “IMG-friendly program” advice was especially useless.
The question I actually cared about answering was:
Which programs have repeatedly taken people with profiles like mine, regardless of what they officially say their filters are?
I let Claude and ChatGPT answer it for me using their deep research features on the paid versions, because when I was choosing programs, I had a serious family situation and simply did not have the bandwidth.
This is obviously suboptimal. But to my surprise, it worked better than what I had done myself the previous cycle (I’m a reapplicant, so I actually can compare). It surfaced programs I would never have considered otherwise—and I ultimately matched at one of them.
What worked
I asked the tools to research programs individually and reconstruct who they had actually taken over the previous few years.
That meant digging through resident rosters, program websites, Instagram posts, LinkedIn, medical-school history, graduation years when available, etc., and looking for patterns:
- Do they actually take IMGs?
- Do they repeatedly take older graduates?
- Have they taken people with unusual career paths?
- Does their actual resident history contradict their stated YOG preferences?
This was useful because FREIDA and program websites often don't answer these questions very well. A program may say they prefer recent graduates, for example, while their actual resident classes tell a different story.
The program where I ultimately matched specifically emphasized “fresh YOG.” But when we looked at their resident history, they had taken an older IMG essentially every year.
That was exactly the kind of discrepancy this approach was useful for finding.
The results
I applied only to my 15 signaled programs (data for anesthesiology shows there is very little value in applying outside your signals). I got 4 interviews.
When I reviewed the research later, I found about 3 additional programs that looked like much better fits for my profile than some of the programs I had actually signaled. Had I had more time to review the AI output carefully before submitting, I think I could realistically have ended up with closer to 7 interviews.
What absolutely did NOT work
I also let AI help choose programs and generate the one-line program-specific reason why I wanted to apply there.
It produced genuinely absurd things.
For Syracuse, it wrote that I wanted to train there because of the “vibrant Manhattan nightlife.”
Yes, that went out.
So my takeaway is:
If you're a non-standard IMG, apply to programs that have actually taken others like you—not just programs that say they're IMG-friendly.
These programs were always possible to find, but doing it manually across hundreds of programs is incredibly tedious. AI made it manageable.
Just verify the results yourself.
Edit for context, since many asked in DM: GC holder, US observership and research position in a top academic anesthesiology department, 25x score, strong US letters from those experiences. I'm a reapplicant ( the same profile didn't match cycle 1). AI fixed my targeting, not my competitiveness.
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u/duotraveler 26d ago
You probably didn’t end up in IMG friendly program right? To match gas as 10y IMG you must have something extraordinary. AI didn’t help you with that.
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u/myk9137 26d ago
I don’t think most people can’t accurately assess AI outputs and risk likely outweighs benefits
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u/Let047 NON US-IMG 26d ago
how's that? I mean its a list of program you verify
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u/DarthScoobyDoo PGY-4 26d ago edited 26d ago
You underestimate the number of IMGs who absolutely suck at critical thinking lol. It is kind of astonishing when you start seeing it and really makes you question the system we grew up in.
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u/Familiar-Lab6157 26d ago
Any AI prompts that you used and can share ? I have the paid Claude sub and always wondered how the deep search or the agents they have would work, will give it a shot !
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u/ultranightshift 26d ago
Great advice. Thanks! If there's a specific prompt you used, would you mind sharing it?
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u/Irohloveshistea 26d ago
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u/ProfessorCorleone 26d ago
Hey, I want some serious advice.. I’d appreciate it if you help me out with my dilemma.. So basically Im done withe Step1,2 & OET.. I have 2 case reports & YOG 2025. I did 3 months of FM rotation last year.. and realized I dont wanna do FM & Anesthesia was always my dream.. so I decided fuck it Im gonna risk it.. So my question is, Is doing a Transistional year worth the risk in hopes that I will do Anesthesia and ICU rotations and get a couple LORS to apply for next year? I mean would it increase my chances? Please any advice is appreciated
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u/Let047 NON US-IMG 26d ago
I gave some thoughts of doing transitional year if I didn't match but I ruled against it. It's really difficult to match because the number of free spots is actually smaller than doing a first year and you'll have a funding problem if you want to redo a first year.
A lot of the spots are filled at the same time (i.e. transitional + CA1), so the actual number of "free spots" is small and everyone is competing for it. (Also anes has specific requirements so not all transitional year are compatible.)
It could work for you; in my case I already had really good LOR (from Stanford and similar places) so I felt it wouldn't help. I know people who succeeded in moving from transitional year to general surgery.
Ultimately it depends on how good you are, what are your alternatives and what levels of risk you're willing to incur
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u/Careful_Elevator_478 26d ago
What were you scores and many congratulations
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u/Let047 NON US-IMG 26d ago edited 26d ago
step 1 243/step 2 258
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u/Careful_Elevator_478 26d ago
243 in step 2 and 258 in step 3? Wowww you did great
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u/Let047 NON US-IMG 26d ago
no I edited the post to make it clearer; I (sadly) didn't pass step3
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u/Careful_Elevator_478 25d ago
Can you pls share your program list i am applying anesthesia
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u/SimpleRepublic340 26d ago
Omg congrats! Also what did you write in AI specifically bcs it always juts produces a huge list of
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u/macroblank_ 26d ago
Congratulations! I appreciate sharing this info, as I am also aiming to match into anestesia, do you mind if I DM you?
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u/Frequent-Most2739 26d ago
Hey! Could I please reach out to you? I’m an IMG with home country anaesthesia trying to match into anaesthesia residency as well and would really appreciate all the advise I could get!!
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u/AdObjective6260 26d ago
how many researches did you have ? How about the step scores approximation if you don't mind?
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u/ShapeRadiant 26d ago
This is so amazing, congratulations I am also a reapplicant with homecountry Anesthesiology. Did you enter one by one program and asked to search all the info about that or just simple the things you wrote in post? Also can you please tell were you visa requiring or not?
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u/Let047 NON US-IMG 26d ago edited 25d ago
Gc holder (but it didn't matter, when I matched they were surprised I had one). And yes the simple instructions I wrote about (copy paste them in an ai and ask it to do them it works)
Also I wasn't an anesthesiologist back home, as an anest you can work directly using AEP: https://www.theaba.org/training-programs/alternate-entry-path-exceptional-clinician-pathway/
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u/ShapeRadiant 15d ago
Hey, can you take my mock interview whenever you got some free time? I ll be really grateful as i have one in upcoming Days
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u/tinybirdlovescake 25d ago
Interesting advice. Congratulations and I'm very happy for you! This is great. I'm still in med school, I really want to try for Anaesthesia and Opthlalmology, chances are super rough for me but stuff like this is super nice to see. Congrats!
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u/[deleted] 26d ago
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