Applying for USMLE CS and paper presentation without USMLE scores!!

[Ala Synthase]

Hi all,

I and my girlfriend had visited USA in 2011 for 2 months for a short training. We were granted a Visa for 1 year(B1/B2) and at the port of entry we were given 6 months duration to stay. We came back in 2 months. We applied as friends/classmates back then but was not asked about our relationship then.

Now, we want to apply again to go for a conference(poster presentation) and to give CS exams. I wanted to ask if we should apply together for interview or separately. We worked together and we have similar letters of job experience. Will there be greater chance if we applied together because last time we went together and came back in time? How should we proceed? We have not given any Steps. We had planned to give Step 1 in March but found that we were not ready yet so we had to extend our eligibility period twice. I know this makes it difficult but please advice.

Best regards,
Alan

[peace999]

Hello enzyme,

*First of all, do not apply for CS until you have at least one of the MLE steps and that too with great scores.
That will be a sure denial if you will do that.

*You can apply for the conference without mentioning CS. Ask for a short stay for the length of the conference + a week.

*By the way which country are you from? If you are from India, you do not need to appear for an interview.
( you are eligible for drop box)

*They will look at your ties to India afresh ( long term job/practice, good income ).
If there is something weak in your application, they may call you for an interview.

*Can you give me some more details of your work for each of you ( practicing, working, specialty),
What is the conference subject? THen I can tell you if you should
apply as travelling together.

[Ala Synthase]

short stay

Hello enzyme,

*First of all, do not apply for CS until you have at least one of the MLE steps and that too with great scores.
That will be a sure denial if you will do that.

*You can apply for the conference without mentioning CS. Ask for a short stay for the length of the conference + a week.

*By the way which country are you from? If you are from India, you do not need to appear for an interview.
( you are eligible for drop box)

*They will look at your ties to India afresh ( long term job/practice, good income ).
If there is something weak in your application, they may call you for an interview.

*Can you give me some more details of your work for each of you ( practicing, working, specialty),
What is the conference subject? THen I can tell you if you should
apply as travelling together.

Thank you for your reply.

I am from Nepal. We do not have dropbox privilege here I guess. We both graduated a year ago from medical school and started working in the same hospital outside the city. The conference is for general medicine and our paper was selected as a finalist for poster presentation.

If we apply for conference only then they might give us for only few weeks and we have to stay a month to give our exam in Mid of May.

Please advice.

[peace999]

Thank you for your reply.

I am from Nepal. We do not have dropbox privilege here I guess. We both graduated a year ago from medical school and started working in the same hospital outside the city. The conference is for general medicine and our paper was selected as a finalist for poster presentation.

If we apply for conference only then they might give us for only few weeks and we have to stay a month to give our exam in Mid of May.

Please advice.

*If you wrote your paper together and are both presenting the same paper, then there is nothing to think about.
Apply together.

*At entry , They will first ask you the purpose and duration. Tell them you plan to be there till end of may. Sightseeing after
the conference. There is nothing wrong with that. They never give you few weeks of stay. By default they give you 6 months and
shorter only if there is something wrong with your history ( too many visits , too long stays in US) , which in your case is not there.

[Ala Synthase]

thanks

*If you wrote your paper together and are both presenting the same paper, then there is nothing to think about.
Apply together.

*At entry , They will first ask you the purpose and duration. Tell them you plan to be there till end of may. Sightseeing after
the conference. There is nothing wrong with that. They never give you few weeks of stay. By default they give you 6 months and
shorter only if there is something wrong with your history ( too many visits , too long stays in US) , which in your case is not there.

Thanks for the reply. Nice that you recognized I am an enzyme!

I heard they gave some distant person I know 3 weeks for conference. And one was given 3 months. That's why we are confused! What if they give us few weeks of stay? That way we will have to come back and apply for CS exams again in May or June. Till then we will have given Step 1 but will still not have Step 1 scores till then end of May. I have to give Step 2 CS by June to be able to participate in Match 2014.

And everyone always tells to speak the truth. What if we do our Step 2 CS and have to come back and then again apply for Step 3 and interviews, won't it be difficult then to get a Visa?

Thank you in advance!

[peace999]

Yes, one should be truthful but you are not violating any laws.
Taking CS is also an activity permissible under B1 status.
Just like if one goes to a conference and attends a second conference which he did not tell the US visa officer about,
there is nothing wrong with it. People can change their plans , change status to Student, work visa as long as everything is done legally.

No offence but , it is a problem from your side that
you should have taken one MLE step by now if you so wanted to be in the '14 NRMP.
You have read DrK17 's post , he was asked step scores when he applied for CS.

You have to take a chance here if you wish to be in the '14 match.

[Ala Synthase]

thanks

Yes, one should be truthful. But your situation is a binding one.
You should have taken one MLE step by now if you so wanted to be in the '14 NRMP.
You have read DrK17 's post , he was asked step scores when he applied for CS.

You have to take a chance here if you wish to be in the '14 match.

I agree with you. Things were difficult and we thought it was good to delay than to end up with okay scores. That's why we extended our dates. Yes, I did read DrK17's post. We did not plan to apply for CS this early . This year it is required to give CS early so we have to apply now.

There are so many things on my mind, I cant even think clearly!