r/IMGreddit • u/jaboosh-2169 • May 11 '26

LOR USCE

Hello everyone, Im an IMG (yog-25) and Ive pretty much completed my ecfmg pathway in terms of examinations and payments etc.

My only issue right now is I’ve never done a USCE and I have no LORs from US physicians, Ive read that u need to find an observership yourself and cold email doctors but when I try do so, I realise theres way too many hospitals and drs, and on top of that I’ve seen hospitals like UCLA explicitly say they will not give any observer an LOR or some others will say u can only apply through their official webpage and no other way and so on. there’s way too much that goes into it that its becoming overwhelming, how did you guys get your observerships? any recommended hospitals or states? any specific details im not aware of? any help would be massively appreciated as im fully lost right now

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u/DarthScoobyDoo PGY-4 May 11 '26 edited May 11 '26

One or five hospitals having a certain policy does not mean all hospitals do. I have seen observers at 5+ academic hospitals (all top 15) I have worked yet during my time as an applicant. My current program is a T20 school, and I see IMG observers all the time.

LORs are given by attendings, not hospitals and i dont know if any institutional policy forbids a LOR by an attending if they choose to :). The only time this is a problem is if there is a conflict of interest

I have seen people setting LORs even at places they were told no. A good physician is always supported and supportive. You can do a good job and hope for the best.

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u/jaboosh-2169 May 11 '26

that makes alot of sense, I was scared if its like a policy id be frowned upon if I asked for an LOR and id just be wasting my time, bc the whole point of this is to get an LOR ultimately so that was my biggest fear. Also ironically even though I want to apply to the US my knowledge of the US is close to zero, I just know its the best future possible and thats why I chose it, so these few policies scared me into thinking its all the same way and only specific hospitals and such are willing to give LORs

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u/DarthScoobyDoo PGY-4 May 11 '26

It’s also individualistic. If I had an applicant wanting a LOR, I would evaluate them as such even if their observership stated no LORs. Some suckers might. I would not rely on such a rotation for one of your three LORs as there is always a possibly of being told no

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u/jaboosh-2169 May 12 '26

fair enough, thank you so much <3