Confused about USMLE path and local path (Neuro to IM?) Desperately need advice..
I'm currently in a neurology residency in my home country.
Don’t love it, don’t hate it. chose it because it's a more secure path if I ever decide to stay here, but my main goal has been IM in the US.
I'm yet to start my step 2 preparation. starting to wonder if staying in Neuro here and finishing the steps then applying IM will severely hurt my chances of matching. it feels like it's gonna look very messy on any CV especially if I get rejected initially.
I keep getting thrown off by other opinions:
some say switch to IM locally first (IM is a terrible speciality where I'm from)
some say cardio/ICU makes more sense
some say match is getting harder with visa issues anyway and it doesn't matter much.
Now I’m stuck overthinking everything instead of actually committing or progressing.
How bad does it look applying IM after 2–3 years of local Neuro? am I just shooting myself in the foot by doing it this way?
Is switching now smarter or just a waste of time?
am I overestimating how hard matching has become?
I feel like every option has a low success rate and I’m overcomplicating it.
Just want some honest, realistic takes. thank you.