Essential CV Building Tips for Caribbean IMGs in Preliminary Surgery

Understanding the Unique CV Challenges for Caribbean IMGs in Preliminary Surgery

Caribbean medical graduates aiming for a preliminary surgery year face a very specific landscape. Your CV must do more than list experiences—it has to:

• Demonstrate you can thrive in a high-intensity surgical environment
• Compensate for any perceived limitations of a Caribbean medical school background
• Clarify your goals: 1-year prelim surgery residency vs. eventual categorical position
• Stand out among hundreds of US and international applicants with strong metrics

Many programs will glance at your CV for less than a minute on first review. Your goal is to make it instantly obvious that you are:

1. Clinically ready for a demanding surgery internship
2. Reliable and hard-working (no drama, will show up and get things done)
3. Committed to surgery (or at least to surgical training for the year)
4. Organized, professional, and detail-oriented

This article breaks down how to build a CV for residency specifically as a Caribbean IMG applying for preliminary surgery spots, with practical residency CV tips, examples, and strategies tailored to your situation.

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Structuring a Strong CV for Preliminary Surgery Programs

For ERAS, your “CV” becomes the MyERAS application plus your personal CV (often uploaded as an additional document or brought to interviews). Both should be consistent and polished.

Core Sections to Include

A clean, logical structure helps reviewers find what they care about quickly:

1. Contact & Identification Information
2. Education
3. US Clinical Experience (USCE)
4. International Clinical & Preclinical Experience
5. Research & Scholarly Activity
6. Work Experience & Leadership
7. Volunteer & Community Service
8. Honors, Awards, and Distinctions
9. Skills (procedural, language, technical)
10. Professional Affiliations & Interests

Reorder sections strategically based on your strengths. For example, if you have:

• Strong US surgery rotations: put US Clinical Experience immediately after Education.
• Strong research: place Research near the top.
• Gaps or red flags in training: move Education up but use descriptions to clarify timelines.

Formatting Essentials (That Caribbean IMGs Often Overlook)

Your CV must look like something a US-trained applicant would submit:

• Use a simple, clean font (Calibri, Arial, Times New Roman, 10–11 pt)
• Consistent formatting: same date style, same layout for all entries
• Use reverse chronological order (most recent first)
• Use month and year for all dates (e.g., July 2022 – May 2023)
• Avoid photos, logos, or colorful design for US residency CVs
• Limit to 2–3 pages (exceptions if you have substantial research)

For a Caribbean medical school residency applicant, polish and professionalism can help counter subconscious bias. Sloppy formatting instantly reinforces stereotypes; a crisp CV does the opposite.

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Highlighting Clinical Experience for a Prelim Surgery Residency

For prelim surgery programs, clinical experience is your most important asset—especially US-based rotations. Your CV must show you can function as a safe, efficient intern on day one.

Prioritize and Frame Your US Clinical Experience

For Caribbean IMGs, “USCE” is where programs decide whether you can handle US hospital systems and surgical services.

Create a “US Clinical Experience” section and clearly separate:

• Core clerkships (e.g., Surgery, Internal Medicine, OB/GYN)
• Sub-internships/Acting Internships (AI)
• Surgical electives (trauma surgery, vascular, SICU, etc.)

Example entry:

General Surgery Sub-Internship
St. Barnabas Hospital, Bronx, NY
July 2024 – August 2024

• Functioned at sub-intern level on a busy general surgery service (census 15–25 patients)
• Independently pre-rounded and presented patients on daily surgical rounds
• Assisted in 25+ major cases (laparoscopic cholecystectomy, hernia repairs, colectomies)
• Performed H&Ps, wrote progress notes, and coordinated daily care plans with residents

This shows:

• Surgical volume
• Intern-level responsibilities
• Familiarity with US documentation and workflow

Emphasize Surgical Exposure and Responsibility

Programs seeking prelim surgery interns are scanning for clues that you:

• Already know the basic rhythm of surgical services
• Won’t panic on call or in the OR
• Can communicate clearly with residents, attendings, nurses, and consults

In your CV descriptions, include:

• Approximate number of OR cases assisted in or scrubbed
• Specific types of procedures you were exposed to
• Number of patients managed daily
• Any call or night float experience
• Examples of procedural skills (suturing, wound care, placing Foley catheters, etc.)

Better wording for surgery interest:
Instead of: “Assisted in surgeries and rounded on patients.”
Write:
“Scrubbed in on 30+ general surgery cases; assisted with retraction, basic suturing, and skin closure. Managed 6–10 post-op patients daily, including writing notes, presenting on rounds, and coordinating with nursing staff.”

Don’t Hide Your Caribbean Medical School—Leverage It

For Caribbean medical school residency applicants, programs understand your clinical years are primarily US-based. On your CV:

Education
Doctor of Medicine (M.D.), Anticipated May 2025
St. George’s University School of Medicine (SGU), Grenada

• USMLE Step 1: [score, if strong]
• Completed core and elective clinical clerkships in multiple US teaching hospitals
• Focused senior year electives in general surgery and critical care

If you’re from SGU, we’ll touch on SGU residency match considerations later—but your CV can briefly highlight the school’s large US graduate footprint without overselling it.

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Building Competitive Content: Education, Research, and Leadership

Education Section: Clarity and Transparency

For Caribbean IMGs, program directors look at:

• Time from start of medical school to graduation
• Any leaves of absence or gaps
• USMLE performance (shown in ERAS, but you can echo strengths in your CV thoughtfully)

Tips:

• Include start/end dates for medical school
• Mention if part of an honors track or research track
• If you had a delay or LOA, don’t hide it—just avoid overexplaining on the CV; save reasoning for interviews or personal statement.

Research and Scholarly Activity: Tailored to Surgery

Research is not mandatory for a prelim surgery residency, but it can significantly strengthen a Caribbean IMG’s application—especially if applying to programs with strong academic profiles.

Include:

• Peer-reviewed publications
• Conference posters or oral presentations
• Quality improvement (QI) projects
• Case reports, especially surgical or perioperative

Order them by type, then date:

Peer-Reviewed Publications
Doe J, [Your Last Name], Smith R. “Outcomes of Laparoscopic vs. Open Appendectomy in Community Hospitals.” Journal of Surgical Research. 2024;130(2):123–130.

Conference Presentations
[Your Last Name] T, Kumar S, Lee A. “Implementation of a Post-Operative Checklist to Reduce Surgical Site Infections.” Poster presented at American College of Surgeons Clinical Congress; San Francisco, CA; October 2023.

If your research isn’t surgical:

• Emphasize methods and skills (data analysis, chart review, statistical software, protocol development), which all translate to surgical QI and academic work.

Leadership, Work, and Volunteer Experience: Show You’re an Intern They Want on Call

Surgical services prioritize grit, teamwork, and reliability. Use non-clinical experience to highlight those traits.

Examples that are particularly valuable for a preliminary surgery year candidate:

• Chief or coordinator roles in student surgery interest groups
• Organizing suturing workshops, mock trauma simulations, or skills labs
• Leadership in SGU or other Caribbean school organizations
• Work as a medical scribe, ED tech, or surgical assistant

When describing roles, focus on:

• Ownership: “Led,” “organized,” “coordinated,” “implemented”
• Outcomes: “Increased participation by 50%,” “Reduced charting delays,” “Improved communication between…”

Example:

President, Surgery Interest Group
St. George’s University School of Medicine
August 2023 – May 2024

• Organized monthly surgical case discussions with faculty and residents (average attendance 40–50 students)
• Coordinated hands-on suturing workshops for pre-clinical students, focusing on basic instrument handling and knot tying
• Developed mentorship pairs between interested MS3/4 students and surgical residents across three affiliated US hospitals

This signals commitment to surgery AND ability to integrate into team structures—key for a prelim intern.

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Strategic CV Differentiators for Caribbean IMGs in Prelim Surgery

Explicitly Addressing “Preliminary” vs “Categorical” Interest

Program directors often wonder:

• Is this applicant using a prelim surgery residency as a stepping stone to categorical surgery?
• Are they actually more interested in another specialty (anesthesia, radiology, etc.)?
• Will they be committed and reliable for the full year?

Your CV can subtly reinforce that you understand and respect the prelim role:

• Under your Career Goal in a brief “Professional Summary” (optional small section at the top):

  “Caribbean international medical graduate seeking a Preliminary Surgery residency position with the goal of providing dedicated, high-volume surgical patient care and building a strong operative and perioperative foundation for a future categorical position.”

• Avoid listing experiences that scream “I’m actually psychiatry or pediatrics.” You don’t need to hide them, but de-emphasize unrelated long-term goals that conflict with surgery.

Tailoring Experience Entries to Surgical Competencies

When thinking through how to build CV for residency, especially surgery:

• Translate generic-sounding experiences into surgical competencies:
  • Time management
  • Stress tolerance
  • Procedural comfort
  • Rapid decision-making
  • Interprofessional communication

Before (generic):
“Volunteered in the emergency department, helping with patient flow and documentation.”

After (surgery-focused):
“Volunteered in a high-volume emergency department (150+ visits/day), assisting with triage documentation, room turnover, and patient transport, gaining exposure to trauma activations and acute surgical emergencies.”

This rephrasing subtly signals comfort in high-acuity settings—useful for ORs, trauma calls, and SICU rotations.

Using the CV to Strengthen a Caribbean Background

A Caribbean medical school residency applicant may worry that school location is always a disadvantage. While some programs are biased, others welcome IMGs who prove themselves. Your CV can show:

• Adaptability: Transitioning between Caribbean pre-clinicals and multiple US hospital systems
• Resilience: Managing travel, visas, licensing hurdles, and still performing at a high level
• Cultural competence: Working with diverse patient populations across countries

You can subtly highlight:

• Rotations in underserved areas (Bronx, Brooklyn, Detroit, South Chicago, rural hospitals)
• Language skills useful in their region (Spanish, French, Haitian Creole)
• Community outreach and public health exposure

These features are especially valued in safety-net hospitals that often host many prelim surgery year positions.

The SGU Residency Match Context (If You’re from SGU)

If you’re specifically from SGU (St. George’s University):

• You’re part of a large alumni network with substantial US match numbers.
• However, programs know the variation among SGU graduates is huge.

Your CV must show you’re at the high-performing end of that spectrum:

• Strong USMLE scores (reflected in ERAS; don’t reprint exact scores on the CV unless selectively advantageous)
• Multiple US-based surgical rotations with positive narratives
• Ideally, at least one US letter of recommendation from a surgeon at a teaching hospital
• Evidence of consistent performance, not just a late “pivot” to surgery

You don’t need a dedicated “SGU residency match” section, but you can:

• Include membership in SGU alumni or specialty groups
• Note if you contributed to match-focused mentoring or advising for junior students

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Residency CV Tips and Common Mistakes to Avoid

1. Overloading the CV with Irrelevant Detail

As a Caribbean IMG, you may feel pressure to list “everything” you’ve done to compensate for bias. This often backfires.

Avoid:

• High school activities
• Unrelated short-term jobs (unless they demonstrate grit or are healthcare-adjacent)
• Very old shadowing experiences
• Vague volunteer work with no clear role or outcome

Focus on depth > breadth. Two strong, detailed experiences beat eight vague ones.

2. Inconsistent or Suspicious Timelines

Program directors quickly notice:

• Long gaps with no listed activity
• Overlapping full-time roles that don’t make sense
• Absent dates

For gaps:

• Don’t try to hide them by removing dates.
• Use brief, factual entries:
  • “USMLE Step Preparation”
  • “Family responsibilities (caregiving)”
  • “Visa processing period”

Then be prepared to discuss succinctly in interviews.

3. Not Aligning CV with ERAS Application

Your medical student CV and ERAS entries must match:

• Dates, titles, institutions
• Number of publications or presentations
• Leadership roles and positions

Red flags appear when:

• A “first author” paper on the CV is missing from ERAS research entries
• Positions on the CV look more senior or important than on ERAS

Think of your CV as a formatted, readable version of the same truth—not a “marketing-boosted” alternative reality.

4. Weak or Generic Bullet Points

Each bullet should start with a strong action verb and show impact or specificity:

• Avoid: “Helped with research.”

• Use: “Collected and analyzed data for a retrospective study of 200 patients undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy, contributing to manuscript preparation.”

• Avoid: “Assisted in patient care.”

• Use: “Managed daily postoperative checks on 8–10 inpatients, coordinated wound care and dressing changes, and communicated updates to the surgical resident team.”

5. Ignoring Proofreading and Visual Cleanliness

Small mistakes can disproportionately harm a Caribbean IMG candidate, confirming biases about training quality.

Checklist:

• No spelling or grammar errors
• Aligned margins
• Uniform bullet style and indenting
• Consistent use of bold/italics for titles and roles
• PDF format (if uploading separately), not Word

Ask a US-trained mentor or resident to review it—they’ll catch subtle formatting missteps.

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Practical Steps to Strengthen Your CV Before Application Season

If you still have time before applying for a prelim surgery residency, use it strategically. Here’s how to improve your CV for residency in 6–12 months as a Caribbean IMG:

1. Targeted US Clinical Rotations

Aim for:

• At least 1–2 sub-internships in general surgery or surgical subspecialties
• Rotations at teaching hospitals with residency programs (even if you won’t apply there)
• Exposure to trauma, SICU, or acute care surgery, if possible

On those rotations, focus on:

• Showing up early, staying late, anticipating needs
• Asking residents what’s expected at an intern level and modeling that
• Requesting specific feedback and using it

These rotations are not just experience—they become strong CV bullets and LOR sources.

2. A Small but Focused Surgical Project

You don’t need a PhD in bench research. Even a concise, well-done project adds weight:

• A chart review on post-op outcomes
• A QI project on handoff quality or post-op order sets
• A case report on a rare surgical case encountered on rotation

Aim for:

• Presenting at a regional or national meeting (even a poster session)
• Getting your name on at least 1–2 abstracts or manuscripts

This transforms your CV from “no research” to “scholarly engaged.”

3. Skills-Building Activities

Consider:

• Suturing workshops or surgical skills labs (document as “Workshops & Skills Training”)
• ACLS/BLS certification
• Basic ultrasound training courses (esp. if trauma exposure)

On your CV, list these briefly under “Certifications & Skills” or “Additional Training.”

4. Tailored Mentorship

Seek:

• A surgical faculty mentor who knows the prelim landscape
• A recent Caribbean IMG who successfully matched into surgery (prelim or categorical)

Ask them to specifically review:

• The “look” and tone of your CV
• Whether you’re underselling any experiences
• What they would move higher or lower in priority

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FAQs: CV Building for Caribbean IMGs in Preliminary Surgery

1. How should my CV differ if I’m applying to both prelim and categorical surgery programs?

Use the same core CV, but:

• In ERAS, tailor your personal statement slightly for prelim vs categorical tracks.
• On the CV, keep the language open but surgery-focused: emphasize commitment to surgical training, not strictly “categorical or nothing.”
• Avoid stating “seeking categorical surgery only” anywhere if you’re also applying to prelim spots.

Programs understand many prelim applicants ultimately seek categorical positions; they just don’t want interns who are disengaged from day one.

2. What if I have no research—can I still be competitive for a prelim surgery residency?

Yes. For many preliminary surgery year positions, clinical performance and work ethic outweigh research. To compensate:

• Maximize strong US surgery rotations and letters.
• Use your CV to emphasize surgical exposure, high patient volumes, and responsibility.
• Include any QI or small projects you’ve done, even if not formally “research.”

Research becomes more important if you eventually aim for highly competitive categorical surgery positions at major academic centers.

3. Should I list all my USMLE scores on my CV?

In most cases for US residency:

• USMLE scores are already in ERAS; you don’t need to repeat them on the CV.
• Consider listing only if:
  • A score is exceptionally strong and you’re using the CV outside ERAS (e.g., for an away rotation, research fellowship).

If any score is borderline, it’s better to omit scores from the CV and let ERAS speak for itself.

4. How can I address a gap or delay in my Caribbean medical school timeline on my CV?

On the CV:

• Keep it factual and brief:
  • “July 2022 – December 2022: Dedicated USMLE Step 2 CK preparation.”
  • “January 2021 – June 2021: Family health responsibilities (primary caregiver).”

Avoid explanations like “because of poor mental health” or “I failed an exam” on the CV itself; those are better addressed verbally or in a personal statement if needed. Your goal is transparency without oversharing.

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By deliberately framing your experiences, using clear and professional formatting, and aligning your narrative with what surgical programs actually need from a preliminary surgery intern, you can turn a potential disadvantage—being a Caribbean IMG—into a story of resilience, adaptability, and readiness. Your CV is not just a list; it’s your first surgical case presentation about yourself. Make it efficient, precise, and impossible to dismiss.