It is not easy to describe international training in ERAS. You can imagine what your house job was like. In Chicago, the individual who’s reading your application likely doesn’t. They might not have heard the word “house job.
So the challenge in reality is to translate. You’re talking about your training in words that a U.S. reader can understand, what you did, where, and how much of it you did.
This guide is designed to take you through some of the aspects of MyERAS, the internship and rotations, the “is this like residency?” question and some of the common internship and residency pitfalls that IMGs trip over over and over again. Sample entries will also be included.
Any medical degree from outside the USA and Canada will be accepted and include the MBBS and MBChB. These programs are 5 or 6 years and begin immediately after high school. The United States’ students have another path. After completing a four-year college program, they study for four years at medical school.
There’s another difference. In Pakistan, India and many other countries, a full license cannot be obtained without undergoing a year of supervised internship (house job in Pakistan). In the US, the programs are not the same, and have to be spelled out.
But where does it all go? You should list your degree with the Education section of MyERAS. Put your clinical work into Experiences.
| Experience | What it represents | Where it usually goes |
| MBBS/MD | Undergraduate medical degree | Education section |
| Clinical clerkships | Rotations during medical school | Covered by your degree and transcript |
| House job/internship | Supervised postgraduate training required for licensure | Experiences (Education/Training) |
| Medical officer job | Paid clinical employment | Experiences (Work) |
| US observership | Structured observation without hands-on care | Experiences (Education/Training) |
Programs match your MyERAS records with your transcript, MSPE and ECFMG records. Mismatches get noticed.
Some of the considerations to keep in mind:
If you repeated a year or had a family emergency that caused your degree to be delayed, what if? Say it very politely and then get back to work. Use 1 or 2 sentences, simple ones will suffice. In the optional question called Impactful Experiences, you can say more if that really had an impact on your life.
Usually you don’t need to. Your clerkships already show up on your transcript and MSPE, and you only have 10 slots. Save a separate entry for a rotation that tells programs something new, like a research elective or a posting at a rural health center.
Your house job is probably the best clinical experience on your whole application. Help a stranger picture your day by covering:
If you did India’s compulsory rotating internship or Bangladesh’s one-year internship, the same approach works for you.
Completed house job for 12 months for full registration with the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council, including house job in internal medicine and general surgery. Supervised by a senior registrar; 8 – 10 calls on a call shift. Collected histories, did examinations, made daily progress notes, ordered and followed up lab and imaging tests and presented the patients on morning rounds. Initiated verbal and written handoffs at shift change, offered counseling with families at discharge.
Please don’t copy this word for word. Add your own activities and numbers.
Internal Medicine: Managed inpatients with diabetes, sepsis and chronic kidney disease managed in an inpatient setting under a consultant. Assessed progress and made changes to plans with consultations of seniors, recording progress notes.
General surgery: Prepped patients for surgery, assisted in surgery, monitored patient wounds and post-operative vital signs.
Pediatrics: Obtained parental history and worked out the correct dose based on weight.
Emergency medicine: Triage patients, started resuscitation with senior present and called specialist teams for referral.
We translate your international training into ERAS experiences a US program director understands at a glance, role, patient load, supervision, and numbers that hold up.
Programs pay close attention to these labels and be sure to use the appropriate one.
Clerkship: a fixed period of schooling in medicine that you have experienced during medical school.
Elective: a rotation chosen by you, anywhere, at home or abroad.
Externship: Practical, some patient contact (supervised).
Observership: you watched. You weren’t examining patients, ordering tests or making notes in the chart.
No matter what the label says, explain to the reader three things. What did you do? Who supervised you? Have contact with patients?
Four-week nephrology elective at [hospital name] in Karachi. Assisted with daily dialysis sessions, reviewed patients with acute kidney failure and end-stage renal failure and discussed cases with the consultant. Assessed laboratory trends and prepared a fluid and electrolyte plan to be submitted to supervisor.
Internal medicine 4-week observership at [hospital name, city, state]. Participated in daily inpatient rounds with attending physicians and residents, observed patients, engaged in case discussions about heart failure and sepsis. Delivered two literature reviews at team meetings. No direct care of patients, per hospital policy.
Picture a program director going through hundreds of applications from dozens of countries. They can’t know every country’s system. A short explanation from you saves them guesswork. Cover:
ECFMG certification shows that your medical education and exam results meet the standard for US graduate medical education (GME). You’ll need it before you can start an ACGME-accredited residency.
No, it doesn’t. A house job isn’t the same thing as an ACGME-accredited residency, and it usually won’t give you PGY-1 credit. That’s okay. It still shows you’ve cared for real patients and carried real responsibility, and programs do value that. Describe it honestly and leave out phrases like “equivalent to residency.”
Before writing an entry, answer these five questions:
Start with a verb that shows action: assessed, presented, documented, monitored, coordinated. Then be specific. “Assessed new admissions on call” tells a reader something. “Was involved in patient care” doesn’t. Add a number wherever you honestly can, like patients per shift or weeks on a service.
Each Selected Experience gives you 750 characters, counting spaces. That’s about 100 to 125 words. You can mark up to three entries as Most Meaningful, and each of those gets an extra 300 characters for reflection. Use that space to say why it mattered, not to squeeze in more tasks. Check the current AAMC MyERAS guide for any changes.
These come up all the time:
Programs can call your references. Write every line as if they will.
Calling an observership “hands-on,” saying “residency” for a house job, unexplained abbreviations, we catch these before a program director does.
Put it in the Education section. Use your school’s official name, your degree, and the dates on your transcript.
Yes. For most IMGs, it’s the strongest clinical entry. Give it one entry and mention your rotations inside it.
Name your role, departments, daily tasks, patient load, and supervision. Specific verbs help a lot.
Yes, if the rotation adds something your transcript doesn’t already show.
List them as observerships. Say plainly that you didn’t provide hands-on care.
No. It counts as clinical experience, not ACGME-accredited residency training.
Up to 10, and up to three can be marked Most Meaningful.
Quick check before you submit:
Not sure how to turn your house job into an ERAS entry that works? IMG Helping Hands guides IMGs through the USMLE and residency application process. Reach out to the IMGHH team before you hit submit.
Your international training is real clinical experience, it just needs to be translated. IMG Helping Hands helps you present it:
Articles published by IMG Helping Hands are prepared by our team using information from direct experience, publicly available resources, and educational references. AI tools may be used to assist with drafting, proofreading, and formatting; however, all content undergoes review and approval before publication.
The information provided is intended for educational purposes only. Requirements, policies, and processes may change over time. Readers should consult official sources for the most current information.
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