Applying to the Match as a DACA Recipient

Written by Anonymous

As a fourth year medical student, there is more than enough on your plate, with audition rotations, ensuring the perfect residency application, obsessively checking your email when said application is submitted. However, for a small subset of American-trained medical students like myself, those stressors are compounded by their immigration status. As a Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipient in 2016, I was one of the very first recipients of the program to apply for residency. It felt no less than a Herculean tasks, associated with constant emails to programs explaining to them what the program was, that my ability to work required no sponsorship and had no limitations, and anxiety if my immigration status would be the cause for me to go unmatched. Despite above average Step scores and glowing letter of recommendations, I was denied interviews in places where I knew I would have had a chance had it not been for my immigration status. It went as far as program directors in places where I auditioned (and mistakenly paid handsome amounts of predatory “rotation fees”) ignoring numerous emails and those of faculty members advocating on my behalf.

While I eventually ended up at the program that was at the top of my list, the bitter taste of my application experience lingered for a bit. As DACA passes its 9th anniversary, there are more and more DACA medical students out there that are thriving, pursuing their goals and working their way to the American dream. Our immigration status was not a choice of our own and the obstacles that come our way when pursuing a career in medicine  at times seem born out of ignorance. Now as a pediatric hematology-oncology fellow, I am grateful for those that stuck their necks out for me, including my medical school which overlooked my immigration status when the vast majority of medical schools would not, eternally grateful to my residency and fellowship program directors who took a risk, knowing they could be without a trainee had the political climate shifted at any time, and to the few co-residents who I felt comfortable sharing my immigration status with and constantly provided positivity.

For those with DACA who are looking to The Match, here’s what I suggest:

1. Look at the medical licensing requirements for each state of the program that you are applying to (especially those in the South). Many have affidavits to confirm you have legal immigration status if you are not a US citizen or a Green Card, and at this time, its unclear if DACA legally satisfies what that affidavit is asking for.

2. Apply to large academic medical centers in large cities to increase your chances. Usually, the program directors and the GME office are familiar with various immigration statuses and can absorb the unfortunate event if they are down a trainee if DACA is revoked.

3.  But don’t ignore the smaller programs! There were smaller sized program, including in rural areas, that welcomed me with open arms.

4. If interview season is progressing and you feel like you are not receiving invites from programs where you would like an opportunity and otherwise meet their requirements, reach out to them with a letter of interest and include in there that DACA allows you to work without limitations or need for a sponsor. While it may be a hassle, stay open to providing clarifications.

5. Use this document to help bolster your argument to programs: UC Riverside 2020 Guidance for Residency Programs on Considering Applicants with Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals

6.   Stay positive! You have overcome so many obstacles to pursue this dream. Whichever program gives you an opportunity to achieve that dream, give them your all.

Being a DACA recipient is not a badge of shame but rather an opportunity to connect with the underserved and underprivileged. I could not think of a better career and environment at which I am right now to use my experiences as an undocumented immigrant and DACA recipient to provide to the community and country that has given my family and I a chance at safety, prosperity, and the pursuit of happiness.