The Bottom Line
- ECFMG eligibility starts with your medical school listing in the World Directory of Medical Schools (WDOMS) and its ECFMG Sponsor Note.
- No Sponsor Note (or wrong graduation-year coverage) = you may be ineligible for ECFMG Certification, even if the school is ‘listed’.
- Confirm eligibility before booking USMLE or planning an ERAS cycle—this is a common high-cost mistake.
Why this matters
Most US IMG timelines fail at the very first gate: eligibility. Candidates spend months preparing for Steps, pay registration fees, and only later discover their school/graduation year does not meet ECFMG’s eligibility requirements. This page gives you a fast, process-based check so you can validate eligibility early and avoid dead-end spend.
The 5-minute eligibility check (do this first)
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Step 1 — Find your school in WDOMS
Go to the World Directory of Medical Schools (WDOMS) and search your medical school by official name (try variants/spellings). Open the school listing.
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Step 2 — Open the ‘Sponsor Notes’ tab
Look specifically for an ECFMG Sponsor Note. This is not optional. The Sponsor Note states whether the school meets ECFMG eligibility requirements and usually includes the graduation-year coverage.
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Step 3 — Confirm your graduation year is covered
Some schools have Sponsor Notes that apply only to certain graduation years. If your year is outside the stated range, treat this as a stop sign until confirmed with ECFMG guidance.
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Step 4 — Check the ‘no Sponsor Note’ meaning
If there is no ECFMG Sponsor Note on the Sponsor Notes tab, ECFMG states students/graduates are not eligible for ECFMG Certification (and this can cascade into USMLE/ERAS issues).
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Step 5 — Only then plan USMLE + Pathways + ERAS
Once eligibility is confirmed, you can plan Step 1/Step 2 CK sequencing, Pathways (OET), credentials verification, and ERAS/NRMP timelines.
A common trap: ‘listed in WDOMS’ is not the same as ‘eligible’
Being present in WDOMS is not enough by itself. ECFMG’s requirement is that the school is listed with an ECFMG Sponsor Note confirming eligibility requirements are met (and your graduation year is covered).
What MyIntealth is (and why you’ll see it everywhere)
ECFMG’s current applicant portal is MyIntealth. In practice, most administrative actions (applications, status checks, and certain submissions) route through this portal. Treat it as your ‘system of record’ for eligibility, certification workflow, and your admin trail.
If you’re not eligible: the realistic options
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How to use iatroX alongside this
iatroX is not an ECFMG portal replacement—use it as the planning and execution layer: a structured hub for the US IMG process, plus an exam revision layer (question-bank workflows and spaced practice). For non-UK clinicians, the Q&A feature can still be useful for general clinical reasoning and decision framing, but your highest leverage is exam revision + process navigation.
Practice
Test your knowledge
Apply this concept immediately with a high-yield question block from the iatroX Q-Bank.
Internal links to keep you moving
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USMLE revision (iatroX)
Use the question bank and quiz flow as your daily execution engine (even 20–40 questions/day compounds).
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US IMG directory (iatroX)
Use the IMG directory to navigate US topics and cross-links without hunting across the web.
SourceiatroX Quiz (Revision Engine)
Open Link SourceiatroX Questions (Bank & Practice)
Open Link SourceIMG Hub Directory
Open Link SourceUSMLE Step 1 Strategy (iatroX)
Open Link SourceUSMLE Step 2 CK Strategy (iatroX)
Open Link