Auditing Medical Postgraduate Pathways
For any opportunity (scholarship, degree, or licensing route), run it through the Four-Gate Audit before presenting it as viable:
GATE 1 — Academic/Professional: Degree, subject match, institutional recognition,
graduation-year rules, internship/registration requirements
GATE 2 — Application Route: Official platform only; separate scholarship/licensing/
residency/visa processes
GATE 3 — Applicant Fit: Nationality, age cutoffs, GPA, language, work experience
GATE 4 — Practical Feasibility: Total cost, document access, exam-center access,
travel, banking, deadlines
Any failed mandatory rule → INELIGIBLE (unless an official exception is documented). Any unverifiable claim → UNVERIFIED, never silently treated as true.
Example verdict line:
VERIFIED | University of X, MPH Epidemiology — FULLY FUNDED — UNIVERSITY-ROUTE VIABLE [1][2]
Progress:
- [ ] 1. Clarify pathway: Academic (Pathway A) or Clinical (Pathway B), or both
- [ ] 2. Check applicant profile against baseline assumptions (never assume unverified facts)
- [ ] 3. Apply University-Route-Only filter by default (exclude Aden Ministry/consular-dependent routes unless "/Aden" invoked)
- [ ] 4. Search official sources only (ministry portals, university admissions, regulator sites)
- [ ] 5. Run Four-Gate Audit on each candidate opportunity
- [ ] 6. Run relevant Blind-Spot Risk Check items (see below)
- [ ] 7. Classify funding/cost status (FULLY FUNDED | PARTIALLY FUNDED | COSTS UNVERIFIED, etc.)
- [ ] 8. Assign citation brackets [1][2]... to every material claim
- [ ] 9. Rank results by real applicant fit (HIGHER | MODERATE | LOWER)
- [ ] 10. Output Popperian Re-Check (disqualifiers, evidence gaps, contradictions)
- [ ] 11. Build Index of Resources mapping every bracket to a unique direct URL
Step Details
Step 1 — Direction check. Clinical licensing and academic scholarships require entirely different evidence trails. Never blend "admitted to MSc" with "eligible to practice clinically" — flag explicitly if a user's question conflates them.
Step 3 — University-route filter. For every opportunity, report:
- Application Route (direct via university/platform?)
- Aden Ministry Requirement (mandatory? at what stage?)
- Consular Requirement (mandatory?)
- Alternative Verification (exists?)
- Required Stage (Application | Admission | Enrollment | Clinical Training | Registration | Visa)
- Final Status:
UNIVERSITY-ROUTE VIABLE | CONDITIONALLY VIABLE | ADEN-DEPENDENT | UNVERIFIED
Step 4 — Search discipline. Priority order: (1) scholarship/program provider, (2) university admissions page, (3) medical regulator/exam authority, (4) immigration authority, (5) residency match body, (6) hospital recruiter, (7) reliable secondary source. Use targeted site: queries for restrictive portals (e.g., site:studyiniraq.scrd-gate.gov.iq).
Step 6 — Risk categories to scan: academic/scholarship risks (internship misclassification, ECTS mismatch, MOI/visa mismatch, age cutoffs, legalization delays), clinical risks (graduation-year rejection, exam-pass≠job guarantee, registration≠residency eligibility, missing sponsorship), administrative risks (confusing institutional vs. individual recognition, outdated Aden assumptions, anecdotal admission rumors).
Step 10 — Popperian Re-Check format (mandatory in substantial reports):
Risk ➡️ Evidence ➡️ Consequence ➡️ Mitigation
Example 1: Input: "Search for scholarships for Public Health, fully funded, for a Yemeni MBBS graduate." Process: Apply University-Route-Only filter → search Chevening, DAAD, Erasmus Mundus, TWAS, GKS official pages → check nationality eligibility, MOI acceptance, age cutoffs, funding completeness → run Four-Gate Audit on each → classify funding status → cite every claim. Output:
HIGHER FIT: DAAD EPOS MPH (Germany) — FULLY FUNDED — UNIVERSITY-ROUTE VIABLE [1][2]
- Gate 1: MBBS accepted for MPH entry [1]
- Gate 3: Yemen eligible; 2 yrs work experience required, applicant meets via internship+1yr [1]
- Gate 4: No Aden Ministry document required at application stage [2]
MODERATE FIT: Chevening (UK) — PARTIALLY FUNDED (no dependents allowance) — UNVERIFIED (degree equivalency pending) [3]
🔍 POPPERIAN RE-CHECK:
Risk: 21 UMAS not yet on DAAD's recognized institution list ➡️ Evidence: not found in [1] ➡️
Consequence: application rejection at screening ➡️ Mitigation: request individual equivalency assessment before applying
Index of Resources:
[1] https://www.daad.de/en/.../epos-scholarships
[2] https://www.daad.de/en/.../eligibility-requirements
[3] https://www.chevening.org/.../eligibility
Example 2: Input: "/plab" Process: Verify PMQ acceptability for GMC, English test rules (OET/IELTS UKVI), PLAB 1/2 current fees and pass marks, internship recognition, NHS job routes, Foundation/Specialty training access, visa route (Health & Care Worker visa). Output: Six-stage breakdown (exam eligibility → registration → clinical job → specialty training → specialist registration), each tagged VERIFIED/CONDITIONAL/UNVERIFIED with bracketed citations and total cost estimate.
- Never invent eligibility, funding amounts, deadlines, fees, exam rules, or acceptance rates — if unverifiable, say
UNVERIFIED. - Separate academic admission from clinical practice authorization explicitly in every clinical-track answer.
- Separate university-level recognition from individual graduate recognition — a recognized university does not guarantee a recognized graduate.
- Default to university-route-only; only expand to Aden-dependent routes when
/Adenis explicitly invoked. - Treat WDOMS listing as necessary but never sufficient for licensing eligibility.
- Use current-cycle sources only; flag and label any prior-cycle data used as fallback.
- When portals block direct reading, use
site:targeted search rather than guessing content. - Always distinguish the six clinical stages: exam eligibility → medical registration → clinical job eligibility → residency admission → specialty training completion → specialist registration/independent practice.
- Format comparison tables with max 5 columns for mobile readability; keep scholarship and clinical rankings in separate tables.
- Redact sensitive personal data (IDs, signatures, bank details) when referencing uploaded documents.
- Do not treat a tuition waiver as "fully funded" — verify stipend, insurance, airfare, and visa support separately.
- Do not assume a 6-year MBBS equals 360 ECTS without verification.
- Do not assume internship automatically satisfies a foreign regulator's requirements.
- Do not present an academic-only admission route as viable for clinical training if clinical stages require inaccessible Aden Ministry documents.
- Do not claim a requirement is "waived" without an official citation proving it.
- Do not assign the same URL to multiple citation numbers — find unique deep links or merge citations.
- Do not present exam-pass as equivalent to job/residency/registration guarantee.
- Do not omit the Index of Resources or leave any bracketed in-text citation unmapped.
- Do not rely on anecdotal admission claims (e.g., "someone got into University of Diyala") without official confirmation — label as anecdotal until verified.