So it turns out my info is outdated and the RCPCH has actually done away with the portfolio since COVID! On their website there is a really useful link that gives you a scoring framework - a list of things you can do to give your application a boost - that’s worth checking out. Still, it never hurts to have evidence to show your interest/commitment to a specialty. It’ll give you stuff to talk about in your interview!
It’s hard to answer such a complex issue with a simple yes or no. We talk about it a little bit in this video ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-oYcNzfee7UY.html Personally we (Sanchit and I) haven’t experienced any racism, but equally we are clearly not IMGs. A lot of IMGs work in the uk and anecdotally we do notice they sometimes get treated differently, even if it isn’t overt racism as such.