Caribben or Ireland--no pref. to come back to Can

[leviathan]

Originally Posted by NLengr

The US is expecting cuts to the number of post grad education (read residency spots) in the next few years. This is because of budget cuts in the country at the federal level, which will be widespread.

Expect it to get harder to match in the US, especially as an IMG in the coming years.

I also agree that if you aren't happy with family, then don't apply to international schools. The majority of IMGs will end up in family. I am sure many would not have made it their first choice if they were CMGs. I would also add that ANYONE, CMGS or IMG should be willing to accept family before starting medicine, because it is the natural fall back in the match process.

The thing is, I think it's naturally difficult for anyone to know what they'd be 'happy' with before getting into medical school and knowing what each specialty is like. That's the unfortunate part about it.

[Slashsev01]

Id do the islands as they are american based

Great chance u wont get anything but FM

check out DO programs

[rankin]

Originally Posted by leviathan

There are 6 general surgery spots in the entire country for IMGs. It doesn't matter what school you're at.

Wtf are you even talking about? More than 40 students matched into surgery this year alone and thats JUST from SGU.

To the original thread writer please do yourself a favor and do not listen to anything 'leviathan' says. He has absolutely no clue wtf hes talking about.

I also want to add that besides FM, IM is a definite viable option for an IMG. In fact SGU has more IM matches this year then FM. Beyond IM and FM, yes matching in something else is tough but its not impossible. It just means you need to do very good on steps, get great LORs and make contacts. But I agree that you should go into it knowing that you may end up in FM or IM and be happy with that.

[Mashmetoo]

Originally Posted by rankin

Wtf are you even talking about? More than 40 students matched into surgery this year alone and thats JUST from SGU.

To the original thread writer please do yourself a favor and do not listen to anything 'leviathan' says. He has absolutely no clue wtf hes talking about.

Do you have any written/online documentation that "40" SGU students matched in surgery (in Canada)? That sounds too good to be true.

[rankin]

Originally Posted by Mashmetoo

Do you have any written/online documentation that "40" SGU students matched in surgery (in Canada)? That sounds too good to be true.

I was talking about USA as I understand the OP didn't care about matching in Canada.

I apologize if you are talking about Canada but why would you if the OP doesn't care about Canada? Seems like he doesn't even like Canada which is very sad given how great of a country this is. I hope all people in his shoes leave quickly to wherever they want to go.

[leviathan]

Originally Posted by rankin

Wtf are you even talking about? More than 40 students matched into surgery this year alone and thats JUST from SGU.

To the original thread writer please do yourself a favor and do not listen to anything 'leviathan' says. He has absolutely no clue wtf hes talking about.

I also want to add that besides FM, IM is a definite viable option for an IMG. In fact SGU has more IM matches this year then FM. Beyond IM and FM, yes matching in something else is tough but its not impossible. It just means you need to do very good on steps, get great LORs and make contacts. But I agree that you should go into it knowing that you may end up in FM or IM and be happy with that.

As a medical student I think you need to learn how to read / comprehend things. We were talking about IMG positions in Canada, there's no such thing as an IMG residency position in the US. You really should not attend an international school if you haven't even done your homework to realize this.

As for US surgery matches, look at the NRMP statistics on those matches and you'll see they almost exclusively go to American citizens who don't have a J1 visa requirement and whose board scores are far higher than the average Caribbean student. If you think you're going to attend St. Georges or some other school and get surgery, you're delusional. Sure it happens but only for a small minority of excellent students. A minority that is becoming even smaller as the number of US grads increases year after year.

[leviathan]

Did some research. My god SGU is one overbloated school.

793 (!!) PGY1 matches this year. 71 (9%) of them in Surgery (unknown how many are even categorical).

721 IMGs applied for surgery last year in the US, and 192 (26%) matched. For applicants who had 250 or greater on Step 1, 100% of US grads matched but only 42% of IMGs with the same stellar scores were able to match.

http://www.nrmp.org/data/chartingoutcomes2011.pdf

I don't know what I'm talking about? Talk about the pot calling the kettle black!

[rankin]

Originally Posted by leviathan

As a medical student I think you need to learn how to read / comprehend things. We were talking about IMG positions in Canada, there's no such thing as an IMG residency position in the US. You really should not attend an international school if you haven't even done your homework to realize this.

As for US surgery matches, look at the NRMP statistics on those matches and you'll see they almost exclusively go to American citizens who don't have a J1 visa requirement and whose board scores are far higher than the average Caribbean student. If you think you're going to attend St. Georges or some other school and get surgery, you're delusional. Sure it happens but only for a small minority of excellent students. A minority that is becoming even smaller as the number of US grads increases year after year.

First of all, as I said before, Canadian IMG residency positions in surgery are irrelevant to this thread because the thread poster does not care about coming back to Canada. If you want to discuss that make a new thread so we can have some level of organization.

Secondly, IMG residency position in the US? If you are implying that I think there are are dedicated seats in the US for IMG's then you have grossly misread and/or misunderstood what I said. I implied no such thing.

Originally Posted by leviathan

Did some research. My god SGU is one overbloated school.

793 (!!) PGY1 matches this year. 71 (9%) of them in Surgery (unknown how many are even categorical).

721 IMGs applied for surgery last year in the US, and 192 (26%) matched. For applicants who had 250 or greater on Step 1, 100% of US grads matched but only 42% of IMGs with the same stellar scores were able to match.

http://www.nrmp.org/data/chartingoutcomes2011.pdf

I don't know what I'm talking about? Talk about the pot calling the kettle black!

Nobody cares how 'over bloated' it is. Its the best Caribbean med school out there period (and I'm not even from there).

Yes obviously the match rate to surgery for IMG's will be far lower than US grads and even lower still for those seeking J1. What I was ultimately getting at is that harder specialties are viable out of Caribbean but you have to work extremely hard and/or be smart and you should also be willing to accept IM or FM (especially FM). If you are happy with that scenario and cannot get into North American schools then go for Caribbean.

[leviathan]

Nobody cares how 'over bloated' it is. Its the best Caribbean med school out there period (and I'm not even from there).

I didn't say anything about the quality of the school, I was just making an observation at how ridiculous the number of students they have is. SGU is probably the best school, but I'm basing that on nothing more than that that's what everyone else says, and that they've been around the longest of most Carib schools. What really makes them the best from an education standpoint? If you asked what school in the Carib gives the best chances to get a residency, then there's no question, BECAUSE of their reputation. But what is that reputation from?

What I was ultimately getting at is that harder specialties are viable out of Caribbean but you have to work extremely hard and/or be smart and you should also be willing to accept IM or FM (especially FM). If you are happy with that scenario and cannot get into North American schools then go for Caribbean.

What's your definition of 'viable'. I would not tell people thinking of the Caribbean that surgery is going to be viable for them. The chances are so low it is misleading people to tell them it's a viable option. I usually tell people to plan on matching into FM/IM/Psych but be pleasantly surprised if you're able to get something better. I would say surgery is viable for those with high board scores and good LORs and good clinical evals, but when you're a premed there's really no good way of knowing what kind of med student you will become or how competitive you'll be.