obs gyne residency for IMG

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Hi there. I'm from HONG KONG and have been in general practice for a few yrs; I've got a membership in Royal College of General Practitioners but I would like to enter obs gyne specailsit training; a few questions:

1. how competitive is obs gyne nowadays? what score is expected in USMLE step 1 and 2 in general?

2. how old is PGY1 residency in Obs gyne in general(i'm 31)? Do most of them(esp IMG) finished their training in the prescribed 4 yrs or most of them need longer time?

3. how bad is the litigation problem? Do a significant no of residents get involed in some kind of lawsuit? will the premium be so high that even after training a decent income is not possible?

Thanks a lot in advance.


LWK

An IMG who applies broadly and has good command of the english language should have NO problem matching here in the states.

1. how competitive is obs gyne nowadays? what score is expected in USMLE step 1 and 2 in general?


Not very competitive at all. A step I score of 200 is probably sufficient to match in a good program.


2. how old is PGY1 residency in Obs gyne in general(i'm 31)? Do most of them(esp IMG) finished their training in the prescribed 4 yrs or most of them need longer time?


Most residents are around 26 or 27 when they start. Almost all of them finish in 4 years.



3. how bad is the litigation problem? Do a significant no of residents get involed in some kind of lawsuit? will the premium be so high that even after training a decent income is not possible?


The "litigation problem" is pretty bad. Insurance premiums for ob/gyns are among the highest. You can still make a decent living though.

Originally posted by Celiac Plexus
[B]
1. how competitive is obs gyne nowadays? what score is expected in USMLE step 1 and 2 in general?


Not very competitive at all. A step I score of 200 is probably sufficient to match in a good program.
[B]

Celiac,
That was the impression I had, but it was shattered earlier on this year while I was talking to one of the ob/gyn faculty members at my school (UAB). She said she couldn't remember taking anyone below 220 since she's been a part of the process (last 4-5 years I think). UAB has a pretty strong program, but 220 as a cutoff still sounds considerably higher than I was expecting.

Not that surprising. THat's about the level that I expect. To get into ob/gyn it takes similar level of credentials as, say, general surgery. (And the authors of First Aid for the Boards seem to agree on that, as both of them are listed under the rather competitive middle column with the likes of rads and EM) Like any solid surgery programs in the country, I would imagine a legit ob/gyn program will want above average medical students. Considering national average is 215 or so, doesn't surprise me if their criteria is at 220 or so. Although does that mean that if you dont have a 220 you dont have a shot at even an interview? or is it just that the people they take tend to be above 220?

I'm not gonna contest that UAB is selective. UAB is a badass medical institution with a pretty good ob/gyn department.

However, if you have a 200+ Step I you can match in to a good program. Just check out the match stats for this year. Quite a few unfilled programs, and lots of slots that were filled presumably through the scramble.

UAB is definitely solid, probably even borders excellent. I am not as familiar in OB/Gyn so I couldn't say for sure.

But first, I thought the list of programs with vacancies is published PRIOR to scramble, meaning those are pre-scramble vacancies. Second, those vacant programs are not exactly solid.

Being on Ob/Gyn now, with a lot of the gyn surgeons are actually general surgeons, I hate to think someone who does close to 1 standard dev below the mean on national boards actually trained at a "good" program.

thanks very much for your informaion my friends; it's very useful; one question is that is there any discrimation problem as long as IMG is concerned? will male foreign obs gyne be a disadvantage when one considers the prospect of going private practice at the end of the day? Thanks again

Originally posted by Renovar
UAB is definitely solid, probably even borders excellent. I am not as familiar in OB/Gyn so I couldn't say for sure.

But first, I thought the list of programs with vacancies is published PRIOR to scramble, meaning those are pre-scramble vacancies. Second, those vacant programs are not exactly solid.

Being on Ob/Gyn now, with a lot of the gyn surgeons are actually general surgeons, I hate to think someone who does close to 1 standard dev below the mean on national boards actually trained at a "good" program.

Well Hopkins didn't fill. I think it's a pretty "good" program. Other top programs did not fill too. There were a number of good university programs that had multiple unfilled slots. These were probably filled throught he scramble with whomever the programs could get...

Ob/gyn is in a very bad way right now as far as residency selection goes. The bar is getting lower every year, and residencies will probably continue to interview and rank applicants with lower and lower qualifications. I would say that in the last 5 years ob/gyn has gone from moderate/very competitive to noncompetitive.