If the purpose is the get back to Canada or the US to practice, is there any difference between the two? From what I understand Caribbean schools tend to prepare their students towards obtaining residency in the USA and USMLEs but on the other hand Irish/UK schools tend to focus on educating their own citizens/residents while accepting internationals but they are actual schools not businesses.
Can anyone set me up on the differences?
Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) grad here, now doing Residency in the US.
You actually hit the nail right on the head. Caribbean schools are build off the american system, e.g. teaching toward the USMLE/aiming for an american residency. They are not aimed at creating graduates who can practice in the Caribbean. Irish medical schools are the opposite - they're aimed at creating doctors for the Irish medical system - preparing for the USMLE or obtaining american clinical rotations are up to you, if you want to do that (which a fair number of people Irish grads do, both Irish citizens and folks studying in Ireland but from elsewhere).
Where you need to watch out are the for-profit Caribbean schools. There are a LOT of horror stories out there about folks getting through medical school in the Caribbean but being unable to practice or obtain residency in the US. The Irish schools have the advantage of readying you to practice medicine, and having a job waiting for you (in Ireland) when you graduate from medical school. As far as I know, that's not the case with Caribbean schools.
If your purpose is returning to Canada or the US, I'm biased, but I would say your best bet is to go to Ireland. If nothing else, you'll be able to work following graduation from medical school - worst case scenario is doing a year in Ireland (as an intern), and then applying to the match in canada/the US. Probably one of the single biggest red flags is time off not doing anything between graduation from medical school and application for residency - and clinical time, e.g. in Ireland, is a massive advantage in applying. So there's that!
Plus, the Irish schools tend to actually do quite well in the match. I don't know specific stats, but in my year, something like 70% of people applying to canada or the US matched, and the year after, something like 80% did.
HOWEVER. Going anywhere outside the US or Canada, and then getting back in, is getting harder. The increasing number of american medical schools means that it WILL be getting harder to get back into the US or Canada after having left for medical school. How hard, I don't know. But the 'easiest' course of action in terms of residency would be to attend an american medical school, then apply for an american medical school.
