yep, IMU. Hahah how'd you know? I have never really considered the US until recently because of the huge risk I'd be taking if I go ahead with the US universities. Jefferson only offers 3 seats whereas Miami only offers 2 seats per batch! I'll need to pass the interviews and if I don't I'll have to take whatever remaining seat left in my batch in another UK university (that most probably won't be my top choice). However, if I pass the interview but fail the USMLE, I'll have to continue on locally or wait at least another year to take the remaining spaces in the UK universities with the batch after mine. Confusing, I know. Would you still take the risk?
If I'm not mistaken, I will be getting the degree of the university that I'll be twinning to, so I think it would be the US medical degree? Thanks for pointing that out, will double check.
Another thing I'm worried about is that I would be going there as an undergrad whereas everyone else would be a grad student. Would it be more challenging as compared to going to the UK as an undergrad or is there not much difference? Comparing the UK and the US, besides the exposure and the responsibilities, which country in your opinion gives better training? Someone told me that in the UK, doctors are more well rounded whereas in the US, doctors are more focused in one field. Having experienced both systems, would you agree with that? How about post-medical school life, which system & country do you prefer?
Edinburgh would be great, with it's prestigious name and all but it's really expensive and if I'm not mistaken, they'll be adding in an extra year of medical school for research, which isn't one of my main goals for now. I initially wanted to go to the UK but with the push for new immigration legislations and everything, it doesn't look that promising for me as an international student, I feel. My main priority now would be to find a place overseas that's affordable and will at least allow me to do my housemanship/internship/clerkship there.
Do you also happen to know anything about med school & career opportunities in Aus?
Haha, I knew it was IMU because I noticed on the Edinburgh page transfer students were coming from IMU and I looked into it and found out about your twinning programs around the world.
Having been in both systems, I do think the US system is overall better mainly because they work harder than UK students and have a tougher curriculum and are given more responsibilities faster. This might have something to do with the grad nature of the program, but I'm pretty confident in telling you that if you gave the USMLE to most of the students in my UK medical school class at the end of 3rd year without preparation, 90% would probably fail. My school, which is well known for its pre-clinical education had by the end of third year completely missed out on hematology, we had never learned any of the leukemias or lymphomas and compared to the USMLE first aid book I only knew the organ systems well. Of course, my school had other strengths in anatomy for instance but in terms of class hours, US students have much more class than UK students.
Most UK students are deathly afraid of the USMLE, when in actual fact its something every US medical student has to take, pass and do well in. It just shows you the difference in the amount of education you learn between the two countries.
I think its really important for you if you want to go to the US to be one of the best students in your class, because if you want to actually match to a residency program you need to not only pass the USMLE you need to do very well in it. If you are confident in being able to score a 220+ on your Step 1, I would go to the US because you will get a US MD degree and with a good Step 1 score you can pretty much do your residency in the US no problem.
On the other hand if you aren't confident with the USMLE, the UK may be a better option since as things stand right now you can stay on for FY1/2, ST1-6 just by graduating from a UK medical school.
I believe that UK doctors are going to be better at history taking and better at clinical examinations than US doctors. I think this is because UK schools really emphasize these parts and throughout medical school this is what you mainly do. In terms of knowledge however I would think that US doctors are going to be better at this, one prevailing theme I've noticed in the UK is they really treat their doctors like employees rather than independent scholars. I think the best of each country are equal and the UK does tend to catch up in the end because of its longer clinical training (albeit less hours), but if it was me I would believe that US medical training at least in the early stages is going to be harder work but better than UK medical training.
In the NHS you work as an employee, research is something you pursue on a research track rather than something everyone is encouraged to participate in. There is still a weeding out process between medical school and specialty training, a lot of medical students in the UK never actually make it to becoming a doctor even after graduating. None of this happens in the US/Canada.
I wouldn't worry about being younger than your classmates, its something that I am experiencing as well but I think that just makes you mature faster than your peers your age.
