Planning to do med.

[chickenonrice]

I need a plan and a decision to make...

I plan on attending PSU main campus and participate in their 3+4 program (not the actual med program but an 'unofficial one' (more info here: http://science.psu.edu/premed/special-programs . however if i get into the honors program i will go go through this : http://www.shc.psu.edu/students/iug/medical/index.cfm). If my grades happen to be spectacular, I plan on transferring to a more of a warmer place but PSU is fine. After that I plan on doing med school and then take the path to become a spine surgeon (money plays a semi-big factor) or a cardiologist. I can't decide which field to go in mainly cause my father is a cardiologist and I would like to take over his practice but spine surgeons make a lot also.

All in all I am looking at 12-15 years of education after highschool.

However, my father would like me to go to Pakistan since it is considerably cheaper and also many of his friends children went from the UK and US to pakistan. He would like me to attend DUHS (http://www.duhs.edu.pk/inner.php?button=dimc) or AKU (http://www.aku.edu/medicalcollege/programmes/mc-mbbsprog.shtml). I would rather go to DUHS over AKU since I have a few friends who went their after their first year at Rutgers and SBU and they are having a fine and SAFE time. The only thing I am interested in is, is the fact I will save three valuable years of my life, but at what costs? I could miss out on a lot especially my undergrad years which are supposed to be the best times of one's life. I understand that coming from a foreign medical school makes things a lot tougher (for residencies specifically) but my father is a prime example of someone born and raised in a foreign setting and coming to the US and becoming successful and I could become like him and become even more successful.

What do you guys suggest?

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[Valadi]

IMGs have a harder time matching in US residencies. You'll also have to take the USMLE Steps 1-3, which IMGs tend to have a harder time with. If you don't mind that, as well as the gap year you might have between a foreign med school and US residency, then do whatever you want. You're not going to match in the ivory tower coming from a pakistany medical school. And you're going to find it absurdly difficult to match into orthopedic surgery as an IMG, unless you just have stellar scores and publications. If you want to get into spine through neurosurg, you can basically kiss your chances goodbye of matching neurosurg. Orthopods and neurosurgeons are some of the brightest, most competitive, applicants in US medicine. Those spots wont be easily given away.

Coming from a similar immigrant-south asian background as yours, I'd like to point at that they tend to over-generalize how easy the process is, and wave that million-dollar success can almost magically appear. Medicine today is different than when you're dad came and you'll be in for a rude awakening if you're after the big bucks and a cush time.

 

[chickenonrice]

IMGs have a harder time matching in US residencies. You'll also have to take the USMLE Steps 1-3, which IMGs tend to have a harder time with. If you don't mind that, as well as the gap year you might have between a foreign med school and US residency, then do whatever you want. You're not going to match in the ivory tower coming from a pakistany medical school. And you're going to find it absurdly difficult to match into orthopedic surgery as an IMG, unless you just have stellar scores and publications. If you want to get into spine through neurosurg, you can basically kiss your chances goodbye of matching neurosurg. Orthopods and neurosurgeons are some of the brightest, most competitive, applicants in US medicine. Those spots wont be easily given away.

Coming from a similar immigrant-south asian background as yours, I'd like to point at that they tend to over-generalize how easy the process is, and wave that million-dollar success can almost magically appear. Medicine today is different than when you're dad came and you'll be in for a rude awakening if you're after the big bucks and a cush time.

Alright thank you. So i guess I will stick to PSU then and hopefully transfer to somewhere more competitive during my 2nd/3rd year.