A Little Advice...

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I have been flip-flopping back and forth - and the more I think about it the more variables I come up with

so...I just graduated high school and was admitted to medicine in Ireland (RCSI) but gave it up for personal reasons...well now my situation has drastically improved and I am still trying to get into med school (yes straight from high school...) before this raises a million and one "do an undergrad" responses...I want to point out I'm a Canadian...med school in Canada (well the 15 schools in all the country) are extreeemly competitive - pretty much the chances getting in here are slim to none (not that I am not willing to work for it but its really that bad) especially when u compare to the States' 40+med schools. Also because I am a Canadian...getting into the States is going to be difficult (not impossible but difficult).

So rather than wasting 4 years of my life to wind up in the Carib, I'm thinking of starting there SGU to be exact...I will be assesed for admission into the 5 yr program which is actually a year less than Ireland...also I am thinking my I will be able to match much easier into the States if I have done my rotations there. Plus I get an BS from SGU as well which will be a plus. I am thinking of possibly doing the England exchange as well (depending on the state of licensure in Cali and NJ). I am also awaiting replys from Australia...but I would think SGU gets me a better chance of comming back. I know my residencies won't be competitive but I'm still hoping for anastesiology, surgery (general) or IM (hoping for a cardiology fellowship after)

I was hoping someone who has ever gone thru something similar...I'd really appreciate your help

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I have been flip-flopping back and forth - and the more I think about it the more variables I come up with

so...I just graduated high school and was admitted to medicine in Ireland (RCSI) but gave it up for personal reasons...well now my situation has drastically improved and I am still trying to get into med school (yes straight from high school...) before this raises a million and one "do an undergrad" responses...I want to point out I'm a Canadian...med school in Canada (well the 15 schools in all the country) are extreeemly competitive - pretty much the chances getting in here are slim to none (not that I am not willing to work for it but its really that bad) especially when u compare to the States' 40+med schools. Also because I am a Canadian...getting into the States is going to be difficult (not impossible but difficult).

So rather than wasting 4 years of my life to wind up in the Carib, I'm thinking of starting there SGU to be exact...I will be assesed for admission into the 5 yr program which is actually a year less than Ireland...also I am thinking my I will be able to match much easier into the States if I have done my rotations there. Plus I get an BS from SGU as well which will be a plus. I am thinking of possibly doing the England exchange as well (depending on the state of licensure in Cali and NJ). I am also awaiting replys from Australia...but I would think SGU gets me a better chance of comming back. I know my residencies won't be competitive but I'm still hoping for anastesiology, surgery (general) or IM (hoping for a cardiology fellowship after)

I was hoping someone who has ever gone thru something similar...I'd really appreciate your help

If you can get back to Medical School in Ireland you should do it. After you are done you choose where you want to practice. USA, Canada, Ireland, etc.

You may have to do your residency over if you want to practice in Canada or the USA but because you are going into medical school so young you are saving 4 years by not doing your undergrad.

I can tell you now that as you get older those 4 years will be golden.

The Carib school will not be an advantage to you in the long run even though you save one year. You will have a harder time going that way.

On a side note. You will have a chance to live and go to school in Europe for 6 years.
That is an adventure in itself not to mention the possibility of the doors it may open for you in your future career.
 
yes I don't doubt attending school in Ireland will be a great adventure...but, I am trying to look at the big picture and not let the college student in me (the one that wants excitment, entairtainment, bars, clubs etc...) speak for me. As a Carib grad I will have had rotations in USA and therefor have some connections to the hospitals which will help me in getting res despite not being an American citizen. Whereas, being a UK grad - UK won't keep me because I am not an EU citizen, America won't look at me because I have had not rotations there, have no connections there(medically speaking), don't have American citizenship and was trained in a different, foreign system...whereas the Carib mimcs the American system. So how can you say going to the Carib won't give me any advantages? I know RCSI has a great rep ... but am I missing something when u say that?

As for studying in Europe...I'll likely take up the Global Scholars program of SGU and spend a year in England. Plus I frequent Europe each year...so it is not a major deciding factor on where I go.
 
Well, I am not an authority on Irish vs. Caribbean medical schools, and I see what you are saying r.e. US clinical rotations, but I am not sure what is the best path. Based on past experience, I can tell you that some US docs and program directors of residencies look down on Caribbean schools...they might look down less on an Irish/European medical school. I have seen some cardiology docs/attendings with European medical degrees, such as Irish. I do think that getting a cardiology fellowship out of internal medicine will be difficult as a Caribbean graduate...you just hardly see them. I know this because I am a medicine doctor in the US. However, I do think that some in the US have an awareness of the fact it is very hard to get in to Canadian medical schools, and therefore might cut you some slack in terms of having had to go to the Caribbean. I actually think SGU is probably a pretty good school, but as a consequence of being in the Caribbean, and having some students who are there b/c they couldn't get in to US medical schools, they tend to get tarred with the same brush as many of the other Caribbean medical schools, some of which probably have questionable teaching/education, particularly in their clinical rotations.
 
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