An international student who needs counseling!

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tjshine

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[FONT=바탕]Hi,.
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[FONT=바탕]After reading lots and lots of interesting and useful threads, I would like to ask for your help in guiding me. I am a senior highschool student, and at the moment I have a choice to study in USA, Canada, and UK. .
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[FONT=바탕]I am tempted to study in UK since you get direct admission to medical school unlike America where you have to study 4 years undergraduate. However, after reading many posts I heard that UK is one of the most strictest countries in giving breathing space for IMG students.…[FONT=바탕] .
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[FONT=바탕]Therefore, I would like to pour down my thoughts and ask for you wisdom .:)
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[FONT=바탕]First of all is America is definitely more difficult in getting admitted to the medical school. However, is it easier to pass the residency and succeed in becoming a specialist? Also I read that you can actually transfer from UK to an American medical school? If that.’[FONT=바탕]s correct would that be a good strategy? And also which universities offer such transfers?.
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[FONT=바탕]Secondly, I heard that it is easy to become a Canadian resident. If I come to Canada as an IMG, can I get the residence and hold the Canadian citizenship in few years time? If this is possible, I think this is an advantage to becoming a specialist or consultant etc.…
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[FONT=바탕]Lastly, which country has the most promising curriculum for residency? UK is definitely on the bottom list for having new rules and etc..
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[FONT=바탕]So.…[FONT=바탕] I have shared what.’[FONT=바탕]s buzzing around my mind. What would be your advice for me to become a doctor? What should be my strategy? Where should I study? What should I do? Which is the shortcut?.
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[FONT=바탕]I appreciate your time in reading this post. Thank you!.

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It depends what you want and why you're considering going abroad. Firstly, I would not say that America is harder to get into. Canada is notoriously hard, especially in some areas with provincial requirements. UK is not "easy" to get into, either. The UK at the moment is iffy regarding IMGs and residency spots. Even if you do secure a residency spot, progression is longer and potentially not as subjective as American residency. American residency at the moment is the most straightforward and fastest.

Don't consider transferring....it will not be "easy" to transfer, and many US schools won't consider transfer students.

Thirdly, it is not easy to get into Canadian residency if you are an IMG or if you're non-Canadian. It might be getting easier for IMGs steadily as Canadians relax some of its stricter rules. But at the moment, it's not a free-for-all. matching into a US residency might actually be easier.
 
Hi Leorl,

Thanks for you feedback! The reason why I want to study in Amercia/UK instead of South Korea (that's where I'm from!) is because I want to work gloabally and internationally. By studying in America/UK i believe that it will open more doors for me.

In fact, lately I have been seriously rotating my interest to UK medical schools from American, going to interviews etc etc.... but after hearing about the difficulty of residency in UK I'm back to where I had started... America! I guess I will have to find a good premed program and push myself to become a doctor in Amercia :) Once I graduate and hold a M.D. does it become easier for me to get citizenship? I do not wish to go back to my country and serve in the army for 2 years after having going through such a long training process!
 
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honestly, about the citizenship question... I'm not sure. I don't actually think an MD title will make it easier for you to gain citizenship. You'll have a couple battles...you're doing the right thing by doing premed/undergrad in the US, in that usually US med schools accept those who've done US undergrad. However, they don't take too many non-US citizens, so that may be something you'll have to fight against. And once you've passed that hurdle, you'll possibly have more visa hurdles in doing residency and being able to stay. Perhaps someone else can give you more enlightenment on the visa issue.
 
hi leorl,

I have another question. It appears that doing residecy will be faster if I graduate from a 5 year medical school in the UK and take the exams that are required for me to train in America. Is this a bad strategy? Since I do not know much about these exams, I do not know their difficulty. But once you get to the residency part I guess you are on the same road if you had graduated with a M.D. fom America. Isn't this correct?
 
okay...theoretically, yes. But as an international medical graduate (IMG) it may be harder to get a residency in the US, and you may not be able to get a residency in the field of your choice. Especially in future years...competition will get more fierce as more US schools open and demand increases internally. The USMLE exams to take in order to obtain a US residency are tough. They are no walk in the park, and they are completely different from UK-style exams, which makes practicing for it even harder. Obviously there are many who do, but I would not take this decision lightly.

Also, do not assume that just because you have done US residency, you will automatically land a consultancy in the UK. Most countries require home training...so even if you have done residency in the US, you most likely will have to repeat some training in the UK. Staying in the US after residency is also difficult with visa requirements (I'm not completely sure what eligibility is for non-US citizens).
 
Thanks a lot for your advice! They were very useful :) !
 
The reason why I want to study in Amercia/UK instead of South Korea (that's where I'm from!) is because I want to work gloabally and internationally. By studying in America/UK i believe that it will open more doors for me.!

Since you are a part of Pacific Rim, why are you not considering Australia and Singapore or Malaysia. Australian degrees are also very good and famous. And accepted easily all over South East Asia, middle east and Europe (common wealth rule,etc).
 
Since you are a part of Pacific Rim, why are you not considering Australia and Singapore or Malaysia. Australian degrees are also very good and famous. And accepted easily all over South East Asia, middle east and Europe (common wealth rule,etc).

Hi cool,

I have thought of applying to the undergrad medical school in Australia and even New Zealand, but they required me to take the UMAT and at the moment I found that difficult trying to finish off my senior year.

However I would like to know if being part of Pacific Rim gives me an advantage to study in Australia. If there IS an adavantage then I would seriously consider doing residency and specialist training in Australia, or even wait for July and take the UMAT, and apply for undergrad medicine.

Cool can you enlighten me about this topic which I did not know about? I mean what are the advantages for me being a Korean citizen in Australia? If I graduated from a UK medical school for example, do I have to take many exams to qualify for residency in UK? Are there any discrimination or disadvantages for IMG of Pacific Rim?

Thanks a lot!
 
Honestly, it's not an advantage. There are sooo many people applying to Aussie med schools. Different schools would have a different number of spots allocated for IMGs, so you'd be competing with an often very qualified number of Asian applicants. However, chances there would probably be just as good as being an IMG in the UK/elsewhere, so you might as well give it a shot.
 
thnx again leorl!

By the way, I've been seeing from other threads that it's harder to do residency in Canada than it is in USA. What is the reason for this?
 
1) At this moment in time, the Canadian system is fairly "closed" to IMGs, moreso than the US. 2) some canadian provinces have provincial residential requirements in order to obtain a medical school or residency spot there. You could probably find more info in the Canada forum.
 
This comment may be a bit off topic but it may give you a glimpse into the future of one specific specialty.

Telemedicine in radiology is huge. Hospitals are contracting with radiology groups accross the country to read their films in order to save money.

For example a hospital in a large city may contract with a radiolgoy group in a small town 2000 miles away and get 24 hr coverage of MRI, CT, X ray etc.

More recently Hospitals have considered doing the same with other countries.

For example they would contract their services with a radiology group in Australia and now they are considering India.

The rules are that they have to have equivilant technology and skill to read the studies.

So if you chose radiology and were in Australia you may be reading film done in USA.
 
i would recommend america hands down. in the long run it is better,
 
If in the future, your goal is to pursue a residency and career in the US, then I will start in the US. I don't know enough about other countries to compare, however I am sure no matter how you do it, it's a long tedious process.

If you start college in the US, you will be on a F-1 visa, all the way through medical school. So that's 8 years which does not count towards any citizenship. When you start residency, you can get a H-1b visa for 3 years (the visa lasts for 6 years). After that if you get a job that is willing to sponsor your green card, you can change from H-1b to green card. After 5 years of PR you can become citizen. Total you are looking at at least 16 years (through school/work) to become a US citizen. Now if you marry a US citizen, that's a different story.
 
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