Australia to Caribbean Transfer advice: Repost from general residency

[GC-DR]

Reposted here aswell on the advice of another poster:

Hey everyone.
Long story short is i have a green card (US-IMG), MS3, step1 232, first author papers.
At a small school in Australia. Can only get about 2 months of USCE.

I know Australian education is excellent, i'm moving because my wife needs to be with her family they live in the USA. (so don't need to hear about staying in Australia to train, more opportunities with specialities etc etc)

I have the option of transferring to a Caribbean school for MS3 and 4 and get all my clinical experience done at USA hospitals.

Do you guys think this will boost my chances of matching?
In other words, what do you think will be viewed more favourably.

a) Australian school whole degree, 2 months of USCE
b) Australian school transfer to Caribbean school, 2 years USCE, red flag being the transfer of schools + US-IMG.

I know Caribbean schools have a stigma but are they viewed more favourably than any other IMG?

Thanks for any advice i know this is a pretty weird question.

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[Andology]

Completing the whole course in Australia of course is your best option. Transferring medical school is generally a big red flag among PDs and transferring to Caribbean is even a bigger red flag considering lots of people transfer in Carribbean because of bad grades, high attrition, etc. It is also unlikely that you can have all your rotations at one place and the wait times can be very long to get the rotations. So, there is no guarantee that your wife can stay close to family during these 2 years.

USCE is great to have but if you can do your electives at the best MD schools in the US like Columbia or other schools and that is looked very favored upon if you can get LORs. Look them up on VSAS. Quality is better than quantity.

Also, can you transfer to UQ-Oschner program? They have rotations in the US.

 

[Domperidone]

Completing the whole course in Australia of course is your best option. Transferring medical school is generally a big red flag among PDs and transferring to Caribbean is even a bigger red flag considering lots of people transfer in Carribbean because of bad grades, high attrition, etc. It is also unlikely that you can have all your rotations at one place and the wait times can be very long to get the rotations. So, there is no guarantee that your wife can stay close to family during these 2 years.

USCE is great to have but if you can do your electives at the best MD schools in the US like Columbia or other schools and that is looked very favored upon if you can get LORs. Look them up on VSAS. Quality is better than quantity.

Also, can you transfer to UQ-Oschner program? They have rotations in the US.

UQ Ochsner doesn't accept transfers, even from UQ traditional students (4 years in Australia).
Otherwise it is the most ideal program in OP's situation, nearly 2 full years in the Ochsner system in NOLA.

 

[GC-DR]

Thanks for the advice. Seems the consensus is stay in Aus.

 

[mcat_taker]

Reposted here aswell on the advice of another poster:

Hey everyone.
Long story short is i have a green card (US-IMG), MS3, step1 232, first author papers.
At a small school in Australia. Can only get about 2 months of USCE.

I know Australian education is excellent, i'm moving because my wife needs to be with her family they live in the USA. (so don't need to hear about staying in Australia to train, more opportunities with specialities etc etc)

I have the option of transferring to a Caribbean school for MS3 and 4 and get all my clinical experience done at USA hospitals.

Do you guys think this will boost my chances of matching?
In other words, what do you think will be viewed more favourably.

a) Australian school whole degree, 2 months of USCE
b) Australian school transfer to Caribbean school, 2 years USCE, red flag being the transfer of schools + US-IMG.

I know Caribbean schools have a stigma but are they viewed more favourably than any other IMG?

Thanks for any advice i know this is a pretty weird question.

Stay in Australia and finish your degree there. I know it will be tough but you might just need to deal with being away from your wife for months at a time (lots of people in your position with significant others back in the U.S.). You've got a good step 1 score. You're on track to match. Do well on step 2. Transferring to a caribbean school will look horrible and is a downgrade.

 

[Skip Intro]

<snip>... i'm moving because my wife needs to be with her family they live in the USA. (so don't need to hear about staying in Australia to train, more opportunities with specialities etc etc

No one here can presume to know your situation and how hard it is for family to be halfway across the world. I can only imagine how difficult it is for military families during long deployments. But, I can share with you an anecdote (recognizing in advance that that's all it is).

I was in residency with a guy who was married. His wife hated the program, hated the area, hated the entire geographic experience related to where we trained. She was a big-city, northeast girl and this was a University program (albeit very reputable) in fly-over country. Most of my resident colleagues were U.S. MD/DO graduates (with one or two of us Carib grads sprinkled-in), yet she still thought our program was beneath her husband in every way, shape, and form.

This guy labored over this. It affected his life. He approached our program director and told him the dilemma. Believe me when I tell you that a PD would rather seek the best interest of his/her residents and let them go amicably in lieu of forcing someone to stay in a program where they're miserable, distracted, etc.

He eventually transferred to another program in the Boston area. Guess what happened? She divorced him anyway. (He's happily remarried now, years later, with a couple of little kids.)

What's the moral of the story? This is a pathway filled with challenges and sacrifices. I try to minimize them on my wife, as well, and we work together to understand each other's challenges. She's a PA (and takes call, like I do), and sometimes that puts a strain on our life, especially when our schedules don't match up. She understands that I have to sleep in the hospital, too, when I'm on-call. It's just part of the deal.

Not everyone will be able to understand and/or accept this. The good news is that there is a much lower divorce rate for doctors among other healthcare professionals, but it is still a life with challenges.

Sounds like you understand that staying put is the best choice. I happen to agree. Hope it works out for you.

-Skip

 

[Caribpro]

I agree that staying in AUS is probably the best call, but I have seen students transfer IN to Carib schools and be successful. It is possible. Your step 1 score isn't terrible and you could probably get a family or internal residency without a lot of stress.

Transferring is a red flag for sure, but if you have a good reason and an explanation it doesn't have to be the end all of your application. "My wife didn't like Australia" is probably not good enough though.

There are a couple carib schools that offer single locations for clerkships. i would try for one of those to build stronger relationships which will inevitably help you in the match.

Also, shockingly, I agree with Skippy. Being in a marriage is all about compromise and sacrifice. 2 years is not a HUGE amount of time to be apart if you end up staying in AUS, plus there is no guarantee (and is honestly unlikely) that you will be able to do 2 years of clerkships in the location where you wife wants to go. What part of the USA is her family in? She could be in SoCal and you're stuck in NYC and you'll still be really far away from each other....

 

[Domperidone]

It's 4 years total for OP.
Two very different time zones, about 16 hrs apart. At least in the same country it's cheaper and easier to fly, more time to skype. So I can see the temptation to move. I can understand why they're asking. But yea, another 2 years - means they're half way there. The desperation to be together again, makes everything just more high stakes too. Hang in there OP.

 

[GC-DR]

Thank for input everyone, I probably didn’t convey myself properly. She’s with me and happy in Australia. Not an issue at all.

But in the near future we will have kids and need to be in the USA. This can be in 2 years no issues.

it was more about if matching is easier from Australia or Caribbean. And if transferring would be a red flag

But thanks everyone again