Carribean Experiences??

[Clinical Medicine]

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It's all relative. Your chances of matching by going abroad are not as good as they would be in this country, but you still have a higher chance of landing a job after graduating than you would in most other fields people go into after college (such as law or business).

Carib schools are fine if you select the correct school. Some fly by nights are out there. American International School of Medicine in Guyana has been around for 20 years and enjoys full accred and listings. OSAP loans etc are in place. Its all about you and your step 1 score. Oh yes, also e sure to check with World Directory to insure that IMED has sponsor notes. The folks at ECFMG are getting more thorough I think and some of the fly by nights are going to get shut down. About time I think. Docs from India go to 3rd world schools and score high on step, this my friends is the key. Talk soon.

 

[21Rush12]

Carib schools are fine if you select the correct school. Some fly by nights are out there. American International School of Medicine in Guyana has been around for 20 years and enjoys full accred and listings. OSAP loans etc are in place. Its all about you and your step 1 score. Oh yes, also e sure to check with World Directory to insure that IMED has sponsor notes. The folks at ECFMG are getting more thorough I think and some of the fly by nights are going to get shut down. About time I think. Docs from India go to 3rd world schools and score high on step, this my friends is the key. Talk soon.

Dragon slayer got banned not long after this post, likely for being an insufferable trolling ass.

 

[Clinical Medicine]

I'm from the Detroit area and The American University of the Caribbean has 3 clinical locations that are 20 minutes or less from my hometown. My buddy is an RN for Providence (hospital) in Southfield, Michigan and told me that a lot of the residents went to AUC and loved it. Being off away from distractions while you build a base for clinical medicine sounds like a good choice. If a Caribbean school promises a 3rd year in United States Hospitals if you pass the USLME, then what would be the challenges of getting a residency in primary care (what I aspire to do). I have read numerous accounts where graduates are angry that they couldn't land the anesthesiology residency or such. I believe that hard work pays off, but if your only option is the Caribbean then a top-end specialty is kind of far-fetched. However, I would like to hear some detail about landing residencies in primary care because I was under the impression that there is a shortage of primary care physicians in the United States.

My son went to American International School of Medicine in Guyana. Now in fellowship. Did well. Really not sure what the issue is as long as the school has been around and has board privileges and ACGME clerkships.

 

[Goro]

My son went to American International School of Medicine in Guyana. Now in fellowship. Did well. Really not sure what the issue is as long as the school has been around and has board privileges and ACGME clerkships.

Congrats, but that's an anecdote. NRMP data for 2018 show that there is only a <60% chance that any IMG will get a residency. See also the Program Director's survey for 2017 to show how many PDs either will not rank/interview or seldom will. The numbers are not encouraging.

Again, the point here isn't that there are successful Carib grads. The point is how many additional obstacles to success you face by going to a Carib school.

 

[Osminog]

The issue being presented here isnt the quality of the education, the business of the school, etc. Rather it is solely data on residency placement and the long term risk that it presents, especially to the mainly below average students who are considering attending these schools. Should I as an "advisor" on here recommend a student take on hundreds of thousands dollars of debt when there is low "success" rate (ie starting medical school, earning a degree, and getting any residency placement). And the numbers are worse than the reported match rate. This is because the match rate only considers "active applicants" and not the "total" of those initially seeking residency slots. This includes those who withdrew and those who didnt rank at any residency programs. Additionally, very few US IMGs get post-match placement by SOAP. If we use these numbers, you can see why it is a large risk for students

US MD Seniors 17,480 out of 19,030 matched for 91.85% rate
US Citizen IMG 2,777 out of 7,149 matched for 38.84% rate

US MD 601 out of 2,140 got SOAP spots for 28.08% rate
US IMG 133 out of 3,934 got SOAP spots for 3.38% rate


http://www.nrmp.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Main-Match-Results-and-Data-2017.pdf
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And that doesn't even include the number of US Citizen IMG's who flunk out before they can reach senior year.