Hey RST25, I'm gonna give you the best advice you'll ever get on this forum speaking from someone who once upon a time was in the same shoes as you. I'll post all the answers below your questions
1) After 4 1/2 yrs of med school, is it possible to do internship (clinical rotation) in the states? If so, are there any official things involved in this process? please explain what they are.
Yes, it is possible to come back to America and do an internship, what they call housejob here but it depends on a couple of things. First of all, you have to find a hospital that is going to let you do that. I know people, lots of people, who have tried to do that, and it's pretty damn hard. I dont know about kids from other countries, but its not that easy to come from an Indian school because they have no affiliations with American schools. Second, your stupid Indian school has to be cooperative with you which in all likelyhood, they wont! Everyone in this freakin country is out to make your life miserable, and a lot harder than it needs to be. Espcially office staff which for some odd reason think they're a bunch of big shots. I would find out directly from students who went to your school and came back to America to do their internship exactly how hard it is, what the process is, and how much money and dignity they wasted in the process.
2) when exactly do you take your USMLE during the internship (if it's possible to do the internship in the states)?
You can take step one as soon as you're done with your clinical sciences, basically after 3rd year. The problem is, these schools are obviously geared toward Indian exams and they're not gonna sit there and give you time off so you can study for your "foreign exam", which you DO NOT want to screw up. What you could do is take your own time off and study. The only problem with that is that Indian schools are not like American schools. They actually take attendance and in most colleges you have to have a minimum of 75% in order for them to let you appear for exams. Now, dont think there isnt a way around this, because in India, theres always a way around. You can sit there and pay "attenders" through your nose so that they somehow get control of the attendance register and put "Present" instead of "Absent" on the days you were gone. But this of course may or may not work, it depends on luck. If you decide to take the MLE during your internship, you can do that as well. However, if by some chance you are able to get your internship transferred to America, you will actually have to do real work and I doubt you'll have adequate time to devote to your studying. If you do it in India though, you can easily take Kaplan simultaneously.
3) i know you can only get the MBBS after completion of 4 1/2 yrs plus 1 year of internship. So WHEN do you get your MD?
As already stated, MBBS=MD. I didn't get that for a long time either. Oh and by the way, something that took me forever to find out, (general knowledge), MBBS=Bachelor of medicine and Bachelor of Surgery
4) What is residency? and when do you do them? how do you get into one?
i also read/heard that international med students get stuck with left over seats and they don't necessarily get into the one of their choice especially if surgery? any truth to that?
Residency is your post graduate education. What they refer to in India as MD or PG, so do don't get confused. You do this once you've completed your medical education, including internship, and passed step 1, step 2 and the CSA (Clinical Skills Assessment). After doing that you go through the NRMP (National Residency Match Program) and you try to match into the program of your choice. Selection depends on scores, interview, and of course where you graduated from. Now from what I gather, you're interested in surgery. So general surgery is not as easy as internal medicine (IM) but at the same time its not as hard as let's say, ENT or Dermatolgy. If you work your butt off to get great scores and do well in the interview which I'm sure you will considering you speak good english and will probably walk in wearing an nice suit and stuff, you can definetly get a residency in surgery. It may be in boofoo somewhere, but you can always come back to the city, or stay in boofoo and make mad cream.
5) i heard that professors are a it harsh on the NRI's. Is that true? I also read or heard (I can't remember which) that final year KMC NRI's have had in the past to pay professors to pass them, does that really exist or is it just exaggerations?
Some of the professors are real pr*cks to the NRI's, yes. Some of them just feel sorry for you cuz you're away from home and all alone in a foreign country. It just depends on the individual. As far as paying people to pass you, yes and no. In Indian exams, there are two portions. Theory (the written part) and practical (the oral part). It is next to impossible for you to pay anyone to pass you in theory, you're pretty much on your own for that. Theres a very complicated system involving coding and decoding and what not which I wont get into, but trust me, its hard. Now as far as practical, yes, it's a common practice for students to pay examiners to pass them. This can be in monetary units or with lavish gifts like stethescopes, cell phones, blue label, golf clubs, you name it, Ive seen it all. Most students up until final year are usually passed anyway unless you're really dumb and dont know anything.
6) what are some of the other good med schools in india that are approved (i understand not all indian med schools are approved if you want to work in the U.S.) ? is it still to too late to apply?
AIIMS is by far the best school in India but I dont know what the admission process is. I would suggest that you talk to some relatives in India and find out what schools are good and actually take NRIs on donation basis. This is of course if you still want to go after reading my post.
Ok, now let me summarize. DO NOT COME HERE! I'm in my final year right now with just six months left and whoever said that time flies has no idea what they're talking about. TIME DRAGS! There are 2 good things that came out of me coming to India. The first is of course my medical degree and the second is that I met my fiance (who is a born American just like me!). Granted those are 2 huge things and if I had to do it again, I would (grudgingly), I wouldnt recommend this place to anyone. As far as being easy, that's not true at all. This place is insanely hard because you're not only doing medicine, but because a lot of it is self-teaching. Not to mention you're also dealing mentally with being away from your family, friends, big macs, etc... Another problem with coming here is that once you go back, you have ZERO US clinical experience which really counts against you. Yeah, you could do what I plan on doing and try to get some away rotations in the field of your choice to make your application look better, but its a big hassle. My honest advice to you would be this. Try to get into a US med school, it's your best bet. If you wanna try to do undergrad, great. But if you dont even think you can make it through pre-med, go to the caribbean. You can do this before or after undergrad. The reason I say this is because caribbean schools like St. George's and Ross are well known in America and pretty decently respected. The best thing about these schools is that you come back to America for your clinicals so residency programs will KNOW that you can handle yourself in an American hospital.
I dont mean to scare you with all this stuff, but believe me, I'm speaking from experience, 5 years of it. If you have any questions, confusion or just wanna talk, please feel free to private message me. I can totally feel for your position and may be able to help you figure out what you really want. Take care dude.