Discriminated?

[prematch]

I graduated in 1996 which in 2004 was finally succeeded in obtaining my medical diploma from middle east due to selective services and other political reason. I have already passed Step1, 2, 3 by 88 first attempt.
I could not secure a position and even during Scramble when I contacted many programs, I was told that they do not accept more than 5 years post grad into the program.
I was wondering if I should give up medicine, go back to medical school to get a fresh medical diploma?
What options do you suggest? Any idea is welcome.
Pharmacy, Dentistry, PsyD, DC, OD, or research

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[Winged Scapula]

In the US repeating medical school is not an option; it may be in your home country. Most US residencies do not accept applications from anyone more than a couple of years out of medical school UNLESS you have been working as a resident or physician and have up to date test scores. It sounds as if you have not (except have the up to date test scores).

Since you are willing to consider other allied health specialties, why not investigate training for a career as an OD, Pharmacist, etc. All will require returning to school but I'm afraid that for practicing medicine as a physician your options may be limited to:

1) returning to school. If you had not already taken all the USMLE Steps and registered with with ECFMG, you might have gotten away with lying and saying you hadn't been to medical school and starting over...either here or abroad. But the situation for repeating medical school may be different in your home country.

2) doing a residency outside of the US; although you will still have 10+ years on your record of not doing medicine, recent experience might way in your favor. Should you subsequently decide to try and work in the US, you would still have to repeat residency here, but it might be easier...still its a lot of work to go through.

3) investigate other options open to people with medical degrees who don't do a residency - research, pharamceutical companies, etc.

4) investigate training or education on other fields - getting a PhD, Pharm D, OD, etc. We have forums here for lots of other fields - the denizens there could help you with some basic info on whether this is possible.

Finally, I would not consider this discrimination. The programs have a real reason to refuse to take applications from people so far out from graduation. Medicine is a dynamic field and skills and knowledge can rapidly die if they aren't used, as well as the difficulty faced in keeping up to date with current information.

best of luck to you...

 

[hzma]

Hmm. Maybe you should've applied to more programs, or programs in underserved areas where there aren't a lot of applicants. It seems strange that though u passed ur boards u couldn't find a spot.

 

[f_w]

Keep looking. While most residencies won't take you with more than 5 years of non-medical time between graduation and residency, some do. I know at least two foreign docs who graduated from medschool at age 25, raised 4-5 kids each and didn't start residency in the US until their mid 30s.

 

[june1946]

Could you please tell more about option #3:
3) investigate other options open to people with medical degrees who don't do a residency - research, pharamceutical companies, etc.
How do I find a job in the pharm companies? Thanks.

In the US repeating medical school is not an option; it may be in your home country. Most US residencies do not accept applications from anyone more than a couple of years out of medical school UNLESS you have been working as a resident or physician and have up to date test scores. It sounds as if you have not (except have the up to date test scores).

Since you are willing to consider other allied health specialties, why not investigate training for a career as an OD, Pharmacist, etc. All will require returning to school but I'm afraid that for practicing medicine as a physician your options may be limited to:

1) returning to school. If you had not already taken all the USMLE Steps and registered with with ECFMG, you might have gotten away with lying and saying you hadn't been to medical school and starting over...either here or abroad. But the situation for repeating medical school may be different in your home country.

2) doing a residency outside of the US; although you will still have 10+ years on your record of not doing medicine, recent experience might way in your favor. Should you subsequently decide to try and work in the US, you would still have to repeat residency here, but it might be easier...still its a lot of work to go through.

3) investigate other options open to people with medical degrees who don't do a residency - research, pharamceutical companies, etc.

4) investigate training or education on other fields - getting a PhD, Pharm D, OD, etc. We have forums here for lots of other fields - the denizens there could help you with some basic info on whether this is possible.

Finally, I would not consider this discrimination. The programs have a real reason to refuse to take applications from people so far out from graduation. Medicine is a dynamic field and skills and knowledge can rapidly die if they aren't used, as well as the difficulty faced in keeping up to date with current information.

best of luck to you...

 

[Winged Scapula]

Could you please tell more about option #3:
3) investigate other options open to people with medical degrees who don't do a residency - research, pharamceutical companies, etc.
How do I find a job in the pharm companies? Thanks.

There are lots of threads here about not doing a residency. I would suggest a search for them as there may be lots of useful ideas contained within.

As far as finding jobs with pharamceutical companies, they are listed in trade journals and some of the general medical journals (ie, NEJM), on-line (Big Pharma usually has a website with links for employment), in newspapers, etc.