Im currently deciding between taking a year off or going to the Caribbean if I dont get into med school this cycle. I know that the Caribbean is getting risky with more US schools opening up and residency spots not keeping up.
So my question was:
What exactly do they look at when matching you for residency?
When you are being matched for residency, does a Caribbean school graduate, from top tier schools like SGU or Ross, have an equal chance as a US school graduate if they both have the same USMLE scores and grades? Or does being an IMG really hurt your chances that much that they'd rather pick a US grad with lower scores over a IMG?
Does having any additional degrees, like an MSci, help your chances of residency? Or is it purely based on med school and performance on USMLE?
Read this article
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19240447
This has been argued many times but here is the general idea. Many will argue that Caribbean schools will train you just as well and you should ultimately decide for yourself, perhaps this article will help (
http://content.healthaffairs.org/content/29/8/1461.abstract).
But that does not appear to be your main concern. How competitive you are for residency and what your chances are for residency will depend on what you want. I would argue that MOST people when deciding on residency want to be able have a choice in at least three categories: Specialty, Location, Type of hospital/program. If you look at the match lists of these Caribbean schools, they will usually be in community hospitals and NOT university based. They will also be in odd locations spread out the United States. And you will find that most will end up in specialties that are easier to get into (but not necessarily inferior). If none of these are a concern for you, do whatever you want. However, these factors are really hard to appreciate and understand unless you are going through the process of applying for residency. Things change, your personal life will play a major role in your decision and having the luxury of choice is a great advantage for an MD allopathic medical student. A huge caveat will be that of course not all MD allopathic medical students have this luxury. If you are a medical student that is not willing to put in the study time and sacrifice to attain the numbers and letters, then you will lose that choice. You will also hear anecdotal stories of Caribbean students who matched into great University based programs but those are a rarity and you should not depend on them.
Another thing to consider if you don't care about the above criteria is that the type of program you go into will dictate the kind of training you get and the opportunities you have afterward. As someone who has gone through all the clerkships and seen both community and university based programs during the interview process I can honestly say there is a TREMENDOUS difference in terms of training. Something is lacking when it comes to community hospitals. Perhaps I am too junior to truly comment what exactly it is but it is something that is hard to appreciate until you're a medical student that has seen both sides. Personally, I would never even consider doing residency at a community based hospital. The goals of training at these types of hospitals do not mesh at all with mine.
If you're a pre-med and think that the ultimate goal is to be a doctor, then I think that is a fine way of thinking.
However, why would you ever want to limit yourself? True, there are amazing doctors that trained elsewhere (not USA, Canada, Europe or Puerto Rico), but I bet they'll tell you how much of a fight they had to put up to get to where they are OR how lucky they were to have had made the perfect connections to allow them to progress academically. I always recommend any pre-meds I know to be patient and aim for MD allopathic schools. Only until they've exhausted all possibilities and it seems hopeless should they give in and go for other options. Ok I'll get off my pedestal now, I'm starting to get a nosebleed.
🙂
