IMG - neurosurgery

[Lenore]

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Do they even consider foreign applicants for neurosurg residency programmes?

I want to become a -great- neurosurgeon and in my home country the surgeries/day are just too few for me to be as good as I would like to be (so to say).

I'm in an European med school ranked top 10 in the world by ARWU and have scored 97 at USMLE step 1. I have letters of recommendation from my dean and from surgical supervisors in my home country + one from a research exchange (surgery related at uni virginia) + hopefully getting one on my upcoming exchange semester at UCLA. I have two published (will perhaps be able to publish another one before my application) papers (main author of one).

Can I do anything else to make my application stronger, given I have any chance whatsoever being an IMG? Or should I change surgery spec / stay in Europe? 😛

 

[bonran]

Apply to Case Western. I know they have taken a Swedish graduate in their program. Although he was extremely (EXTREME even by neurosurgical standards) arrogant & did not set a good precedent for his countrymen. He had to undergo anger management classes.

Best of luck

 

[Lenore]

Thank you! But.. Maybe not a good idea then, given he is my countryman and... I'm not that unpleasant to my colleagues and patients. ;-)

 

[bonran]

If you are affable, you should give it a try.
Cheers.

 

[BoolaBoola]

Apply to Case Western. I know they have taken a Swedish graduate in their program. Although he was extremely (EXTREME even by neurosurgical standards) arrogant & did not set a good precedent for his countrymen. He had to undergo anger management classes.

Best of luck

Oh come on! I happen to know the guy you're talking about. Actually, he transferred from Karolinska to a solid US school. And he's one of the nicest guys on the team.

Please, let's not use this forum to slander good people...

 

[GoodmanBrown]

Perhaps I'm crazy, but I had an attending say that IMGs from schools with good reputations (i.e. non-Carib) weren't at a distinct disadvantage compared to US applicants. I personally know one neurosurgery resident who went to med school in England.

 

[BoolaBoola]

Perhaps I'm crazy, but I had an attending say that IMGs from schools with good reputations (i.e. non-Carib) weren't at a distinct disadvantage compared to US applicants. I personally know one neurosurgery resident who went to med school in England.

Depends who you ask. Generally speaking, this rings true because most people who go to non-Carib schools do so for different reasons.

That said, some folks in neurosurgery lump all IMGs together no matter what. Others actually look at the individual. The former believe nothing compares to an all-American education, whereas the latter have a bit more of an open mind.

I'm a European IMG currently doing my sub-i's and applying for residency and must say it's a hung jury from what I've seen so far.