Interesting scenario

[Cracker06]

True story. Two Ivy League undergraduates (both US citizens) One goes to highly rated US med school, the other goes overseas to Irish med school. US graduate studies hard all through med school while the FMG parties most of the time. Comes the match - the graduate from US med school does not match while the FMG is recruited and offered "pre-match" positions by more than one program, thus landing a position in a really good program well before the match, while the US students have to sweat it out. In fact, there are several Irish fmg's who pre-matched since it is legal to offer pre match positions to fmgs. They are told at every interview that graduates from even the best US schools cannot compare with the clinical skills that the Irish grads have. So is this some new trend? Is one better off going overseas to school? What happened to all the stigma attached to fmg's?

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[EctopicFetus]

Uhh believe me it is still harder for the FMGs. Were they both going into the same field?

 

[EctopicFetus]

FWIW I have heard that the Irish FMGs are looked upon more favorably than many other FMGs.

 

[usnavdoc]

If anyone turns down a US school to go to a foreign school then they are clearly out of touch with reality. FMGs dont have to participate in the match and the programs that generally recruit them would otherwise go unfilled due to one problem or another.

 

[Cracker06]

FMGs dont have to participate in the match and the programs that generally recruit them would otherwise go unfilled due to one problem or another

I would have thought so too, that these programs who pre match the irish grads are so undesirable and desperate that they are willing to take anybody... but if this were true then why among the program applicants are there students from from Duke, Tufts and other highly rated schools matching there? And in the end does it really matter if the program is not in a popular city? When all is said and done, the Duke graduate and the Irish graduate will have the same license and the same paycheck.

 

[usnavdoc]

FMGs dont have to participate in the match and the programs that generally recruit them would otherwise go unfilled due to one problem or another

I would have thought so too, that these programs who pre match the irish grads are so undesirable and desperate that they are willing to take anybody... but if this were true then why among the program applicants are there students from from Duke, Tufts and other highly rated schools matching there? And in the end does it really matter if the program is not in a popular city? When all is said and done, the Duke graduate and the Irish graduate will have the same license and the same paycheck.

Why in the world are you so worried about two Irish grads? Same paycheck? So will two guys that went to East virginia for med school and went into the same specialty somewhere else. If you really think FMGs have a much better shot then go overseas.

 

[JackBauERfan]

Why in the world are you so worried about two Irish grads? Same paycheck? So will two guys that went to East virginia for med school and went into the same specialty somewhere else. If you really think FMGs have a much better shot then go overseas.

I told myself before I went to sleep last night, I will NEVER be jealous of two Irish grads....NEVER.

 

[APACHE3]

As a US citizen, European IMG, I certainly enjoyed my life there. Not in Ireland, but mainland Europe. Anyway, IMG's do have the ability to accept a prematch before US grads, but as one of the above posters put it, these programs, usually have trouble attracting US grads (which is a whole other topic). From my experience on the interview trail, the US grads like the small, community programs. HOWEVER, since 90% of US grads are wanting fellowships, they tend to drift towards academic centers or hospitals with in-house fellowships. So, some very nice programs (like mine) will accept a few prematches from IMG's, instead of risking unfilled slots on Match day. Anyway, NO US grad should ever lose sleep because IMG's are matching 2 months early. Just for the record, DO's can prematch too, so be scared of them? And I would think a couple of Irish guys in the program would keep things entertaining!!!