Is it better to go to Australia than the Carribeans?

[Aljazera]

If you have no chance in hell at US MD or DO?

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[thinker]

Carribean is better. Australia is having a surge in the number of seats available for medical students but not enough training spots after you graduate.. so don't go unless you really just wanna live there. but if you want to have a shot at coming back to the US, then I say Carribean is better.

 

[UnfeatyOblation]

It sounds more fun haha

 

[Kong Bu]

It does sound more fun.

 

[thinker]

this is probably the definition of a nooby thread..

 

[Aljazera]

Carribean is better. Australia is having a surge in the number of seats available for medical students but not enough training spots after you graduate.. so don't go unless you really just wanna live there. but if you want to have a shot at coming back to the US, then I say Carribean is better.

You're statement is incorrect.
From my gathering, there are only low number of training spots in NSW but plenty in other states in AUS. Also, why would someone be concerned about residency spots in Australia, as you state: "but not enough training spots after you graduate.." Why would I be concerned about residency spots when a person would want to go back to US for residency?

Also, The University of Queensland is starting a program where they do 2 year clinicals in Ochner in New Orleans.

 

[Bacchus]

Dug this up from the SDN vault: http://www.studentdoctor.net/2007/02/member-profile-kimberli-s-cox-md/

 

[thinker]

Yes you don't have to do the internship year if you don't want to practice there.. but i think it's going to be harder to fight for residency spots from Australia. Caribbean schools are more well known to the Americans. I also heard that the Australian curriculum does not train you well for the steps.. but that's all what the Caribbean schools are good at .. getting you a residency spot.

anyways.. I got accepted to UQ but declined. apparently they won't even have enough spaces in their lecture halls to accommodate all the increased numbers of students and you have to study online. I'm not going across the globe for that PLUS the insecurity. If I go to Australia it will be to stay in Australia..

perhaps now it's still manageable to get internship spots.. but by 2014 it won't be the case. The schools clearly say that they won't guarantee you anything.

 

[thinker]

Dug this up from the SDN vault: http://www.studentdoctor.net/2007/02/member-profile-kimberli-s-cox-md/

very inspiring.. thanks

 

[amakhosidlo]

You're statement is incorrect.
From my gathering, there are only low number of training spots in NSW but plenty in other states in AUS. Also, why would someone be concerned about residency spots in Australia, as you state: "but not enough training spots after you graduate.." Why would I be concerned about residency spots when a person would want to go back to US for residency?

Also, The University of Queensland is starting a program where they do 2 year clinicals in Ochner in New Orleans.

*Your

That may be true that there are training spots outside of NSW, but from what I've gathered, international students (includes the U.S and Canada) are at the absolute bottom of the pecking order in terms of landing intern spots. In-province grads>out-of-province grads>international students. So, it really doesn't matter where you look for a spot, all Australian medical students get higher priority than you, and in short order there will be more of them than there are intern spots.

-Because coming back to the US for residency requires that you take the USMLE, which Australian schools do absolutely nothing to prepare you for. Also, most of them place very, little emphasis on basic sciences (normal 1st and 2nd year classes)
So, unless you're really good at studying independently, passing your Steps is going to pose a challenge (it's definitely been done, just know that you'll be teaching yourself most of the material). No pass step 1 = pray you land an intern spot somewhere in the 'outback' (And as we've established, for incoming international students that's going to be very difficult)

If you do manage to overcome that hurdle, most Australian medical schools are on par with high-tier US schools and do some pretty interesting research (The link between H. pylori and gastric ulcers, for example, was discovered by a group of Australian researchers). So, I'd expect you'd catch a bit less flak for being an FMG than if you went to a carib school...that's purely conjecture on my part, however.

Carib. schools, on the other hand, basically pitch to the USMLE (I heard something about the highest score ever achieved on Step1 belonging to a Ross graduate, don't quote me on that though). Also, carib students do most, if not all of their clinicals at US hospitals. Getting a residency as an FMG from any country (from what I've gathered) is ALL about your test scores, and who you know. Going to SGU/AUC/Ross will give you a HUGE edge over Australian schools in these regards.

Bottom line, as others have said, if you want to come back to the US your best bet is carib.

-Oh, also, if you have the numbers to get into an Australian school, you could probably also get into a D.O school, which would be a much, much safer choice than either of these options...

 

[PreMedHopeful]

In the end FMG is FMG...carrib is better but just because it's more well-known and closer to the states...I wouldn't leave U.S. though ever!

 

[Aljazera]

Carib. schools, on the other hand, basically pitch to the USMLE (I heard something about the highest score ever achieved on Step1 belonging to a Ross graduate, don't quote me on that though). Also, carib students do most, if not all of their clinicals at US hospitals. Getting a residency as an FMG from any country (from what I've gathered) is ALL about your test scores, and who you know. Going to SGU/AUC/Ross will give you a HUGE edge over Australian schools in these regards.

Someone beat Pollux score, amazing.