Is this probable?

[BJJ]

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For some dude who went to the Caribbeans to match into cardiology?

 

[gravitywave]

possible, yes.

probable? .....

 

[theWUbear]

Probable: no. Realistic for someone who 'makes it' from the Carribean (ie doesn't drop out, doesn't fail the boards)? Assuming you mean internal medicine residency and cardiology subspecialty, yes

I work at an outpatient clinic at a major teaching hospital - 8 out of the 12 internal med residents i can remember the alma mater of are from carribean med schools

 

[Electronegative]

Cardiology is a fellowship not a residency, to be cardiologist you have to complete IM residency, and looking at Caribbean's match list you can see that many of the students who match in states match to IM.

 

[vickpick]

Probable: no. Realistic for someone who 'makes it' from the Carribean (ie doesn't drop out, doesn't fail the boards)? Assuming you mean internal medicine residency and cardiology subspecialty, yes

I work at an outpatient clinic at a major teaching hospital - 8 out of the 12 internal med residents i can remember the alma mater of are from carribean med schools

👍

cardiology is a fellowship. internal medicine, then cardiology, totally possible.

 

[Immutef]

possible, yes. probable, less so.

 

[BJJ]

so the transition between IM to cardiology isn't very competitive? What is the difficulty factor for transitioning into cardiology.

I'm not asking for me its just one of these dudes I know is in the carib and wanted to be a cardiologist and I was pretty sure its difficult to get into cardiology even through US med schools so I wanted to know his chances.

 

[apumic]

so the transition between IM to cardiology isn't very competitive? What is the difficulty factor for transitioning into cardiology.

I'm not asking for me its just one of these dudes I know is in the carib and wanted to be a cardiologist and I was pretty sure its difficult to get into cardiology even through US med schools so I wanted to know his chances.

The second half of that transition -- going from the residency to the fellowship. Someone matching into IM from a Carib school probably isn't going to a particularly competitive or well-connected IM program. Like anything, the difficulty is the leap. It's almost always tougher to move up than down in competitiveness. For a US grad, IM isn't all that competitive but the best IM programs certainly are. Cards is, I believe, a relatively competitive IM subspecialty. As a result, it will be easiest to enter from a relatively competitive IM program. A resident in IM could probably give a much more informed explanation and/or opinion.

 

[BigRedBeta]

For some dude who went to the Caribbeans to match into cardiology?

Define probable.

http://www.nrmp.org/fellow/match_name/msmp/stats.html

Cardiovascular disease fellowships are certainly among the post popular, but at least for those specialties that participate in the NRMP Medical Specialties Fellowship Match program, it's the most common fellowship available in terms of number of programs and number of available positions.

This match takes place in June, with appointments for openings starting 13 months later (thus this happens at the end of the 2nd year of a 3 year IM residency). It is a competitive match with 719 of 729 positions filled. 384 applicants at least ranked cardiology as their number one choice in the Match and did NOT obtain a position.

As you look at the breakdown of MATCHED applicants you see that 9% were US Grads of foreign med schools, but there was a sizable portion of Foreign grads of Foreign med schools - 28%. There isn't a breakdown of the unmatched applicants.

It makes it difficult to definitively say how much of a liability being a US Foreign grad is, though it seems that it certainly is an issue. However, while the NRMP reports the data this way, there are a lot of other factors that go into a successful match. It's probably safe to say that the Foreign sucessfully matched applicants likely have remarkable credentials. They are also probably more willing to apply very broadly. This is the hardest thing to explain to pre-meds - being in your late 20's or early 30's is an entirely different station in life and that may limit potential opportunities (spouses, children, aging parents, etc).

So it's possible, certainly.