Medicine in the UK vs US

[sunshineL]

Hello all,

I want to ask about studying medicine and doing residency in the UK from students or doctors who have experienced it or know enough about it.

I am a non EU, non UK, non Canadian or US citizen. I am from North Africa, and I did my undergrad in the US. I applied to a UK medical school, and I got an interview offer. If I went to a medical school in the UK, I would prefer to do a residency there and practice there, but open to other options.

I want to know what are my chances in getting a training in the UK if I finished medical school there? I have heard it is hard, but how hard is it? Do you just have to get good grades on the exams or is there something else? Is it true that the fail rate in the UK med schools is high? How high is it? and why is that?

How do you like studying or working in UK as a medical student or physician? Is it worth the struggle or do you regret moving there to practice? How does it compare to the practice in the USA?

Your answers to any of these questions will be greatly appreciated.
Thank you so much!!

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[sunshineL]

Anyone?

 

[Thorin]

The majority of people on this forum are North Americans who are interested in completing their medical school abroad and returning to either the US or Canada. It's totally possible that someone who has the right knowledge will answer you here, but it's not that likely. You may want to google 'the student room,' which is specifically for UK universities and students

 

[Medstart108]

Hello all,

I want to ask about studying medicine and doing residency in the UK from students or doctors who have experienced it or know enough about it.

I am a non EU, non UK, non Canadian or US citizen. I am from North Africa, and I did my undergrad in the US. I applied to a UK medical school, and I got an interview offer. If I went to a medical school in the UK, I would prefer to do a residency there and practice there, but open to other options.

I want to know what are my chances in getting a training in the UK if I finished medical school there? I have heard it is hard, but how hard is it? Do you just have to get good grades on the exams or is there something else? Is it true that the fail rate in the UK med schools is high? How high is it? and why is that?

How do you like studying or working in UK as a medical student or physician? Is it worth the struggle or do you regret moving there to practice? How does it compare to the practice in the USA?

Your answers to any of these questions will be greatly appreciated.
Thank you so much!!

I have studied in the UK and Canada (same as the US) in medicine.

If you get into medical school in the UK, I would encourage you to go. You are actually treated the same as UK citizens as long as you attend UK medical school in the A100 program (which are most of the programs).

In general, the UK is less fast paced than the US, particularly the 6 year programs. They learn more clinical medicine and do less work related things than in the states. Students in the UK are free to come and go in the wards as they choose but are given less responsibilities and opportunities, while in the US during your final 2 years you are given a job and you must show up. Your hours are long as a US clinical student. As a resident, UK doctors work less hours, but their training is longer. As a staff, UK doctors work less hours but also get paid less than US doctors.

 

[ShankillMD]

I did medical school in the UK and several years of post-graduate training before moving to the US where I did residency.
If you did undergrad in the US and there is any chance of getting into a US medical school I would highly consider it if you're ever planning on trying to work in the US. If you have no plans to staying the US for any reason, then the UK would be a great place to go. I think especially with Brexit it will be no problem for UK trained graduates to stay in the UK. Medical school and training in general is just less intense (but longer) in the UK than the US. Residency is done in 3 years in the US however the minimum in the UK is 5 years (if you become a GP) or much longer to be anything else. However post-graduate training in the UK provides a better work/life balance. The pay is a huge difference. US attending make anywhere from $200,000 to $400,000 depending on specialty and practice. In the UK you will be lucky to make £75,000.

 

[sunshineL]

The majority of people on this forum are North Americans who are interested in completing their medical school abroad and returning to either the US or Canada. It's totally possible that someone who has the right knowledge will answer you here, but it's not that likely. You may want to google 'the student room,' which is specifically for UK universities and students

Thank you Thorin! Yeah I see now. I tried there, but no answers.

 

[sunshineL]

I have studied in the UK and Canada (same as the US) in medicine.

If you get into medical school in the UK, I would encourage you to go. You are actually treated the same as UK citizens as long as you attend UK medical school in the A100 program (which are most of the programs).

In general, the UK is less fast paced than the US, particularly the 6 year programs. They learn more clinical medicine and do less work related things than in the states. Students in the UK are free to come and go in the wards as they choose but are given less responsibilities and opportunities, while in the US during your final 2 years you are given a job and you must show up. Your hours are long as a US clinical student. As a resident, UK doctors work less hours, but their training is longer. As a staff, UK doctors work less hours but also get paid less than US doctors.

Thank you so much Medstart108. It is good to know that I will be treated the same as Uk citizens. Do you mind sharing what country did you enjoy practicing in? which one had better professors?

 

[sunshineL]

I did medical school in the UK and several years of post-graduate training before moving to the US where I did residency.
If you did undergrad in the US and there is any chance of getting into a US medical school I would highly consider it if you're ever planning on trying to work in the US. If you have no plans to staying the US for any reason, then the UK would be a great place to go. I think especially with Brexit it will be no problem for UK trained graduates to stay in the UK. Medical school and training in general is just less intense (but longer) in the UK than the US. Residency is done in 3 years in the US however the minimum in the UK is 5 years (if you become a GP) or much longer to be anything else. However post-graduate training in the UK provides a better work/life balance. The pay is a huge difference. US attending make anywhere from $200,000 to $400,000 depending on specialty and practice. In the UK you will be lucky to make £75,000.

Thank you so much ShankillMD. I am thinking about doing a Masters degree to increase my chances before applying to US med schools, but afraid that I will lose the opportunity of going to UK medical school, and the admission to the US medical school is not guaranteed.

 

[OxToCA]

Thank you so much ShankillMD. I am thinking about doing a Masters degree to increase my chances before applying to US med schools, but afraid that I will lose the opportunity of going to UK medical school, and the admission to the US medical school is not guaranteed.

Good observation. Since I'm in the position you're describing, though, and have had positive reception to what I'm doing from US, UK, and Irish medical schools after declining admission to SMPs (e.g. Georgetown), following your career interests through another degree (e.g. an MPhil at Cambridge, MRes from Imperial, etc) can be more compelling to admissions personnel than taking M1 classes for a degree that doesn't provide any fallbacks or real world training, IMO; career options which pay 160k+/year are good to consider sooner rather than later regardless of whether you do a masters or not (e.g. residencies). For reference, I'm doing the equivalent of a post-medicine fellowship/masters degree that provides both of the above benefits, although I didn't do it for those reasons. For example, earlier this morning I applied for a finance program at my University's business school where the top-10 bulge bracket banks recruit as well as for a pharmaceutical development position that pays the above via my current internship with GSK.

 

[exxex]

Little info can be found on medicalstudyguide.com/medicine-in-uk.html.This I get some info for UK system of studying.