Philippines or the Caribbean for med school?

[PhilAm]

Advertisement - Members don't see this ad

Hello all,

So I am in a little predicament (although not terrible) and I was hoping to get some advise from wiser people out there.

I am currently in the Philippines about to begin medical school at the University of teh Philippines. It's one of, if not, the most prestigious school here. (For background info, I'm a Filipino but born, raised and completely educated in the States) I came out here under the impression that this was my only option. However, once I got out here, I found out that I have been accepted to Ross University. (I'm still waiting to hear from AUC and St. George's)

Anyway, here is the deal. I eventually want to do residency and practice in the states. Right now, the fields I would be wanting to get into is Ortho, Anesthesia, or surgery. Which school would be better fitting to meet these objectives? Is an FMG a FMG and the school doesn't really metter or does rotating your 3rd/4th years in the states give you an advantage? And if so, how much?

This is my dilema and any input would be much appreciated. Thanks

 

[RAD11]

Hello all,

So I am in a little predicament (although not terrible) and I was hoping to get some advise from wiser people out there.

I am currently in the Philippines about to begin medical school at the University of teh Philippines. It's one of, if not, the most prestigious school here. (For background info, I'm a Filipino but born, raised and completely educated in the States) I came out here under the impression that this was my only option. However, once I got out here, I found out that I have been accepted to Ross University. (I'm still waiting to hear from AUC and St. George's)

Anyway, here is the deal. I eventually want to do residency and practice in the states. Right now, the fields I would be wanting to get into is Ortho, Anesthesia, or surgery. Which school would be better fitting to meet these objectives? Is an FMG a FMG and the school doesn't really metter or does rotating your 3rd/4th years in the states give you an advantage? And if so, how much?

This is my dilema and any input would be much appreciated. Thanks

UP is a really good school and from what I heard, pretty tough to get in there. It really depends on you, if you don't mind living in the Philippines for 4 years. I would choose to go to the Caribbean 'cause you get to do your clinicals in the US (3rd and 4th year of med school)....not sure if this is true for Filipino med schools as well....but remember you're still considered an IMG no matter what. However, I'm also not sure if doing your clinical rotations in the US can give you a slight edge in terms of applying for residency....but I can only imagine that it may help. I'm actually considering applying to SGU and Ross + US MD schools (crossing my fingers) fro 2006!!!

 

[PhilAm]

So I now know that I have been accepted to all of the Big 3. However, it just makes my desicion 3 times more difficult. I've been trying to talk to people here at the University of the Philippines and although I can't really find some hard core stats, the same is said every time."This is the best school in the country and more than half of the graduates eventually go to the states." Now I really don't doubt that, but I also know that most students here don't take the USMLE steps until after they graduate. (oh and by the way, UP is a five year program...esentially making your 5th year an intern year. i guess they are trying to retain the grads for as long as possible). So if you have to sit for the boards after graduation in March say 2010, when can you realistically match for residency in the states? Do you wait until the next year (2011) to match and then start that year or the following year (2012)?

I don't know if I can wait that long?

Would the same apply to the Carribean schools or would I graduate in 2009 and then start residency that same year?

Thanks for your thoughts.

 

[berkeleyboy]

So I now know that I have been accepted to all of the Big 3. However, it just makes my desicion 3 times more difficult. I've been trying to talk to people here at the University of the Philippines and although I can't really find some hard core stats, the same is said every time."This is the best school in the country and more than half of the graduates eventually go to the states." Now I really don't doubt that, but I also know that most students here don't take the USMLE steps until after they graduate. (oh and by the way, UP is a five year program...esentially making your 5th year an intern year. i guess they are trying to retain the grads for as long as possible). So if you have to sit for the boards after graduation in March say 2010, when can you realistically match for residency in the states? Do you wait until the next year (2011) to match and then start that year or the following year (2012)?

I don't know if I can wait that long?

Would the same apply to the Carribean schools or would I graduate in 2009 and then start residency that same year?

Thanks for your thoughts.

Honestly, I would just go to the best school you can get into if your trying to get back into the states for residency. Sure going to UP is prolly going to be only a fraction of the costs that your going to pay at any of the Carib schools but doing your clinicals in the US is priceless. As a filipino american myself, the option did pop into my head to go back to philippines to do medical school but the thoughts were only transient. Just look at SGUs and Ross' match list. The caribbean route is now established and looked at with more and more respect these days especially at programs that have been taking Big 3 graduates for quite some time now. If you excell at any of the big 3 schools, you'll have a decent shot to even specialize anasthesia, rads, ER, or surg. IT happens all the time. I'd go for the safe route and go to the caribbean. On the other hand, if all you want to do is primary care and you don't care where in the states you do ur residency, than attending any WHO accredited school will get you where you want to be. Good luck on your decision.

 

[NRAI2001]

Hello all,

So I am in a little predicament (although not terrible) and I was hoping to get some advise from wiser people out there.

I am currently in the Philippines about to begin medical school at the University of teh Philippines. It's one of, if not, the most prestigious school here. (For background info, I'm a Filipino but born, raised and completely educated in the States) I came out here under the impression that this was my only option. However, once I got out here, I found out that I have been accepted to Ross University. (I'm still waiting to hear from AUC and St. George's)

Anyway, here is the deal. I eventually want to do residency and practice in the states. Right now, the fields I would be wanting to get into is Ortho, Anesthesia, or surgery. Which school would be better fitting to meet these objectives? Is an FMG a FMG and the school doesn't really metter or does rotating your 3rd/4th years in the states give you an advantage? And if so, how much?

This is my dilema and any input would be much appreciated. Thanks

You should have thought about it before u actually left, shouldn't u have.

 

[Kownell]

I'd have to agree with berkeleyboy. The matchlists for St. George's recently have been quite impressive for a foreign school. Especially when you take into consideration the specialities you're shooting for, I give the Caribbean a bigger thumbs up than UP.

I have several cousins in the Philippines who are doctors so I can only speak from a second hand point-of-view. While the majority of them are studying nursing at WMSU in the Philippines, a cousin of mine is planning on taking the USMLE boards without regard to WHERE in the U.S. he'll practice. He's also pursuing primary care. He'd love to be in California with the family but as previously mentioned by others, licensing and matching in CA is quite difficult. My advice: figure out where you'll be happier over the next four years and go with your gut instinct. Your happiness will translate into better grades and consequently, into a better match. Keep us updated!

 

[oxenstein]

I just received my scores from the April 2005 MCAT (V9 P8 B9 WP Total 26) and I am officialy confused on which road to pursue. I will apply to both DO and Allo, but I have not yet considered whether applying to the Caribbean should be an option. I get the sense that coming from the Caribbean puts you at a big disadvantage when applying to residencies. What are the disadvantages of going to the Caribbean? If it comes down to DO or Caribbean, should I choose DO over the Caribbean?

 

[berkeleyboy]

I just received my scores from the April 2005 MCAT (V9 P8 B9 WP Total 26) and I am officialy confused on which road to pursue. I will apply to both DO and Allo, but I have not yet considered whether applying to the Caribbean should be an option. I get the sense that coming from the Caribbean puts you at a big disadvantage when applying to residencies. What are the disadvantages of going to the Caribbean? If it comes down to DO or Caribbean, should I choose DO over the Caribbean?

Obviously by placing this post in the caribbean forum, you're going to get a lot of thoughts on those two little letters at the end of your name playing a large part of the reason to go overseas. Fact is, there is a stigma coming from the caribbean and a stigma for going DO. Both stem from the fact that MOST people would choose US allo over FMG or DO. Plus, a large majority of the general public doesn't really know that DO = MD. So the choice is really up to you. In what I've seen, match lists from the best DO schools look fairly similar to match lists coming from SGU or Ross. Its whether you want to stay in the states and get a DO after your name, or....you have to live on the islands for some time and than you get the MD.

nuff said.
Berk