MD Questions from an IMG (Lots)

[catnip12]

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And to address your overall point I guess I’d say just keep working hard, perform well on your in house stuff which is likely graded and will be evaluated if you move here, and keep tabs on changes in Med Ed as they happen here preferably with an advisor who’s familiar with our system and you should be golden.

 

[AMEHigh]

Hmmm maybe. I just don't see it though. If I had an applicant from India vs the UK with identical stats I would sponsor the guy from the UK. Also I'm not aware of any internationally recognized med schools in India unlike Oxbridge, UCL, Kings, Keele etc etc... lots of well known schools in the UK, it's where medical schools began after all (arguably)

Would you rather hire a US Citizen St. George's grad, or a Cambridge/UCL/Oxford/Keele grad but have to sponsor a visa?

You came here asking for advice.
Doctors from India and other countries outside of the UK are respected here. In fact since I know a lot more doctors who went to school in India, Pakistan, etc and my experience has been positive with them then I would choose a doctor from there over the UK. (and this is coming from someone who is in a relationship with someone from the UK and visits often). So I would tone down on your arrogance that just because you’re from the UK you are a better doctor and have a better chance at completing residency here.

 

[commonwealthMD]

You came here asking for advice.
Doctors from India and other countries outside of the UK are respected here. In fact since I know a lot more doctors who went to school in India, Pakistan, etc and my experience has been positive with them then I would choose a doctor from there over the UK. (and this is coming from someone who is in a relationship with someone from the UK and visits often). So I would tone down on your arrogance that just because you’re from the UK you are a better doctor and have a better chance at completing residency here.

Never said I would be a better doctor.... My idea was predicated on the fact that the US and UK have many cultural parallels and not to mention speak the same language... Someone from the UK/AUS/CAN might work better in a team with USMGs than a graduate from Azerbaijan for those reasons, which is what residency programs want.

And I am not being arrogant, just trying to be realistic and get peoples opinions. I am from the UK out of pure luck, as you are from the US out of pure luck, but that doesn't change the fact that UK schools will be more recognized than Indian schools.

 

[sella.turcica]

that doesn't change the fact that UK schools will be more recognized than Indian schools.

How do you figure that?

 

[commonwealthMD]

How do you figure that?

Conventional wisdom. I can't name a school in India, neither can most Americans, but everyone knows Oxbridge, UCL, and the big names. I may be wrong... perhaps I just feel that way because I grew up hearing big names in the UK, perhaps that doesn't extend across the Atlantic. Then again I can name US uni names no problem.... Indian.. no.

And your profile picture is horrid. My sister showed me the scary maze game at a young age and I was traumatized

 

[sella.turcica]

Conventional wisdom.

You sound like a total douche

 

[commonwealthMD]

See here’s the thing OP, I actually went the IGCSE -> AS -> A2 before I moved and did my undergraduate here in the US. I had exams in both Edexcel and Cambridge and so I am completely in sync with that system and can tell you from my perspective that the level of science you learn in your AS and A2 is no where near what you’re going to learn as a Biochemistry major in Undergraduate for example. A levels =/= Undergraduate rigour and I know that because I’ve done both.

Are you a US citizen? Why did you go to school in the UK rather than the US.

And I acknowledge the major as a whole is likely harder, but the prerequisites are comparable from what I've heard, at least for years 1 and 2. It doesn't really matter anyway, once your in med school the previous knowledge is either retaught or forgotten... It's just a weeding process.

 

[commonwealthMD]

You sound like a total douche

k

 

[ciestar]

Conventional wisdom. I can't name a school in India, neither can most Americans, but everyone knows Oxbridge, UCL, and the big names. I may be wrong... perhaps I just feel that way because I grew up hearing big names in the UK, perhaps that doesn't extend across the Atlantic. Then again I can name US uni names no problem.... Indian.. no.

And your profile picture is horrid. My sister showed me the scary maze game at a young age and I was traumatized

I havent heard of your school either.. soo..

 

[commonwealthMD]

I havent heard of your school either.. soo..

I think Keele is certainly less well known internationally. But you haven't heard of UCL, Oxbridge or King's?

 

[commonwealthMD]

this thread has gone off the rails,

/end

 

[sella.turcica]

k

Thank you for acknowledging the facts for once.

 

[ciestar]

I think Keele is certainly less well known internationally. But you haven't heard of UCL, Oxbridge or King's?

Nope. I just dont pay attention to such things tbh

 

[AMEHigh]

Never said I would be a better doctor.... My idea was predicated on the fact that the US and UK have many cultural parallels and not to mention speak the same language... Someone from the UK/AUS/CAN might work better in a team with USMGs than a graduate from Azerbaijan for those reasons, which is what residency programs want.

And I am not being arrogant, just trying to be realistic and get peoples opinions. I am from the UK out of pure luck, as you are from the US out of pure luck, but that doesn't change the fact that UK schools will be more recognized than Indian schools.

Again, you came here asking for advice. And you’re making a lot of presumptions.

Most people from India that I know and all of the doctors that I know speak English. In fact, it’s actually a plus to hire a doctor who is bi or trilingual so your presumption that the UK person (who I’m going FYI assume only speaks English) is again wrong.

And no, I’m pretty confident that most Americans, even physicians can’t name colleges in the UK or India, let alone med schools. So that really doesn’t have much merit either. Most Americans only care about American stuff.

I’m just bringing all that up to point out that most foreign doctors have a difficult time getting in to residency here regardless of what country they’re from. Everyone has given good advice in regards to studying for all your steps and scoring high and making connections so you can do rotations here. But at the end of the day it’s going to be somewhat difficult and your attitude/personality will also play a big factor, so don’t walk around thinking that because you’re from the UK you have a better chance than the person from India. There are plenty of reasons that someone might want to hire someone from India over someone from the UK.

 

[AMEHigh]

Nope. I just dont pay attention to such things tbh

Haha exactly, my point has been made.
Most Americans don’t know any UK schools, let alone which ones have med schools.
My significant other went to college in the UK and I don’t even remember the name, nor do I know the name of any of the schools his siblings went to.

 

[deleted480308]

Conventional wisdom. I can't name a school in India, neither can most Americans, but everyone knows Oxbridge, UCL, and the big names. I may be wrong... perhaps I just feel that way because I grew up hearing big names in the UK, perhaps that doesn't extend across the Atlantic. Then again I can name US uni names no problem.... Indian.. no.

And your profile picture is horrid. My sister showed me the scary maze game at a young age and I was traumatized

I can’t name a single UK school

 

[catnip12]

Are you a US citizen? Why did you go to school in the UK rather than the US.

And I acknowledge the major as a whole is likely harder, but the prerequisites are comparable from what I've heard, at least for years 1 and 2. It doesn't really matter anyway, once your in med school the previous knowledge is either retaught or forgotten... It's just a weeding process.

Long story OP but I am a US citizen now.

 

[commonwealthMD]

I can’t name a single UK school

You have honestly never heard of Oxford or Cambridge? I find that hard to believe

 

[commonwealthMD]

Long story OP but I am a US citizen now.

Interesting, I was looking at going to US undergrad then Med but I'm not a citizen/PR so it would be virtually impossible.

Would like to hear your story if you have time.

 

[deleted480308]

You have honestly never heard of Oxford or Cambridge? I find that hard to believe

Honestly didn’t know they had med schools.

And I’ll add to the above posters saying that the indian and pakistani attendings I have met were all more than able to pull their own weight

 

[chaim123]

Conventional wisdom. I can't name a school in India, neither can most Americans, but everyone knows Oxbridge, UCL, and the big names. I may be wrong... perhaps I just feel that way because I grew up hearing big names in the UK, perhaps that doesn't extend across the Atlantic. Then again I can name US uni names no problem.... Indian.. no.

And your profile picture is horrid. My sister showed me the scary maze game at a young age and I was traumatized

This isn't what I see in the hospitals. We have many more residents/physicians coming from India/Pakistan/other countries than the UK. Sure I've heard of Oxford, but no clue was UCL or Keele is. That being those in the UK may not know many of our big name schools either. Either way FMGs are FMGs

 

[differentiating]

I think Keele is certainly less well known internationally. But you haven't heard of UCL, Oxbridge or King's?

Every country has its top medical schools and top performers. PDs are smart enough to look for those applicants rather than rely on a layperson's assumption of who is most qualified or what is best. The FMGs in my program come from a variety of different countries, not just European or predominantly English-speaking countries. You're not going to get a boost by being from the UK in particular.

 

[Pepe18]

.

 

[sella.turcica]

You have honestly never heard of Oxford or Cambridge? I find that hard to believe

Why do you keep bringing up Oxford and Cambridge? You're not a student there.

 

[~Soñadora~]

Never said I would be a better doctor.... My idea was predicated on the fact that the US and UK have many cultural parallels and not to mention speak the same language... Someone from the UK/AUS/CAN might work better in a team with USMGs than a graduate from Azerbaijan for those reasons, which is what residency programs want.

And I am not being arrogant, just trying to be realistic and get peoples opinions. I am from the UK out of pure luck, as you are from the US out of pure luck, but that doesn't change the fact that UK schools will be more recognized than Indian schools.

Maybe for regular people. However, programs that are likely to hire IMG are also likely to have had residents from places like India, Pakistan, and the like in the past, and if the experience with those residents has been positive, they are more likely to keep hiring residents from those institutions. However, they are very unlikely to have had residents from the UK. I am sure they will think people from the UK are well trained, but they won't have the personal experience to back that up, whereas they know what to expect if they hire residents from India, etc. I have worked with lots of doctors from India, Pakistan, and many other nationalities and personally never found cultural issues to be much of a problem or to not allow IGMs to work as a team.

 

[Dr Sun rocky]

Hmmm maybe. I just don't see it though. If I had an applicant from India vs the UK with identical stats I would sponsor the guy from the UK. Also I'm not aware of any internationally recognized med schools in India unlike Oxbridge, UCL, Kings, Keele etc etc... lots of well known schools in the UK, it's where medical schools began after all (arguably)

Would you rather hire a US Citizen St. George's grad, or a Cambridge/UCL/Oxford/Keele grad but have to sponsor a visa?

Well I am not an Indian. But thing have totally changed, indians are all over competitive specialities. PD would prefer Indians who did med school in their own country, rather than UK citizen who did med school outside their country. You have better chance than Indian if you did med school at UK.
Program directors prefer:-
Indians with Home country residency relevant to the speciality applying >> UK candidate with med school at UK >> Indian with med school at India >> UK candidate with med schools outside UK >> Indian with med school outside UK.
Unless you get a CCT from UK or if you are a graduate from Harvard , you will be close to the bottom.
Anyways focus on research, with research heavy you can get into any competitive speciality.
Good luck

 

[Dr Sun rocky]

Sorry for multiple edits, not used to SDN

 

[zNoodlez]

Conventional wisdom. I can't name a school in India, neither can most Americans, but everyone knows Oxbridge, UCL, and the big names. I may be wrong... perhaps I just feel that way because I grew up hearing big names in the UK, perhaps that doesn't extend across the Atlantic. Then again I can name US uni names no problem.... Indian.. no.

And your profile picture is horrid. My sister showed me the scary maze game at a young age and I was traumatized

Please, the only real UK school I know is Hogwarts.