Real Data on Caribbean Match rates

[DoctwoB]

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As you know, getting accurate data on match rates for non US schools is quite tricky, given that most of it is self-reported. This has been debated on SDN times beyond count. Recently the NRMP match service just published their charting outcomes in the match for IMGs. While this doesn't include data by school, it does include data by country. For some of them, there is only one major medical school, like St. George in Grenada, or Ross in DR (there is a smaller school in DR, but ross dominates the numbers), so you can identify data for a specific school.

http://b83c73bcf0e7ca356c80-e8560f4...tional-Medical-Graduates-Revised.PDF-File.pdf
See chart 15

Overall, the data is mixed. For Grenada (St. George), the match rate was ~2/3. This of course only takes into account those who make it to graduation, so attrition isn't accounted for. So while their advertised rates of ~90% is BS, people who say that there is a very low chance of matching is also false. Dominican (Ross) was next highest out of Caribbean schools at ~54% of those who make it through. This is compared to ~94% of US MDs. There is also data included on specialties chosen (though not by country) with the expected slant towards non-competitive specialties, though there are exceptions (especially in radiology and anesthesia, much less so in surgical fields).

My take away is this: Even for those who make it to the "top" carribean schools and graduate, there is a ~1/3 to ~1/2 chance of ending up with lots of debt and no residency spot. That being said, there are also a lot of people who became practicing doctors who had no other option in the US. I would imagine that these numbers will worsen over time as the number of US grads expands unless residency spots increase as well.

 

[Pacna]

So basically you don't have a great chance of matching as a Caribbean student and they're damn expensive. This is front page news.

(Kidding; good find!)

 

[A7X]

I feel bad for IMGs.

 

[Mad Jack]

If I knew any IMGs, I'd hug them. They're usually good people. I wish we had enough slots for at least the Big 4 students that pass the Steps.

 

[darklabel]

But sadly this is one of those cases where past data can't be accurately used to project future data since there has been a continuous increase in both USMD and DO classes/schools each year and the number of residency slots isn't keeping up with this (as you have noted). Also, I doubt Congress will do anything to increase the number of slots available and I'd be more scared about them possibly decreasing funding with the way the government debt is going.

Also surgery has 1-1 parity with the number of USMD grads applying for it. Based on your data, if you want to go into ACGME Surgery, a USMD school is the way to go.