Residency in the US after transferring between med schools in Europe

[kristo]

Hi,

I am currently a third year medical student in my home country, Iceland. I've been wondering if it would be a good idea for me to do my residency in the US, when that time comes.

First of all, my chances of obtaining a residency in the US. I did my first two years in med school in Debrecen, Hungary. After my second year, I went home, took the medical school admission tests, got accepted and was able to transfer most of what I did in Hungary. I did have to take some minor 2nd year stuff, but I was able to do that along with 3rd year, so I didn't lose a year.
I had not done any clinicals, so I didn't transfer any - just basic sciences.

This is a six year programme, I'll graduate in 2012, so I'm not really in a hurry. I'll probably take the USMLEs the year I graduate.

Any thoughts? Am I right in assuming that transferring between schools hurts my chances of obtaining residency? How about having been in Eastern Europe for two years? It has been my understanding that US residency programmes like W-Europe med schools considerably better than the E-Europe ones?

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[rox]

I wouldn't be that worried about it. Frankly, for many programs you are just a foreigner; not to mention that many people wouldn't even know where Hungary and Iceland are located!

Just focus on your medical education now and prepare well for the USMLE.

 

[kristo]

Thanks for the reply, rox!

Glad to hear (well, read) that my transfer won't significantly impact my chances. I realise that asking about residency options right now is a little gunner-ish on my part, but one does wonder.

I have been looking at options. Emergency medicine, anaesthesiology/critical care, cardiology, and family medicine are some options I've considered. I've also been looking at the combined EM/IM programmes, and maybe even adding a cardiology fellowship on top of that.

We get 3 months at the end of third year here to do a research project. My project was performance benchmarking in EMS from a new angle. My primary instructor was an emergency physician who did his residency in the US and is a fellow of the American College of Emergency Physicians. I will be publishing my results in the Icelandic Medical Journal (as first author) in the fall. This journal is indexed on Medline and Pubmed. I've got another similar research project (about STEMIs and 112 (911) call to needle times) lined up, which I hope to be doing in my "free" time during fourth year.
Do you think this will help on my residency application?

 

[rox]

Though my post was such a relief to you, I'd say you should probably consult a senior person as well. I'm just someone with limited experience and don't want to falsely reassure you.

Needless to say, research is helpful and you're obviously on the right track.

 

[kristo]

Though my post was such a relief to you, I'd say you should probably consult a senior person as well. I'm just someone with limited experience and don't want to falsely reassure you.

Needless to say, research is helpful and you're obviously on the right track.

Thanks...of course I take an anonymous source on a public web forum with a grain of salt, but it's still nice to hear that the transfer may not affect my chances.

There's a 12 week elective in our 6th year, meant for clinical rotations in speciality/ies that interest students (can be divided into individual 4 week parts) or research. I'll probably try and use that time for clinical rotations in the US.

Any additional comments would be appreciated. Anyone care to chime in? What kind of USMLE score should I be aiming for, given that I'll be an IMG from a Western European country, some research under my belt and hopefully 12 weeks of US clinical experience?