I've seen SGU's placement and it is pretty good for carib. I see a few ortho and a few derm, and a lot of surgery and anesthesiology. What does it take to get one of these? Simply just doing great in class and on your boards?
Residency placement SGU
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For Anesthesia, Gen Surgery, EM, Radiology, yes all it takes is to kick butt in classes, clinical rotations and on the boards. However, it's a lot harder than you think. Med school is nothing like you've ever had to deal with before. The shear volume of information you have to learn is crazy. A comparison will be a year of Orgo crammed into one semester, maybe even harder. And by kicking butt I mean being well above the average US MD grad who applies to these specialties, so you'll have to be at the top of your class probably top 30% would be a rough estimate, and that would be into low tier residency programs in those specialties. The Top tier residency programs won't even look at you no matter how high you score on your boards and what your GPA or research/publications are. Of course if you have connections like a family member or a family friend who's a program director or chief then you don't need to have the grades and scores.
As for the super competitive specialties like Ortho, Uro, Derm, Neurosurg, ENT, you'll need to be in the top 5 to 10% of the class, top board scores and research/publications. A lot of the guys that you see that matched into these specialties had all that and took a year off after graduation to do a year of research before applying and matching into them, and even then they match into probably the low tier residency programs for those specialties.
As for the super competitive specialties like Ortho, Uro, Derm, Neurosurg, ENT, you'll need to be in the top 5 to 10% of the class, top board scores and research/publications. A lot of the guys that you see that matched into these specialties had all that and took a year off after graduation to do a year of research before applying and matching into them, and even then they match into probably the low tier residency programs for those specialties.
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Sort of, but I'm not sure it distinguishes the ammount earned from say getting into Ortho from SGU vs. a US md
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Oh, if you're comparing one medical school to another, it doesn't change. Basically the difference between a Caribbean medical school and a US medical school, is getting matched in a residency. It is much harder to get matched, let alone competitive residencies, from Caribbean schools.
However, once you're in, you're on the same playing field as every other resident, doesn't matter where they come from. Unless of course the medical school you graduated from isn't licensed in all 50 states, then you're stuck with where you can get a job.
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yes and no.. for a specialty like Urology where there's something like 300 residency spots in the country then it really doesn't matter, as much, however, for something like internal medicine where there are thousands of residents then it does.
The difference between top tier vs. low tier is going to be name recognition, quality of training, different pathology i.e. you'll get to treat rare diseases or really sick patients if you did your residency at a top notch place. Remember a lot of times the super sick patients are transferred to a big name university hospital because those hospitals have better equipment and better trained doctors who can take care of that patient better. Going to a top tier program you'll have better didactics, you'll be trained by the guys who came up with the newest and best treatments for different diseases, you'll have the best top of the line equipment vs. lets say some local community hospital. Many community hospitals don't have things like transplant surgeries for example so you won't have any experience taking care of those patients but will only be able to read about it in a text book. There's a huge difference between taking care of a patient with a disease and just reading about the disease in a text book. Lastly when the time comes to find a job you'll have a much easier time finding a job if you graduated from Duke for example vs some small local community hospital that no one has ever heard of. If you open your own office you'll have an easier time getting new patients if you advertise yourself as being training at Harvard. Some locations already have an over saturation of doctors and finding a job there will be almost impossible, but if you did your residency at big name place then there's a higher chance that someone will offer you a job in that location or you can maybe ask for more money or more vacation time or whatever if you graduated from a top tier place and a hospital or a group really wants a doctor who trained at a big name institution to work for them.
So yes in the end you take the same specialty board exams and technically each residency is supposed to be more or less equal but that's not the case and everyone knows this. And because you didn't have that exposure to those really sick or rare diseases in residency that might make you worse physician than someone who trained at Cleavland Clinic lets say.
But none of this should be news to you. This is just like if you went to an Ivy league university you'll have an easier time getting into medical school vs. someone who graduated from a community college.
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Yep, once you get into a residency no one cares as much where you went to medical school. Just like once you get into medical school no one will really care where you went to undergrad, all that matters is that you were good enough to get in.
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Precisely! This is why I call the NRMP Match, "The Great Equalizer." It's especially true for IMG's, because once matched, everyone's in the same boat.
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Big deal.
I went to a relatively "top name" residency program and saw it all. While I'm sure that helped in making me a good clinician, still 95% of what I see on a daily basis is "run of the mill" stuff related to the poor American lifestyle.
So, there is value in getting really good at treating diseases you see everyday, as opposed to tinkering with the occasional "fascinoma" that, as you point out, you are going to refer to a tertiary center anyway.
Unless your goal is to stay at the University center and be an academician, just focus on getting into an ABMS accredited program and getting board-certified and becoming an expert at the bread-and-butter pathology. The rest is just icing on the cake.
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It maybe so after you ve matched that you ve been "equalized" with your classmates... but as an IMG going through the NRMP match process is in no way an "equal process'... dont fool yourself... do what you like, but be aware of what you do.
If you want FP, IM, Peds, OBGYN, path, psych... more of the "bread and butter" type of fields you can get it from the Caribbean.. and even those will be at lower tier and at most mid tier programs... its just reality.. If you think you ll be one of those rare derms or orthos that match out of the carib 1) how do you know you want that? trust me I went into med school wanting CT surgery then changed to Anesthesia for the longest time... did my anesthesia rotation realized it wasnt for me.. now I m applying IM/FP and even that I m hoping to get into a mid tier program somewhere 2) you dont know those peoples situations.. they could have known someone at those programs or done research there or at a significant other there...etc 3) even mid tier residencies and lower tier specialty residency spots are becoming increasingly shut out for the carib system..
I say if you know you want IM,FP,Peds,OBGYN, Psych, probably lump gen surgery and anesthesia in there (but at lower tiered programs), path.... then you can accomplish those from a caribb school... and those are definitely fine and rewarding careers... I myself am applying to FP,IM and was considering OBGYN for the longest time..TWIW
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Agreed.
When you apply through the Match, pick those programs where prior students have already trampled down the grass. As I said before, the programs have an advantage in that they already know the type and caliber of graduate they are likely to accept well before you even apply.
As an example, one of my classmates decided to apply to Johns Hopkins for residency. He received a letter that said (essentially), "Sorry, we don't recognize the program you're applying from as a bona fide medical school." Kind of an unnecessary slap in the face, in my humble opinion.
Again, caveat emptor.
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P.S. Coincidentally, he's now a board-certified assistant professor in a clinical teaching program at a U.S. medical school in Boston. Guess he's having the last laugh.
I bet if my father donated 2 million to the hospital they would recognize my medical school
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You, my friend, have figured out precisely how the world works.
Here is wisdom, people.
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