Rotations with foreign medical education

Depends on the hospital in which you want to do the rotation and on the school you're from.

I am doing the year at Lutheran Medical Center in Brooklyn (as an MS IV from UAG). The foreign grads far outnumber the US grads. There are mostly NYCOM students "representing" the US schools, and a lot of Ross students. Some may argue that this means that Lutheran is "taking what it can get" as far as quality of staff/students. I was blown away at the number of non-US attendings, residents, and students at this place.

RE: your other post about residencies:
What Klebsiella said in the other post is true, I think. If you were waitlisted, try to improve your application and apply again to a US school. Your life will be infinitely easier when applying to residencies as a US grad. Second, try DO (although I do not feel that allopathic is superior to osteopathic -- quite the opposite, DOs are definitely preferred over foreign grads). Use a foreign school as the last option. While it's true that the USMLE is supposed to be "the great equalizer," I think that there is still an inherent inequality between US grads and US IMGs in the eyes of residency directors.

 

Yep, just reapply for US MD or DO programs, whichever you think you'd be happier in, not whichever you think you have a better chance getting into.

All US MD grad will get a residency spot of some kind (although they may have trouble with the super-competetvie feilds, they will have a job in the US when they finish), provided they pass the USMLE (national boards), which 95% do on the first try. I don't know much about DO programs, but assume their success rate with getting residencies is similar.

If you go to of foreign school, on the other hand, they all have lower than 95% pass rates, maybe b/c their cirriculums aren't as uniform as the US schools. And you will be working your tail off sweating it till the last minute of match wondering if you will get a US residency. I have friends at the Carib. schools and they are much more uneasy about this whole match thing than i am now, b/c I know I will get a spot and they dont', despite they fact that I'm sure they worked just as hard as I did during med school.

 

I am an SGU student, and honestly I feel well prepared, and don't feel that I will have a problem matching anywhere. I think it really depends on you. I know people who were wait-listed while at SGU and didn't get in and just ended up staying. My roommate transfered to a DO school first semester, was she better for it I don't know. It really is hard to say. I feel that my training was adequate, and I did well on my both my steps 1 and 2. I know several people who transferred out to US schools 3rd year, to programs in Ohio, Syracuse, and even GW. I have trained during my 3rd year with students from NYCOM and I thought they were a very well prepared group. I suggest you talk to people who have studied at DO programs and people who have studied in the Caribbean, then make your choice. You can always go to a DO or Caribbean program and switch if you get accepted to a waitlisted spot if you don't want to wait around. Yes there is a stigma when you apply to certain programs, certain programs won't consider you if you are a D.O. or foreign, but in the end you will become a doctor. There are a lot of very good programs out there who will take you if you do well on your USMLE no matter where you are from. I wish you the best and just think about the experience you wish to gain. I enjoyed my experience and wouldn't trade it for anything, it really does add to your life experience as a person. I suggest you look online as to where programs do their clinical rotations, where their students match for each specialty, and then make your decision. Whether you choose to go DO or foreign there will always be opportunities available for you if you work hard and do well. GOOD LUCK!

 

dwstranger,

As a Dutch fifth year med student I'm just wondering how I can apply for a clinical rotation in a foreign country. I'd love to go to New York for a while, so maybe you could give me some info on the medical center that you work at?

Dutch Doc

 

Depends on the school.

I'm at the Ben Gurion/Columbia program in Israel. Every student matched to their 1st or 2nd choice last year, and we do most of our rotations at Columbia hospitals during 4th.

Residents from our program that I've talked to say that their US counterparts are more jealous of the amazing experiences they had while in med school, than they are critical of them for being FMG's.

 

DutchDoc - I just sent you a PM.