Tough Choice...Help!

[ajtrau]

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I am getting ramped up to apply for medical school for the fourth time this summer. Basically, I am applying to in-country schools once more and if that doesn't pan out for me then I will be deciding between going out of country or going to an osteopathic school. In your opinion, which option gives me the best chance of landing a good residency (in something competitive potentially). As of now, I want to do an internal med residency in Seattle (or near there) but that may change in the future. Thoughts?

 

[Chuckwalla]

I would certainly go with DO instead of Caribbean. As a matter of fact I would apply DO right now. If you have already been rejected three times a fourth try will end the same unless you had a major improvement to your application.

You will have no problem getting a good internal medicine residency as a DO.

 

[Blade28]

Why not apply to both MD and DO schools this time? I wouldn't wait until the next cycle to apply to DO schools.

 

[DrJekyl]

I completely agree with the 2 preceding posts.

 

[fireflygirl]

I would wait and apply broadly in MD and DO before thinking about the carribbean. And also, please look into DO before just applying for the sake of applying. Make sure you go into it for the right reasons.

Finally, I would not apply DO this cycle anyways since the most interviews are winding down and you would have a better shot of not only getting in next year but having some choices as well.

 

[Dr 14220]

If you dont get in this time, I think you should wait an re-apply a 5th time. If you still dont get in after 5 tries, I'd just go to Stewart's......

 

[Mobius1985]

Don't go Caribbean as a next choice. From looking at comments on that forum, IF you graduate (and a lot don't), you have a 50% chance of getting a US residency. If you go DO, your chance is >95%.

 

[Krisss17]

Personally, if this is your fourth time reapplying and the other 3 times you just applied allopathic, maybe you should just apply for DO. do some research, you may find that the DO offers you more options PLUS you can stay in the country.

 

[Blade28]

Don't go Caribbean as a next choice. From looking at comments on that forum, IF you graduate (and a lot don't), you have a 50% chance of getting a US residency. If you go DO, your chance is >95%.

Where did you see this data?

 

[xeulee]

I also think you should apply broadly to DO and MD schools. It's harder to get into a residency in the US after going out of the country to medical school.

 

[Cegar]

Osteopathic schools. Most definitely.

 

[hyperpodia]

Who do you know who applied 4 times and got in?
Since your goal it to do an internal medicine residency
IMO you should apply to DO schools and carribean schools

Don't waste your time waiting another year

 

[LO281OK]

Question for the OP: What have you learned from the previous X times you've applied? Have you talked to the schools after being rejected? Has anything changed? Stats(bc yes they do matter)? Where are you applying? Getting interviews? Wait-listed? Flat rejections?

 

[Mobius1985]

Where did you see this data?

Quoting Shinken from 10/28/07 in the Carribean Forum, who argues in favor of going the DO route over Carribean:

"According to the American Medical Association, the top 20 countries where IMGs come from are:

India - 19.9% (47,581)
Philippines - 8.7% (20,861)
Mexico - 5.8% (13,929)
Pakistan - 4.8% (11,330)
Dominican Republic - 3.3% (7,892)
U.S.S.R. - 2.5% (6,039)
Grenada - 2.4% (5,708)
Egypt - 2.2% (5,202)
Korea - 2.1% (4,982)
Italy - 2.1% (4,978)
China - 2.0% (4,834)
Iran - 2.0% (4,741)
Spain - 1.9% (4,570)
Dominica - 1.9% (4,501)
Germany - 1.9% (4,457)
Syria - 1.5% (3,676)
Columbia - 1.4% (3,335)
Israel 1.4% (3,260)
England- 1.4% (3,245)
Montserrat (3,111)

According to the AMA website, this information is from 2007, pretty current. http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/category/1550.html

According the the Educational Commision for Foreign Medical Graduates, the match rate for ALL IMGs in 2007 was 47%. The match rate for US citizen IMGs for the same year was 50% (yikes!).

http://www.ecfmg.org/cert/factcard.pdf

Now, most people in this forum like to tell you that statistics for IMGs are skewed because people from the big 4 pass the USMLE at high rates and therefore match at high rates compared to other countries, and that IMGs from "other" countries (i.e. non-Caribbean big 4) are the ones that are bringing down the total average.

However, how do you explain the fact that:

1- According to the ECFMG, as a US citizen going abroad for a medical education, you might as well flip a coin for your future (50% match rate?!?!)

2- If supposedly most of the IMGs that pass the USMLE (and therefore become licensed to practice in the US) are from the "big 4", how come most of the IMG physicians in this country are from countries other than the big 4? Grenada (home of SGU) comes in at #7 (at least it's top ten), and the next "big 4" (Dominica, home of Ross) comes in at #14? If most IMGs that pass the USMLE are from the big 4, wouldn't it make sense that the top 4 spots for IMGs in the US are from Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat and Saba? Heck, there are more Russian IMGs in the US than from the big 4 Caribbean schools.

Again, I have nothing against IMGs, but if you piss me off, I pull the big gun: TRUTH. Would you rather have a 100% chance of being a physician, or flip a coin with a 50% chance (and be behind foreign medical graduates from India, Mexico, Russia, Dominican Republic, Egypt, Italy, Iran (IRAN??!)...)"

 

[bioteach]

I am getting ramped up to apply for medical school for the fourth time this summer. Basically, I am applying to in-country schools once more and if that doesn't pan out for me then I will be deciding between going out of country or going to an osteopathic school. In your opinion, which option gives me the best chance of landing a good residency (in something competitive potentially). As of now, I want to do an internal med residency in Seattle (or near there) but that may change in the future. Thoughts?

I just don't understand why people would apply multiple times and not apply to a D.O. school. I suppose I understand the first cycle if you don't know anything about osteopathic med schools, but the 2nd, 3rd and 4th???? If you do a *little* investigation, there are some awesome D.O. schools and osteopathic medical students secure residencies in most all fields, certainly an IM residency would not be impossible to come by.

Oh well, more spots available for me!

 

[EpiPEN]

Definately apply to both MD and DO schools. I work with MD and DO at work and yeah there are some DO that are a little crazy in the head, but the lot of them are very respectable physicians with very good outlooks in their career (shoulder to shoulder with MD).