UQ chances of US residency?

[EP-Boi]

Hi everyone

I'm an aspiring doctor doing my premed(if it can be called that =P) now and I'm aiming for UQ/USyd.
Does anyone have any idea if landing a residency in the US for primary care would be hard?
Some at this point would ask me to look at other threads posted before but many want to match into derm/neurology/radio and I want to do primary care( family med/IM).
I've read that the trend is that US grads are going for the more competitive residencies and steering away from primary care.Is this true?Does it open up more spaces for IMGs?
How hard exactly is it to get in?Will I be disadvantaged seeing how I might be from a Australian medical school instead of a American one?
Thank you for taking time to read and answer my post.

PS:It's my first time posting and if any of the answers can be found in other threads please don't bash me and just link me to them. thx =D

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[JohnSnow]

Hi everyone

I'm an aspiring doctor doing my premed(if it can be called that =P) now and I'm aiming for UQ/USyd.
Does anyone have any idea if landing a residency in the US for primary care would be hard?
Some at this point would ask me to look at other threads posted before but many want to match into derm/neurology/radio and I want to do primary care( family med/IM).
I've read that the trend is that US grads are going for the more competitive residencies and steering away from primary care.Is this true?Does it open up more spaces for IMGs?
How hard exactly is it to get in?Will I be disadvantaged seeing how I might be from a Australian medical school instead of a American one?
Thank you for taking time to read and answer my post.

PS:It's my first time posting and if any of the answers can be found in other threads please don't bash me and just link me to them. thx =D

There isn't really a straight answer to your question because it depends on many factors.

When are you looking to start medical school in Australia?

Seeking primary care you shouldn't have a major issue getting a residency provided that you actually work hard in medical school.

The US schools, MD & DO, are increasing their enrollment numbers significantly, and there is some concern that by Fall 2017 the number of first year medical students in US schools will roughly equal the number of residency placements available. Currently, there are about 7,000 more residency posts than there are US medical school grads.

However, there is an expected physician shortage of about 90,000 by 2020, due in part to the Affordable Care Act, "Obamacare". As a result Congress is acting in an attempt to add 15,000 primary care residencies over the next 4 years.

If Congress is successful you will have no problem getting a residency since they would be creating 15,000 opportunities for you.

However, if Congress is not able to make a change, and lets say, for example, that you don't start medical school until 2016 then it's not looking that good for you to land a primary care residency.

But, even without Congress' grand plan to add 15,000 posts the number of residency posts available has been growing over the past few years, which is a good thing.

 

[Medstart108]

Wouldn't put your hopes on Congress lol, considering the fact that absolutely nothing will pass for the rest of Obama's term you're only shot would be either a democratic sweep or a republican sweep in 2016, thats the only way to get things passed otherwise its just constant haggling with nothing ever done.

 

[JohnSnow]

Wouldn't put your hopes on Congress lol, considering the fact that absolutely nothing will pass for the rest of Obama's term you're only shot would be either a democratic sweep or a republican sweep in 2016, thats the only way to get things passed otherwise its just constant haggling with nothing ever done.

Well the initiative to add more primary care residency positions has bipartisan support so I feel optimistic that they will reach some kind of agreement.

But obviously its not a done deal yet.

Long story short, for at least the last decade people have been saying "don't study medicine abroad, there won't be any residencies for you when you graduate" and every year approximately 50% (+/- 5%) of IMGs have matched into US residencies. I should add that there has been a significant increase in the number of IMGs and FMGs applying and matching over the last decade as well.

 

[Medstart108]

I think the people who are dedicated enough to ask questions on this forum generally are cut out to make it back. Lets face it, less than 1% of potential IMGs will make a post on this forum maybe 10-20% will read this forum. You can easily find the 50% who fail. They are usually the people who haven't learned from mistakes and think going IMG is the easy way out and haven't spent any time actually learning about going abroad.

 

[JohnSnow]

I think the people who are dedicated enough to ask questions on this forum generally are cut out to make it back. Lets face it, less than 1% of potential IMGs will make a post on this forum maybe 10-20% will read this forum. You can easily find the 50% who fail. They are usually the people who haven't learned from mistakes and think going IMG is the easy way out and haven't spent any time actually learning about going abroad.

You make a very good point here. Anybody who is investigating their potential med school, and making an informed decision, is much more likely to care enough to work hard in med school and make it back.

I also believe that a very high percentage of the students who don't make it back get suckered into attending one of the various Caribbean schools that advertise on this site with catch phrases like "no MCAT required. The ones who do make it back go to the big 4 or 5 Caribbean schools, Australia, Ireland, and the UK and work hard while they're there.

I wish ERAS kept match statistics by school and didn't group all international students together. Because obviously theres a big difference between an IMG from USyd and All Saints University School of Medicine in Dominica.

 

[EP-Boi]

@john well if everything goes right 2015/16? Kinda long way more but I just wanna be prepared. Hmm I guess it doesn't really look too good for me then D=

@medstart I'm not an American so it's not really 'making it back' more so getting there.
Would my non-american status jeopardise my chances of matching(if it's even called that for IMGs?)

 

[514901]

I'll be honest with you and say that if you can gain internship in Australia to stay there and never look back

The US is essentially a dead country at this point and the medical system is getting worse and worse every year.

US may be adding more ****ty primary care positions but what the American Medical Council neglects to mention is that competition in American is getting fiercer with more hours and no increase in training positions in desirable fields of medicine, more research and projects needing to be done just to even get interview, worse pay, worse lifestyle, and abysmal quality of life. If you're cool with living in rural Ohio for the rest of your life then you'll be set but NYC, LA, SF, and Miami will be saturated with doctors to the point that you won't have a shot for decades to have a decent quality of life in a big city.

You're much better off straggling in Australia for a bit and going to wherever you are sent.

 

[pre med 2014]

We need more on your background. USyd is 70K a year tuition that's a lot just to move back to the states for a fm residency you could get with a DO.

UQ-O and Flinders are the two 'affordable' schools in Australia, at 56.5K and 53K respectively. The rest are 70K.

 

[Medstart108]

@john well if everything goes right 2015/16? Kinda long way more but I just wanna be prepared. Hmm I guess it doesn't really look too good for me then D=

@medstart I'm not an American so it's not really 'making it back' more so getting there.
Would my non-american status jeopardise my chances of matching(if it's even called that for IMGs?)

It hurts your chances more. true IMGs match at a lower rate than US IMGs but that doesn't even tell you the full story.

true IMGs often have done residency in their home country and have multiple research publications. They are often very smart (usually only the top people in a specific country's medical school bother to try for the US). So when you are going up against those people it does make it more tough.

Its still possible though, you'll probably have fewer interviews and so need a better application to make up for your citizenship. If English is your native language or you've done a lot of schooling in English then that also gives you a slight advantage over true IMGs.

The reason US IMGs have the advantage is based on the lack of need for visa which is often a pain for a hospital to deal with. That you can't change, but the other advantage is US culture and English which often aid in patient care, if you are also from an English speaking country/went there for medical school it does help a bit. Remember they are looking at stats but in the interview they are also looking at fit, if you act like them, talk like them, they are more likely to see you as a good fit for the program.