US Med Schools Worth It?

[Meliora]

My parents did their medical school in Asia (not going to specify) before they came here for residency. Over there, like a lot of other places around the world, after high school ( 9th and 10th grade) you got to college (11th and 12th grade) and then you go to a five year medical school. I have the option of going to Asia as well in a couple months after I graduate high school to one of their best medical school (which is 5 years long). That or I can go to an undergraduate here and go through the whole medical admissions process here. Now, the point for me is not time (if I'm going to be doing medicine, it'll be a long journey I understand) but rather the fact that I would loveee to go to the Asian med school because I love the area and all their public programs and so much more but everyone advises against it because of the lack of residency positions. So what is your guys take? Is the extremely expensive medical school process here worth it? Are residencies really better here than maybe U.K.? ( UK tends to take more IMG)



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[efle]

Where do you want to practice? US, UK, Asia?

If you want to live and practice here, by far the best route is US MD school. Getting residencies as a foreign grad, especially in some of the most competitive specialties, is far from guaranteed even coming from a very good foreign med school.

 

[gyngyn]

If you want to practice in the US, go to medical school in the US.
I can give some odds of Matching if you give me the country, though.
For example, in the only year for which we have data (2014), 12 US IMG's who attended school in China matched into a preferred specialty. 45 did not.

 

[Perrotfish]

My parents did their medical school in Asia (not going to specify) before they came here for residency. Over there, like a lot of other places around the world, after high school ( 9th and 10th grade) you got to college (11th and 12th grade) and then you go to a five year medical school. I have the option of going to Asia as well in a couple months after I graduate high school to one of their best medical school (which is 5 years long). That or I can go to an undergraduate here and go through the whole medical admissions process here. Now, the point for me is not time (if I'm going to be doing medicine, it'll be a long journey I understand) but rather the fact that I would loveee to go to the Asian med school because I love the area and all their public programs and so much more but everyone advises against it because of the lack of residency positions. So what is your guys take? Is the extremely expensive medical school process here worth it? Are residencies really better here than maybe U.K.? ( UK tends to take more IMG)



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You have to complete a US residency to be allowed to practice in the US. You can complete a residency overseas, and then practice medicine overseas for 20 years, but if you want to come to the US you start over on day 1 of a residency training program just like a new US graduate.

It is very, very hard to get a residency in the US if you didn't go to a US medical school. Its getting harder each year because the number of US graduates keeps increasing, but the number or residency slots stays static, which means fewer and fewer slots for foreign grads.

You should go to school in the country you ultimately want to practice in.

 

[Nicole Kidd]

There are pros and cons. Pros are that it's definitely cheaper to go to Asian Med schools, especially if you like the area. The down side is that you'll have to have a near perfect performance in your USMLE otherwise your chance of getting US residency will drastically decrease comparing to your American peers.

 

[738177]

My parents did their medical school in Asia (not going to specify) before they came here for residency. Over there, like a lot of other places around the world, after high school ( 9th and 10th grade) you got to college (11th and 12th grade) and then you go to a five year medical school. I have the option of going to Asia as well in a couple months after I graduate high school to one of their best medical school (which is 5 years long). That or I can go to an undergraduate here and go through the whole medical admissions process here. Now, the point for me is not time (if I'm going to be doing medicine, it'll be a long journey I understand) but rather the fact that I would loveee to go to the Asian med school because I love the area and all their public programs and so much more but everyone advises against it because of the lack of residency positions. So what is your guys take? Is the extremely expensive medical school process here worth it? Are residencies really better here than maybe U.K.? ( UK tends to take more IMG)



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No. UK does not take more IMGs. May be in the 90s but not anymore. Chances of you getting a UK residency being a nonEU citizen who hasn't gone to an UK school is practically nil, regardless of how well you do in the licensing exams. The days of Asian IMGs flocking to UK/Ireland/Australia etc are loooooong gone. Don't bank on "Oh I'll just go to another developed country if I can't come back to USA" because that won't work anymore.

 

[TightLines22]

This is anecdotal but I work in research at a top 20 school in NYC. In my department but in a different lab under a different PI is a research associate who went to medical school in China. The PI they work under is an expert in the field and they perform extremely high impact research. They've just gone through their second failed match. Has kids and a family and can't make the jump. It's looking like they'll never practice in the United States. If you plan on practicing here, stay here.

 

[Meliora]

I want to practice in London and Dubai in the future.. will I be able to do that with training from the US?


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[Lawpy]

I want to practice in London and Dubai in the future.. will I be able to do that with training from the US?


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Have you decided to practice in London/Dubai in the future and not in the US? I mean it's possible to practice in those regions with US medical degree and training but it depends on the practice rules/regulations (which I have no idea). If you have no desire whatsoever to practice in the US, pursuing medicine in UK or Asia is the best way to go.

 

[libertyyne]

Your parents came to the us to do their resid ncies in a different time. Things have changed, plus for every success story you hear (your parents) there are countless other failures you don't hear. Even if you manage to match you may not be able to match in the residency of your choice and in a location that noat people ould consider less then optimal. Any sort of time saving or cost savings can easily be lost by failing to match the first time. It's a large Gamble and imho not worth it.

 

[Welshman]

If you want to practice in the US, go to medical school in the US.
I can give some odds of Matching if you give me the country, though.
For example, in the only year for which we have data (2014), 12 US IMG's who attended school in China matched into a preferred specialty. 45 did not.

Do you have the odds of matching for U.K. medical graduates?

I'm a dual citizen, so I entertained the idea of going to med school overthrre for awhile but the overall international match rate put me off

 

[Lucca]

Go to med school in the country where you want to practice medicine.

I have a gut feeling that the world is going to be a much more closed off place by the time we finish training, so I wouldn't bank on being able to take your training anywhere else in the developed world.

 

[gyngyn]

Do you have the odds of matching for U.K. medical graduates?

I'm a dual citizen, so I entertained the idea of going to med school overthrre for awhile but the overall international match rate put me off

There were an insufficient number of US IMG's from the UK to publish Match results.
There were, however, 46 successful IMG's from schools in Ireland (20 were not).