US Medical School or International?

[JAA1297]

Hi,

I am 19 years old living in America and have two options in terms of medical school, and I'm unsure of which will be better. My first option is a standard medical school track, 4 years undergraduate (I am currently about to start my first year of college), and then 4 years med school, residency, etc. My other option is going to an international medical school in the middle east, where I have some family living. There, it is 6 years undergraduate+medical school combined, and then I would have to match in the US for residency. My primary concern is the match-- I want to eventually specialize in either vitreoretinal surgery, or neurosurgery, and thus I need to match into opthalmology or neurosurgery residencies. Is it doable for an IMG to match into a competitive residency like the 2 I am very interested in? How much harder would I have to work (research projects, USMLE scores, etc.) versus going to med school in the US? Is it worth it, or should I just stick to staying in the US? Thank you to everyone for your help

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[Princeton Medical Student]

Hi,

I am 19 years old living in America and have two options in terms of medical school, and I'm unsure of which will be better. My first option is a standard medical school track, 4 years undergraduate (I am currently about to start my first year of college), and then 4 years med school, residency, etc. My other option is going to an international medical school in the middle east, where I have some family living. There, it is 6 years undergraduate+medical school combined, and then I would have to match in the US for residency. My primary concern is the match-- I want to eventually specialize in either vitreoretinal surgery, or neurosurgery, and thus I need to match into opthalmology or neurosurgery residencies. Is it doable for an IMG to match into a competitive residency like the 2 I am very interested in? How much harder would I have to work (research projects, USMLE scores, etc.) versus going to med school in the US? Is it worth it, or should I just stick to staying in the US? Thank you to everyone for your help

No. Stay in United States. Neurosurg as IMG is impossible. Even going family medicine is barely 50% chance.

 

[Catalystik]

Hi,

I am 19 years old living in America and have two options in terms of medical school, and I'm unsure of which will be better. My first option is a standard medical school track, 4 years undergraduate (I am currently about to start my first year of college), and then 4 years med school, residency, etc. My other option is going to an international medical school in the middle east, where I have some family living. There, it is 6 years undergraduate+medical school combined, and then I would have to match in the US for residency. My primary concern is the match-- I want to eventually specialize in either vitreoretinal surgery, or neurosurgery, and thus I need to match into opthalmology or neurosurgery residencies. Is it doable for an IMG to match into a competitive residency like the 2 I am very interested in? How much harder would I have to work (research projects, USMLE scores, etc.) versus going to med school in the US? Is it worth it, or should I just stick to staying in the US? Thank you to everyone for your help

Don't go to med school in the Middle East to save two years of training unless you'd be content to practice medicine for 30-40 years in the Middle East. I'm assuming you are a US citizen or green card holder.

 

[Med student 18]

if you want to stay in the US it will be way easier to just stick in the US.

 

[Govols22]

United States and it's really not even close to being mildly close of a decision.

 

[getdown]

I know a neurosurgery resident who was from Egypt and ended up training at my hospital. He was an attending before coming over and endured a long and length stint doing research before finally matching. So, it's not impossible but you ultimately lose whatever years you "saved" by going to a foreign medical school. But generally speaking, wanting to do any surgical subspecialty field like optho, ortho, neurosurg, ENT, plastics as an IMG is pretty close to zero.