I am just closing my knowledge gap about options outside the USA.
Almost 17 years ago (jeez... that's a heady thought for me) I started this journey at Ross in Dominica, which is decidedly a third-world Caribbean country recently devastated in a major hurricane displacing the campus (temporarily) back to the U.S. In that time frame, literally dozens of new medical schools and/or campuses at existing ones - both M.D. and D.O. granting - have opened. I had far less options than you do now.
When I was in your shoes, I was also a non-traditional student. I'd had a career already. It was a second opportunity for me in my early thirties regarding what to do with the rest of my life. And, yes, I thought the AMCAS requirements and waiting to go through that process was daunting. I couldn't wait another year with the prospects, given my insurmountable academic past and the much higher competitive climate at the time, that I would likely still end-up where I ended-up.
The regulatory problems going abroad are a mild hassle. Mostly, they occur when you're starting out and first getting your license. But that ECFMG scarlet letter will follow you the rest of your career. Every time I apply for privileges or change jobs (which I'm going through now), the paperwork mountain follows me.
You will
not leave your mark on whatever country you wind up doing your foreign medical school it. It will leave a mark on you. And not necessarily in a good way. So, divorce yourself of any romantic notions in that regard.
If you have the grades, time, and the patience to navigate the U.S. application process, do it. Finish medical school here. Train here. Then go do a stint with Doctors Without Borders, Samaritan's Purse, or any of the other charity organizations who'd be happy to have you to fill that craving you have - and do it as a fully-trained physician. You won't have to commit yourself to four (or more) years of a decision you might quickly regret.
There. Consider your knowledge gap closed.
🙂
-Skip
