The $4K you’ve seen is the fee that predatory (i.e. for profit, not licensed) agents charge for arranging a US rotation for international medical grads. It’s basically a scam.
You can find a clinical rotation slot yourself. For free. Using VSAS–assuming your international medical school participates in the program. Many do, but many also do not.
The $1M in malpractice insurance is a standard requirement for ALL visiting rotations, not just surgical ones. It’s a basic requirement to use VSAS. Your medical school (not you) is required to provide a certificate showing $1M in US medical malpractice insurance coverage in order for you to use the VSAS service.
Another way many FMGs find clinical experience in the US are clinical observerships. These are just like they sound–the student is allowed to observe doctors treating patients, but are not allowed to participate in patient treatments/medical discussions. Some international medical schools have arrangements with US medical schools to allow their med students to do these. You need to ask the Dean of your med school.
One other way to find a job as a non-clinical research assistant at a academic hospital (i.e. one that is associated with a medical school). Sometimes after a year or so, if the international has been an excellent assistant and has shown interest in and an understanding of US medical practice, they may be allowed to observe physicians while they examine patients & develop treatment plans. Getting a RA job requires having strong research skills in an area which is in demand at academic hospitals. These are often difficult to get since it’s almost impossible to get a visa for these kinds of jobs since there are plenty of US citizens who have the right skill set for these jobs and thus these jobs are hard to justify the need to hire a foreigner for a job that many US citizens can do.
Can you/your family afford to send you to one of the Caribbean medical schools?
The reason I ask is that some of the Caribbean medical school (St George’s University School of Medicine in Grenada, Ross University SOM in the Barbados, Saba School of Medicine in the Antilles, and American University of the Caribbean Medical School in St, Maartens, American University of Antigua in Antigua and possibly 1 or 2 others) have a list of US clinical sites they can send their student do some rotations to help their students get exposure to US medicine in order to help them match to s US residency. US rotations are built into the program, though most rotations are done locally in the islands.
While I’m loathe to recommend Caribbean med schools to US students for several reasons (mostly because of poor graduation rates), it might make sense for your situation.
Several of the Caribbean med schools do not require a bachelor’s degree to begin studies at these schools. They have a 2 year pre-medical program you will enroll in first. Successfully completing the 2 year program will allow you to start med school at the same location.
Caribbean med school are risk for everyone who goes there. They are secretive about their graduation and match rates. (Don’t believe any of the numbers they boast about in their website–they’re highly doctored.) They have high fail out rates compared to US med schools. These schools are also known to frequently force their students to repeat years if they don’t score high enough on standardized board prep exams. Taking 6 or 7 years to finish what is normally a 4 year program is pretty common.
If the student does manage to graduate from a Caribbean med school, then they have about 50-50 chance of getting a US residency match.
Which’s the chance of matching in one high-paying or competitive specialty in canada? If you are one pr or citizen it’s easier? Do you have any informations about it?
You have zero idea of what “high paying or competitive specialties” you might even be able to apply to for residency. And many of the higher paying ones also require a fellowship.
Your specialty will largely be determined by your Step scores, shelf test scores, any assessments or letters done by supervisory folks in your elective rotations, your medical school grades, and letters of reference…and if you are invited to an interview, your interviewing skills.
Medical training in Australia works very differently than the US. Their medical system is geared toward producing large numbers of GPs who see the bulk patients thru their national health service. Medical graduates do not apply for residency directly after med school. Instead they complete either a general medicine track (becoming GPs) or a general surgery track (becoming general surgeons). IMGs cannot apply for GS track positions unless they have already been trained in a surgical residency elsewhere. Then med grads work as GPs for a number of years before they apply for specialist residencies. All specialist residencies–even things like emergency medicine or pediatrics-- are highly competitive positions and it often take several rounds of applications to get one.
To the best of my knowledge, there is no centralized residency application system in Australia. If you want to do your medical training in Australia post med school, it’s all on you to find an open position that’s willing to take you. (I believe there are some private agencies which will find positions for IMGs and handle the immigration paperwork, but prepared to pay multiple tens of thousands of dollars for their services.)
When my daughter moved to Australia, she had zero difficulty finding a job (she had already graduated from med school and finished her residency in the US, and she had Australian PR status as the spouse of Australian PR before she entered the country) but she had a extremely difficult time getting a medical license to practice–and none of the 3 hospitals that offered her a job could help her. The medical bureaucracy in Australian is very slow, very opaque and very difficult to navigate.
For an IMG who has not completed residency training in another country? Extremely unlikely. Rural GP in a western or Atlantic province is the most likely option.
Matching chances are better for Canadian citizens or PRs, but competitive specialties are called that for a reason, they’re hard for anyone to match into.
No guarantees. It will depend on your MCCQE score, med school grades, letters of evaluation from your med school clinical preceptors, your research & publications, program fit, interview performance, etc.
Hello guys, i’m 20y from brazil doctor aspirant and i heared about some carribbean universities that could offer programs even with the 2 last clinical years completely in the US.
I’m one US IMG aspirant so, do someone here have any kind of tip or something to say?
I would be pretty gratefull for any tip.
Thank you very much.
Caribbean medical schools that offer programs where the last 2 years (in other words the clinical rotation years) are in the US tend to be very expensive. And often students are expected to find and set up their own rotations during those years.
I have worked with some students from Ross. One was brilliant and went on to a successful American residency in psychiatry and a successful career. Another was not bright and rather lazy. He was kicked out of an American Family Medicine residency after his first year. Another student had trouble with her rotations (I think mainly due to mental health problems) eventually failed out of Ross and was badly in debt because of her huge educational loans.
You are getting way ahead of yourself. First you need to focus on understanding what is possible given your finances, completing your bachelor’s degree, taking the MCATs, doing the shadowing etc. that med schools expect and only then should you think about attending Caribbean med schools and doing clinicals in the US.
Technically you are not a US IMG aspirant. US IMG refer to US citizens who have graduated from a foreign medical school.
You will be a non-US IMG (Also called FMG–foreign medical graduate) because you don’t have US citizenship.
Having US citizenship or PR status makes a BIG difference in how your medical residency application will be viewed by residency program directors.
But @happy1 is right. First you need to figure out what you/your family can afford to pay for your undergraduate education/pre-medical coursework and get that done.
Only once you’ve earned your degree can you start to think about medical school.