Medical school in UK

WayOutWestMom
Sun, 29 May 2016 03:34:27 +0000

It’s possible but difficult, without any guarantees that you’ll match into US residency.

The first and most important question–are you a US citizen or permanent resident?

Assuming you are–

If you complete your degree in the UK, you’ll be considered an International Medical Graduate.

First, your medical school needs to be certified by the ECFMG as meeting certain educational standards. I assume that all UK med schools do. But it would be wise of you to check: [Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates](http://www.ecfmg.org)

Next you’ll need to take and pass STEP 1, Step 2 CK and Step 2 CS of the US Medical Licensing Examinations (USMLE). You will need to study on your own for these exams since the UK medical curriculum is different than the US medical curriculum and topic coverage is not congruent.

Practically speaking you’ll need to do one or more clinical clerkships (most useful) or observerships (less useful since these do not involve any patient contact) at US hospitals so that you can garner LORs from US based residency programs. You will need at least 1 LOR, preferably in the specialty you hope to match into, from a US hospital that hosts a residency program.

Next, you’ll apply for residencies through the National Residency Match Programs. IMGs are at a severe disadvantage during this process. Residency program directors have a very strong preference for US medical graduates (MD or DO) over IMGs, even if the IMG is a US citizen. (Non-citizens and non-permanent residents are at even a greater disadvantage since many residency programs will not sponsor work visas) Most IMGs end up in less competitive specialties (think FM, IM, psych, prelim general surgery) at community hospital programs. You will need to have much higher USMLE scores than domestic applicants just to get an interview at the same program.

Lastly, assuming you get any residency interviews, you will submit a rank list to the NRMP and wait until mid-March when Match results are released.

US IMGs currently have about a 40% chance of Matching.

If you’d like to see detailed data about IMGs and their Matches–

[Charting the Outcomes in the Match International Medical Graduates-2014](http://www.ecfmg.org/resources/NRMP-ECFMG-Charting-Outcomes-in-the-Match-International-Medical-Graduates-2014.pdf)

Please be aware that the odds for IMGs matching is shifting due to several factors, but principally that–

at least 15 new allopathic medical schools and 8 new osteopathic medical schools have opened in the past 5 years or have planned openings within 2 the next years. Additionally many existing US medical schools have already expanded or in the process of expanding the size of their classes. The increased number of US medical grads is expected to equal or exceed the number of available US residency positions by 2020. IMGs are being squeezed out.

The disadvantage of being an IMG will continue during medical licensing. More than half the states now require a longer training period for IMGs before they become eligible for US medical license. (Domestic grads need to complete only 1 year of a residency to become eligible for a full & unrestricted medical license ; IMG need to complete 2 or 3 years to become eligible for a medical license.) Since all specialty residencies are 3 years or longer, this may not be an issue; however, many IMGs match into 1 year, non-renewable preliminary surgery residency programs and then don’t match into a categorical program during the following match. This means they won’t be license-eligible/able to practice in many state despite matching into a 1 year long residency.