Should You Apply To Medical Schools In Australia/uk Right Out Of High School?

[MD Consultants CA]

Hi guys - here's a blog written by Dr. Jiayi Hu, a plastic surgery resident in Hamilton, about the choice between going the Canadian undergraduate route or applying to Australia/UK medical schools right out of high school. What are your thoughts?

 

http://mdconsultants.ca/should-i-go-to-australia-or-the-uk-for-medical-school-after-high-school/

[NotASerialKiller]

Not sure how he thinks your debt would be paid off your first year of practice. 50k/yr for 6 years then residency. Who's paying that off in 12 months?

 

Also I know Australian schools specifically block international med students from becoming citizens (and therefore being able to apply for residency), not sure if that also applies to the 6-year program but I suspect it does, he makes it sound really easy to practice abroad which is not the case.

 

There's also the additional issue of 80% of science students coming out of high school thinking they want to be doctors, then finding out that science is hard. For the vast majority of them it would be a terrible idea to go overseas and blow a ton of money before finding out that it's either not for them or they can't keep up with it. Taking the pre-reqs in Canada weeds out a lot of aspiring pre-meds who wouldn't be able to handle med school. That's my opinion though, not something he really failed to mention.

[MD Consultants CA]

Thanks for your comments. In fact, we have received quite a number of inquiries regarding becoming an Australian citizen after graduating from med school. We have shared another blog written by a Canadian who studied medicine in Australia and is currently pursuing residency. Hopefully his experiences can shed some light on the process. This process isn't easy to go through, but not impossible.

 

Here is it: http://mdconsultants.ca/canadian-pursuing-medical-training-in-australia/

 

Residents in Australia do get paid considerably higher than Canadian residents. But again, you won't be able to pay off the debt until becoming a staff consultant in practice (not during residency for sure).

 

 

Not sure how he thinks your debt would be paid off your first year of practice. 50k/yr for 6 years then residency. Who's paying that off in 12 months?

 

Also I know Australian schools specifically block international med students from becoming citizens (and therefore being able to apply for residency), not sure if that also applies to the 6-year program but I suspect it does, he makes it sound really easy to practice abroad which is not the case.

 

There's also the additional issue of 80% of science students coming out of high school thinking they want to be doctors, then finding out that science is hard. For the vast majority of them it would be a terrible idea to go overseas and blow a ton of money before finding out that it's either not for them or they can't keep up with it. Taking the pre-reqs in Canada weeds out a lot of aspiring pre-meds who wouldn't be able to handle med school. That's my opinion though, not something he really failed to mention.

[Edict]

I would honestly say that it is very risky, but again it is everyone's personal decision.

 

It can work for many but I personally know people who couldn't match back to Canada in IM coming from a top medical school with a great CV and electives in IM. 

 

Even the Canadian who went abroad ended up doing 6 years of medical school + 4 years of internship before getting a residency position, and if you add that all up it isn't even a time saver. 

[MD Consultants CA]

Completely agreed with all your points in our first post. Good to see others share the same thoughts.

 

As someone who went abroad from high school I don't really recommend it. It is very risky, but again it is everyone's personal decision.

 

It can work for many but I personally know people who couldn't match back to Canada in IM coming from a top medical school with a great CV and electives in IM. 

 

Even the Canadian who went abroad ended up doing 6 years of medical school + 4 years of internship before getting a residency position, and if you add that all up it isn't even a time saver.