Why Don't People Consider The U.s. And The Caribbean?

[rmorelan]

Read this thread and the Million $ blog.

 

 

What is the perspective of doing mainland USMD or DO as a Canadian? Of course less bleak, but how much so? Is there also potential for such a situation to occur as a Canadian trying to match to a specialized program? Are there any similar blogs by Canadians that trash USMD/USDO routes?

 

Thanks!

 

going to a reasonably good school in the US seems to be just fine as far as I know - you are just so much more flexible with that (apply 1st round in CARMS + US route etc).

[rmorelan]

That blog has a lot of good info for sure.  I have a couple of friends who have gone the Caribbean route and been successful (one is actually an orthopedic surgeon in the US, the other is in peds at Mac).  I had to make the call of Carrib vs continuing to work on my Canadian application 2 years ago. I decided not to go the Carrib route due to the reasons others have mentioned - mostly, the thought of going through 4 years at school with the crushing fear that I might not be able to get a match was nauseating.  Despite the fact that I know a few people who have done the Carrib route successfully, they had both graduated 2-5 years ago and both felt extremely stressed about it through medical school, while the statistics show that prospects for IMGs are looking more and more bleak by the year.

 

I am so glad I made the decision I did, especially after reading a blog like this. I did a bunch of stuff that and I enjoyed and would improve my app (PM me if you want details), and how bout that, it improved me as a person too! I finally got a few interviews this year, both in Canada and the US, so sticking with it and "trusting the process" (as almost impossible as that sounds even as I type it) worked out for me.

 

Overall based on all the research I did and everyone I talked to, going the Caribbean route is very risky.  If you're in that kind of situation, you should look much more seriously at getting your DO (http://www.studentdo.ca).

 

P.S. Dude that wrote that blog was really down on family med eh?

 

he was but then again clearly from the get go he wanted something surgical and cannot blame him for being bitter - his standardized test scores are extremely good and he worked his ass off for a less than optimal result in his eyes. You could think maybe he doesn't interview well but then again he states he didn't even get an interview with his scores for ortho - makes you wonder what you do have to do to get an interview really, ha!