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Which Australian school provides the best opportunities to match into residency in Canada/US?


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First off, for those who are considering the AUS/IRL route, I'm sorry if these commends are coming off as harsh or condescending. I was a re-applicant and applied both as broadly as I could to US/Canada. I would have applied abroad the following year if I hadn't got in when I did. I had a much lower GPA than the people in this thread (old MCAT though so can't compare) and got accepted in both US/Canada with what I think were average ECs, so I am honest when I'm surprised that you're not getting any love. Going international is expensive, difficult, and scary. Getting into med school in NA sucks but going international just punts the bottleneck to residency, and whereas you can keep on doing GPA repair/working, reapplying to med, if you don't don't match after 1-2 years as an IMG you're at a very high risk of being out 4 years and 400k with nothing to show for it, which is why I, and I'm assuming the others in this thread, are being so forceful in encouraging you to fully exhaust all your NA options prior to going abroad.

It's good that you applied to the MI schools (I was accepted to one). You keep saying that you're really restricted due to lack of prereqs but I really feel in your case it would be worth doing another year of undergrad to check those boxes and get another 3.9 to bring your cumulative GPA up. The US likes upward trends but 3.6 is just on the manual cut-off for a lot of places.

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All of the grade repair suggestions make sense, I just don't know that I'm willing to enrol in another year of undergrad.

I am also okay with relocating to Australia if I cannot match back (and taking advantage of the better pay + lifestyle that those physicians enjoy). So, I am not absolutely tied to coming back. It would be ideal for personal reasons (family, friends), but is not something I'm set on nor expecting.

I will also apply to both Canadian and US schools again, and were I to be accepted while in my first semester in Australia, I'd happily restart med in the Fall back in North America. So I'm still giving it a third cycle, regardless of me applying to Aus. 

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2 hours ago, premedmillenial said:

All of the grade repair suggestions make sense, I just don't know that I'm willing to enrol in another year of undergrad.

I am also okay with relocating to Australia if I cannot match back (and taking advantage of the better pay + lifestyle that those physicians enjoy). So, I am not absolutely tied to coming back. It would be ideal for personal reasons (family, friends), but is not something I'm set on nor expecting.

I will also apply to both Canadian and US schools again, and were I to be accepted while in my first semester in Australia, I'd happily restart med in the Fall back in North America. So I'm still giving it a third cycle, regardless of me applying to Aus. 

apply more times in Canada, going abroad should be the extreme last gamble provided you tried 5+ times here

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23 hours ago, premedmillenial said:

TD bank in Canada offers 325k LOC for foreign medical schools i.e. ireland/australia

OSAP offers 50k loan for Ontarians going to med in Australia also.

This is what would fund my studies abroad, along with some part time work while studying.

My point is that no, I do not have money on hand right now to apply very broadly, even if it is necessary. However, if I were accepted to Australia med, the loan and LOC I mentioned above would become available and would be used. That's all I was saying. 

And my point is that the 325kLOC and 50k OSAP is unlikely to be enough to cover you for the 4 years for tuition, living costs, applications for residency and electives. 

Hence the point - if finances are already tough where you can't apply broadly to even secure the acceptance in the first place, then you should strongly reconsider even applying without sitting down to get a better grasp of total costs involved and huge risks at hand. Good luck

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I am in the same boat as the Poster. Lower MCAT though. Applying to Australia is what I am also thinking about. I do not know what people are talking about. As long as Canada and US are taking IMGs why can we not match to those residencies? Yeah maybe not the luxury options but Ped or Internal there is a good chance. Also Australia has a safety net.

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13 hours ago, LastOneStanding said:

As long as Canada and US are taking IMGs why can we not match to those residencies? Yeah maybe not the luxury options but Ped or Internal there is a good chance.

Are you sure? Here's the 2020 CaRMS match data for IMG match rate. The numbers are percentage of IMG applicants who match to each specialty. For example, just over 10% of IMG applicants to anesthesiology matched. I wouldn't say a 7% match rate would be a "good chance"...

BE2yal8.png

Now to be fair the US match numbers for IMGs are much better. The following is for non-American IMG applicants (I assume you're not American) percent who matched:

qKemcDh.png

So 50% of family medicine IMG applicants matched. Obviously if you want to do pediatrics/pathology/neurology/rad onc you're looking at 2/3 chance assuming every applicant has the same stats. Note that this data does not discriminate based on type of applicant (ie. someone who went Caribbean because they couldn't get in to NA med school vs established physician trained internationally looking to become US certified). Compared to the 90%+ match rate for NA grads I still wouldn't take 2/3 as a "good chance".

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3 hours ago, bearded frog said:

Are you sure? Here's the 2020 CaRMS match data for IMG match rate. The numbers are percentage of IMG applicants who match to each specialty. For example, just over 10% of IMG applicants to anesthesiology matched. I wouldn't say a 7% match rate would be a "good chance"...

BE2yal8.png

Now to be fair the US match numbers for IMGs are much better. The following is for non-American IMG applicants (I assume you're not American) percent who matched:

qKemcDh.png

So 50% of family medicine IMG applicants matched. Obviously if you want to do pediatrics/pathology/neurology/rad onc you're looking at 2/3 chance assuming every applicant has the same stats. Note that this data does not discriminate based on type of applicant (ie. someone who went Caribbean because they couldn't get in to NA med school vs established physician trained internationally looking to become US certified). Compared to the 90%+ match rate for NA grads I still wouldn't take 2/3 as a "good chance".

Now here no one is denying going to Canada or US is better. But when you turn 27 and you have tried 4+ times to get in, I think its a waste of time. And as you said this info does not discriminate between good and bad applicants. USMLE score, Pubs, and rotation counts. And you can stay in Australia.

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2 hours ago, sally1999 said:

Kinda off topic but does anyone know how you obtain a clerkship in either Canada or the US while studying in Australia? Since the school year doesn't line up with North America's is it really difficult to obtain clerkships?

You mean clerkship electives? If you go to school down under you do all four years there.

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On 2/25/2021 at 3:06 PM, sally1999 said:

Kinda off topic but does anyone know how you obtain a clerkship in either Canada or the US while studying in Australia? Since the school year doesn't line up with North America's is it really difficult to obtain clerkships?

Most schools will give you some time during either you're 3rd or 4th year to do electives in NA. You can also do electives on your break between 3rd and 4th year. You apply via the AFMC portal for Canada or to the specific hospital for the US (after doing lots of research to see which ones take international students). It's doable but you have to plan very far in advance and be willing to spend the $$ on travel, housing and cost of the electives.  

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On 2/6/2021 at 12:14 PM, premedmillenial said:

All of the grade repair suggestions make sense, I just don't know that I'm willing to enrol in another year of undergrad.

I am also okay with relocating to Australia if I cannot match back (and taking advantage of the better pay + lifestyle that those physicians enjoy). So, I am not absolutely tied to coming back. It would be ideal for personal reasons (family, friends), but is not something I'm set on nor expecting.

I will also apply to both Canadian and US schools again, and were I to be accepted while in my first semester in Australia, I'd happily restart med in the Fall back in North America. So I'm still giving it a third cycle, regardless of me applying to Aus. 

Current final yr med student in Aus. Wanted to caution you to not see Aus internship as a back-up. Yes, your chance of staying is Aus after med school is much higher than if you go to Ireland (which is virtually non-existent chance). But don't get content with that idea. Internship opportunities for IMGs (i.e. Canadians studying is Aus) are becoming more scarce year by year. I can only imagine how much worse the situation will get in 5 years time when you graduate.

Generally speaking, the moment you step foot outside of NA for med, you should work your ass off to come back. 

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On 3/14/2021 at 11:04 PM, mdapp said:

Current final yr med student in Aus. Wanted to caution you to not see Aus internship as a back-up. Yes, your chance of staying is Aus after med school is much higher than if you go to Ireland (which is virtually non-existent chance). But don't get content with that idea. Internship opportunities for IMGs (i.e. Canadians studying is Aus) are becoming more scarce year by year. I can only imagine how much worse the situation will get in 5 years time when you graduate.

Generally speaking, the moment you step foot outside of NA for med, you should work your ass off to come back. 

I don't agree with spots becoming more scarce. It's relatively stable and there is also the JDTP which gives you opportunity to work in the private sector if you don't get an internship in the public sector. I think some states may be worse like WA and Vic but NSW and QLD has been pretty good for international students this year and the last few. Every single international student from my uni got an internship spot, and a lot had multiple offers. 

 

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On 3/21/2021 at 4:55 PM, Animalfacts said:

I don't agree with spots becoming more scarce. It's relatively stable and there is also the JDTP which gives you opportunity to work in the private sector if you don't get an internship in the public sector. I think some states may be worse like WA and Vic but NSW and QLD has been pretty good for international students this year and the last few. Every single international student from my uni got an internship spot, and a lot had multiple offers. 

 

You are aware there was the internship crisis from not too long ago right... okay but let's say it isn't a thing anymore.

things are all relative. 

International students decades ago walked in to internship jobs and subsequently became registrars and consultants with no issues. even if situations now aren't dire, it's certainly gotten worse compared with, say 10+ years ago. 

I think the most important thing is to understand the uncertainty (who knows? maybe with COVID, government decides to open up more internship spots. but also maybe at the same time they open up more med schools for local students to fill those spots...) and put in extra work to succeed. don't count on Aus to give you a position (they might, but they also might not). do what you can to open more doors, take QE for Cad or Step for US..etc. We are international students and we're not entitled to anything unfortunately :(

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I have a few friends who are international students who did med school in Australia (non-Canadians). They did end up getting into an internship, although most are in more rural areas, and then they're eligible to apply for Australian permanent residency. Once you're PR, getting into training programs and specialization is pretty comparable to Australians.

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