Any US or CAD student that is doing an Internship?

[drvfedorov]

Hi everyone,

I was just wondering if there is any US or CAD student that has completed medical school in Australia and is currently doing an internship? I wanted to know how the process for applying for an internship is like, how the internship year is like and what they are hearing about the current status on obtaining an internship.

From the 2015 audit, "After completion of the fifth and final audit 3222 applicants had accepted a 2015 state or territory intern position, including 2951 domestic medical graduates from Australian universities, 258 international full fee paying medical graduates from on shore Australian universities, 12 international full fee paying medical graduates from Australian Medical Council (AMC) accredited offshore campuses and 1 New Zealand Medical School graduate. "

480 international medical students were eligible for internship in 2015 and only 258 of them gained internship.

As for the CMI project, "A total of 81 interns commenced work in 2015."

So if I'm doing the math right 258+81 / 480 = 70.6% chance of getting an internship?


Thank you

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[drvfedorov]

Please feel free to correct any mistakes I may have made.

 

[pitman]

No, it means only what it says -- that 258 of onshore int'l student *applicants* *accepted* a state spot out of an unspecified number of onshore int'l student applicants; 12 offshore student applicants (from UQ's Ochsner and ?Monash's offshore campuses) accepted a state spot from an unknown number of applicants; and a further 81 onshore int'l student grads accepted and actually commenced a CMI spot from an unknown number of applicants and acceptances. Many grads would not have applied, for a variety of reasons, and some would have turned down an offer. Intent is also notoriously difficult to survey.

Even AMSA, which in recent years has lobbied for int'l students loudly and typically with some exaggeration of their predicament, thinks that only "up to 40" grads Australia-wide didn't get an internship spot due to a lack of them, i.e., an unknown but greater than 92% 'chance' of an eligible international student grad getting a spot (it's unclear from their media releases whether their 'up to 40' includes those who simply didn't meet the minimal eligibility requirement of not being a PD or an ahole). Keep in mind that AMSA also claimed in 2014 that there were some int'l grads going without intership even though it was found that there were CMI spots left unfilled (funding is for up to 100 spots annually, depending on number of spots states apply for and number of those filled) -- many grads didn't apply simply because they didn't like the conditions of the CMI contract, which specified they had to stay and commit to practicing rural for a year or face large fines...this reflects the fact that historically quite a few int'l student grads start [a state] internship in Australia only to bail when they get a spot in N. America.

 

[drvfedorov]

okay so you're saying it's actually even better than 70.6%? What I am trying to find out is how many intl students actually apply for these positions, however I think that's incredibly difficult to find out.

 

[pitman]

I'm saying what I just said. It's clearly better than 70% as per the logic above, but ask AMSA how they came up with "up to 40" (<8%) without a spot.

 

[drvfedorov]

hey @sidefx are currently doing an internship year or did you match in the US?

 

[Domperidone]

What everyone above said.

Also agree that some don't get internships each year by the time internship officially starts in January. Some end up starting a bit later than everyone else (like 2-3 months into internship) or wait until the following year.

It's not easy to navigate the internship process anymore in Australia. Because it's so murky, I wouldn't recommend trying to figure out a number or statistic. It doesn't really mean anything. All it tells you, is that if you make an effort, theoretically, you have a reasonable chance of getting an internship. Applying for internship (or any job thereafter) is not a 'passive' act, i.e. where you can expect to simply submit an application and get offer or interview from that.

A lot of it is to do with there being so many more students graduating more than ever. Classes sizes are still increasing every year and new schools keep opening. However, the number of internship positions isn't increasing at the same rate. That's just looking at internships, as for the stuff that comes after - that's not increasing either by the way. Nor is there a particular need for more interns in the health workforce. Sure, there's a 'doctor shortage" that's always in the news, but the actual meaning is 'fully trained" shortage of people willing to work in rural and remote areas of Australia. Not a fresh grad who still needs to work under supervision.

I think a lot of North Americans have the impression that Australia is so similar that applying for residency is roughly the same as back home. It's far from it. Systems are completely different. Same as how residency training is organized itself. Even the timing of when offers are made or when residency starts is different.

In summary, everything is different.

I just finished internship if you still had questions from..back in July. Damn.