Need help deciding

[vpare95]

Hi Forum, I just completed my high school in USA with no so impressive grades (grades were not that impressive due to challenging myself taking all the harder level IB courses). I have been accepted in Biochemical Engineering program in USA, but my ultimate goal is to pursue a medicine career in future. I understand that getting into a med school here in USA is very difficult. So I have applied to one of the top private medical schools in India under the foreign national category. Now my dilemma is whether I should pursue the medical school in India or take a chance here in USA so have a few questions...

1) How difficult it is to get into the medical school here in USA on a scale of 1 to 10 and 10 being the hardest? What percentage of students get accepted into medicine school here in USA?

2) If I join the medical school in India, how difficult it is to complete the course? From reading different postings on this forum, it appears that the learning style in India (more memorization) is different than that of USA. Memorization could be a challenge for me as that's not what I am used to.

3) How difficult it is to do a residency program in USA upon completing the course in India?

Please share some experiences and advice.

Thanks!

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[Medstart108]

Hi Forum, I just completed my high school in USA with no so impressive grades (grades were not that impressive due to challenging myself taking all the harder level IB courses). I have been accepted in Biochemical Engineering program in USA, but my ultimate goal is to pursue a medicine career in future. I understand that getting into a med school here in USA is very difficult. So I have applied to one of the top private medical schools in India under the foreign national category. Now my dilemma is whether I should pursue the medical school in India or take a chance here in USA so have a few questions...

1) How difficult it is to get into the medical school here in USA on a scale of 1 to 10 and 10 being the hardest? What percentage of students get accepted into medicine school here in USA?

2) If I join the medical school in India, how difficult it is to complete the course? From reading different postings on this forum, it appears that the learning style in India (more memorization) is different than that of USA. Memorization could be a challenge for me as that's not what I am used to.

3) How difficult it is to do a residency program in USA upon completing the course in India?

Please share some experiences and advice.

Thanks!

1) That totally depends on how smart you are and how hard you are willing to work, its quite subjective. Around 40% of people who apply get into medical school.

2) Its really difficult. India is very focused on memorization and the students there are the best of the best, you might find it hard to compete.

3) It is quite difficult. US residency directors won't value Indian medical education very well and you will have to do much better about 20 points better on the Step 1 in order to et the same chance at residency.

 

[vpare95]

1) That totally depends on how smart you are and how hard you are willing to work, its quite subjective. Around 40% of people who apply get into medical school.

2) Its really difficult. India is very focused on memorization and the students there are the best of the best, you might find it hard to compete.

3) It is quite difficult. US residency directors won't value Indian medical education very well and you will have to do much better about 20 points better on the Step 1 in order to et the same chance at residency.

Thanks for the reply.

Would it be possible to come back to USA to do the specialization here in USA after doing M.B.B.S in India? If so, can I take the USMLE once completing the specialization here?

 

[Medstart108]

Thanks for the reply.

Would it be possible to come back to USA to do the specialization here in USA after doing M.B.B.S in India? If so, can I take the USMLE once completing the specialization here?

If you want to come back to the US, you need to do residency in the US. So that means you would need to write the USMLE Steps while you are in medical school in India. Any specialization you do in India will be meaningless if you want to come back to the US because the US will require US/Canada residency in order to practice in the US.

 

[vpare95]

If you want to come back to the US, you need to do residency in the US. So that means you would need to write the USMLE Steps while you are in medical school in India. Any specialization you do in India will be meaningless if you want to come back to the US because the US will require US/Canada residency in order to practice in the US.

Thanks again. I was referring to have any specialization done in USA after completing M.B.B.S in India. Does that require USMLE Steps? After completing the specialization in USA, I was thinking to take the USMLE Steps and opt for residency? Sorry I am very new to all these so please excuse my ignorance.

 

[Medstart108]

Thanks again. I was referring to have any specialization done in USA after completing M.B.B.S in India. Does that require USMLE Steps? After completing the specialization in USA, I was thinking to take the USMLE Steps and opt for residency? Sorry I am very new to all these so please excuse my ignorance.

Residency is what I believe you are referring to. Residency is your "specialization". After MBBS in India, you are supposed to go straight into residency in the US. There isn't any specialization before residency.