Wowza. The thread has blown up lately. I have just finished a month in the ICU and am just now finding some time to go over lower priority things, like SDN threads. I won't go through and quote-direct reply to every comment since that would just be way more effort than I am willing to put in, partly because of the tone the thread has taken, but mostly because it would just be too large of an undertaking (save for one comment which is a numbered list of questions I can answer easily, which will follow).
So let me start out first by making it abundantly clear that QLDKing is a troll of the highest caliber. Please feel free to look up his entire comment history, particularly the exchanges between the two of us and Pitman (and Sean80439) as well. We have all caught him out completely fabricating data, using entirely misleading and highly selective data, and having a clear personal bias that permeates everything he writes. He is also quite misogynistic and someone I would be loathe to spend any actual time with. I believe he was at one point suspended from SDN as well (though I admit I am not certain of this and could be wrong). In short, do everyone, particularly yourselves, a favor and ignore that loathsome troll entirely.
Next, I'll touch on some salient questions about Matching. Yes, the NRMP match, not any others since it would not make sense to talk about others as the NRMP would be the only match any UQ grad (whether Ochsner or traditional) would be able to participate in. Someone has already quoted me previously but I'll restate it here for clarity and emphasis: of all the UQ-O grads who did not match quite literally only 2-3 were a surprise. Obviously as the class size grows and I get more far removed from them I will not be able to make such assessments, but so far I have personally known quite literally everyone who applied to the match and I can assure you that those that did not match would have been stupendously lucky to match no matter what program they came from, whether it be Poland or Harvard. I can also tell you that there were at least 5-6 people who did match that surprised me. In other words, more people who I think shouldn't have matched at all did and only 2-3 that I think should have matched didn't.
All of that said, the amount of data on the topic is still small and it is hard to draw any firm conclusions one way or another about it except to say that being an IMG is unquestionably a hindrance to matching. But if you didn't already know that... well, I don't know what to say except you probably shouldn't be here in the first place. There is further consideration that UQ-O specifically is and will continue to be a positively unique IMG program. It has the support of many US backers that no other IMG program does from governors and senators to the former head of the ACGME and current and former members of the ACGME board (the CAO of Ochsner, Dr. Bill Pinsky, sat on the board of the ACGME). As our graduates continue to go out, interview, make good residents, and come to be in a position to make such decisions and influence policy in the future, I think it is only reasonable to assume the IMG stigma associated specifically with UQ-O will fade significantly and rapidly.
As for DO... everywhere but the US they are rightfully considered quacks like naturopaths, homeopaths, chiropractors, etc. In the US they are not quacks, though they still have the tiniest vestiges of their previous quackery based medical practice left over in the form of OMM. If someone is interested in practicing internationally in the slightest, I think it is safe to say that getting a DO is not the way to go. Furthermore, while it is indeed true that DO's will have opportunities that IMG's won't (most notably AOA matches) including some programs that will hands-down prefer a DO over IMG, it is also true that there are programs that will hands-down prefer IMG's over a DO. Which programs and how many is not something that is quantifiable and if anyone says otherwise they are ignorant or misinformed. This boils down to internal politics and preferences that are not only rather opaque but also change over time and with changes in management. Lastly, the AOA/ACGME merger if it goes through* will only serve to benefit IMG's since it will further open up possible GME spots which will more than offset the loss of ACGME spots taken by the increasing number of US medical school grads. I have also commented on this extensively in the past, so please look up those comments for further information including some quantitative breakdowns.
As for paying back loans... that is a real consideration. And given how high the tuition has become it is a very legitimate concern. That said, I'll point out that Tulane med pays essentially the same (it used to be higher, maybe now it isn't) tuition as UQ-O students do. And, so long as you go with US federal loans, we are still eligible for IBR and PSLF which can easily make your loan repayments much more manageable (but is much more favorable for those interested in doing long training programs, like me as I am currently anticipating being a PGY-8 prior to finishing training). YMMV and this is indeed a perfectly valid and reasonable consideration to take in when thinking about UQ-O. At this point I must honestly say that unless you really have aspirations to be practicing medicine internationally a DO program is probably a better option than UQ-O almost entirely because of the costs associated. And even a third tier state school is still probably an overall more attractive option. Lastly, as someone pointed out, the tuition used to be in AUD and we got royally screwed because of the exchange rate fluctuations. It was for that reason that it was changed to USD. Right now the AUD is weak against the dollar, but that is the way it was prior to the first intake and that rapidly changed. Don't forget that a 10 cent swing on an $80k+ loan is very significant. And that the US economy is struggling mightily whilst the Aussie economy is doing vastly better in comparison. I would not let short-term fluctuations blind you to the long-term trajectory here. It may be a reasonable gamble to think you could sneak by in a 4 year window and come out on top by going the route of paying in AUD, but you really wouldn't be that much farther ahead and you can easily be very much farther behind.
As for the actual curriculum and the new MD program: I obviously cannot comment on the MD program itself since that is well after my time. All I can say is a synopsis of what I have said before. The UQ program does (did) teach well, though it lacked in specific topics (notably biochem, pharm, micro). The lectures can be hit or miss and I personally stopped attending them halfway through M1 year. As the DUB noted, the tests and lectures do not align well and there is a large component of "teach yourself" at UQ. Obviously I can't directly compare, but in extensive discussions with friends of mine at various US medical schools, that exists to some degree or another in every school. And there are trade-offs involved as well: those of my friends that did not feel they had a huge amount of "teach yourself medicine" instead felt that they had a huge amount of BS and tedious busy work to do. Overall, I felt that while there are distinct and identifiable shortcomings with UQ and its teaching, that they were merely different rather than overall larger in magnitude than US programs, though my sample size is obviously small and biased. In other words, all programs have their problems and things to whinge about. The question is whether those things are deal breakers for you. Personally I found it to be vastly better for me at UQ as I like having the freedom to teach myself. My best friend (a US grad who matched into a top 5 ophthal program) would often complain and say how much he wished he had my educational experience. The grass is always greener, as they say. But for the person who needs a strong guiding hand, with very clearly laid out expectations every step of the way, who likes being micromanaged and is not a self-starter, UQ will likely be very bad for you.
Now that I am on two weeks of clinic I will have more time to keep up with this thread and happy to answer questions to the best of my ability and with the least amount of bias I can. Please do read through my past comments as these same questions keep coming up over and over and I have probably answered most of them previously. You can also use that to gauge whether you think my responses are worth listening to or not. I have nothing to gain (or lose) by participating in this conversation. My only motivation is thinking about myself when I was first applying to and deciding to attend UQ-O and the kind of information I wish I had back then.
*I say "if" since the reason that it fell through when so close to being inked the first time was precisely because the DO's want to keep that last vestige of quackery - OMM - in order to remain distinct. The ACGME, quite rightly IMO, would not accept OMM as anything more than the pseudoscience and quackery it is. Considering that this is such a truly minor point and the AOA's position on it was nothing more than ego and grandstanding, I am not confident that the merger will happen, at least not any time soon. But overall, I'd say it is more likely to go through eventually than not.
