hi
let s just say that I am enraged into writing a reply after seeing the reply from the US med student from 'the top 20' school. Let me just say that I am also from one of the 'top 20 US medical schools' ,apparently a very cushy place to be from, a place that allows you to turn up your so-special nose at issues you know nothing about. why this replier, someone from such an exalted position is perusing this forum that is so definitely 'beneath' him and to no personal advantage, is poking his nose with sentences with just his unresearched opinion beats me... makes me wonder if he/she is really he/she claims to be.
one thing I need to emphasize to the person who posted the initial message, your question is a very well thought out, excellent question. one I wish that I had thought of before embarking on this path to 'excellence' at the cost of the things i value most in life.. that is.. 'life'. one thing i was not prepared for, before entering medical school... is that med students are a different breed of people. different in the sense as in 'smart' or 'efficient' or 'goal driven'? i was in for a surprise. most med students have a warped sense of reality exihibited in these overly concrete statements such as 'people on this website can't handle the truth etc.' they believe that 'top 20' means a lot, that 'US MD' is a great advantage etc. when you really get down to getting a residency, after working your ass off your third year and fourth, you find yourself asking why you put up with so much crap going to a US program when these IMGs who are your bosses, who are making the same money as you, have the same skill sets and knowledge as you, have better friends, have happier lives and less of the 'killer go getter instincts' that make some of the 'great' US med students very unattractive and tiresome. Be prepared however, while in med school, having to have to deal with over-generalizing, over-relying on statistics and a general sense of entitlement to everything. med schools in the US also make people into brown-nosing weasles that makes it necessary for people to poke fun at other people, make derogatory comments at others quoting statistics and 'gossiping' that is what med students do to fill up their lack of a real life. this is true not just in me the US i think, but in the whole world.
there is nothing a med student loves other than another group of people, or a category they can look down on 'evidence based' terms.
this also is a harsh view of med students. hey.. i also had to suffer through the exalted rite of passage of a 'us med student'. have pity on me.
so please don't be discouraged by anything that is from the grapewine. remember... it s a tortured bunch of souls desperate to find fault with anything. finding fault is one thing we are great at. we are NOT optimistic.
so don't expect the advice you get to be so. make your own conclusions after looking at valid, double checked statistics(there are lies, damn lies and statistics) and unbiased observations.
residencies are given to the best candidates, and yes, this IS the US. so the US candidates will be given the first choice. that is so in EVERY country in the world. if the US is the place you want to be, then go for it with everything you have. however, the US premed students have the advantage of having 'second chance programs' and being able to pick and chose what kind of program they want to go into..THAT I think is the greatest advantage. make sure you go into truly supportive program... again...DON'T believe the gusings of people who want to promote their own school so that they feel good about themselves. talk to a good cross section and come to your own decision.
great good luck. our worst enemies are ourselves, who are so full of themselves. talk to many people for their own observations, and read unbiased publications. your decision will be as good as your research and the ability to wade through the crap.
See my post above.
