Will there still be residency spots open for future graduates?

[Emmet2301]

With a number of medical schools opening up, do you guys think that there will still be residency spots open for future graduates?

And if there are will there be even more intense competition between Caribbean students and other IMGs for these spots?

Will FP or Internal Med residency become that much more hard to get?

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[IMGUSMLEStep1]

The number of graduates applying for residencies every year grows at a rate faster than the number of residencies available. Yes, it will get harder. I think Caribbean students are preffered over other IMGs because they have US clinical training and most of them are US or Canadian citizens. If you work hard, getting an IM or FP residency should be easy for you. You may need to be flexible if you don't find a residency in the specific area you are hoping to practice.

 

[LEVAMISOLE]

With a number of medical schools opening up, do you guys think that there will still be residency spots open for future graduates?

And if there are will there be even more intense competition between Caribbean students and other IMGs for these spots?

Will FP or Internal Med residency become that much more hard to get?

Ok im gonna be miss cleo and predict the future....Yes the future of caribbean schools is in doubt... Yes in a few years there will be enough american grads to fill up all the residency spots..so where does that leave the rest?? Get prepared to flip some burgers and owe 200K

 

[osteohopeful09]

Ok im gonna be miss cleo and predict the future....Yes the future of caribbean schools is in doubt... Yes in a few years there will be enough american grads to fill up all the residency spots..so where does that leave the rest?? Get prepared to flip some burgers and owe 200K

Dont give up your residency and become a psychic...

Yes many new US schools are opening up, but it will still be 4+ years until they are established and graduate their first classes. For a prospective student applying NOW to carrib, there will still be spots. Will the situation be different in 5-6 years? Who knows. By then there could be an entirely new administration, with an entire new healthcare bill being drafted.

in addition, there is still no resolution on whether more residency spots will open. On one hand, it seems that a lot of hospitals don't want to, since funding is spread thin. However, Obama's administration has noted several times that they want to increase primary care physicians. With all this damned money going into the healthcare bill, who's to say hospitals will get incentives for opening new residencies, especially in primary care?

Honestly this is a tumultuous time for all physicians, be they US MD, DO, or IMG. I don't think ANYone knows what the state of medical training will be in the next decade. If carrib is your best option, you better damn pursue it, instead of having a defeatist attitude of "well, this *may* happen"...

But maybe my opinion is just influenced by the very real possibility I faced of having to go Caribbean if I wasn't accepted into DO.

 

[peppy]

If carrib is your best option, you better damn pursue it, instead of having a defeatist attitude of "well, this *may* happen"...

Just to give the other side of things, with the way that American schools are proliferating, I honestly feel that if you are unable to get a seat in an American med school (DO or MD) as they keep growing (which means accepting more people that in prior years wouldn't have been given a chance) that may very well be a sign that med school may not be the best choice for you.

Having $200,000+ in debt is no joke. The seriousness of what it means to have that kind of debt didn't fully hit me until I actually had graduated and was staring at the final tally of my debt in black and white. It is stressful and frightening to face paying off that kind of debt even if you do have a residency spot. That level of debt can quite literally ruin your life if you *don't* have good chances of landing a residency.

I think people going to Caribbean schools should seriously think about what they'll do if they can't get a residency before committing to such a risky path. There are other ways to have a meaningful and lucrative career in the healthcare field without taking on such a huge risk.

 

[LEVAMISOLE]

Just to give the other side of things, with the way that American schools are proliferating, I honestly feel that if you are unable to get a seat in an American med school (DO or MD) as they keep growing (which means accepting more people that in prior years wouldn't have been given a chance) that may very well be a sign that med school may not be the best choice for you.

Having $200,000+ in debt is no joke. The seriousness of what it means to have that kind of debt didn't fully hit me until I actually had graduated and was staring at the final tally of my debt in black and white. It is stressful and frightening to face paying off that kind of debt even if you do have a residency spot. That level of debt can quite literally ruin your life if you *don't* have good chances of landing a residency.

I think people going to Caribbean schools should seriously think about what they'll do if they can't get a residency before committing to such a risky path. There are other ways to have a meaningful and lucrative career in the healthcare field without taking on such a huge risk.

You are exactly correct. Having that kind of debt and no residency is a script for suicide. Trust me...These residency spots are gonna be filled by AMG's. The time for IMG's is almost over..I hate to say it...Say it aint so...

 

[dragonfly99]

I think people going to Caribbean schools should seriously think about what they'll do if they can't get a residency before committing to such a risky path. There are other ways to have a meaningful and lucrative career in the healthcare field without taking on such a huge risk.

Quoted for truth. What about being an optometrist, physical therapist, occupational therapist or podiatrist?