Young Australia Schools + US Residency Matching

[superbugwoman]

Hi everyone, I am a Canadian planning to study medicine in Australia. However, after reading countless amounts on the ongoing internship crisis in Australia, if I choose to study in Australia for medical school, the USMLE seems like a must. Could someone please comment on the specific states that would be excluded for residency consideration if the Australian medical school I plan on attending is <20 years old? I've been reading a bit but can't find any solid information on this and it makes me very nervous.

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[Turtle27]

I have stats that show about a 50% match rate in the US with the NRMP for non-US IMGs. Stats specific from UQ, and independent of the UQ-O program, include an 83.3% NRMP match rate from 2016. The match rate here in Canada via CaRMS is ~65% for Australian trained Canadians, and approximately 73.6% for UQ. I have also been assured by the program director for UQ that any Canadian that has studied previously in Australia that wanted an internship has received one. The caveat here is that you cannot expect to be particular with your residency choices. That is to say that you cannot expect a plastics residency in Sydney if you're an international Australian trained graduate.

I would argue that the odds of being able to match into a residency/internship in any of Australia, Canada, or the US are relatively high, and thus any apparent crises for getting a residency/internship is inflated.

To answer your question, you must be concerned with state medical boards that place limitations on the number of weeks that can be spent abroad for either elective or core training blocks. Recognition by the California and New York medical boards will typically ensure that you can match and ultimately practice within the rest of the US provided that you complete your state board exams successfully.

Why is returning to Canada not an option or possibility here?

 

[pitman]

I have also been assured by the program director for UQ that any Canadian that has studied previously in Australia that wanted an internship has received one. The caveat here is that you cannot expect to be particular with your residency choices. That is to say that you cannot expect a plastics residency in Sydney if you're an international Australian trained graduate.

Well, no one can expect any particular specialty training. But whether you can get into, say, surgical training, after several years as a hospital trainee is more about your own abilities and dedication/perseverance than anything else. The only detractors as a former int'l student: 1) any residual prejudice in a specialty college against 'foreigners' (there is little if any); 2) prejudice against (or lack of nepotism for) those without the right connections (there remains some subtle nepotism in the most competitive colleges, but nothing that's insurmountable); and 3) if you end up rural for internship, or must later 'pay back' the feds by doing a year rural (e.g., if CMI), you'll be up to a year behind many others in jumping all the hoops (e.g., references from well-known specialists) for the most competitive specialties. Neither of these latter two is unique -- any grad who doesn't get their top choice or two of hospital for internship through the Ballot will need to be just as strategic with where they spend PGY2 [...and PGY3 and maybe even PGY4 or more] to give them the best chances of getting into one of the most competitive specialties, like ENT. Many of the hoops, however, like original research or a Masters course, are best done after focusing on the basics of internship anyway. And if you end up having later to spend a year rural when your hoops are metropolitan, consider that a character-builing gap year.