<p>So when people bring up the fact that there are several new medical schools opening up in the next few years, I always hear the argument that this won't really change things because the number of residency spots is not changing, so newly minted doctors are going to have problems finding jobs because they won't be able to get a residency...</p>
<p>This argument always strikes me as odd because aren't there way more residency slots than graduating US medical students every year...and isn't this a big reason many residencies end up taking a good number of FMGs (but not just the only reason)? In the residency interview/matching process, isn't there a pretty sizable advantage for those who went to med school in the US? So wouldn't this end up hurting FMGs much more than US Medical Graduates (granted, US graduates may not be as likely to get their first choice residency, but US Medical Graduates should be able to match into or scramble to get a residency, right?)...</p>
<p>The argument is usually given as follows.</p>
<p>1.) There is a severe shortage of physicians in the United States.
2.) The government is encouraging new medical schools to open in order to alleviate this shortage.
3.) However, the actual bottleneck is residency. The newly-minted doctors will mostly be squeezing out IMGs, not producing more physicians.
4.) Ergo, opening new medical schools is not a solution to the physician shortage.</p>
<p>I think both you and BDM are correct. It won’t fix the physician shortage but it might make medical school easier to get into for US college graduates. The people feeling the pinch will be IMG’s/FMG’s.</p>
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<p>That was my thinking too…that US grads (while it may be tougher to get their residency of choice) will still be able to get a residency in the US…that it would be the FMGs/IMGs that would find it significantly tougher to find jobs in the US since US residencies have a heavy preference for US graduates. I’ve just been hearing people claim that grads of US med schools may not be able to find jobs after med schools finish expanding since there would not be enough residency spots to go around…and that struck me as possibly being an exaggeration…</p>
<p>And I completely see your point, BDM, that residency spots would need to increase in order to fix the physician shortage in the US.</p>