<p>Hi, so my country just opened up a new med school this year, it literally just had their first classes in 2011 (a U.S. school that set up a campus in my country, it even quotes their fees in USD despite not being located in the U.S./U.S. Territory nor outlying area). They have this program (many actually but I'm talking about one in particular) where you can enter straight out of high school and enter a premed program for 1.4 years and are then transfer into the MD program where they spend 4 years (2 years of Basic Sciences MD program then continue into 2 year Clinical Sciences MD program.)</p>
<p>Here is an excerpt from their website</p>
<p>
[quote]
AAIMS offers a 4 semester (16 month) Pre Med program for high school graduates to fulfill requisites for entering into MD program. Once students complete the program successfully, they are transferred to AAIMS 4 year MD program. Students who enroll in this program are awarded the Bachelor in Basic Health Sciences degree after successfully completing 3.4 years of study (16 month Premed plus 2 years of Basic Sciences MD program). Students may then continue into 2 year Clinical Sciences MD program.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>And they also offer a semester in which they (AAIMS) prepare you specifically for the USMLE also, no MCAT is required for this program where you go straight out of high school into the premed program for 1.4 years and then the MD program, although if just applying to the 4 year MD program you would receive preference if you took the MCAT.</p>
<p>Now, there is another university in my country which has a faculty of medicinal sciences that has been in existence since 1948. This program also takes students out of high school and puts them in a program which lasts 5 years after which they will earn an MBBS (Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery). </p>
<p>So basically with option A (which started this year, 2011) you spend 5.4 years and earn an MD, while with option B (which started 1948) you spend 5 years and earn an MBBS. Both institutions are listed at <a href="http://imed.ecfmg.org/%5B/url%5D">http://imed.ecfmg.org/</a> this means that they are approved in the U.S. right? My questions are: 1) Which is better overall? 2) Which is better if you plan to practice in the U.S.</p>
<p>It really doesn’t matter how you get your MD or MBBS. It comes down to whether you’ll be treated as a IMG during residency applications, which it sounds like you will with either program.</p>
<p>Oh, ok thanks for responding. Are IMGs really that disadvantaged to the point where its almost impossible to find a residency outside of internal medicine?</p>
<p>AAIMS is not really a US medical school. They may tailor their curriculum towards the USMLE but in order to be considered an American medical graduate the school needs to be accredited by the LCME (Liason Committee on Medical Education). The title of the degree doesn’t matter for coming to the US, as you would be a FMG coming from either school.</p>
<p>Thank you very much I was actually searching up on AAIMS and couldn’t find anything about them other than their website, couldn’t find any rankings…reviews…nothing at all. So despite them being accredited I was wondering if it would be worth it to attend as I couldn’t find anything about their academics, rigor, how they were regarded in the U.S. and what not and to make it worst, as stated before they just began operations in my country this year in January. So I really had no information about it other than what’s listed on their website <a href=“http://www.aaims.edu.jm/[/url]”>http://www.aaims.edu.jm/</a> If any of you look through it, would you mind telling me on whether it looks credible (not as in accreditation, but as somewhere one would want to go for good chances at practicing medicine in the U.S. passing the board exams, etc. basically, if it looks like a viable alternative to going to say St. Georges or Ross or some other school). Thanks.</p>
<p>I’m sorry bdm, but I’m new to this whole thing and thus have no ideas what the elite Medical Schools are except that people usually consider the usnews top 20 to be elite such as Harvard, John’s Hopkings, etc. etc. If you don’t mind could you list some good U.S. and International Medical Schools please. It would be greatly appreciated, Thanks.</p>
<p>Thanks, but the thing is, I heard its extremely hard for internationals to get spots in U.S. medical schools that’s why I was looking for some suggestions of good international schools as well.</p>
<p>The bottom line is that it’s very hard for internationals to practice medicine in the U.S., period–which, considering American immigration law, is not that big a surprise. By far your best bet is to go to medical school in your home country and be prepared to practice medicine there. If that opens opportunities in the US, so be it – but you’d be foolish to shell out the exorbitant prices for a Caribbean medical school only to fail the USMLE or fail to match into a residency.</p>
<p>If you think about it though, if one is an international and study international/u.s. or wherever and the person doesn’t match into a residency, can’t he/she just practice medicine in his/her country as a fall back or plan B if all else fails?</p>
<p>Sure, if you went to school in your home country. It seems you’re from Jamaica, which I don’t know much about. But imagine that you’re from, say, India and you (for some reason) go to St. George’s in the Caribbean. You’re then stuck in a ridiculous no-man’s-land, since you likely won’t be able to practice either in the U.S. or in India.</p>
<p>Yes, I am from Jamaica and there are only two med schools in my country as stated earlier, AAIMS (which started this year, so have no Idea of it’s academics) and the faculty of medical sciences at the university of the west indies. However, when I look at threads on this site very few speak about Caribbean med schools and when they do it’s always about St. George/Ross/Something so I’m guessing that the med schools here don’t have much of reputation abroad. </p>
<p>And to tell the truth, for most of the doctors here (such as physicians, dermatologists, etc.), they display there qualifications (their degrees, etc.) on the walls of their offices, and for most, they received their qualifications at schools from other countries, mainly schools in the U.K. Since the Jamaican educational system is almost identical to the U.K. along with many other things such as language since they formerly colonized the island, I guess going to a med school in the U.K. would also be accepted here. </p>
<p>I wish there was some way to get in contact with a doctor and talk about this stuff but I don’t know how, it’s not like someone can just make an appointment and sit down in there office and chat with them, especially not while there are ailing patients outside? How can one go about talking to a doctor in your country? Because I really want to learn more about the profession,</p>
<p>UWI is going to be on a different level AAIMS, which categorical is more like SGU, AUA, AUC, and Ross. As a UWI grad you would be a FMG, just as if you went to a medical school associated with that country. If your plans are to come to the US, you would still have to take Step 1-3 and apply for residency. There have been some successful grads of UWI that came to the US. </p>
<p>I would suggest finding an academic advisor at UWI and see if they can further explain the process to you. </p>
<p>IMG = international medical grad
An IMG is usually referred to as a person who graduated from an international medical school and then went back to their home country to practice. An example is a Canadian native who went to SGU in Grenada and then went back home to Canada to practice. </p>
<p>FMG = foreign medical grad
An FMG is usually referred to as a person who is not a citizen of the country they want to practice in. An example would be a resident of South Africa, who received their medical degree in South Africa, but practices medicine in Canada.</p>
<p>Collegian–You can volunteer in a clinic or hospital in your home country. There will be doctors around to talk with and you’ll get to see first hand some of things that’s doctors do.</p>
<p>Thanks so much for the helpful response So basically just completely take AAIMS off of my radar and don’t even bother to think about it, right? Because UWI is on a much higher level than it, correct? If it matters, I’m looking more into surgery side of things (though not really sure what type yet probably somewhere along the lines of neurosurgery or something like that, not really looking into the cosmetic side of it like plastic surgery), so what would be the best option for me then, still go to UWI and do residency in the UK? Which would be better btw, UWI or SGU or Ross or AUC or what? Once again, thanks a million for your response and for differentiating between FMGs and IMGs, all this time I thought they were the same thing and just interchangeable terms.</p>
<p>Oh one more question, what do you call someone who studies medicine in another country to practice in that country. For example, a Brazilian who studied medicine in the U.S. to practice in the U.S.?</p>
<p>I forgot to ask something in regards to this, how hard is it to get a residency in the U.K. Because I heard that it’s extremely hard for internationals to get into U.K. med schools, especially places like Oxbridge. I heard they accept <10 internationals per year. Is there any truth to that statement, and if that’s true wouldn’t it be even harder to match into a residency up there? Especially since you didn’t study in the U.K.? </p>
I was actually searching up on AAIMS and couldn’t find anything about them other than their website, couldn’t find any rankings…reviews…nothing at all. So despite them being accredited I was wondering if it would be worth it to attend as I couldn’t find anything about their academics, rigor, how they were regarded in the U.S. and what not and to make it worst, as stated before they just began operations in my country this year in January. So I really had no information about it other than what’s listed on their website <a href=“
So basically just completely take AAIMS off of my radar and don’t even bother to think about it, right? Because UWI is on a much higher level than it, correct? If it matters, I’m looking more into surgery side of things (though not really sure what type yet probably somewhere along the lines of neurosurgery or something like that, not really looking into the cosmetic side of it like plastic surgery), so what would be the best option for me then, still go to UWI and do residency in the UK? Which would be better btw, UWI or SGU or Ross or AUC or what? Once again, thanks a million for your response and for differentiating between FMGs and IMGs, all this time I thought they were the same thing and just interchangeable terms.</p>