Today, NAMSA (North American Medical Students' Association) had their first meeting. They painted an overall picture for us Canadians. I dont remember all the details but here is what I got out of it:
The 3 options we have, as Canadians, after we graduate are: stay in Australia, match in the States and match in Canada. (Technically 4, if you include New Zealand and Singapore, but I have not researched that option properly)
1) Option 1 - Stay in Australia
Not likely unless you have connections, and even then its not likely. Internationals fight for the last couple of positions left over after all Australians and Newzealands have a go at them (in the same province). Last year, in the state of NSW, they were 17 intern positions short. Which basically means, 17 internationals who did their medicine in the state of NSW did not have internship positions. To save face, NSW created positions out of thin air. This will probably not happen anymore because from now on, when we get an offer from an NSW medicine school, we have to acknowledge that we are not gauranteed an internship position when we graduate.
We were also shown a trend for the next 4 years. 2 years from now, during the intership tsunami, it will get really ugly. As of now, there will not be enough positions for internationals for sure
2) Option 2 - Go to Canada
Depending on the choice of your residency, this might be easy or hard. GP and internal medicine is quite likely, although EM and other specialties are not likely at all. Please refer to the cARMS website
3) Option 3 - Go to the States
Canadians are more likely to match in the States than in Canada, even in strong specialties. Furthermore, if you do your training in the States, you will not have to do 'return of service' when you go back to Canada. And especially in Ontario, you will you literally just walk in and start practicing (you still have clear your licensing exams).
4) If you are choosing between Queensland and other Australian medical university. Strongly consider not going to Queensland. They are bulging with medical students, resourced are limited (it doesnt matter what their rep says, ask the students) and quality will suffer.
I will add more details to this post, with supporting evidence. This post was really for individuals who are looking for the big picture. Also, keep in mind that I will not able to do a proper report on this topic for a while, and you should really use my blog as a launching pad for your own research.
Overall, although the mood of the meeting was sort of gloomy, there was a hint of optimism. Canada is opening more, especially to us Australian graduates. However, if I was not under pressure to start a medical program as soon as possible, id take doing an extra year (heck even 2 years) of undergrad to increase my GPA.....over coming to Australia. But I guess, crap is always less unbearable on the other side.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Friday, February 19, 2010
The whys
Why blog at all?
For the general public:
Whether we like it or not, a Caucasian's perspective is completely different from an Indian's perspective which will be entirely different from an African-America's perspective. My blog will, hopefully, give an Indo-Canadian perspective on living in Australia. This includes dealing with worried parents, subtle prejudices, being homesick and all that goes with being Indian on the outside, Canadian on the inside and Indian, even more inside!
For my sanity:
Rather than playing video games or finding another hobby to do during my studying breaks, id rather write out my thoughts and reflect -- so I dont lose sight of the big picture. Also, some days will get quite tough, and Ill need to lighten the load by typing my heart out to sleep easy.
Why Australia?
Simple reason:
Short sightedness + easy way out + family convenience
More complex reason:
My grades werent strong, but they werent weak either. I was in the "upgrade GPA another year and apply" pool. However, the anxiety caused by the perceived "lack of direction" my life was going in, was enough to insist that I look for more certain options. Perhaps anxiety is the wrong word. The mood was more along the lines frustration, disappointment, anger etc. I went from "he'll get in to med 2 years" to "he is wasting his life". I could have told them to deal with these emotions, but I wanted the easy way out too.
Those options were the Carribeans, Australia and UK.
I cancelled out Carribeans because my worse case scenario plan sucked. Same with UK. The amount of difficulty my American friends (Carib graduates) had with getting a decent residency in the states with a Carib MD and a decent USMLE score was quite scary. Now add in the fact that these hospitals will look at me say "what? H1B visa!? What are we? Rich?" was also really worrisome. Furthermore, I tried to gauge where the overall direction the American residency situation was going. Which is...steady amount of residencies but more and more applicants.
The Carib stigma was also a factor in my decision, but it was not a huge factor. I will never look down on a Carib graduate, neither should anyone else as they have to do much better than local graduates to get the same residency. Furthermore, I really liked SABA's program
Australia stuck. Yes, its next to impossible to come back to Canada and yes getting an internship in Australia is not easy. However, i have more connections in Australia than in States. And yes, Canadian residency directors look upon Australian students more favorably.
My evidence? Nothing substantial. I have weak supporting arguments like the CARMS presentation to University of Queensland students, to anecdotal evidence from IMGs who recently finished their residency. However, the worst case scenario with the Australia option is that I end up in Australia. Given the direction of NSW policies, in 4 years, it seems that getting an internship here might actually be quite reasonable.
Does my reasoning sound wish washy...uncertain...weak? It is. When i was knee deep in charts, policies and commentaries I realized that I have to just make a decision and there isnt a piece of information out there that will make any of the 3 options I had stand out. One option was just as likely or unlikely as another. In the end, I knew i wanted to go in medicine and I knew i had to do it soon. I simply chose my uni based on something as ridiculous as rankings.
So here I am.
For the general public:
Whether we like it or not, a Caucasian's perspective is completely different from an Indian's perspective which will be entirely different from an African-America's perspective. My blog will, hopefully, give an Indo-Canadian perspective on living in Australia. This includes dealing with worried parents, subtle prejudices, being homesick and all that goes with being Indian on the outside, Canadian on the inside and Indian, even more inside!
For my sanity:
Rather than playing video games or finding another hobby to do during my studying breaks, id rather write out my thoughts and reflect -- so I dont lose sight of the big picture. Also, some days will get quite tough, and Ill need to lighten the load by typing my heart out to sleep easy.
Why Australia?
Simple reason:
Short sightedness + easy way out + family convenience
More complex reason:
My grades werent strong, but they werent weak either. I was in the "upgrade GPA another year and apply" pool. However, the anxiety caused by the perceived "lack of direction" my life was going in, was enough to insist that I look for more certain options. Perhaps anxiety is the wrong word. The mood was more along the lines frustration, disappointment, anger etc. I went from "he'll get in to med 2 years" to "he is wasting his life". I could have told them to deal with these emotions, but I wanted the easy way out too.
Those options were the Carribeans, Australia and UK.
I cancelled out Carribeans because my worse case scenario plan sucked. Same with UK. The amount of difficulty my American friends (Carib graduates) had with getting a decent residency in the states with a Carib MD and a decent USMLE score was quite scary. Now add in the fact that these hospitals will look at me say "what? H1B visa!? What are we? Rich?" was also really worrisome. Furthermore, I tried to gauge where the overall direction the American residency situation was going. Which is...steady amount of residencies but more and more applicants.
The Carib stigma was also a factor in my decision, but it was not a huge factor. I will never look down on a Carib graduate, neither should anyone else as they have to do much better than local graduates to get the same residency. Furthermore, I really liked SABA's program
Australia stuck. Yes, its next to impossible to come back to Canada and yes getting an internship in Australia is not easy. However, i have more connections in Australia than in States. And yes, Canadian residency directors look upon Australian students more favorably.
My evidence? Nothing substantial. I have weak supporting arguments like the CARMS presentation to University of Queensland students, to anecdotal evidence from IMGs who recently finished their residency. However, the worst case scenario with the Australia option is that I end up in Australia. Given the direction of NSW policies, in 4 years, it seems that getting an internship here might actually be quite reasonable.
Does my reasoning sound wish washy...uncertain...weak? It is. When i was knee deep in charts, policies and commentaries I realized that I have to just make a decision and there isnt a piece of information out there that will make any of the 3 options I had stand out. One option was just as likely or unlikely as another. In the end, I knew i wanted to go in medicine and I knew i had to do it soon. I simply chose my uni based on something as ridiculous as rankings.
So here I am.
Setting the structure
I'll update the structure of this blog as I go.
I still havent decided how personal ill let it get. The more personal I get (the more I elaborate my emotions/feelings) the less factual details i'll give to make sure this blog is not traced back to me and vice versa. Furthermore, Australia is a country of red-tape, so im not sure how much factual details I can give about the university I am at.
I'll give you a big hint though, its in Sydney.
I plan on keeping this blog throughout medicine school and during the struggles that will come with post-graduation. For those who are new to this world, international Canadian medicine students tend to be in a very tough spot after they graduate. After taking on tremendous debt (more than 300K)and getting through a tough program -- they have to fight to get a residency back home, in the States or where their local medicine school is. Managing to get any one of those goals is very difficult. This problem will be a recurring theme in the blog.
My ideas and thoughts will most likely get more sophisticated as time goes on. However, I dont plan on doing a whole lot of proofreading....i want to keep this blog as natural as possible. Hopefully, I dont succumb to my objective-science-paper writing ways.
I still havent decided how personal ill let it get. The more personal I get (the more I elaborate my emotions/feelings) the less factual details i'll give to make sure this blog is not traced back to me and vice versa. Furthermore, Australia is a country of red-tape, so im not sure how much factual details I can give about the university I am at.
I'll give you a big hint though, its in Sydney.
I plan on keeping this blog throughout medicine school and during the struggles that will come with post-graduation. For those who are new to this world, international Canadian medicine students tend to be in a very tough spot after they graduate. After taking on tremendous debt (more than 300K)and getting through a tough program -- they have to fight to get a residency back home, in the States or where their local medicine school is. Managing to get any one of those goals is very difficult. This problem will be a recurring theme in the blog.
My ideas and thoughts will most likely get more sophisticated as time goes on. However, I dont plan on doing a whole lot of proofreading....i want to keep this blog as natural as possible. Hopefully, I dont succumb to my objective-science-paper writing ways.
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