Debrecen Vs Szeged

[tgrilias]

Hi! My name is Athanasios and I am from Greece. I was accepted to both Debrecen and Szeged general medicine english course.
Knowing that both of the universities are very good leveled, I find it difficult to choose.
At the part of the www.valuemd.com (http://www.valuemd.com) which concerns hungarian universities I have found a lot of posts for Debrecen but a little amount for Szeged.
The most important thing for me is to finish the sooner possible my medical studies and afterwards being specialized in Orthopedics in USA.
Any help or advise is more than welcome...

[Zut Alors!]

They are both good schools, so visit each school and see what environment suits you better.

Also, realize that is is extremely difficult for IMGs to gain an orthopedic surgery residency. Very few each year match into it, and many of them have advanced credentials (PhDs, extensive research, connections, training in their own country, etc)

Good luck.

[Zut Alors!]

As an addendum:

I just saw a figure that states that 99% of ortho spots were filled by US grads. So the odds are kind of.... horrible?

[medical_student_hungary]

Hey there Athanasios

Firstly, all Hungarian universities have the same system and problems. And it is a fact that IMGs have difficulties getting into residencies in the US, and it keeps getting harder with time, so one cannot rely on so and so already having done it.
Szeged is considered a better city, so that is the one advantage. But the rest is almost the same.If you wish to finish fast-- hmm, that is not dependable since it is already 6 years and there are good chances of having to repeat the years (despite good studying). So think carefully. Research whatever you can find on any Hungarian school-- they are all the same.

Good Luck
MSH

Hi! My name is Athanasios and I am from Greece. I was accepted to both Debrecen and Szeged general medicine english course.
Knowing that both of the universities are very good leveled, I find it difficult to choose.
At the part of the www.valuemd.com (http://www.valuemd.com) which concerns hungarian universities I have found a lot of posts for Debrecen but a little amount for Szeged.
The most important thing for me is to finish the sooner possible my medical studies and afterwards being specialized in Orthopedics in USA.
Any help or advise is more than welcome...

[gawtti]

being that you're a greek citizen it WILL be difficult to land a residency in the US (unless of course you have connections). let alone an ortho residency. it's almost impossible even for a US citizen coming from an off-shore med school to land an ortho residency.

Good Luck!:cool:

[tgrilias]

thanks for your directions...i haven't exactly understand how this ortho-residency thing works.... if someone has a green card (for example by winning the green card lottery) isn't treated equaly with the US citizens in order to obtain a speciality????? In Greece for example whoever has a recornized degree + green card (in case of No - EU citiziens) he has the same possibilities to be accepted for a speciality with the other applicants (despite the fact if they are Greeks or not)...
Because i already have and another degree in physiotherapy by the university of Athens will it help the thing with the residency????

[gawtti]

it's still difficult to land a ortho residency even if you're a permanent resident. the imgs that do match into ortho either have connections or have been practicing ortho in their home country for years. the best thing to do is score >240/99 on step 1 & 2. get involved in ortho research while in med school. try and do an ortho rotation in the US (mainly for LOR from an ortho doc). perferably at a program that you have a chance to match in, i.e. one that have taken imgs in the past. and then, hope for the best.

but, i must warn you even after all that. still you may not get an ortho residency "straight out of med school".

thanks for your directions...i haven't exactly understand how this ortho-residency thing works.... if someone has a green card (for example by winning the green card lottery) isn't treated equaly with the US citizens in order to obtain a speciality????? In Greece for example whoever has a recornized degree + green card (in case of No - EU citiziens) he has the same possibilities to be accepted for a speciality with the other applicants (despite the fact if they are Greeks or not)...
Because i already have and another degree in physiotherapy by the university of Athens will it help the thing with the residency????

[Zut Alors!]

So is it just a lottery in Greece? Like gawtti said, in America, there are a lot more factors. It's not so simple. You need to make connections with people, interview, all in addition to having amazing scores on your steps and preferably have some research. Getting ortho as an IMG is really aiming for the stars, because of the popularity it has right now. With good scores, you could probably get into General Slavery...I mean General Surgery, and see if you could make some connections during your first year.

Surgery is really competitive in the US. Ones that will be almost impossible (but there's always that 1% chance... quite literally) to match into in your situation are:

Urology
Oto
Plastics
Ortho

You could get OB/GYN or General with good scores and maybe some clinical experience in the US, if you could set that up. Don't mean to rain on your parade, but you just happen to be interested in a specialty that is on fire right now.

[tgrilias]

no it is not a lotary.... I was meaning that I was intersted in applying for a green card at the USA embassy of Greece. Every year there is a lottery and the USA embassy gives some green cards at once.
As concerns for obtaining a speciality at Greece the whole thing works with waiting lists... As far as someone has a recornized degree he can apply for a speciality and gets in the waiting list...it doesn't matter if you are Greek citizien or not , or if you have done reasearch or not....so for a popular speciality you must wait a lot of years and unfortunately Orthopedics are one of them........

[Zut Alors!]

Oh OK, you were referring to the green card lottery. Understood.

Interesting that Orthopaedic Surgery is big all over the world right now. I know they make lots of money here in the US, and I suppose this is true of Greece as well? Pretty much your only shot at getting ortho here is to do your residency in another country (preferably Greece, which like you said would take many years), then come here and do a post-doc while getting to know PDs and stuff. Take the USMLE then apply. Even then, though, you could get burned. It would also take a lot of years. If you want to be a doctor in the US you should really just think about another area of surgery (pretty much general and OB/GYN are the only ones that IMGs can get).

[tgrilias]

Zut Alors thank you very much for your directions... If the whole thing with the orthopedics stuck I will be think the gynecology speciality very seriously...for now I have 6 years in front of me and with god's help I hope I'll take the medicine degree on time...

[Zut Alors!]

Very cool, man. I'm sure you'll do great, and good luck with everything. 6 years will fly by, and you'll be Dr. tgrilias in no time. Oh yeah, if you want to come to the US, start studying for the USMLEs as soon as you start your medical education. Use the study guides as a supplement to your textbooks.

[whattupdog6969]

Oh OK, you were referring to the green card lottery. Understood.

Interesting that Orthopaedic Surgery is big all over the world right now. I know they make lots of money here in the US, and I suppose this is true of Greece as well? Pretty much your only shot at getting ortho here is to do your residency in another country (preferably Greece, which like you said would take many years), then come here and do a post-doc while getting to know PDs and stuff. Take the USMLE then apply. Even then, though, you could get burned. It would also take a lot of years. If you want to be a doctor in the US you should really just think about another area of surgery (pretty much general and OB/GYN are the only ones that IMGs can get).


lots of money, yes and lots of headache, because who in their right mind would want to do that specialty here in the US at this time. Orthapedics is definitely the number one burnout field, they work nine or ten years, and then retire. Not much of a career, I know of people that played professional sports in longer time. General Surgery is considered competitive but really it is not, and Ob Gyn is moderate level of difficulty in getting. I wouldnt go anywhere near Orthapedic Surgery, the pay and lifestyle isnt worth it at all. Even Ob Gyn nobody wants to do nowadays because of malpractice and insurance liabilities, its not worth it at all, and not going to get better in the next few years, only worse. Money will significantly go down in Specialty care, and not change at all in Primary Care. It will be like Socialized medicine and healthcare, which benefits patients, but doesnt at all benefit anyone from a financial perspective.
The pay in Orthapedics right now is quite good, but not sure for much longer.