After transitional IM residency, what?

[claudette737]

My question is generally about those specialties which require a transitional year in IM: I know that most FMGs end up in internal medicine or family practice residencies. In my case, Oncolgy requires a 3-year residency in IM anyways, followed by a 3 year fellowship in Oncology.

I wonder if the bias against being an FMG will somewhat lessen come fellowship time, since at that point, I will be coming directly from an IM residency in the USA. Or will I still have a hard time getting a fellowship since I graduated from a caribbean school.
I hope that what school I attended doesn't factor heavily. I think that as long as one does very well in their IM residency (in the USA), that should be more important....?

[susqu04]

I was recently speaking with a surgeon that I work with about the bias against FMGs, and I asked the same question; "Does that follow to a fellowship?" His response was that "...you're only as good as the last place you've been." In other words, if you get a good residency spot and do well, chances are you will get a good fellowship. He said that they don't worry about where you went to medical school when you are applying for a fellowship; its more where you did residency.

Bottom line: do well in med school... get a good residency. Do well in residency... get a good fellowship.

[rocky_wayne]

Claudette,
There is a 3rd year heme-onc fellow here where I work who graduated from AUC. He played a big role in me choosing AUC. Fellowships don't care about your med school. Hell, the IM residency here doesn't care about the school you're from. They're very FMG friendly. If you are from the state where the residency program is located, they'll pick you before they'll pick a non-US citizen.