No one can guarantee that an FMG is going to get a residency six years or more from now, no matter where they receive their degree.

That being said, it currently appears that there will be a shortage of physicians in the US.

Currently about 4750 PGY1 spots in IM are offered through the match. See http://www.nrmp.org/2004advdata.pdf 54.8% of these are filled through the match by US seniors, 42.6% are filled by independent applicants (DOs, FMGs, Canadians, past US grads).

Unless something changes radically, like primary care becoming much more popular with US grads (highly unlikely, unless massive changes in renumeration occur) or the number of spots decreases (again, unlikely as it looks like there may be a shortage of physicians in the near future; though not impossible, c.f. Canada where despite a physician shortage, there are very few postgraduate spots for FMGs) getting a residency in IM, especially if one isn't picky regarding location and circumstances is a real possibility provided one does their homework, does well on the USMLEs, get US clinical experience and letters of recommendation.

IM is actually getting more and more difficult IMGS are sticking to FP

Garciej,

Where are you getting your data?

The NRMP stats (see hyperlink in my previous post) show that the 2004 IM NRMP 54.8% US Senior fill rate is well beneath the 2000 IM NRMP 58.2% US Senior fill rate with little change in the number of PGY1 positions.

It is true that the US Senior FP fill rate has decreased to 41.4% in 2004 from 57.1% in 2000, but there has been a corresponding decrease in the number of positions from 3,183 to 2,864 (2004).

Miklos

Hi
Just thought i would write in to say that I am a graduate of Charles UNiversity, now based in the States, and if anyone requires any info on the Uni I will be more then happy to help u out.

CapeMD

well there are places that are marketing their services by making it seem more difficult to get these places than they are. Its not hard to get IM in general. Check match data from the NRMP web site. For free.

__________________
Steph
If you get a warning, put on yer manpants and stop whining about it.

Hi everyone, upon reading the thread I felt like I had a responsibility to post my own experiences on this board. I am currently in my first year here at the 1st faculty.

Here it goes:
#1) It's very difficult to understand what you need to know in order to succeede. This may be difficult to understand until you experience it, but it can leave you feeling powerless. In the US you always know what you need to do or learn in order to succede. Here, it's pretty tough to know or understand what you need to learn to do well. You will only hear that you must know everything. Some departments are better than others at helping you out with this, but it essentialy requires pestering the teacher after class or via email. You will feel confused often.

#2) It is really very unorganized. Sometimes you get the feeling that there is no plan at all in your classes. The administration is pretty unorganized in helping you out with your stafford loan forms. I had to do it all myself, and it was pretty frustrating. Use more senior students as a resource to handle this problem. I suppose that financial aid is pretty frustrating anywhere, but it was a big frustrating mess for me.

#3) When you go to university in the US, you pretty much understand that you will have tests, write papers etc. and that is how you will be evaluated. The way you are evaluated here is so completly different than what you know, and this leads to mass confusion. I guess I expected a big class during the first week or something where the admin. expalined how this whole university works. We were introduced to teachers who told us to study and not to slack off and that was pretty much it. But they never expalin what a credit test is and how that is different from an exam. You get a book which reads a bit like a legal document and that's your only resource, other than other students and your teachers, althought I often wonder if they know what's going on (the teachers).

#4) This may seem like a stupid point but it has been important to me. It is sometimes absoloutley painful to go to class. Classes are longer than you are used to in the US, I mean like 2 hours 15 min biochem seminar, which is by the way a complete waste of time, even for people who are good at chemistry. I'll address that later. I know it may sound like I'm whining and I took some really bad classes in undergrad but nothing like this. Czech class is the worst for me, it's like high school spanish class going around the room at 8 30 or 9 in the morning asking your neighbor how they are enjoying the weather, or something completly retarded. I enjoy only one class out of my entire week.

#5) You are basically on your own here. Classes yield very low ammounts of information. Lectures are nearly a complete waste of time, and hardly anyone goes. You can't just go to class and absorb most of this stuff. Be prepared to teach yourself everything. This has been especialy difficult with regards to Biochemistry for many people, even people with lots more chemistry ability than myself.

There is some good stuff here too. This place is a real research university, and I'm not dumb enough to believe that anyone in the US is ever gonna know that or care or ever see me as anything but an IMG, however this university is huge and has many resources. Prague is a fun place to live, beer is great, movie theatres are good, the girls are nice there is always something to do. This can be a big distraction, but there is alot of partying here and you will have a good time on the weekends and make some great friends. It's pretty easy/cheap to travel on the weekends or even take a week off and hit the road here, something which I have really enjoyed.

I admit that I'm not the best student in my class. I am generaly more interested in drinking and chasing woment than studying histology, but I know some people who do nothing but study and still struggle. Use your own judgement, and take mine and any others' advice with a grain of salt. Feel free to send me a PM, and I'll be happy to talk via email.

it is great to see somebody else from charles on this website, goldenwombat. thanks for posting!

in general, i agree to a point with a lot of what you said, but i am going to offer my opinion on each point you made...

1. i agree that the departments are not great about communication. it is slowly getting better (ie. in many classes we now get a syllabus, where this was not the case before), but many profs do not go out of the way to tell you what to learn. however, the information is available....first thing to do is ask upper years what to study. second, is review the topics for the exams. and third, have a consultation with the profs. if you follow these steps, you will have all the info you need to pass.

2. stafford loan forms are really, really easy. the school is less than perfect on this, but they don't deal with it to often. all you need to do is fill out the fafsa, and get your sar. find a lender and have them send a promissary note and school certification form to you. take your sar and the school cert form to the office. the school signs the form, and you mail it in. it literally takes me 5 minutes each year to get the paperwork done. the best advice i can give you is to be prepared yourself for these things. as an american student, we are a minority. they only do a couple of these per year, and we cannot really expect them to be experts. if you go in informed, your life is so much easier.

3. the system was a bit different for us, coming from the states. but, again we are the minority, and it is their system, so it seems self explanatory to them. but, it is very simple. every class you take is cumulative. the final exam is 100% of your grade. you must have credit to take the exam, and in order to get that credit you sometimes have to pass tests. i really don't think this takes anybody more than 1 week at school to understand. it is a simple concept, and i cannot imagine that this is a problem for most incoming students to grasp this.

4. class is very painful. the profs are of the old school, and rarely attempt to make it interesting. but, if class is not helpful, spend the time studying. that is what i did...some students go to lectures and learn something (but not many) others go and doze off, and others simply never go. pick what works for you....in the first year (anatomy, histology, biochem) you have a heavy load of classes that are not really teachable. these classes simply require work and memorization. that leads many students to frustration, believing that the teachers are failing them....while i agree that some courses could be taught better, i think you would agree that some courses are just tough, boring and require you to suck it up and work a lot.

5. see above...i just want to add that it is pretty low yeild all over the place in certain subjects to attend lecture. perhaps if your school has a PBL program, it may be better. but, i doubt you would benefit too much anywhere from a prof diagraming krebs cycle on the board, or showing you slides from histology. the reality is, you just have to do this over and over and over and over....then it sticks.

basically, i hear similar complaints from lots of first years...but, there are a couple things i find in common...lots of smart students do not work hard, and are surprised that they cannot just slide by. and lots of folks not blessed with great learning ability study all the time and beat their heads against the wall. medicine is not easy. not everyone (but almost everyone) can do it.

my biggest peeve is that we are at a med school, and very few people put the work in and then i hear LOTS of complaints how difficult something or how the teachers/school is not preparing them. you should have been in some of the student council meetings. the fact is that there are quite a few successful students, that have learned a lot. it is a far from perfect school, don't get me wrong. but, it provides us with all the tools we need to get a great education. but, that education is the responsibility of the student, not the teacher. if you study 5 hours a day, converse with your profs about something you do not understand, and take an active interest in your education, you will see great results. if you study at the last minute, are not proactive in seeking information that you need, then you will have problems.

i am not meaning to direct any of this at you...it is simply a general observation of students at charles. there are 10% who work hard, study daily, have fun when they can, and they do awesome! there are 80% of students who almost NEVER do the work....certainly not daily, and these are the loudest complainers...in my book, complaints mean nothing until you hold up your end of the bargain. do the work, daily. if you still don't know what is going on, then you can complain. but, i can promise you that will not be the case. then there are about 10% of the poor souls that study and just can't learn it...either language issues, or just a lack of comprehension..but, it is not for everybody...

to all current students, and potential students...if you put yourself in that top 10%, if you study daily and learn as much as you can, i can assure you that you will do well, and succeed. if you come here expecting the same system as the states, or expecting to be spoon fed info, you will be disappointed. this is med school, and you need to show some initiative, and some discipline to do well.

best of luck to everyone!

I suppose I sound like I'm complaining, but that's not really my intention. I just wanted to share my feelings and observations so far with prospective students. I discussed all of these points with other first year students all of whom have had variable ammounts of success before posting and tried to incorporate them. I completly agree that your education is entirely in your hands here. I'm not sure however, if anything I can tell others can properly prepare you for this place coming from the US. It's simply a completly different way of doing things, and for me it's not been so easy to adapt. Yes, I admit I have gotten behind in my studies, and I'm doing everything I can to catch up. Next year I know what to do differently. No, I don't expect or want med school to be easy. I simply took some time to alter my methods of study from what I was used to back at home. A couple of students I know here have done this very successfully, but some of us have taken more time to adadpt. So, I hope my posting was helpful, now it's off to genetics practical, a class that is so painful it deserves its' own forum.
Good luck to everyone

genetics....ugh. that class and biochem (all 3 parts, med chem, biochem and pathobiochem) are far and away the worst classes you will ever have at charles. histo is boring, but it is more the subject than the class itself. the genetics dept needs a major overhaul, it is a worthless class. i used to enjoy genetics, too!

thanks for the post...i didn't intend to imply that you were complaining, or anything like that. i agree that there is a lot of adjusting, i just wanted to point out that there is an easy way to adjust (immersion and working hard) vs. a more difficult way (getting behind in studies, wishing it were more like the states, not being proactive). a student should know two things after these posts....1) if you come here, things are different and 2) the differences are easily surmountable if you work hard from the first day.

good luck with exams!

genetics....ugh. that class and biochem (all 3 parts, med chem, biochem and pathobiochem) are far and away the worst classes you will ever have at charles. histo is boring, but it is more the subject than the class itself. the genetics dept needs a major overhaul, it is a worthless class. i used to enjoy genetics, before charles ruined if for me!

thanks for the post...i didn't intend to imply that you were complaining, or anything like that. i agree that there is a lot of adjusting, i just wanted to point out that there is an easy way to adjust (immersion and working hard) vs. a more difficult way (getting behind in studies, wishing it were more like the states, not being proactive). a student should know two things after these posts....1) if you come here, things are different and 2) the differences are easily surmountable if you work hard from the first day.

good luck with exams!