Originally Posted by Picard

Putting my epidemiologist hat on (yes I did go to grad school for that)...

There are lies, damn lies, and then statistics. I am familiar with some of the researches Ditch provided. Most researches nowadays have flaws, even those published in JAMA, NEJM...etc. When we were in grad school, we took apart articles from JAMA/NEJM and analyzed them with strictly epidemiological methodologies. We requested raw data from the PI, and re-did their statistical analysis. We were very surprised that many times, we came up with very different conclusions by making different (and equally valid) epidemiological assumptions. There are very few articles in journals that pass the smell test when analysed purely from an epidemiological views.

Correlation does not equal causation. Too many variables and confounders are in the mix. An example -- I bet you I can do a research and convince you that ownership of a Zippo lighter "causes" lung cancer.

BTW, my undergrad college pre-med adviser and my undergrad major adviser both told me I would never become a dcotor, despite the fact that my GPA/MCAT fell in the range of national average of accepted US medical students. I think I just taught one of their kids in medical school... 8)

P

Originally Posted by azskeptic

The Many Health Professions

Foreign Medical Schools
For individuals who have their hearts set on becoming an MD, but who have been unable to gain acceptance into a US medical school, this may be an option. However, three words immediately spring to mind along with "Foreign Medical School"; they are "delicate," "difficult," and "dangerous." Extreme caution should be exercised here. The reason for this is that usually one's objective is not merely to earn an MD degree (that's easy), but to be able to practice medicine legally in this country. That is far more difficult.
A brief explanation is perhaps appropriate. In order to obtain a license to practice in a given state, you must fulfill three conditions. You must graduate from a medical school acceptable to the licensing board of that state, you must receive passing scores on the United States Medical Licensure Examinations (USMLEs or "Boards"), and you must enter and successfully complete a residency program in the United States. It is the second step, passing the Board exams that is the biggest stumbling block, and this is closely followed by obtaining your residency.

You should bear in mind that most students who are accepted into US medical schools find the entire process of becoming an MD, passing the Board Examinations, and practicing medicine to be extremely demanding and stressful. Irrespective of your talents, you must realistically expect that if you attend a foreign medical school you will have an even more difficult time passing the necessary examinations. You must be realistic in evaluating why you are applying to a foreign medical school in the first place. There are three very common reasons: poor grades in college, poor MCAT scores, or both. It is true, the MCAT is a standardized test and perhaps does not reflect your real abilities as a student or as a future doctor. Unfortunately, however, the Board exams are of the same format, and the best predictor of one's ability to pass the Boards is, sadly, the MCAT. Thus if you have tried valiantly and just have not been able to muster a satisfactory score on the MCAT, beware! A medical education at a foreign school is a very expensive undertaking. It may get you the MD or equivalent degree, but it does not allow you to practice in this country.

What is a "good" score on the MCAT? If you score 30 or above, it is probable that you could study the material necessary and eventually pass the exams. There are preparation courses for this purpose, just as there are for the MCAT. A score of less than 25 on the MCAT suggests that you will have enormous difficulty with the Boards and would be better advised not to take the risk. You are not permitted unlimited attempts at these exams, and they are spaced at infrequent intervals, which means that your debts keep mounting while you keep trying. With MCAT scores between 25 and 30, it is a gamble and depends very much on whether or not you can afford to lose the cost of the undertaking (roughly $200,000 by most estimates).

But, assuming that you have passed either the financial or the academic test of the preceding paragraph and have decided to make the attempt, the question then arises: "Where are the best foreign medical schools?"

In the past, unsuccessful applicants often turned to highly regarded European or Mexican medical schools as an alternative to going to an American school. For a number of reasons, these options are no longer viable ones: the European schools are much stricter about taking foreign students, the quality of the education at the most highly regarded Mexican school appears to have declined substantially, and it is now much more difficult to return to the United States with a foreign degree to practice medicine.

In place of these schools, a number of "offshore" medical schools have sprung up, particularly in the Caribbean. Some of these, particularly those which have been in existence for only a few years, are extremely risky prospects. Before you plan to attend such a school, you MUST make sure that it has a strong, solid program and good connections with enough hospitals in the United States to enable you to enter a suitable residency program. It is extremely difficult to obtain reliable information regarding the quality of these schools. The schools themselves can be very misleading; the AMA has stopped publishing information on the subject because certain schools were deliberately abusing the evaluation system; and anecdotal information from friends who graduated from a foreign school even quite recently may have been true then, but not now. Check with the Prehealth Advising Office before seriously committing yourself.

We rely on information coming to us from various sources, particularly our own students enrolled in the individual schools. There are four foreign schools which we currently suggest to students who are aware of all the above dangers. Although there may be other satisfactory foreign schools for American students, bear in mind that only 27% of the US citizens attending foreign schools pass the USMLEs. For those attending US schools, the pass rate is over 95%.

Suggested foreign programs:
The Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland
123 St. Stephen's Green
Dublin 2
Ireland
Tel: International +353-1-478 0200
Excellent education, excellent pass rate but exceptionally few US students accepted.
Sackler School of Medicine (Tel Aviv, Israel)
New York State-American Program
17 East 62nd Street
New York, NY 10021
Tel: (212) 688-8811
Excellent pass rate, and accepts a fair number of US students, Hebrew is also taught during the first two years as it is necessary in order to communicate with patients.

Touro College/Technion (Haifa, Israel)
Biomedical Sciences
Bayshore, NY
Tel: (631) 665-1600
This is a five-year program, the first year of which is taught on the Touro College Campus; Hebrew is taught during the first two years as this is required in order to communicate with patients; excellent pass rate, accepts a small number of US students.

St. George's University School of Medicine
c/o the North American Correspondent
Medical School Services, Ltd.
1 East Main Street
Bay Shore, NY 11706-9990
Tel: (516) 665-8500
A satisfactory pass rate, and accepts a large number of US students.