which residencies are competitive?

[aye5882]

i've been reading alot of posts saying that competitve residencies are hard to get obtain by FMG's... which residencies are these? so far, all i know is dermatology and orthopedics.

is surgery one of them? i'm starting in jan and right now, i'm thinking about being a surgeon... don't know what kind yet...

[RPM Revolution]

What's FMG?

[neilc]

surg is getting tough. basically, the easy ones are any primary care (IM, FP, Peds) mainly because there are LOTS of spots. any other specialty can be tough or easy, depending on the year, so speculation too far in advance is not too helpful. but, surg has seen an upswing in apps, and is getting harder for IMG's to get.

[aye5882]

Originally Posted by RPM Revolution

What's FMG?

FMG = Foreign Medical Graduate?? i was trying to be cool and use the lingo here on valuemd... guess it didn't work... lol

[CA willy]

Originally Posted by aye5882

i've been reading alot of posts saying that competitve residencies are hard to get obtain by FMG's... which residencies are these? so far, all i know is dermatology and orthopedics.

is surgery one of them? i'm starting in jan and right now, i'm thinking about being a surgeon... don't know what kind yet...

General Surgery is competitive, but not unobtainable for Foreign Medical Graduates (FMGs). The "lifestyle" specialties (regular hours, good pay, little to no weekends/call) like Derm, Ophthalmology, Radiology, are very competitive, Ortho, Neurosurgery are very competitive. Primary care specialties are much less competitive and usual favorites for the FMG (actually International Medical Graduate, or IMG, is the preferred term now).

Work hard and try for whatever you want. You never know!!

[miasma]

Originally Posted by CA willy

Work hard and try for whatever you want. You never know!!

well said, and it will be what i will be living by.

[aye5882]

man! and i wanted to be neurosurgeon so i can be like dr. derrick shepard and have two chics chasing after me!

[butters]

as far as university based im residencies...are these really competitive for img's?

i was looking up a couple of websites of university im programs (wash u, univ of wash, etc), and didn't find too many img's listed as residents (maybe 1 or 2 and none were carib grads). Is that b/c they prefer grads from other countries over carib grads? I know every program differs, but if anyone has any info from their experiences, that would help.

anybody have any suggestions on how to make ureself stronger for these programs...do a sub-i there or any other rotations?

thanks for your replies!

[neilc]

Originally Posted by butters

as far as university based im residencies...are these really competitive for img's?

i was looking up a couple of websites of university im programs (wash u, univ of wash, etc), and didn't find too many img's listed as residents (maybe 1 or 2 and none were carib grads). Is that b/c they prefer grads from other countries over carib grads? I know every program differs, but if anyone has any info from their experiences, that would help.

anybody have any suggestions on how to make ureself stronger for these programs...do a sub-i there or any other rotations?

thanks for your replies!

if there are any IMG's, you have a chance. in most cases, if you get an interview, they will at least consider you. however, there are a few uni programs out there that are not likely to have IMG's. you can get a good idea by looking at current residents. i would say about 50% of my interviews were at university programs. none were "top tier", but they were solid uni programs. so, there are certainly a lot of uni programs that are open to IMG's.

i did actually go on one interview, and had a rather candid discussion with the PD. she said that she liked me, and would vote to rank me high, but the chair didn't like IMG's, and my chances were not good. and this is a program that had to scramble in some IMG's! so, there are exceptions to all the rules, and trying to guess is not going to be that helpful.

there are no hard and fast rules, so apply widely. do the best you can, that is all you can do.

[RPM Revolution]

What's the likely hood of a FMG getting matched up in residency for Plastic surgery OR would he/she have to go into a surgery program and then do a fellowship in PS?