Hi,

I am a Canadian student who has applied to the caribbean (SGU) recently and would like to go there next year very much. I did lots of research and talked to some SGU canadian graduates and got the general impression that a Canadian with descent boards and descent med school marks could obtain a US residency in primary care as long as he or she applied to hospitals that sponsor HI-B visas. I have yet to hear from a Canadian who went to SGU and did not obtain a residency. After this research I was very happy and I am almost sure I will go to SGU next year if I am excepted. Recently I recieved this reply from someone in Studentdoctor and now I am REALLY SCARED. He states that is basically impossible to get a residency as a Canadian from the caribbean. If I go next year I want to make sure that if I do well on the boards, get my MD, and apply to H1-B sponsoring hospitals that I will get a residency. I am making a HUGE money commitment here. I have posted part of the guy's email below. Some one PLEASE give me their thoughts and clarify this issue for me. I DON'T KNOW WHAT THE TRUTH IS EVEN AFTER TONS OF
RESEARCH!!!!!!!! PLEASE HELP!!!!!!

ANY CANADIANS WHO WENT TO SGU AND DIDN'T GET A RESIDENCY OR HAVE GOTTEN A RESIDENCY COULD YOU PLEASE GIVE INPUT - OR ANY SGU GRAD WHO KNOWS ANYTHING ABOUT THIS

THANK YOU

Here is his email.....

"I am also a Canadian, 4th year US allopathic med student, and have recently matched in internal medicine with an institution that will give me my H1B.

NOW, if you are Canadian IMG (ie. Carib, Aussie,etc) your road will be a lot more difficult than the average IMG because again, as a Canadian, you can ONLY take a H1B, and as opposed to the US grads, you dont have the negotiation power of the US-awarded diploma. If you decide to attend an international school, especially one that has a negative connotation for taking USMG's (ie. the carribs), you better keep the above in mind. The key to securing H1B is 1. ridiculous grades, like try to get honor or A's in all med school classes, 2. ridiculous board scores. I am talking at least 230, 240+ if possible - lots of successful IMG's have 99/99 step 1/2 scores - you are competing with the boatloads of Indian grads who have these kind of scores, who is applying to residency for the fifth time, and would gladly do free labor, sell their soul, and most importantly, take a J1, to get that categorical program. Why should a program take you and your H1B-only problem when they have boatloads of these people will be happy with a J1? and 3. good letters in US clinicals.

It can technically be done, but it's hard. Many of the FMG's you will run into are either American citizens who have no visa problems, or those from other countries, which their country will write them that sponsor letter for them to take a J1 which we as Canadians dont have. Applying to residency as an FMG is hard enough as it is, add to that H1B only? Your chances are about as good as the chance of hell freezing over. You can maximize your chance by doing the above, but there is ABSOLUTELY no guarantee. And with the kind of tuition/fee you pay to go to one of those offshore schools, wouldn't a guarantee be nice?

The only real guarantee is a US MD or DO school. I would suggest trying to study hard, do a post-bacc if you must to improve your GPA and nail the MCAT's and try to get into a US MD school, while apply to some DO schools as backup. I know it sounds bad to us Canadians, but DO in the US is a valuable degree that basically leads to the same licensure as MD's. Yes you pay a lot, but still less than any offshore, and your future path is a clear striaght-ahead after you're done. In your situation, 3.7+ undergrad GPA from a major Canadian institution coupled with 31+ MCAT and some EC's should give you enough numeric competitive edge to secure at least a DO if not an MD school admission in the US. Make sure apply to a gazillion places (I would suggest at least 25 private MD schools and 5 DO programs as back-up) and hope good things will happen."

ANY CANADIANS WHO WENT TO SGU AND DIDN'T GET A RESIDENCY OR HAVE GOTTEN A RESIDENCY COULD YOU PLEASE GIVE INPUT - OR ANY SGU GRAD WHO KNOWS ANYTHING ABOUT THIS

THANK YOU

I am not Canadian, but the email had some false premises. First, SGU does not have "bad connotations" the way it may have had in years past. 99% of those eligible get residencies. While it is still a school primarily for US students who didn't feel competitive in the US, many programs have a good track record with SGU and aren't wary of their grads. I'm not being naive, I understand that carib schools do give you a disadvantage, but it's been overcome by many many people. Also, he says that a US MD or DO program is a guaranteed way to get a res. Not true! There is nothing guaranteed about it. If you can't pass your boards from SGU, you won't pass them from a state school, and that's what matters. If I said anything incorrect, please correct me. Thanks

andy

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um, that residency placement percentage is wrong. Or at least for this year.