UK Medical School International Applicants Discussion Megathread 2012 entry

I've heard of this, but then it is only at the "moment", after you graduate you typically do two years of foundation training ( junior doctor years) and then two years of CMT then your specialization which takes up four to five years. SO, how long are they going to let me train there

yea, I have seen that story and some others, thats why I was getting concerned about these facts. I would like to practice in Canada as well and knowing I might only have 18% chance of getting back is... disappointing.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/story/2011/02/22/canadian-students-medicine-overseas.html

is the link.

doesnt our visa expire at the end of F2 year?

I think we need to get a job in order to get Tier 2 because Tier 4 expires within a month (afaik) after F2 year is done.

Its a low #, but you have to realize that includes all the Caribbean, Middle Easter, Eastern Europe, Pakistani, Indian etc..., IMGs from UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand have a much better chance of getting back into Canada compared to other IMGs, also there are more ways to come back to Canada, such as residency from US and then move back to Canada, most cases residency from US and Canada are interchangeable and all you have to do is write the board tests.
Also, do you have plans of doing an intercalated BSC or doing your FY1 year in UK? Getting a BSC would definitely help you and getting licensed in UK wouldn't be a bad idea since it would look pretty good and you have something to fall back to in the case all else goes wrong.

Thanks for finding this article, I found it extremely useful!

Its worth noting that: "CaRMS noted that Canadians mostly go to the Caribbean to study; Ireland comes in second as a place to get a medical degree. But there are also a growing number of schools in Poland, Australia and the Middle East. "

Surprisingly, not many Canadians opt for the option of studying Medicine in the UK. I am guessing it may be because of the low admittance rates combined with the high entry requirements? Any thoughts on this?

Most decide to go to the States since their degree would be a MD and is more widely accepted in Canada, which is also a MD. In the UK you would receive a MBBS and everyone knows that the percent success rate for IMG's are really low. I checked this year and it was only 18%, which isn't looking good at all. If there are this many Canadians applying to the UK and 20 Canadians were going to Liverpool from last year, how difficult is it going to be to get back to Canada in the future?

Well I doubt it really matters whether it's MD or MbBS because most Caribbean schools give out MD degrees, yet Caribbean medical schools have amongst the lowest match rates compared to the rest of the medical schools.

Also I have a friend who attends Liverpool and she told me, in her year there were less than 6-7 Canadians. So in total from all 5 years there is less than 25 Canadians.

Comparing that to schools in places like Ireland who admit over 1000 North American students.

Yes, but I have also heard that even getting licensed in the UK would not be as advantageous unless you are specialized and needed. I'm not saying it won't help at all , but numbers aren't pretty For me, I just want to confirm everything before I make this big decision.

Well since you have a UK degree it won't be hard to get specialized if you get a British passport (shouldn't be problem once you live there for 5 damn years). It just takes, but yes, definitely ill too will be looking at everything. US is also an option, residency in US then back to Canada. Don't really know why, -42 C with windchill today and colder tomorrow

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Here is what I know thus far.

Tier 4 visa till end of foundation years. Before foundation ends, you are given the option to switch to tier 2, sans Resident Labour Market Test. This permits you to get a specialty training post in UK. once you complete your CC training and enlist on the Specialty Registrar, you will be given a National Training Number. This is basically guarantee of sorts permitting you to leave and re enter training.

The problem is, the wording on the legal procedure of converting from tier 4 to 2 currently is a bit odd. Check on BMA's immigration page.

All we can hope is by the time we graduate, this retard Cameron will be gone and the policies will have changed. That idiot has made it much harder for out of country workers/students to get settled in the UK. And it's sad because we inject tons of money into their economy through tuition fees and such, and at the end they just tell us to fk off. And it's not like medicine is a crappy profession...UK requires some policy change and clarification on this matter.

I don't envy whovever has to sort it out. There are already proposals in the works to reduce the number of medical student places in the UK. Foundation jobs are oversubscibed and, whether you agree with it or not, they shouldn't be.

If any such reduction occurs, it won't do much for competition.

Any idea when my friend might hear about Bristol? She had her grades requested and had a 90%+ high school avg as well as a BA in History + volunteer experience etc.

Now I understand that paying for a medical student costs the government a ton of money. However, I think that a government's priority should be to train more doctors in order to cope with future health care management. So instead of having home student's pay cheaper fees (we pay comparative fees to UK home students), I believe that our fees should be increased, thereby lowering the amount that the government contributes to a medical student's education.

The money that is saved should be invested into opening up more spaces for med students and training.

Let's face it...if a person wants to be a doctor and has the drive for it, they will do anything and everything possible to achieve it...even pay exorbitant fees in overseas countries. Well, why force people to do that. Just charge them higher fees at home, which will enable you to train more people.

And the good thing is, medicine is a pretty good profession when it comes to money. Students who take out loans to compensate for the higher fees will be able to pay them off quickly because money that was initially going to be spent on just medical school, will now be a part of their salaries and specialty training.
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Don't really agree with this. Really think Tuition fees should be more means-tested. If you are from a weathly background and family can afford it then you should pay more, if you are from a poorer background and family cannot afford it then you should pay less.

Raising the tuition fees even more would only push those who are from poorer backgrounds out of Medicine. If money has to be cut, just cut Government funding from degrees which are of low standards and no contribution to society (David Beckham studies?) and put that money into areas that we are lacking.

The Government here can lie all it wants about shortage of money for University and then spend billions on war and the Olympics.

a lot of times, once schools request grades and transcripts, they are ready to send out an interview offer. i had that happen with two schools, which both requested grades and sent me an interview within a couple days of receiving them.

Don't really agree with this. Really think Tuition fees should be more means-tested. If you are from a weathly background and family can afford it then you should pay more, if you are from a poorer background and family cannot afford it then you should pay less.

Raising the tuition fees even more would only push those who are from poorer backgrounds out of Medicine. If money has to be cut, just cut Government funding from degrees which are of low standards and no contribution to society (David Beckham studies?) and put that money into areas that we are lacking.

The Government here can lie all it wants about shortage of money for University and then spend billions on war and the Olympics.

On many levels, UK and Canada face the same issues...oversubscribed courses.

The major reason most Canadians (not myself though) leave Canada and pursue medicine elsewhere is not because requirements are insane in Canada, but because even brilliant people who deserve a place in med school are left back due to insane competition.

Now, Canada faces yet another challenge in that we have one of the worst physician/patient ratio in the developed world. Canada's answer to all this has been to randomly increase med school spaces. Just a few years back they increased 30-50 spaces overall (nationally).

Now I understand that paying for a medical student costs the government a ton of money. However, I think that a government's priority should be to train more doctors in order to cope with future health care management. So instead of having home student's pay cheaper fees (we pay comparative fees to UK home students), I believe that our fees should be increased, thereby lowering the amount that the government contributes to a medical student's education.

The money that is saved should be invested into opening up more spaces for med students and training.

Let's face it...if a person wants to be a doctor and has the drive for it, they will do anything and everything possible to achieve it...even pay exorbitant fees in overseas countries. Well, why force people to do that. Just charge them higher fees at home, which will enable you to train more people.

And the good thing is, medicine is a pretty good profession when it comes to money. Students who take out loans to compensate for the higher fees will be able to pay them off quickly because money that was initially going to be spent on just medical school, will now be a part of their salaries and specialty training.

If other governments follow suit, I think there can be a very good system in place which takes in a good amount of medical students, while giving them some assurance that following their MD, they won't be sitting at home in their mom's basements applying to a billion positions and praying that they get lucky.