St. Andrews Medical Applicants 2014

i got an offer today!!! super happy and a shock after my poor attempt at an interview! i'm on the manc route! well done on all the offers guys

Thanks! Congrats to you too!

Haha actually there is one big reason, or i would have totally accepted it right away. I'm worried about returning to Canada as an IMG since it's hard for IMGs to get a residency over here... I've seen a lot of stats on the CaRMS website and they are pretty horrific! Most specialties have only 2-8 positions for IMGs (family and internal medicine have the most 33-130 approx.) Plus, we aren't allowed to practice in the UK so if we can't get a position here... we're stuck!

I'm going to the info session in Toronto this week, will hopefully get some more info about it!

If you still have any questions i'm on the program so I can try and answer any Qs you might have.

I don't think the chances are as bad as CaRMS would show. This is because a lot of the true IMGs (immigrants to Canada) are many years out of medical school, train in a non western/1st world country and don't have the english skills. I've spoken to residents who said the vast majority of IMG spots are taken up by canadians who studied abroad. Not only that but St Andrews has the advantage of long clinical rotations in Canada, a UK medical degree/training and because St Andrews is mostly taking top students out of high school, as a whole we would probably be more competitive than those who didn't get a spot in Canada after undergrad.

Also don't forget that if you don't match you can apply to the US and provided your exam scores are good enough you have a better chance of matching.

One thing that is true though is its probably not the right choice if you are interested in the very competitive specialties as there are few if any IMG spots in the competitive specialties.

FM is the most viable followed by Psych, Path, OB/GYN, Peds and IM. Anesthesiology, General and Orthopedic Surgery tend to be much more competitive. ENT, Ophtho, CT Surg (direct entry), Derm, Neuro Surg are mostly impossible though

Yes Lads
ive an offer for st andrews and would probably like to go there but this Barts route is holding me back....just not sure at all if i want to go to london for my last 3 years....anyone else in a similar position?

Yes Lads
ive an offer for st andrews and would probably like to go there but this Barts route is holding me back....just not sure at all if i want to go to london for my last 3 years....anyone else in a similar position?

Ive firmed it as it was my only offer and was my first choice. The way I see it is that st Andrews for me was the best preclinical uni and while I did want to go to Edinburgh for clinical as I loved it there I have given it more thought and have concluded that London is a good place for clinical years. For one its closer to my home and so I'll be able to visit people more which will be nice. London is also a very diverse city you will get more exposure to more things in a London hospital. It also attracts the best doctors so you will be learning from the best. I've heard that Barts is a very good place for clinicals and while the idea of living in London isn't most appealing due to cost and busyness I can see there will definitely be upsides to doing clinicals in London.

Posted from TSR Mobile

Yes Lads
ive an offer for st andrews and would probably like to go there but this Barts route is holding me back....just not sure at all if i want to go to london for my last 3 years....anyone else in a similar position?

Have the same problem but with the manchester route. Guess it depends on how much you like St Andrews and what other offers you have. I've tied myself in knots trying to decide between Dundee and St Andrews.

Hi everyone ! I'm a bit confused as to where we get our Medicine degree from? St Andrew's or the Uni that we do our clinical years in ?

Pretty sure it's the clinical uni, but you do get the bsc from St Andrews

Oh that's good we get 2 degrees Thanks

You didn't know!?

Surprisingly no ! Or I think I might have... but I've forgotten :/