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certified by the ECFMG to be eligible to apply for the
National Residency Match. 11
states allow you to take the third step of the USMLE as
international medical grads without completing a set number of years
of postgraduate medical education. Even in those states you need to
complete a residency in the field in which you wish to practice in
order to sit for the board certification exam and these days you do
want to be eligible for board certification. The requirements for ECFMG certification are that you: 1) Graduate from a WHO recognized medical school. 2) Pass steps 1 and 2 of the USMLE like US medical students also need to apply for residencies. 3) Pass the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOFEL) 4) Pass the ECFMG’s Clinical Skills Assment (CSA) which is a $1200 day long test of your ability to take a history and physical in English. (No Ross Student has been known to fail this test yet). The only problem that I am aware of when it comes to licensing is that in the past when some docs and the AMA were not happy with the offshore medical school system. A while back they lobbied many states and got the legislatures to pass laws preventing US citizens who graduated from foreign medical schools from becoming licensed. Since then Ross and other offshore medical schools have challenged those laws in many states and have always won in the courts with the laws being declared unconstitutional. According to our CEO who is a lawyer himself, Neil Simon, North Dakota is the only state that they know there is still such a law on the books. He said it has never been challenged because they have never had a student who really wanted to practice there. If you are now wondering about out academic quality the best way to look at it is at board scores. From what my friends who are residents or attending physicians have said is that as international medical graduates nobody will care about a Ross students GPA but only want to see your board scores and letters of recommendation from physicians practicing in US hospitals and clinics. When you look at step 1 of the USLME the US average is around 210 and Ross students with a GPA of 2.8 or better after 4th semester average 217 with a first time pass rate of 97% according to Dr. Angeleckos who is the school’s provost (chief academic officer). Overall Ross students have had a better then 90% first time pass rate for step 1. As this data shows if you have the brains and will to work hard enough to make the grade then you will do very well. The biggest problem is that as international medical graduates you will be looked down on by physicians in the US until you are able to prove yourself to them. That becomes a problem in applying to residencies but that just means that if you really want it you just have to work harder. I am one of the many that wants to go into family practice (one of the less competitive programs) who figured it would be easier to overcome the label of international medical grad then to overcome the hurdle of getting into a US medical school. My best advice is to learn as much as you can about the process because so much is related to networking and “Who knows you.” The best way to learn about it is to read at book entitled Getting Into A Residency written by Dr. Iverson. Buy it before you start and read it as soon as you get the chance. The earlier you know the better situation you will be in for networking because you will be the one that knows how it works. |
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Copyright © 2004 Brian Buschman |
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