The following was submitted as a series of comments on my Physician’s Weekly post about Missouri’s new law allowing medical school graduates who did not match into residency positions to work under supervision. The comments have been edited for length and clarity:
I am a 38-year-old US medical graduate who has attempted to match 3 times with no success. I decided not to throw the money away again this cycle. I have half a million dollars in educational loans. I would exchange my situation with any non-US-IMG because they probably don’t have massive loans. I have seen kids coming fresh from India with no loans who match in their first attempts because they score high enough on USMLE to separate themselves from people like me.
Based on USMLE scores, the matching system is fair to a lot of us. What fails US grads is the educational loan structure that allows us to borrow without any accountability of medical schools that are benefiting most. If medical schools are going to produce doctors who cannot match after genuine attempts, the schools should be blamed. They have standards that require students to pass each course in order to graduate. If they believe a student is not good enough to become a doctor, they shouldn’t graduate the student. Students would benefit more if the medical schools could determine which med students won’t be good doctors earlier on and dismiss them. Then the students will not pile up so much debt.
Some graduates find that their training is not good enough to become a physician. It’s a scam. Why do medical schools get a free ride on this? Everyone who has completed medical school successfully with passing scores on USMLE Step 1 and 2 should be allowed to use that acquired knowledge. Why not let those who have demonstrated they can work under supervision get job?
What fails US grads is the educational loan structure that allows us to borrow without any accountability of medical schools that are benefiting most.
When I try to get a nonclinical job, they read my resume and tell me I am overqualified for the position. I have tried to hide my MD degree and use only my Bachelor of Science degree (biology) in order to get a job. But they tell me I don’t have experience, and the big gap between my undergrad education and my current situation cannot be explained. Some employers have asked me if I spent the time in jail.
I applied to PA schools last year and had no success. Some of my rejection letters said as a medical doctor, I am not a good fit for PA career. Some PA programs wanted me to go back to college again to take pre-med courses.
Besides medicine I have no other skills I can use to make a living. I am broke. I refuse to become homeless. Last month I applied and qualified for food stamps. Next week I am starting a $10.15/hour job as a UPS package handler while I am looking for other better opportunities.
Each year about 5% of US graduates do not match to a residency and have nowhere to go. There are many reasons we did not match—most commonly because of academics. If I were a program director, I would interview the best applicants and rank them accordingly. I just believe unmatched doctors must be given other opportunities to make use of their acquired knowledge instead wasting it in a warehouse or a grocery store.
If fresh college grads with 2 years in PA school can become providers under a licensed physician why can’t someone who made it through med school in 4 years function at the same level? Having an MD degree without a residency is like having a felony record. No one will give you a job. Having an MD degree without a residency dooms you to struggle in life. I wish I didn’t have the heavy weight of the MD degree on my back.
I hope marginal pre-med students will read my story and make a rational decision before applying to medical school. Med schools want to fill their classes because they know the more students they have, the more money they will make. As they collect your tuition, they will tell you they are nonprofit institutions.
No med schools will tell pre-med students the drawbacks such as the scarcity of postgraduate training as med school class sizes increased 30% since 2000. Most schools only publish lists of students who matched successfully and fail to mention those who don’t match. Pre-med students should be told what happens to all graduates of each med school.
My story may not be relevant to pre-meds who have demonstrated great potential in medicine (GPA, MCAT, and motivation). The problem is some med schools can’t fill their classes with 100% smart kids. What they do instead is lower their standards to get more students to fill the class. Why? Because they want to make money and are not held accountable.
If they can’t recruit students who can become licensed physicians in the US, the classes should be left unfilled. What is point of educating someone and giving him a piece of paper that can’t be used? These institutions should be held accountable for tuition and fees if a medical graduate attempts to match to complete his training but failed. This will force them to dismiss academically or professionally unfit students from medical schools before they accrue massive loans.
I don’t see how the schools could ever be forced to do what the writer wants.
What do you think about this essay?
Skeptical Scalpel is a retired surgeon and was a surgical department chairman and residency program director for many years. He is board-certified in general surgery and a surgical sub-specialty and has re-certified in both several times. For the last six years, he has been blogging at SkepticalScalpel.blogspot.com and tweeting as @SkepticScalpel. His blog has had more than 2,500,000 page views, and he has over 15,500 followers on Twitter.
SkepticalScalpel
If you’re working as a grocery store clerk then your tax money goes to fund these residency programs. It’s not like the AMA and the other fraud governing body posing as an authority figure are poor or needy!
I can’t wrap my head around the absurdity of going through all this education to have a nurse with an associates push me around at work for a sliver of her salary. Bachelors, masters then MD with all steps completed and not able to pay rent let alone debt.
How’s this ok fair or normal?
It’s not ok to fat shame people or clothes shame people but it’s totally ok to annihilate their ego along with all forms of acceptable livelihood denying them a residency and calling them undeserving of one or playing the blame game instead of offering a solution a meaningful solution.
Exams themselves are scaled against IMGs. I’ve known brilliant students go abroad and struggle for year with Steps after thriving in med school. You know if these people stayed in the US they would have become an easy doctor but because they went the international route and struggled for years where US grads coast. These very same US grads screw up on the very same info they were tested on so what it honestly the point of licensure? This happened twice in my family with the latter screw up leading to a family members death. I would choose a licensed involved MD foreign graduate over a brand new doctor any day.
I feel bad for such medical students, I am too surrounded by various intelligent and knowledgeable graduates who are not able to get good jobs because of such conditions. Everyone must raise their voices for their rights.
For clarification’s sake, the writer is a medical doctor, not a medical student. He graduated from medical school.
I understand your pain. I always thought the US Medical Education system is faulty. In most countries after your complete the medical school, you can at least work as a family physician.
There is only 1 way to fix this. Change the Law. If PA students can practice Medicine under supervision, there is no reason a person who completed 4 years of medical school and passed all the USMLE exams can’t practice medicine. All of you should get united and bring this to media. Send letters/emails to senators.
Meanwhile, while the law is not your side, for those who are struggling to get a job, try to get a Medical Assistant job in a physician office. The starting salary is $15 per hour. I know it is terrible for a person who completed MD, but it is better than working in a grocery store. The physician’s will know your worth and I know some places you can go higher to $23 per hour with benefits and also you can become office manager. Some offices also do IV infusions and the nurses there make more.
Totally agree, coz I am one of them, same age, same struggle. This is my story too and many of other old grads. If I happen to be lucky or something miracle happen and get into residency, I will advocate for everyone. Australia, New Zealand allows medical graduates to practice as a medical officer once they are done with the exam. In the USA, there’s no point of passing USMLE I, II, III. Spending at least 1.5 to 2yrs in these exam and then work in a grocery. Instead, within 1.5yrs, if you would have joined a master program, at least you have US degree but without residency, you are nothing. Its too painful…..
This Whole Shit is crap. These Medical School
Administrators should be held responsible. They hand out these quarter million Dollar degrees and you can’t do anything with it. At least in Law if you have JD, you can sit for the boards and hang a shingle and make something of yourself. With Medicine, nada. If yuh manage to get into a clinic, you can even do injections because “you don’t have a license.” And these Medical School administrators are all a spineless, pathetic lot. Some of them are even secret bigots tbh. They just sit there and hide behind Computer screens.
Hi every one , my question is to every reader who has gained the License to work as an Assistant Physician,
I graduated in 2008 and finished my all the basic exams with in three years period of time , I am US Citizen , as per rules am I eligible to apply for this License, Your reply is anxiously waited
I don’t know the answer. Every state has different rules. Maybe a reader can respond.
A good friend by the name of Kevin Burke, MD from Indiana is addressing this issue through many medical associations he is active in. We have a shortage of doctors yet we do not have some doctors matching. It doesn’t make any sense.
Normally and reasonably US citizen medical school graduates should be given preference over nonUS graduates in residency spots selection. But anyone who is not familiar with American system could be managed more easily and that is exactly what Program Directors (PD) want. Third world country man would do everything to show himself or herself.
People who did not match should be given a chance to work as pas and after 5 years full license.
All USA citizens should be given first preference in residency spots.
US-citizen applicants already are given preferences during residency match process, as they do not require residency programs to sponsor work visas, which usually cost thousands of dollars per resident physician, and that they are guaranteed to speak good English at the very least. However, programs are free to choose who they want as their trainees after taking into account all the factors. I don’t see why every single US-citizen applicant must be hired before non-citizens can even be considered.
What Need to be done is that once person graduate from a medical school that school should hire entire graduates into their BASIC residency program. (say internship and 2nd year to finish with obtain medical licenses) After that stage. you are free to apply to other advance post graduate programs with Licenses. this idea of APPLLYING right after med school is huge waste of money to begin with (BUT AMA deliberately designed this way to raise cash ) .how greedy are they huh? they deliberately control flow of how many doctors are out in the field. have you thought about why there isn’t enough eye doctors or ENTs as many as Family doctors? WHY NOT? (unlike JDs) they have bottle neck by its very design. forget the salary issues hr work. basic design should be Med, school then same school should have 1 and 2nd year etc. to require all md graduate to obtain licenses (extra two years of in house residency or public work under senior doctors then seat on final exam etc ) THEN ONLY THEN they apply to other specialty residencies. I absolutely agree that School should take responsibility to putting graduate MDs to work. simply put ALL MDs should graduate with licenses period.
There is no such thing as a “basic residency program.” The AMA does not make any money on residency programs. It has almost nothing to do with residency programs. The majority of physicians in the United States are not members of the AMA. The AMA does not control the number of doctors graduating from medical school or the number of residency positions. In fact, the number of physicians graduating from US medical schools has increased over the last few years and will continue to do so because of the expansion of many existing medical school classes and the creation of new schools. Graduates of medical school must pass certain examinations in order to obtain a license. It sounds like you are advocating that no such licensing examinations be required
YES I know there is no such thing as BASIC residency programs. (I was SUGGESTING they do as part of medical school integration) some countries do. AMA DOES make money off this indirectly. where do you think all that money people spend on application goes to? AMA gets pie of that too.
I did not say majority of physicians are AMA members which are paid memberships. however AMA controls and lobbies certain degree and gets fund from government. My point is this. if people are qualified to graduate with passing exams (by the way if you take 2nd time and score much higher then one time taker who do you think likely know better and more? likely its the 2nd time takers who scored high ) then don’t waste these doctors. put them to work.. only reason exam passers who can not apply for the license in state is because that one extra year of training which is required . WHY would US gov loan money to train doctors THEN forget about their loans? if then cant get a position , it means US gov wont get that money paid back. it means TAX payers dollars are wated while people from free medical schools oversea gets job in us .(think about that serious issues) so these extra year BASIC residency requirement years I propose, which can be easily integrated into the medical training just like med student rotate in the hospitals. ADD ONE YEAR and call that a internship. ( some countries call as such) once that year is completed, then graduate with license (which then all will have it) can send LICENSED doctors to rural areas based on scores on exams or by choice. this way there is no complaint of shortage of doctors. they keep saying shortage of doctors and doctors but then AMA and medical board deliberately control residency spots limited. This is really to control income of specialty.. yes that is part of the issues . WHY does eye doctor make over 300K a year ? WHY? why not cap it at 50K a year? because first of all not many are there as primary care. so that way people do want to become primary doctors just as much as ENT or eye doctors. its the very control of HOW MANY positions are there by AMA and Board does is the evil part of this whole process. NO one is contesting there is increase of medical school graduates. it means nothing if there is not equal amount of residency position for all those graduate can go into. Train doctors in Medical schools once pass Step 123 P. GIVE THEM license a UNIVERSAL license in US (they can go any where in USA) but selection is based on your scores. thats fair. and US gov will get their tax payer loans back . see how dumb they are ? if they default, that money over 300K cant not be paid back.!! train them issue them license and put them to work.
This is such a sad state of affairs, but the solutions are simple. Either of these would work: 1.) All US citizen or permanent resident MDs who pass their boards must match into a residency before any foreigners can match. 2.) MDs who fail the medical boards should be able to sit for the PA boards. MDs who pass the medical boards but fail to match should be able to practice as PAs for five years, after which they may receive a license to practice medicine.
Interesting ideas. It would take a lot of work to get either of them accepted by all parties.
As a patient, I definitely rank “qualified foreign doctor” higher than “American citizen who didn’t do well in medical school.”
I’ve honestly assumed that most third world degree matches got into that position via corruption and connections, than quality. They objectively cannot prove that they didn’t purchase their degrees from someone in the local market, and have no place in the US medical system. I’ve never met one who was quality.
John stop trying to use the…American entitlement story, besides many foreigners ARE us citizen who tried international as second option.
It’s a level playing field..
#GoodUSMLEscores.
Many foreign schools are way better at preparing their students than many US med schools.
I am interested in talking with any U.S. citizen doctors who graduated from medical school in good standing and did not match to a residency and are not practicing as a doctor. This is potentially for an article. Thanks. Maria Fotopoulos Contact: mariaf@turbodogcommunications.com
I too cannot match. I’ve graduated 10years ago. Completed all 3 usmle steps. I have been in the same situation as the author. In my case, I had planned to start my family before applying for residency ( I had heard the residents complaining how hard it was to do residency with a baby). After having my child, I applied but didn’t match.
My husband has a great job, thankfully but my heart breaks that I cannot practice medicine, be a physician assistant or a pathologist assistant or pretty much do anything, rejection after rejection. I’m still tearful when I see anyone walking around in scrubs or when I visit for my annual checkup.
Even research would cheer me up a bit but no luck there either.
If you can go to Australia or New Zeland. or even England, you will be a celebrity doctor there!
There needs to be a job market for med students having passed boards but not matched. As the writer said a PA is allowed to work after just 2yrs with far less knowledge. I’m a Carib grad, unmatched, in debt, depressed and unable to find work in SoCal even when leaving MD off resume. I was top of my class when graduated but took my step1 twice. Now I’m banished to cave even though I know I would’ve made one hell of a physician 🙁 it’s the reality, 5 years has passed and I’ve given up, my poor wife works, and I do odd jobs.
Sol, I feel so sad for you. I wish I could give you some useful advice, but I have none. I wonder how many others are in the same predicament.
I recently applied to take a surgical assisting exam. The American Board of Surgical Assisting allows IMGs who have graduated medical school to take the exam. If you pass you can work as a surgical assistant in a few States. Fortunately I worked as a surgical technician before medical school and after. If I pass this exam I will be (SA-C). I’m stilll working as a surgical tech, but hopefully after more experience I can work in the States that will allow me to bill for my service.
There is absolutely no reason why MD’s without a residency spot shouldn’t be able to sit for the PA licensing exam – NONE!!! Where is the AMA in all of this? So many PA jobs in every part of this country go unfilled. If there is a health provider crisis in this country it is the fault of the bureaucratic governing bodies of the AMA and the NCCPA – all making money with their individual certification scams. What a tragedy…and where are the articles written about this glaring inefficiency of medical care?
I have been unmatched since 2013 and have run into the same issues as the author. Luckily, I was able to get me Assistant Physician License in Missouri due to a grandfather clause inserted in the legislation last year allowing those who met the 2014 criteria to apply. I am also in the process of creating a support group / association for those who are unmatched so that people don’t feel so alone in the process. There are many people that have given up home and that data can not be found on the NRMP website. I am not even applying to ERAS this year. All of the unmatched graduates should know that you are not alone. So many people are afraid to speak up because of fear of retribution.
I have been unmatched since 2013 and have run into the same issues as the author. Luckily, I was able to get me Assistant Physician License in Missouri due to a grandfather clause inserted in the legislation last year allowing those who met the 2014 criteria to apply. I am also in the process of creating a support group / association for those who are unmatched so that people don’t feel so alone in the process. There are many people that have given up home and that data can not be found on the NRMP website. I am not even applying to ERAS this year. All of the unmatched graduates should know that you are not alone. So many people are afraid to speak up because of fear of retribution.
Hi Sara J first of all Congradulations on you success in getting the license AP !! Thank you for your encourriaging thoughts and actions in creating the support group. I live in Saint Louis MO and I am not qualified to apply for AP license. I am also trying to have a support group to at least exchange ideas. Please let me know if you can count me in the support group. you can also contact me at fanayed@yahoo.com. Thank you
You hit the nail on the head. It would be one thing if unmatched grads could work in nonclinical positions – but this is the immense irony of the entire process – after gaining so much valuable knowledge in medicine, after getting M.D. next to your name, you are unemployable. Unable to work as an MD, NP, PA, etc… but on top of that you cannot work in the fields of health insurance, in medical management, in pharmaceutical companies as sales reps or scientific advisors – these positions are reserved for physicians with experience and connections to the industry. There is literally no way to earn a decent living right out of school if you do not match. That is the true travesty here, it’s not ideal to be prevented from entering clinical medicine, but it’s outright inhumane to prevent these grads from paying back their loans and putting food on the table.
Many of my friends graduated medical school and did not do their residency. They obtained very lucrative jobs as healthcare analysts. In order to do these jobs, you must acquire various financial licenses though.
I want to know which CB school you went ? Do school help you to get in residency?
I’ve said this for years: something has to change in terms of costs for universities AND people trying to enter the medical field. We just keep bandaid-ing everything without real revamps in the system. There are real people whose lives are being ruined from this!
What’s the solution? I can’t think of one.
Can any IMG get into residency match at age 57.
Or should stop preparing for USMLE
I would never say “never,” but it would be extremely difficult especially if it has been a long time since you graduated from medical school.
I am so sorry about your situation and totally understand as my husband also has 400K in loans and hasn’t been able to get a residency spot after 3 years. It angers me to read what some commenters are saying about…this person probably doesn’t speak English or stinks or is socially awkward. My husband is American, went to undergrad at Tufts and University of Pennsylvania (for pre med) and SGU for medical school. He’s good looking and well liked by everyone he meets….so why didn’t he match? He’s been out of school for a few years now….his test scores are not at the top ….which means nothing in terms of being a good resident or not. It’s awful that people like my husband can graduate medical school but aren’t even allowed to function as a mid level provider. There is a doctor shortage in this country yet people can’t even get a spot in residency since there aren’t enough spots!
See my reply to “Michael” in the comments section of this post.
Your husband deserves a spot because he is “good-looking” and “well-liked”? And any more-qualified foreign doctor “stinks”?? I think I see a problem here.
How do you define “well-qualified” if not passing the USMLE Steps and earning BS and MD degrees from respected US institutions? She is not saying that being well-liked makes someone qualified. However, high exam scores certainly do not make an IMG more qualified than a US grad who also met the requirements to work as a physician. These scores have absolutely no correlation with the quality of a physician. Further, I agree that US citizens should have preference over non-citizens given that much of US GME funding comes from taxpayers’ money.
Being an American and good looking should NOT be a criteria.
SGU has a good reputation of competing. Obviously his scores and good looks are not enough.
I’m sorry , but stop sounding arrogant.
I love how the culture of hazing, bullying and blame is alive and well in the medical profession. These comments are revealing of why many patients don’t like doctors and many doctors don’t like their profession. According to from the Centre for Global E-Health Innovation at the University of Toronto, the number one desired trait of a doctor is, “respect people, healthy or ill, regardless of who they are” not their score on a test. I don’t see much respect for this brave doctor that stepped forward to tell their story. This artificial scarcity of residency positions was pushed by the AMA in the 1997 Budget Act to limit funding from Medicare. If you want to blame anyone for why this person can’t practice medicine, blame yourself. Most doctors that decry the standards of new doctors are singing the same songs that were probably sung about them when they were new to the profession. Shame on you.
This is a discussion I was JUST having this week. I’m not a doctor, but I have a significant other in med school right now, so I see first hand what our “future doctors” look like. Some in my opinion, are not doctor material and lack MAJOR social and human skills. Just from the tone of his essay/report/rant I can there are other issues as to why they didn’t match.
Reasons to consider.
1. Socially awkward or a Gossip Queen
– If you have “no other skills to make a living.” You can’t blame your med school for that. My boyfriend was a biology major as well. He has leadership skills, hard working skills, math and science at a high level, and people skills. He could open a taco stand and in one year have turned it into a franchise. Of course, this is exaggerated, but he succeeds in whatever he does. THAT is what will make him an amazing physician.
2. An &*@! or “Negative Nancy” personality
-I’m sorry, but some doctors are the biggest jerks. Self-centered, condescending and rude. How did you treat the nurses, or even the janitor during your rotations? Or even your fellow med students at these rotations? Yes, they are competition, but do you think attending aren’t looking at that?
3. Lack in professional demeanor or attire.
-I get it. Med school sucks. The last thing you are worried about is your outfit. But when you are doing your rotations and shadow sessions, what are you wearing? Is your hair even brushed? Presentation is EVERYTHING.
4. Poor hygiene or physical health.
-You shouldn’t smell like a cadaver. If you smoke cigarettes, you better hide that. Also, if you’ve let your physical health go, you better put down that chicken wing and hit gym. Who wants to take health advice from a doctor in worse shape than them? It’s like going to an aerobics class and the instructor is out of breath before you.
5. Social Media
– So many people forget this piece. What is your social media story? Are you doing keg stands or taking hits from a bong? (I hope not for your sake) Do you share articles publicly that could be deemed as offensive? this is where I can chime in, social media is my career. You better have a squeaky clean social media presence, but I can guarantee you, employers (hospitals, doctors ect.) are looking at you.
There are strong evidence that foreign born/graduated strong accented physicians take better care of patients than US graduates. This person does not know the reality. He did not adjust when he failed. He had wrong expectations of himself.
Absolutely. Several of my favorite doctors have been foreign-born and foreign-trained. There are some bitter US citizens on here who believe that the lack of an accent is the main qualification for being a physician. Its too bad that graduates can’t find matches, but that is hardly the fault of well-qualified applicants who are foreign.
Considering the effort and money that goes into acquiring a medical degree in the USA, citizens must absolutely be the preferred choice for residency spots. Since Indian doctors were mentioned in the post, I would like to point out that medicine is an undergraduate program in India. You could fail all your exams in your final year at high school and yet get into med school if you’ve nailed the qualifying exam NEET which is akin to MCAT only much less harder. No research, no volunteering, no shadowing, no extra curriculars, no secondary apps, no essays, no LORs, no interviews. Just 1 qualifying exams that you can nail while failing all other exams. Now compare that with what the average premed in America has to go through to get into med school.
I would love to see the evidence to back this claim. Please post it.
I am so sorry for those who are not able to receive a medical job due to these harsh conditions this world is so crazy these days and those graduates who have put their blood, sweat, and tears into trying to go a better route and spent all those pennies and dimes just to get through medical school you can all see that this world is just a scam.
I refuse to believe someone can’t scramble into a prelim year somewhere. There are literally 100’s of unfilled prelim spots throughout the country and after doing one year of residency he could become a GP or whatever else he pleases. There are plenty of better options than working for UPS.
You have NO idea what you are talking about! 100s of unfilled prelim spots? Where are you getting your information? Obviously not from the NRMP because I have been going through the list of available slots for ANY specialty all week and there is virtually NOTHING available and THOUSANDS of grads and FMGs looking for spots. Oh and Get a job as a GP after a year…” You are clueless. What planet are you on?
According to the NRMP Advance Data Tables for 2017 just released today, there are 1161 unfilled positions in all specialties with 508 of those positions being “Surgery Preliminary.” The bad news is that there are more than 8200 unmatched applicants. Lots of folks will not obtain residency positions this year.
I sent a comment ovr an hour ago – will it be posted?
I am a retired physician and I work with immigrant and refugee physicians who are trained overseas and who have come to this country to escape war or persecution. They, like this writer, have not matched to residency positions in spite of passing all the USMLE exams and obtaining clinical experience which is difficult to find and is most often rarified to observerships that do not connect well with the Match. Furthermore, most have practiced in their home countries and are more than five years past their graduation dates (though not their USMLE completion dates). The writer states that US graduates have increased. There have been more than 18 new medical schools developed in the past 18 years, but because the federal government funding, through Medicaid/Medicare allotment, has not increased since 1997, there are now not enough residency positions for the US graduates, let alone international graduates. This impacts medical school graduates like the writer. At the same time, there is a physician shortage in this country, especially in rural and underserved areas, that is only going to worsen. What the writer says about trying to get jobs with an MD degree but without a license is true for our doctors as well. One of our physicians sought a job with the department of health, only to be told that she didn’t meet the minimum requirements – which in that case was a high school diploma. (?!) I do not believe the problem lies with the writer, but with the system that allows a bottleneck at the residency level. I wish him the best of luck. He deserves it.
This post is missing vital information.
What were the author’s Step scores? Did the author fail Step 1 or 2? Did the author fail any courses in med school, or have to repeat classes, or take longer to finish med school than normal? Were there problems during clinical rotations with knowledge or professionalism?
If any of these are true, then I am sorry to say that this person would usually be considered too much of a risk to take into a residency.
I have been a faculty member for 8 years. This is the real world, folks. If you are not cut out for the job, academically or otherwise, you are not going to get the job.
You should be ashamed of yourself. Someone gave you a chance. Not everyone is born with a golden spoon and a single failed courses in 20 years of education or a step does not define anyone. People like you promote nepotism in medicine and eroding the core of the profession in our country. Every single person with “connections” matched into residency from my class even if they had a failed grade or step. Professionalism should be the only reason to discard someone. Academically if you’re able to pass some of the hardest examinations in the world on your first or second try you are cut for the job. Soon itll be hard to see a doctor and all youll get is PAs and NPs with half the length of USMLE exams and online schools treating you because of attitude like yours.
So this person graduated med school at age 35. He or she claims to have no other marketable skills at have $500,000 in debt. A few questions:
1) What the hell did this person do from age 21 to age 31 that allowed them to get accepted to medical school but yet left them unqualified for anything other than a minimum wage job?
2) How does someone rack up $500,000 in loans in 4 years? That’s 125,000 a year taken out.
3) What programs was this person trying to match to? I find it hard to believe that they couldn’t even get into an FP or IM program anywhere in the country.
My mom graduated when she was 35, because she was a single parent it took her a little longer to finish school before she could even apply. Despite her graduating she is still not able to match for a residency four years in a row.
I’m sorry to hear about your mother. I’m afraid the further away from clinical medicine she gets, the less chance she has of matching. I hope she has found some meaningful work and is not in too much debt.
If youre so misinformed please dont comment. FM and IM are extremely competitive for Carribean graduates because theyre basically competing with applicants from all over the world.
Few years ago(probably 10), when I heard about my seniors, I had the same reaction like yours until I faced the same. Yes, this is what reality is ….
3xs unmatched says issue is most likely with him. This sounds like a bunch of excuses and whining about debt.
Blame the candidate for trying not the archaic system. No one loves debt. Medicine was a noble profession once but people like you are eating it away. Artifical residency bottlenecks to keep physician compensations high and negotiable are the reason America lacks quality ethical physicians.