Let’s get some things cleared, because like most first year medical students in the Caribbean, I didn’t have much of an idea of what is what. But the information that I have presented below is from another doctor, a Canadian doctor. I can’t say much from my side because I haven’t been through the residency process.
AMG, IMG, and FMG
AMG stands for American Medical Graduates, IMG stands for International Medical Graduate, and FMG stands for Foreign Medical Graduate. AMG should be a no brainer; students who graduate from US medical schools. IMG are US Citizens/Canadian citizens who graduated in a medical school outside of the US. FMG are non-US citizens who graduated outside of the US.
Priority in Selection
Did you know there is a priority selection in getting selected for residency. For example Anesthesiology, Radiology, and Dermatology are three fields where AMGs are most likely always selected. And IMG and FMG must do a lot in order to get a fellowship in those three fields, such as doing and extensive amount of research. The following is the selection priority for residency.
1. American Medical Graduates
2. International Medical Graduates (US-Citizens)
3. International Medical Graduates (Canadian Citizens)
4. Foreign Medical Graduates
Yes you got that right, they will choose a US IMG over a Canadian IMG. I know it’s discriminatory, but I think it has to do with the whole paying taxes thing, but I can be wrong, don’t quote me on that. The residency board will always select a US citizen over a Canadian citizen if both have the same level of scores. However, if a Canadian IMG has a 95% and a US IMG has a 85% score on the Step 1, the choice is obvious, they will choose the Canadian.
If I was wrong in anything in this blog post, then by all means please point it out by commenting below.
Priority Selection among American, International, and Foreign Graduates
at Sunday, May 01, 2011
4 comments:
IMG is International Medical Graduate, But in NRMP they classify this group in two: 1. US Citizen IMG and 2. Non-Us Citizen IMG.
Neither NRMP or ECFMG uses FMG to refer foreign medical graduates.
@Advance: thanks for clarifying
You have some really useful information. I am going to be going to UMHS St. Kitts, one of the foreign medical schools this coming year. I have found that the biggest difference in the results students as far as residency positions is their test results. UMHS has good results on the exams and their students have found a lot of success.
@Norma: the test scores will always be a factor in terms of filtering out the candidates
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