# Graduating Pak Med School and Practising in North America?



## stoodyus (Aug 3, 2010)

hey guys..so i was wondering if anybody on this forum has graduated from a pakistani med school and then gone abroad to north america to do their residency and ultimately practise. how tough is it to get a residency position coming from a pakistani med skool? any success/ horror stories that you guys can share?


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## MastahRiz (Jan 26, 2006)

Lots of people have done it; it's not hard.


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## stoodyus (Aug 3, 2010)

I keep getting mixed information from physicians over here (in Canada) over the prospects of pakistani medical school students. Some of them say, yes you can still be in a competitive position for residency in Canada or the States with a Pakistani MBBS degree. And some of them say you'll be wasting your life away in Pakistani if you go to med school there, because here those degrees are considered garbage and you should instead go to an accredited medical school like St.George's in the Carribean.

What is your opinion on this? Have any of you graduated from a Pak med school recently (in the past few years) and have gotten residencies in North America? Also, has anyone here or that you know of, tried and been unsuccessful?


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## MastahRiz (Jan 26, 2006)

People from foreign medical colleges get into US residency programs every year. If you have a strong application with great board scores, then you have the same chance of matching as they did.

I know plenty of people matching every year from Pakistan, and obviously there are those who don't match.

It just depends on your application-- you're not going to find a guarantee anywhere though, not even if you graduate from an American medical school.


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## ZoyaZ (Sep 7, 2009)

I don't know about your chance in the States but in Canada they will be very slim. If you're a great applicant, you may get family/neuro but that's about it. The thing is, if you want to return to Canada you'll be competing against applicants who went to Ireland, Aus, NZ, and UK. CARMS statistics show that graduates from Europe+Aus have a much better chance of matching and its understood that residency directors prefer IMGs from these developed nations. I would seriously suggest that you try to do as many electives in Canada as possible before you enter CARMS.


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## stoodyus (Aug 3, 2010)

hmmm...i know chances for getting a residency position in Canada are slim. so i'm thinking that i'll probably be applying for getting one in the States (if God willing, i get that far)..but what exactly does a "great application" consist of? great grades in med school and high usmle scores? and what else?


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## ZoyaZ (Sep 7, 2009)

Well, I really don't know much about the U.S. If you really want to try for Canada, there's the obvious requirement of great grades and test scores. Then you need Canadian LORs. And I'll stress that if you want to match in the U.S. do electives there. If you want to match in Canada, try to find electives up North. Try to excel in these positions and secures great LORs. Also, try to get your name on a research paper by participating in a summer research project in 2nd yr. Most electives do not take students until 4th year but there are some that will take you in the summer of your third year. If you want to stand out further, get involved with medical clubs and societies. Try doing some pro bono volunteering in pk as a medical student. Every little bit of involvement counts on your resume when you apply for residency. Just my two cents. I'm just entering first year of medical school myself and any information I have is from what I have read in books/online and from what I have been told.


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## MastahRiz (Jan 26, 2006)

^great advice. +rep!


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## stoodyus (Aug 3, 2010)

thnks guys for the advice?
i was wondering: do Pak med schools assist their students in finding residency positions? what about usmle prep??


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## MastahRiz (Jan 26, 2006)

No to both questions.


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## 4003 (Aug 12, 2008)

I recently found out about this person who got into neurosurgery in the states as being a Pakistani medical graduate around last year. So it's not impossible to get those positions. 
I Hope that was encouraging!


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## hammad khan (Jan 13, 2010)

i know many pakistani doctors around in New York who got thire dagrees from pakistan and now working in usa with a good and big names around the aria. I know one of the pediatric she is working in New York from last 14 years and she got her mbbs dagree from panjab medical college she is popular in indian doctors as well. The doctor i am work whith is also pakistani graduated and his wife too. But there is one more pakistani garduater and she is working with me but the sad part is she have passed three steps but no residency. its little bit tugh. have to work heard for residency now in New York because as the many students are going back to pakistan to get the dagree and then coming back in 4-5 years, and working with the docs who got thire dagrees in 10 years from the USA so government is making diffeculties for residency. best of luck to all and do best much as you can. Allah may help you all:happy:


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## Sam212 (Apr 3, 2006)

wasaykhan713 said:


> I recently found out about this person who got into neurosurgery in the states as being a Pakistani medical graduate around last year. So it's not impossible to get those positions.
> I Hope that was encouraging!


If you are talking about the guy at stanford, he's got the baller status. He scored a 276 on step I and it was the highest score in the whole world in 2007, if you can ball like that, you should get anything you want!


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## MastahRiz (Jan 26, 2006)

Links, or it didn't happen.


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## 4003 (Aug 12, 2008)

Actually there are quite a few of pakistani medical graduates who scored 260+ and not always from the best of schools.


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## Sam212 (Apr 3, 2006)

MastahRiz said:


> Links, or it didn't happen.



The guy definitely exists if you look at the stanford's Neurosurgery website, I'll try and find the link for you about him scoring the highest USMLE


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## MastahRiz (Jan 26, 2006)

I'll wait for the link. Thanks.


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## Sam212 (Apr 3, 2006)

MastahRiz said:


> I'll wait for the link. Thanks.


Cant find the link, you win bro, but the guy is a baller and you can take that to the bank. My apologies for posting unverifiable info on here.


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## 4003 (Aug 12, 2008)

Sam212 said:


> Cant find the link, you win bro, but the guy is a baller and you can take that to the bank. My apologies for posting unverifiable info on here.


was his name waqas qureshi by any chance?

...and also I just happened to just google "usmle scores 276" and there are a lot of people i came across on forums who had step 1 scores in the 280 range.For example... 286 on step-1 and 286 on step-2 CK a Jordanian IMG who interviewed at Mayo clinic.

You never know if it's true...then again you can't always trust what you read on the "internet"


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## Sam212 (Apr 3, 2006)

wasaykhan713 said:


> was his name waqas qureshi by any chance?
> 
> ...and also I just happened to just google "usmle scores 276" and there are a lot of people i came across on forums who had step 1 scores in the 280 range.For example... 286 on step-1 and 286 on step-2 CK a Jordanian IMG who interviewed at Mayo clinic.
> 
> You never know if it's true...then again you can't always trust what you read on the "internet"


Here's his profile: Omar Aftab Choudhri- Dura: Resources for Neurosurgery Residents - Stanford University School of Medicine

Anyone claiming to get a 280 or above is pretty much lying, the highest score in my class was 266. The highest score ever out of our school is 272. Only 4 kids scored north of 250 in my class. 260+ is pretty much 99.9 percentile.


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