Hi,
Im in a pretty unusual and currently unsettling situation. I just completed my first year of medical school at Semmelweis University in Hungary. Im a US citizen and my intentions are to practice in the US after graduating. When I applied, my school had an agreement with New York Medical College, in which students could complete all their clinical rotations in the same place over several months. After over 30 years of helping international students complete their rotations (helping them immensely in acquiring US residencies), this program has just been cancelled. Now I will have to scramble to do my rotations, choosing from a short list of teaching hospitals that my school approves. This will require me to jump from city to city for each rotation, since most schools only allow international students to do 1-2 rotations in total. I dont know exactly how hard it is for international students to get US rotations, and Im sure it depends on the USMLE scores. However, I have heard that extremely expensive third party services must be used in order to get them if your school is not formally affiliated with the teaching hospital (Semmelweis has zero US affiliations). In addition, New York has a state law saying that international students who do more than 12 weeks of their rotations outside their schools country cannot match to a New York residency. This only matters because New York is one of the most (if not the most) receptive state towards international medical graduates. So I pretty much cant practice in NY.
Without the New York Medical College program helping secure rotations, I have become very unsure on whether or not to continue there. The alternative would be to apply to DO programs for Fall 2017, which just stretches my timeline even longer. This decision is difficult, since Ive already spent around $20k and 1 year at Semmelweis. Any advice or input on this matter would be appreciated. Thank you.
Im in a pretty unusual and currently unsettling situation. I just completed my first year of medical school at Semmelweis University in Hungary. Im a US citizen and my intentions are to practice in the US after graduating. When I applied, my school had an agreement with New York Medical College, in which students could complete all their clinical rotations in the same place over several months. After over 30 years of helping international students complete their rotations (helping them immensely in acquiring US residencies), this program has just been cancelled. Now I will have to scramble to do my rotations, choosing from a short list of teaching hospitals that my school approves. This will require me to jump from city to city for each rotation, since most schools only allow international students to do 1-2 rotations in total. I dont know exactly how hard it is for international students to get US rotations, and Im sure it depends on the USMLE scores. However, I have heard that extremely expensive third party services must be used in order to get them if your school is not formally affiliated with the teaching hospital (Semmelweis has zero US affiliations). In addition, New York has a state law saying that international students who do more than 12 weeks of their rotations outside their schools country cannot match to a New York residency. This only matters because New York is one of the most (if not the most) receptive state towards international medical graduates. So I pretty much cant practice in NY.
Without the New York Medical College program helping secure rotations, I have become very unsure on whether or not to continue there. The alternative would be to apply to DO programs for Fall 2017, which just stretches my timeline even longer. This decision is difficult, since Ive already spent around $20k and 1 year at Semmelweis. Any advice or input on this matter would be appreciated. Thank you.