Settling as an MD in the US/UK

[sweetashoney]

I am German And right now I am in my second clinical semester (soon to be third... yay, I can see an end ;)) at the university in Giessen. I saw that you are living in or close to Stuttgart- that's awesome! My parents just moved to Karlsruhe about 4 years ago Still need to explore the Baden-Württemberg part, though

[alphawelle]

Damn, that sounds like a lot of buerocratic load of bull. On one hand, I can understand certain standards in medicine and would certainly hate it if some foreign doctor with a degree in medieval "medicine" were to be allowed to work. But on the other hand, this is Europe and the US, we're talking about. We're not.. that different!

Then again, in Germany, there are also those "Gleichwertigkeitsprüfung" (exam of equal service) for foreign doctors - as far as I know even for EU citizens, but I'm not sure.

So, you're studying in Germany aswell? Where do you come from, originally? =)

B22, you can find answers to a lot of your Qs on the forums.studentdoctor.net board.

I know that you'd be eligible to work in the UK, providing you have a citizenship of the EU, but you'd have to go through the foundation programme first, and the application process starts early and ends quite a long time before the annual begin.

I suppose you would be able to work in the UK as a licensed German physician as well, given the new EU regulations, but as to whether you'd actually be accepted into a subspeciality training program, I am not sure.

[B22]

@alphawelle Well, asumming that I'd finish my subspeciality training in Germany, that shouldn't be a problem, right? Granted, I don't know the UK countryside, but London has always been a city that fascinated me extremely. But thanks for the link to the studentdoctor board. I'll be sure to check that out when I find the time.

@sweetashoney Alrighty, I totally assumed that you were an American based on your English skills. My bad.. =) But seriously though, with your language skills you shouldn't have a problem settling in an english-speaking country.

[flavour]

A lot of people are trying to do the same. So I would:
(1) take the USMLE steps and score high
(2) spend most of your clerkships/electives and maybe part of your fourth year over there
(3) get to know people

After talking to some residency program directors over here I realized that there is a big difference between being just a name & a number and them getting to know you while you've been working with them for a month or so.

But to really pull it off, you will need insane motivation whereas people around you in Germany will basically think "why the f**k is he doin this?".

[jijichu]

I am German And right now I am in my second clinical semester (soon to be third... yay, I can see an end ;)) at the university in Giessen. I saw that you are living in or close to Stuttgart- that's awesome! My parents just moved to Karlsruhe about 4 years ago Still need to explore the Baden-Württemberg part, though

Karlsruhe is awesome! I grew up there and I think it is absolutely fantastic (albeit there arent many places that you can go out to - but if you are there I'd recommend 'Brazil' )

What you need to consider when you go to the UK to work is, that you will be a fully approbated practitioner, whereas the UK students need to do their F1 and F2 years. That could be a problem when you apply for a speciality training.
Also, as the UK has changed the selection process within the UK medicine graduates (high point scores --> placement in London and other high prestige places although some universities that only begun to offer medicine and their exams are considered easier, those will still compete with universities such as Imperial, Oxbridge etc. ), you might face some difficulties actually getting a place in London. Depending on what speciality you are interested in, I'd recomend Brighton, its a beautiful city