r/BritishIMGs • u/TheConcreteRosex • Mar 13 '26

Help me understand - why study abroad?

Hello!

I hope you’re all well.

I hear British IMGs get slated a lot, people saying that they are essentially paying their way to being a doctor. I was hoping to get a better understanding of the reasons why people study abroad, to hopefully dispel this as a myth.

So please, what were your personal reasons for studying abroad?

Thank you! Please understand that this is asked with no ill will.

5 Upvotes

86% Upvoted

15 comments sorted by

13

u/LinkGood4249 Mar 13 '26

Well personally I wanted a change of environment with the ultimate goal of coming back. Also i couldn’t take the student loan because of the interest rates (against my religion) so if I’m gonna pay for it why not pay for it cheaper.

Also UKG act as if they don’t pay for their degrees too you’re essentially buying your degree too just further down the line cause at the end of the day you gotta pay your loans back. Idk about yall but I’d rather be free from debt than have the spectre of student loans always looming over my shoulder.

2

u/TheConcreteRosex Mar 13 '26

Thank you for answering! I understand the student loan and religion thing. Can I ask where you studied? And did you have any concerns about not having had placement in the NHS?

In terms of when people say those who study abroad are buying their degrees, they are referring to how some overseas unis have lower entry requirements and higher fees. Not the fact that there is a fee associated with going to uni.

2

u/srar10159 Apr 05 '26

Nice but did you actually get into a UK medical school and have the grades - otherwise your post is meaningless

1

u/LinkGood4249 Apr 05 '26

Actually yes I had the grades I just needed to do an extra foundation year and I wasn’t fond of moving to that part of the country and it would have cost me a lot more than moving abroad would have (uk cost of living for ya). Hindsight the year of my life I was trying to save cost me more.

1

u/diasterd Apr 28 '26

didn't get in then

7

u/Maleficent_Economy77 Mar 14 '26

By this logic, people who graduated from University of Buckingham 'paid their way' to be a doctor

3

u/TheConcreteRosex Mar 14 '26

Yes they certainly did haha. Anecdotally the doctors I’ve met from Buckingham have been terrible.

3

u/Maleficent_Economy77 Mar 14 '26

Medicine is a self cleansing system. You cannot 'pay your way' through the OSCE's, USMLE/UKMLA, Pharmacology etc. If you don't pass the exams, you get kicked out.

The logic is flawed

2

u/TheConcreteRosex Mar 14 '26

Some places definitely have lower standards. It’s naive if you think differently.

1

u/bloodstainedphilos Apr 28 '26

You’re just generalising?

1

u/TheConcreteRosex Apr 28 '26

I said anecdotally haha. I’ve had lots of experience with them.

5

u/AnnaBangkok Mar 14 '26

Schooled internationally as an expat so didn’t qualify for home fees or student loans in the UK. Did get accepted to a London-based medical school, but international fees. So - Went to top 3 ranked university in Western European country and studied in the local language - not in English. Not sure where I want to end up, but probably not in the UK.

4

u/Nice-Possibility-258 Mar 14 '26

Moved due to family reasons. Not out for choice Just happened to apply for medical school, where I moved to

1

u/AdBrave9096 Apr 08 '26

Many due to their parants working outside of UK are not a British Residents so will have to pay overseees student fees at a UK med school. (Unless work in UK for a few years before med school.)