To IMGs: "Why USA Instead of Serving your own people ?"

If it were an IMG Program Director asking you that question - your first instinct might be to blurt out : "Look Who's talking" or "If that was an issue, why invite me for an Interview" - hehe....but you gotta tone down and give an indisputable answer.

You surely want to avoid any political or personal angles that your interview might take and handling the question diplomatically will only do you good.

Here are some things Non-American IMGs could use:

1. America is considered to be the highest seat of medical education in the world with the best faculty, educational facilities, technology and research opportunities.
I wish to take advantage of this opportunity, learn the way medicine is done here, gain experience for some years after that and then take back what I learn back to my home country to set up a private practice, hospital, clinic. etc.

2. My country currently does not provide competent education in the specialty that I plan to pursue after this residency.

3. If asked - "But People need you back there in your home country" - you could say something like: "Yes - I am aware of that and that remains one of the most pressing reasons driving me to secure the best medical education in the world that I can achieve".

In light of the above questions, if asked 'So will you be getting back to your country ?' - I don't feel there is anything wrong in suggesting that you will, unless there are some valid political reasons like political refuge.

"Yes - a after I have served in this country for a few years and put on good experience feathers on my cap, I plan to head back home to establish myself as a physician with advanced training and experience"

In all probability you might never encounter this question, but a year back I had an interesting email from an IMG who came to the USA as a nurse and was interviewing for residency programs. At one community program, she experienced a particularly irate program director who posed the question in a not-so-friendly way. And I still wonder what made him invite her in the first place !

Some of you may debate that it may not be right to commit anything - but I say - when You say you will head back, it's not a legal commitment you are making. The program director is not going to keep track of your geographic locations and take action if you do not head back to your country in your mentioned time-frame. Rather, you are doing yourself a favor by sounding confident, politically correct and avoid unnecessary arguments and fireworks.


On that issue - remember to NEVER say you are here for the higher salaries, more prestige, the salaries in your country suck, etc ;-) . You don't want to build a wrong perception around you.


Having blahed-blahed all the above, again, some of you will have other legitimate reasons that you can mention like those seeking political asylum in the United States.