Hi guys!
So it’s my first time using college confidential, so forgive me if I made some stupid mistakes :)))
So I’m currently in high school, taking IB classes and I’m a international student from Europe.
My IB grades are not that bad but I feel really overwhelmed right now and I’m scared of taking SAT.
I just wanted to know a few things:
Firstly, is attending community college in California and then transferring to a 4-year institution a bad idea? I want to have more time to decide what I want to do and somehow save some money. But I also want to major in biology/pre-med and later go to med school (I know that studying medicine in Europe is probably a better option but I’ve been dreaming about studying in the US since I was 6 y/o).
Second thing: Will attending cc have a negative impact on my plan of becoming a doctor? I heard conflicting reports, some say that med schools do not look “that much” at the undergraduate school but the rest says that it’s very important::
I’m really lost rn and I would appreciate your help,
Thank you in advance:)
Please make sure you can afford to attend a California public school. There are no scholarships for non-residents. The CC will be full fees and the UC’s will be full fees because these schools are public schools funded by the State of California which cannot afford to fund non-residents.
Med schools are impacted and accept few international students. Most of those accepted students are from Canada. Med schools run about $200-$300K. You cannot get US aid or loans to fund your education. For more information on requirements, you can get advice from @WayOutWestMom.
There are US med students who have attended CCC’s.
@aunt_bea has it right. US medical schools have very, very low rates of acceptances for international students.
Only 131 international students in total matriculated into all US medical schools combined last year–and approx 85% of those students were. Canadians. That means about 20 non-Canadian international students were accepted last year.
See: https://www.aamc.org/media/6011/download
International students must be able to self-fund the entire cost of their US medical education. Most med schools require proof–either through a letter of guarantee from your home country government, or a deposit of typically around a minimum of US$250,000 into a US escrow account – that you can pay for your medical education.
For international pre-med hopefuls attending a CC first will seriously disadvantage you in medical school admissions. Those internationals who do gain a US medical school acceptance tend to have graduated from elite US universities.
If you are interested in attending medical school in the US as an international student, what is your budget for your full 8 years of university? You could be looking at well over $500,000 before you end up with an MD.
As others have said plan to be full pay at any public university in California.
While the budget is scary, a bigger issue is that while getting accepted to an undergraduate program in the US is relatively straightforward, getting accepted to medical school in the US as an international student is extremely difficult. There is an extremely high likelihood that you will get four years into this process, get a bachelor’s degree in the US, and then find that you do not get accepted to any medical school in the US.
Attending medical school in Europe to me sounds like a far more realistic plan.
@aunt_bea @WayOutWestMom @DadTwoGirls
thank you for some tips, I was prepared to pay a lot for my education but the perspective of getting bs only to get rejected by all med schools doesn’t appeal to me.
Then, do you know what is necessary to do residency in the US and later stay there?
My plan B or even C includes going to med school in Europe, especially in Poland, and spend those 6 years there studying in English; is it possible for me to get residency in the US, if I successfully pass USMLE step 1 and 2 and of course graduate from med school?
Most med school in Poland are accredited by MBC, UKJKKL etc. but is it enough?
There are no guarantees in the process.
IMGs can apply for US medical residencies through the NRMP Match. The odds of you matching are only fair.
According the NRMP:
The key words here are “submitted program choices”. Many, perhaps even most, IMGs do not submit a rank list because they do not receive any residency interviews.
In order to qualify for the Match, besides passing the USMLE Steps 1, 2CK and 2CS, you will need US clinical experience (USCE) in order to get US LORs that are basically a requirement to get serious consideration from residency program directors at US hospital. Getting USCE is a serious problem for many IMGs.
Also be aware that most non US citizen physicians who do match match into less competitive specialties (FM, IM, pathology) at less desirable locations–rural or low resource inner city hospitals.
So your goal really is to immigrate to the US, not just to attend a US university.
Immigration rules have changed and are harder and stricter.
You will be dealing with an expensive, difficult goal that is NOT guaranteed.
The universities will educate you, but they expect you to return to your home country after graduation. You can’t work to support yourself on a student Visa, and, as a science major, whose goal is medical school- needing perfect grades, MCATs, and community service hours, you won’t have the time.
Domestic med school students tend to have a lot of debt. They lack decent sleep schedules and have quick, and at times, unhealthy meals, and are on their feet for 24 hours and more. They invest a minimum of 10 years or more in this difficult, educational road.
Even with all of this knowledge, the competition is stiff and hundreds of thousands of students (worldwide) continue to try to get into this discipline, in the US, every year.
You need to be aware that this field is competitive, time consuming, stressful and expensive. You can’t go in this field unaware about the expectations and challenges. For international students, the chances are very low and never guaranteed.
One more resource for you.
In 2013**, the NRMP published match rates by country of medical education (p. 22) and citizenship of applicant (p. 21)
**2013 is the last year this information is available.
Poland did not produce a sufficient number of non-US citizen physicians who applied to the US residencies to give a match rate. (Countries must have at least 25 non US citizens apply for the Match to be included in the data.)
Of the US citizen graduates of Polish med schools, 46 matched (36%) while 79 (63%) did not. Since these citizen applicants do not require visas to work in the US and can more easily find USCE positions, they have a very strong advantage over non-US citizen applicants from the same country.
Also be aware that most residencies only offer J-1 visas to non-citizens, The J-1 visa cannot be easily converted into a F1 visa or green card status. The J-1 requires the visa holder to return to their home country at the end of their educational training for at least 2 years before they can apply for entry back into the US.
I sounds incredibly challenging and risky; I feel really overwhelmed. Still, thank you for helping me, it gave me a lot to think about.
Happy New Year!
It is a difficult route. The ones who are most successful in navigating the this pathway are this physicians who have completed their residencies outside the US and have practiced for several years in their home country, gaining experience and expertise in their specialty, before attempting to emigrate to the US.
It can be done. I personally know 3 foreign-trained physicians who are now practicing physicians in the US. (One from Guatemala, one from Mexico and one from Turkey.)