<p>I don't hold a Green Card or U.S. passport so I'm a non-resident. I would love to do my undergraduate in my home country. But the problem is that gaining admission to U.S. med schools is extremely tough for international students who have studied at their home country and requires at least one year of study in the U.S./Canada. Can I first apply to a PhD program in Biological Sciences and then drop out/reapply/switch to med school after my first year of education? Or is there any possibility of attending med school after completing PhD? If none of these work, what would be the best way to enter med school?</p>
<p>I don’t think applying from a PhD will make it any easier for an international student. If anything, it’d be a disadvantage because I’ve heard adcoms don’t like it if an applicant plans to drop the grad program they’re in if they get in because it shows lack of commitment. </p>
<p>It’s definitely possible to go to med school after a PhD but it’s way too costly and time consuming if your end goal is MD. Having a PhD is a plus as an applicant but it’s not reasonable to pick up a PhD like it’s an EC for medical school.</p>
<p>…or study medicine in your own country. Unless you are an amazingly competitive applicant, not being an American citizen is going to make it almost impossible to study here. Most American applicants can’t get into our medical schools. I have heard of students from American territories (such as Guam and Puerto Rico) with as many as 15-20 national awards, perfect GPAs, and a spectrum of other awesome credentials barely getting into one American medical school. My suggestion would generally be to study where you are (your own country) unless you’re in around the top 5% of applicants from your country (25% of those who complete the application process get in but the vast majority are probably self-selected out by the difficulty of the process).</p>
<p>@mmmcdowe: What options are available for that? I was thinking of doing a 2 year Masters degree in Biological Sciences. Will that help much? Do you have some information on this matter?</p>
<p>@ apumic: If I study medicine in my home country, will I have opportunities to do residencies/graduate studies/post doc fellowships in the US? Can I work in the US after doing USMLE? What other options are present?</p>