I have two seperate questions and would extremely appreciate your help.
As a second year student from the UK, is there any other possibility to experience American universities apart from doing a semester abroad? Unfortunately, a semester abroad would interfere with my degree too much so even though I have been accepted to the programme, I was unable to match the modules I need to take. Are there any other ways to go abroad?
I would like to do some further study after finishing my course and I am considering to do it in the US. My budget limit would be about $10-15k for tuition fees (as far as I know it is two years in the US so the limit would be for both). Is it possible to find a good university offering the degree while sticking to that limit and could you please recommend some? Also, what are the usual entry requirements and would I have to take any tests? The degree I would be looking to do would be in the Life Sciences (Genetics, Molecular Biology).
Consider a full year abroad rather than just a semester. The classes might work better for you.
Your budget limit is much too low for an MS program. If that is all you can afford, you need to focus on your studies now so that you can be a vialbe candidate for a PhD program. Those usually offer full funding. Normally you would be expected to take the GRE exam.
You should aim for a PHD, which means getting research experience (with conference presentation and/or publication) as an undergraduate. You’ll need to take the GRE, which you can train for (I think Khan Academy has some training modules) and aim for a top 5-10% score.
The difference between a Master’s (which you’d have to pay for) and a PHD is that the PHD is funded (you don’t pay tuition).
Finally, I agree that if you want to experience study abroad going for the full year may help matching US classes to UK Modules.
Okay, thank you! I see, how much would I usually need to expect to pay for tuition fees? As an example, Bemidji State charges $8,000/year, is that an exception or did I look at a bad university? As for a PhD, I don’t think my uni offers any research experience for undergrads. Do you think I would still be able to get in without any research experience? (other than the honours project which is a dissertation we have to do in our final year but it is more like a literature review, although sometimes a small study is involved)
My programme leader advised me to not do a full year abroad as this would interfere with the accreditation. I was thinking more of a summer semester if that is available?
Bemidji State is an exception because it doesn’t charge extra for out of state or international students. Also, that’s just tuition - it doesn’t include rent, food, books, transportation.
To have an idea of price ranges, you can look at UNC Chapel Hill, UMN Twin Cities, UCLA, Mizzou, SUNY Buffalo.
For a PHD, you need to do research (most graduate programs will expect research experience - American undergraduates who want to go to grad school make sure to get involved, which would be another reason you could try to join an exchange program in the US).
Can you do the year abroad as a “sandwich” year, ie., you’d do year 2 in the UK, year abroad, then Year 3 in the UK?
Is your university part of ISEP?
An alternative is to stay at your university and do the Master’s there, in order to get research experience. Apply during your year of Master’s.
Thanks. I would be fine paying about $15k just for tuition fees as my loan would cover that.
Unfortunately, a sandwich year is not possible as I would lose funding for the year. My university is not a part of ISEP. I’ve got permission to do one semester abroad at any US university that matches my modules as their partner unis didn’t. This seems to be insanely difficult though and I’ve had no success yet.
Also, my university doesn’t offer masters degree in the life sciences. I could apply to other universities, though tuition for the one year degree would be £7,600 which isn’t exactly cheap either.
So keeping trying to find a way I can study abroad or somehow manage to get research experience and then apply for a PhD would be my best bet? Is it not worth it trying to find a university that charges low fees as well?
Available but not recommended. Summer terms at most universities are rather different from the regular terms. Summer courses are usually introductory or low-intermediate level, targeted at students who fell behind in their degree program. Many courses will be taught by graduate students, not professors. Most of the regular undergraduate students will be gone. Lots of people (including high school students) coming and going for various summer programs and academic conferences.
What’s the list of courses that you need, and in which semester (fall or spring)?
It is Perspectives of the Life Science Industry (bioproduct development and legal/economic issues), Applications Mini Project (a independent project carried out with a full analysis) and Drug Design. Especially the first two modules were really difficult to find at any university undergraduate level, although I found some of them on 5xx level.
They are in the spring semester and the programme is Biomedical Science. Thank you!
Are you in an applied chemistry course?
The first module would be two courses (in the us, course = module); the second would be called Independent Study or Independent Research. So, that’d be 4 courses. You’d have to take a fifth one, which I’d recommend to be Intro to American studies (since you’re in the US it’d be an easy, broad overview of American culture. It’d be fun and relevant to your study abroad semester even if you don’t get credit for it in the UK).
Look at offerings at CPP (Cal poly Pomona) and Cal poly SLO, Case Western, Washington state, most flagships?
Thank you. No, it is actually Biomedical Science.
After looking through quite a few course catalogues, I have finally managed to find one university that matches the modules: California State University Los Angeles
BIOL 4440 - Drug Discovery and Development
BIOL 4080 - Experimental Design and Advanced Biostatistics
MGMT 4330 - Healthcare Regulations and Ethics.
Now I am not sure, because they are all 4th year courses and I have been told they are more difficult than our 3rd year modules, is that true?
Also, would the Mini Project count as research and be sufficient for a PhD?
How close to the modules at your home university do the American courses need to be? The courses you found may have very little overlap with the modules you’ll be missing at home. For example, MGMT 4330 may focus on direct patient service providers (like hospitals). BIOL 4080 looks like a second course in statistics, not a project course.
You can look up the prerequisites for each course in the course catalog. For example, BIOL 4440 has prerequisites of organic chemistry and biochemistry. BIOL 4080 has as a prerequisite a first course in biostatistics. If you have the prerequisite background, the course should be accessible to you.
Generally speaking, 4th year undergraduate courses in the US should not be more advanced than 3rd year undergraduate courses in the UK, since American undergraduates need to fulfill general education requirements in addition to their major. It also wouldn’t be uncommon for an American undergraduate student to take a handful of graduate courses, though the policies on that vary between universities and departments.
One more important thought I wanted to throw out there: Visiting students usually get the lowest priority for registration. You may not know until the first week of classes whether you can get a seat in the courses you need, even if you do find a university that teaches them all in the same semester.
Look for courses (classes) in biomedical engineering departments. Don’t look for a “biomedical science” major which is very rare here.
Focus on CPP and CAL poly SLO (as previously mentioned), Case Western, Montana State, Colorado State, Arizona State, Ohio State, Penn State, UVermont …
I don’t think CSU la would be a good choice at all (no campus life, no affordable housing, lower tier academics) but 4th year classes if offered, would be ok for a Year 3 British student.
Thanks to both of you!!
The modules should be as close as possible but if the majority of the content is covered that would be sufficient.
Is that the case at every university in the US that visiting students have a low priority for the modules? It needs to be guaranteed, otherwise I’ll be unable to get permission.
Colorado State University
BMS 450 Pharmacology 3 credits
BMS 401 Laboratory Research in Biomedical Sciences 4 credits
ECON 325 Health Economics 3 credits (not close but maybe close enough).
The problem now is that unlike CSU LA they do not have a special fee (reduced) for study abroad students so tuition is almost $15,000 for one semester. My loan would only cover up to $5,300 in tuition fees for a semester abroad. Is it worth asking for a scholarship or some discount?
It is quite universally true that non-degree-seeking students have lower registration priority than degree-seeking students. However, the registration process itself and its timing varies between universities. You may be able to secure a spot in your preferred spring semester classes in late November, for example.
If you are looking at public universities in CA, also check their policy on visiting students. CSU LA doesn’t seem to take visiting students at all, for space reasons, and SDSU seems to only take visiting students through pre-existing exchange agreements.
CSU Chico
NURS 305 Applied Pharmacology and Laboratory Data Analysis 2 credits
HCSV 432 Laws, Ethics, and Regulations in Health Services 3 credits or
HCSV 360 Public Health Administration 3 credits
BIOL 399 Special Problems 1-3 credits
San Diego State University
BIOL 497. Undergraduate Research 1-3 credits
NURS 304. Clinical Pharmacology in Nursing Practice 2 credits
P H 305. Medical Care Organization and Delivery 3 credits or
P H 301. Foundations and Practice of Public Health 3 credits
Both of these universities have agreements with a company which organises study abroad semesters and they have the reduced fees. Do you know where I have to look for their policy on visiting students? Also, is it generally acceptable to choose nursing courses?
Googling “visiting student” + the name of the university often gets you to the relevant page. If you can’t find it via google, on the admissions website or the international student center website, you can email the admissions office and ask.
Probably not. There’s a few obstacles with nursing courses. One is that nursing is oversubscribed at California public universities, with nursing courses almost always restricted to nursing majors. Another is that nursing courses will take a very different perspective on a topic from biology/chemistry courses. For example, a pharmacology course for nurses would teach you about the medical indications, administration and safety considerations of different classes of drugs. It doesn’t really go into (bio)chemistry because that’s not something most nurses need to know.
Be aware that that’s not a formal course. It’s a placeholder to award credits for work that students have independently organized with a professor in the department. Other departments might call this placeholder “independent study” or “supervised work.” Ideally you’d want to organize it in the semester prior to your arrival.
Mind sharing the name of the company? I wonder what the company contributes that you couldn’t get directly from the university.
Thanks, apparently it is up to the professor to decide. These programmes are the ones you can apply to through the company, but they have agreements with universities that don’t offer it regularly, for example CSU Chico. It is a German based company, although they accept students from any country: https://www.college-contact.com/hochschule/california_state_university_chico . Using Google Translate will give you a decent result. The only benefit is the agreement they have with some universities.
I just checked, the nursing courses are in fact not open to all students. The study abroad may not work out due to them not having the courses I need to take.
As for applying for a PhD, would an Applications Mini Project (not independent research, but it’s a guided experiment) and the Honours Thesis count towards research experience? Otherwise I could try to get more experience through a placement in research.
Also, would you specifically advise me against pursuing a Master’s degree in the US or would it be acceptable to try to find a university that won’t cost more than $15,000 in tuition fees for both years?