<p>I'm an international student who fully intends to study medicine and become a doctor. Money is not an issue at all for me, if it was then i wouldn't have even consider going down this route. I really want to know how hard will it be to get into a US med school considering I do the same process as every other US student by going to a college and satisfying pre-med requirements, if i get good grades and mcat scores. As I would prefer studying in the US than the UK, even though you can get straight into med school in the UK, as I will be an international either way so it doesn't make a major difference for me.</p>
<p>Also graduating med school in the UK will take 2-3 years less. But, correct me if I'm wrong, I think post graduate training in the UK is longer than the US. It takes upto 10 maybe 15 years in the UK to complete training and start earning a lower average salary. Whereas a US residency takes 3-7 years and a couple for a fellowship.</p>
<p>I repeat again that money and tuition is not an issue or problem at all. If I had to choose where I wanna work and practice later on, then probably I'd prefer US over UK. Please don't start an argument about immigration laws and stuff, to whether that'll be possible.</p>
<p>I'm more concerned about the number of years about the number of years it would take me to complete training and become a licensed doctor. If shorter post graduate training will level off the longer studying medicine route in the US, then that'll be good. So could someone clarify the years it takes for training in the UK that would be very helpful.</p>
<p>Also please give me advice on what to do, and tell me the number of years it takes to become a doctor (especially in the UK, as I'm familiar with the US system)</p>
<p>It depends when you plan to apply. In the UK, the deadline was October 15 for Fall 2014. If you plan to apply for Fall 2015, you’re fine. However you’ll need to have shadowed a doctor, volunteered in hospitals, etc. as this is a crucial part of your application (your statement must focus on what you’ve done in addition to school to demonstrate your interest and your ability to perform in the field of medicine. Shadowing and volunteering are a given; EMT training or anything involving actual work matters too).
In the US, don’t major in biology and remember half of those who completed the premed requirements never make it to med school.</p>
<p>Total length is about the same, it’s simply called differently.</p>
<p>There are EXTREMELY FEW international students in American med schools. Most med schools in the U.S. don’t accept international students. If you truly plan on medicine, you shouldn’t be taking American schools into consideration.</p>
<p>The main thing I’m concerned about is how long it takes to become a doctor in the UK (including med school, post-graduate training) compared to the US (including college, med school, residency)?
If you’re sure it’s the same length then I guess I can go for either.</p>
<p>Plus why not a biology major, doesn’t it help to focus on ur pre med courses?</p>
<p>But don’t you think this is because most internationals don’t have the financial capability to afford med school. Plus that’s the reason some med schools don’t accept them as they’re afraid that they won’t be able to pay for it through the 4 years. And also the idea that they may return to there own country to practice medicine (brain drain for the US)</p>
<p>But if you follow the same path of pre-med to any other US citizen or resident, get the good grades and scores and have the financial capability to afford med school, then I don’t see a reason why I might be disadvantaged. Except for having slightly fewer med schools open to apply for.
However I may be wrong, please correct me if what I said was completely wrong</p>
<p>^^^ You’re not correct. Most medical schools don’t accept international students because it’s their mission to educate American doctors. That’s certainly the case with all public schools. SOME private schools will accept a tiny percentage of international students but with tremendous financial demands - for example, some require that the student put the entire cost of a 4 year full-tuition in an escrow account before they can begin their studies. Money is a barrier, no doubt, but not the exclusive reason: even a full-pay U.S. tuition does NOT cover the cost of educating a doctor.</p>
<p>The results are pretty grim - a 2011 study showed that less than one half of one percent (.0004) of international students who applied to US med schools were accepted & enrolled.</p>
<p>Read up about your odds of getting in as a foreigner - you’ll find plenty of advice to rethink your strategy.</p>
<p>No, Jonas. It’s not because they don’t have money. It’s because most med schools simply don’t accept applications from international applicants. If you need a visa, that’s it, you’re out before the race began. That’s the case for virtually all public med schools. That leaves only the private med schools and among those about half accept to review applications from internationals. There, you’ll need to show you have about $200-300,000 in your bank account (in addition to having the grades, MCAT scores, etc). Your odds are thus infinitesimal.</p>
<p>As previously mentioned, it’s the same (depending on specialty). The names are just different.
Anyway, at this point, choosing where you’ll apply based on how long it’ll take you to be a doctor (or a specialist doctor such as a surgeon or pediatrician…) is ike choosing based on how long it’ll take you to be an astronaut.
So choose based on the type of education you like best: general + specialized in the US, or specialized directly in the UK? You can always apply for UK med school by October 15 2014 (note you’ll have a competitive exam to take) and prepare by doing internships/shadowing/volunteering since it’s likely to help you show dedication on your American applications too; then apply EA to some American schools and add a few RD colleges. Then see where you’re admitted and what you prefer.
For premed in the US, since what matters is your GPA + MCAT, I’d suggest picking a private school where you’re well within the top 25% applicants based on stats (GPA’s tend to be higher in private colleges) and NOT majoring in biology. The better ratios applicants:admitted would be in subjects such as engineering, physics, classics, and philosophy (those last two because you need to maintain a high “science GPA” in all your premed classes AND a high GPA in your major so that shows you master different processes and methodological approaches, plus you have a distinctive background that help you get differentiated among the thousands of bio majors.)</p>
<p>What is wrong with completing med school in your home country, and then pursuing residencies and other advanced training in the US or the UK? Have you looked at med school admissions there? What about med school in another English-speaking country such as Australia, Canada, Ireland, or New Zealand?</p>
<p>You have more options than you currently think you do.</p>
<p>Well the country I live in isn’t really the best country for higher education and I never really even thought about going to university here. People with foreign degrees such as from the UK or US often have a upper hand compared to others in looking for work, as expatriates mostly take up the country</p>
<p>And the country I’m originally from, I can’t fluently read and write the language.</p>
<p>But ironically I do have a citizenship of an English speaking Caribbean country as well, I don’t know if that helps. I heard a lot of American med school rejects go there. Maybe I could do that. However I have never visited the country and am not familiar with it.</p>
<p>Yeah If I chose the US way. If worse comes to worst and I don’t get into an American med school then I’ll probably have to go to a Caribbean med school.</p>
<p>But I want to know if a Caribbean med school will help me get into a US residency more than a UK med school, considering I’ll go through all the procedures of a US med school like doing the USMLE tests.</p>
<p>I am curious how many of those 88% of foreign applicants that did not matriculate were good candidates to begin with. I.e. how many had a Bachelor’s degree from an American university with the necessary pre-med coursework as well as the financial resources to attend? Surely we shouldn’t lump the rich John Hopkins graduate into the same category as an applicant from Russia who was hoping to earn a scholarship to medical school? </p>
<p>Anyhow, I joined this thread to add a few tid-bits about visa issues for aspiring physicians in the US. The J-1 visa you’ll get for your residency will carry a two-year homestay rule. This means that you have to return to your home country for 2 years before you can apply for another US visa with immigrant intent (e.g. a work visa or a green card; you could still get a tourist visa). </p>
<p>If you don’t want to return to your home country for 2 years, you can apply for a waiver. This waiver requires that you work in a designated underserved area (e.g. in a prison or clinic for poor people without insurance) for 3 years. During those 3 years you would have a temporary H-1B work visa. You have three options to stay in the US after those 3 years are up:
get a green card by marrying a US citizen
find an employer willing to sponsor you for an H-1B and later a green card
self-petition for a green card via national interest waiver</p>
<p>To get a green card via national interest waiver, you have to work for 5 years in an underserved area (in addition to the 3 years for the J-1 waiver). But then it’s your green card and yours alone - not tied to a spouse and it does not require an employer to do lots of paperwork for you.</p>
<p>Eight years of undeserved work might sound brutal but it’s is also a good way (thought not the ONLY WAY) to find out if you are really into medicine for medicine or if you’re just chasing The Almighty $$$$!!!</p>
<p>So this whole procedure of getting a J1 visa during residency and then a work visa or green card to work, applies to wherever I go for med school? So it still won’t make a difference on my residency application procedure, where I go to med school as long as I don’t have a citizenship or green card? So say even if I go to a US med school, applying for a residency won’t be different to if I went to a Caribbean or UK med school? Just want to be clear on that.</p>
<p>The link says that 1300 med school applicants were foreigners, and that 171 of the matriculated students were foreigners. That makes a matriculation rate of about 13%. I’m not sure why they devide the number of international medical students (171) into the number of all medical school applicants, domestic and international (42,742). That doesn’t measure anything meaningful.</p>