I’m in a very unusual position atm, and I’ve yet to find anyone with the same circumstances. I have an offer at an Australian med school, which begins February of 2019. It’s my first choice career-wise because it’s a 6-year undergrad degree that basically guarantees I graduate with an MD, unlike in the US where there’s the added stress of getting into med school after 4 years of college. That said, I’ve also been admitted to a college in California, which happens to be my first choice in terms of my ideal college experience. Given that I have 7-ish months before I start med school in Australia next Feb, I figured I’d spend the fall semester at the college in California and get the best of both worlds. I wanted to get some opinions before approaching my parents about this, what do you guys think?
The question would need to be asked of your Aus school, as to whether they would have any problem with that. Are you an Australian citizen? Where do you plan to work after this course? Which Aus uni are you accepted too?
IMO, why not just come to the US and travel, money obviously isn’t an issue. You are having a gap year?
Really this is just up to you and your parents. If they are OK with paying for the extra semester of college fun, that’s up to them.
But you probably need to run this plan past the Australian U. Will they have any difficulty with you doing that unrelated semester?
Lastly, what happens if you fall in love with the U in CA and don’t want to leave after one semester?
I’m an international student, and I’m not yet sure where I’ll be working afterwards. It’s more of a gap semester - If I do end up going to the college in CA, it’ll only be for 4 months.
Thanks for your input.
Do you think I should inform my Australian uni about my semester in CA? I’m not transferring (because the Aus school year starts Feb 2019) so I figured I wouldn’t need to tell them about it.
Addressing your 2nd question, I just have to trust myself enough that I won’t throw away 18 years of hard work to get into med school - no matter how much I end up liking the uni in CA.
You should discuss this possibility with them. If it were one semester in Australia “just for fun”, before beginning a degree program in the US, you would be formally obligated to submit your academic transcripts from the Australian U to the US U even if you didn’t particularly care whether or not any credits were transferrable. I have no idea how things work in the reverse.