I’m separately looking for universities in Europe where I could study for free -or almost- then be able to work anywhere in Europe and The U.S. I heard of English programs in Bulgaria and Romania where international student could student medicine in English but it is somehow expensive since I live in Algeria (low currency). Some people suggested me to go to Germany, study there and then take the USMLE, what is it exactly? Does that mean after taking this test I would be able to work in the U.S? Please help me I am seriously lost, I did a lot of research but I still find it really hard to find which country would be the best for my situation,
After graduating from medical school outside the US, you will first need to take the USMLE, then you will need to complete a medical residency in the US in your field of specialization. After that, you can be licensed to practice medicine in the US.
It is very difficult for a foreign-trained doctor to practice in the US.
"The process usually starts with an application to a private nonprofit organization that verifies medical school transcripts and diplomas. Among other requirements, foreign doctors must prove they speak English; pass three separate steps of the United States Medical Licensing Examination; get American recommendation letters, usually obtained after volunteering or working in a hospital, clinic or research organization; and be permanent residents or receive a work visa (which often requires them to return to their home country after their training).
The biggest challenge is that an immigrant physician must win one of the coveted slots in America’s medical residency system, the step that seems to be the tightest bottleneck.
That residency, which typically involves grueling 80-hour workweeks, is required even if a doctor previously did a residency in a country with an advanced medical system, like Britain or Japan. The only exception is for doctors who did their residencies in Canada.
The whole process can consume upward of a decade — for those lucky few who make it through."
It is EXTREMELY difficult to get admitted to medical school in Germany as a non-German. Less than 1% of German-educated students meet the GPA requirement to attend medical school, and the admission criteria for foreign students would be much stricter than that. Unless you are so amazingly qualified that an admissions person would read your application and go, “we just need to have this person!!!”, you won’t get a spot.
Getting a cheap medical education is difficult in many Western European countries. That’s why private medical schools in Eastern European countries like Romania or Poland are striving in the first place. (It would not occur to any Western European student go to Eastern Europe for other majors, like engineering or business.)
Hm, going to a country in a the middle of a civil war, or to a non-democratic country for your studies would not be a smart move in my opinion.
In France, everyone can enroll in the 1st year of medical school. Of course you need to speak French. You must then spend about 12 to 14 hours a day memorizing textbooks (going to class is not necessary, only tutorial time is. Best medical tutorials are in Poitiers according to the latest rankings.) Students who ranked in the top 50% but didn’t make the final cut are allowed to repeat. They are the bane of freshmen’s existence since they try to make it impossible for freshmen to study or succeed (the fewer 1st years still standing at the end of the year, the more spots for them.This abstract point was driven home reading an article where they’d thrown hundreds of live crickets at the new students, while in a lecture hall.)
Your odds are about 10% and depend solely on your ability to have memorized thousands and thousands of pages accurately. First cut is at the end of first semester (about 15% from those remaining after the grueling first months) and then in May the 80% remaining take the final exam, 10-15% of whom are then officially admitted to med school and can stay.
In Ireland, there’s tuition and admission will depend on AP 5s in calculus, biology, chemistry, physics, and English, plus serious shadowing and experience (EMT, Red Cross…)
Poland may be a good compromise in terms of costs and ease of admission.
In Belgium, non Belgian students are entered in a lottery for spots.
Actually, there’s a test in Belgium with is either in French or Dutch and this one is used for admissions. It is the Netherlands where admission to medical programs is a lottery.
If you want to practice in the US, check whether or not the medical school is accredited properly. You may want to look for medical schools in Eastern Europe.
It is exceedingly difficult for people who graduate medical school outside the US to obtain residencies in the US. Funding for residencies have stayed stable as US medical schools have increased their class sizes by 10% and there are 7-10 new medical schools that have recently or will soon come on line. Qualified US graduates are not able to get residencies in some cases.
If you do not do residency in the US you are not able to get licensed in most states. I would think through your decision very carefully. If you train abad you will most likely have to work abroad.
Hey, if your Algerian why don’t you go to a medical university in France? You should be fluent in French so language shouldn’t be a problem for you. I realize the first year is extremely difficult, more than at any other medical school in the world, but you have a chance and if you studied hard enough you would eventually be able to succeed. The other side is that you may waste a whole year if you weren’t able to pass.
As @MYOS1634 said I would not go to schools in Ukraine or in Russia. There’s no reason to do that. Eastern European universities in the European Union have reasonable tuition fees.
If you want to work in Europe you will have to look which requirements they do have in order to get licensed as a doctor. As for Germany it is the best to receive the qualification in the EU, otherwise they would drive you nuts (an expert would have to test your degree for equivalence… a process that lasts months. And if they say your degree is not equivalent you would have to undergo an examination in order to prove your knowledge is sufficient) .
Hello, do you know what are the requirements to get into a German Medical university in terms of grades? I know that you need a school-leaving certificate that is equivalent to the higher education entrance qualification but that’s as far as the university officials have told me. I’d like to study in Germany but I need to learn German but I am not sure if it’s worth investing all that time and money and my chances are very low.
Domestic German applicants need a GPA of 1.3 or better on a scale from 1-6. That’s essentially perfect grades. (For context, the average GPA on exams was between 3.0 and 3.5 at my German high school, and our valedictorian had a GPA of 1.4. The GPA cut-off is a really high bar!)
If you are classified as a foreign applicant (not a German citizen living abroad, or a foreign citizen living in Germany) then the bar is set even higher for you. Even with perfect grades and test scores, your chances of getting into a medical school in Germany are slim as a foreigner. Many many Germans pay $$$ to study medicine abroad because they cannot get one of the coveted free spots in Germany.