The US pre-med route is quite uncertain and range from expensive to very expensive. I don’t know why any non-American would go that route.
Let’s say I’d attend Southern Utah. If I didn’t like it, would I be able to transfer to another university after 2 years?
And I saw they have an endowment of 21,000,000$ - is this too small or does it even matter at all?
There are very few colleges that offer scholarships to international transfers, basically a handful like UMinnesota Twin Cities, UMass Lowell, etc. And of course youd need to have food to excellent grades.
Are you sure that if you did the same major in the us and in Scotland you would lose German financialsupport?
Ok, thanks :).
No, if I did the same major AND was admitted for entry into Year 2 (i.e. didn’t lose any time) I would continue receiving Financial Aid in Scotland and any other country within the EU. There’s nobody who can guarantee that a Scottish university would be able to offer me admission into Year 2 - as far as I know the ‘real’ major classes in the US begin in the junior year. And since I am focused on studying Medicine, the chance to be admitted in a Med program into Year 2 would be small, except for courses like Biomedical Sciences. But in Europe it’s rather unusual to study Biomedicine first and then going to Med School, although it’s possible.
Most American universities would let you take your courses in any order you want (respecting pre-requisites, of course). You could front-load all of the courses for your major and then spend the later part of your degree on general education requirements, if you were so inclined. American students typically do the opposite; front-loading general education requirements gives them more time to select their major.
But seriously, please don’t start an American degree with the intention to transfer to Europe half-way through. That just makes no sense.
@b@r!um
Yes and it’s unlikely that I’d be offered admission in Europe anyway. I’d need to ask them to recognize each single course I took. Until now the only option in the US would be Southern Utah. Lindenwood isn’t listed at all in the German database for foreign studies, so I don’t know whether they recognize it as a higher institution or not.
Add MiamiU as another university with scholarships for internationals.
However, as I said before, if med school is your goal, since you are a European, I don’t see how coming to the US makes sense in any fashion.
@PurpleTitan
I understand what you mean, but the alternative would be Romania. I don’t know how a Romanian degree would support me in a career or whether or not their education is good at all. While it’s fully recognized within the EU, I saw that a degree from there is, for example, not recognized by the Medical Board of California - and not everything that is recognized in the EU is good.
??? Are you planning to be a doctor in California? Why does that matter?
@PurpleTitan
Well, California is the state I like the most in the US so it would be nice to have a degree that is recognized there, but not necessarily. I’m still checking if the degree is recognized in other countries.
And I’m sure that if a employer had to choose between a German/American doctor and a Romanian doctor, he’d choose the first one.
Do you understand how expensive and difficult the path to a MD is in the US? Only 50% of undergrads who apply to medical school get in. And that’s of those who apply. Many more start out as pre-meds but switch to a different path as an undergrad because they realize that their grades and MCAT mean that they don’t really have a shot. So what will you do if you fail to get in to med school in the US? And that’s not even taking in to account the huge costs (for undergrad and med school, you can expect total costs to approach half a million dollars total and 10-15 years of your life (for undergrad, med school, internship, and residency)).
This would be an interesting mathematical question: are OP’s chances of getting into an American medical school with financial aid better or worse than the odds of winning a multimillion lotto jackpot?
Oh, so you want to go to a med school in California as an international student?
Not happening.
@PurpleTitan
Yes, I know. What I wrote above was a simple example, I don’t even think about applying to a Medical School in the US.
@auntbea
No. I don’t necessarily need to work there and never thought about going to Med School there, I just said that it would be nice if the degree would be recognized there.
I actually thought about graduate entry in the UK or Ireland, but again it’s only an idea and I didn’t say it that it makes more sense.
So what would you suggest? The options are either studying in English in Romania or Poland which would cost about 5,500$/14,000$ in tuition/year or going to the US, completing the Pre-Med core and majoring in a non-health related field (for example SUU has a good Aviation program), then going to a Med School in Europe, if it didn’t work in the UK or Ireland, Poland and Czech would be still alternatives. Second option would mean having a broader education, the first one is the guaranteed track to Medicine…
Stay in Europe, it will be cheaper and better for you in the long run.
What’s the purpose of studying something non-health related in the US first and then going back to Europe to study medicine? That plan may seem counterintuitive to many folks here. However, I can see it make sense under a few different circumstances.
For example, you may need to wait for a medical school spot to open up for you in Germany (“Wartesemester”). For the non-German folks: if a college applicant’s GPA falls below a (quite high) threshold, they will have to wait for 5+ years before they may enroll in medical program in Germany. And only semesters in which the applicant is not enrolled at another German university count towards the waiting time.
You may also consider studying in the US as a “gap year” sort of thing - a time for personal growth and exploration and adventure, before you commit your life to a career path. If you can get a scholarship to pay for college in the US, that wouldn’t be an unreasonable plan either.
I really don’t see a reason for you not to study in the US, as long as you understand that you won’t be getting any sort of financial assistance for medical school in the US after college.
@b@r!um Thanks :). I meant to complete the pre-med core and to major in another field (broader education+ 4 years in the US). Then it’d be possible to complete the Med School in some European countries in 4 instead if 6 years.
BTW, I would need to wait approx 7 years in order to enroll into Medicine in Germany. This is way too much, so that’s absolutely not an option.
I am not only seeing that I wouldn’t receive any financial aid in a US Med School, I do also know that it’s very difficult to secure a place there. Many schools require that their applicants are residents in the same state of the Med School and this isn’t possible without (at least) being a permanent resident, so even an application wouldn’t be possible.
I think I’ll apply in the US and decide after I see how much I’d have to pay. Still thinking about the 6-year programs in Romania though, but it’s not nice thinking about being “branded” with a Romanian degree. Probs are it’d be harder to get a residency after graduation.
The standard pre-med curriculum falls short of the 2-year “Vorklinik” at a German university (though I don’t know what medical programs in other European countries look like). While it’s probably possible to take MOST (*) ‘vorklinische’ courses at many universities in the US, the only feasible way to accomplish this in 4 years would be as part of an overlapping science major.
(*) There are a few courses you’d probably struggle to find at the undergraduate level in the US, such as medical psychology (e.g. how to talk to your patients).
@b@r!um
Well, it’d be very complicated to recognize some courses at a German university and it wouldn’t be possible at all to be admitted to the 3rd year without the “Physikum” - so that’s not an option at all.
However, there are special 4-year programs for graduates such as the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland Graduate Program: https://www.rcsi.ie/gem and the Graduate Program at the Poznan University of Medical Sciences: http://pums.ump.edu.pl/programs/4-year-md-program/ .