Does it matter? My daughter is considering St. Andrews in Scotland, but also wants to be able to attend med school in the U.S. Is it a disadvantage in applying to med school if you have not attended a US university?
You’re not allowed to apply to med school unless you’ve done at least one but often two years at a US college (may have been changed to “full us degree”). In addition, even if Scottish universities are more flexible than other European Universities, most classes are prescribed and don’t fit into the " premed pre-reqs " list.
So, she needs to decide now whether med school is something she’s just thinking about or if it’s something she’s explored enough (shadowing, volunteering).
Or, she could apply to StA as well as several other Universities and decide in March.
It matters a lot. AMCAS (application clearinghouse for most US MD schools), TMDSAS (application clearinghouse for all TX medical & dental schools) and AACOMAS (application clearinghouse for all US DO schools) will not accept or verify international transcripts.** Without a verified transcript, an application won’t be forwarded to medical schools.
Among US MD programs, only University of Virginia and Georgetown say they will consider on a case-by-case basis US citizens who hold UK degrees.
There is a small number (7-8, I think) of US DO medical schools that may accept international transcripts on a case by case basis.
Additionally many/most US medical schools require a minimum number of credits taken at a US or Canadian college or university for students who wish to be considered for admission. The number varies from school to school but, it’s typically in the 60-90 credit range. All science pre-reqs (bio, chem, biochem, physics, math) must be taken at a US or Canadian institution.
In addition to the transcript issue, there is a more practical issue–your D may have difficulty finding opportunities to engage in the expected pre-med ECs. She will be expected to have significant US clinical volunteering, US community service and US physician shadowing regardless of where she attends college. Those ECs are considered “very important” by med school admission committees. (See p. 5 of the AMCAS report [2018 Medical Student Selection](https://www.aamc.org/download/462316/data/mcatguide.pdf) )
Your D could certainly go to college at St Andrews, but she would need to come back to the US and complete a 2 year post-bacc program in the US before she would eligible for admission to most US med schools.
**There is an exception for certain American universities overseas. See p. 26 of the [AMCAS Instruction Manual-2018](https://aamc-orange.global.ssl.fastly.net/production/media/filer_public/ca/c5/cac59f85-f508-4be2-93b7-38f01becbb05/2018_amcas_instruction_manual.pdf) St. Andrews is not on the list.
And for the record: with this option, I don’t think your D would be at any inherent disadvantage come application time.
Premed studies at a Canadian university are completely acceptable for US medical schools. The US and Canada have an integrated medical education system.
She could apply right out of HS to do the medical programme at St Andrews & if she is a US citizen, could come back for residency, I know several kids who graduated from HS between 2000-2010 who did this, but as each year goes by & the number of residency applicants increases, it becomes scarier. Certainly better than the Caribbean, but still the med schools abroad seem to mean you are more limited on residency options, the most recent one I know of went family med and matched first year.
All my immigrated doctor friends, dead, retired or near retirement are in primary care or family medicine in the US. They were all accomplished physicians in their own country with specialties like dermatologist, oncologist, cardiologist and ob gyn etc.
So, prepared to become a family practitioner when you are an IMG.
^But that’s foreign medical school, if OP’s D were to go to St. Andrews, do a post-bacc and get into an american medical school they would be just fine.
But the family would have to be ready to pay for four years at StA plus two years of postbacc.
I would recommend studying in the U.S. instead of studying abroad and doing a postbacc. That is just added time and expense to an already long and expensive journey to becoming a doctor. I look at it this way. Is it a priority to study abroad or get a degree to go to med school? She can always do a semester abroad or a summer abroad. There is also the possibility to do service trips. My personal opinion is that it would be better to study in the U.S. and work on those med school ec’s over here.