<p>hello,</p>
<p>I'm an international student who fully intends to study medicine and become a doctor. I was accepted to a number of american universities and also to a British medical school. Considering the fact that international students are rarely accepted into US medical schools, would you advise me to go to the British medical school or to an American university with the hope and very slight possibility of being accepted into an US medical school?</p>
<p>Thank you.</p>
<p>Depends on where you plan to practice upon graduation. If you want to practice in a Commonwealth country, take the British offer; if you only want to practice in the US, the only route is go to undergrad here and hope for an acceptance to a US med school.</p>
<p>It used to be fairly commonplace for IMG (International Medical Graduates) to get a US medical residency (required for medical licensing in the US), but that is undergoing a rapid change with the increasing number of US medical graduates. (Number of US grads is increasing, number of available residency slots is not.) It’s becoming increasingly difficult for IMGs to gain a US residency slot–and most of those available are in primary care.</p>
<p>Thank you for your reply
I am a Commonwealth citizen, and I do intend to practice in my home country. But I would also like to keep my options open, which is why I have looked to the UK, as its medical education and training is well regarded all over the world. However, the reason why I am still a tad bit hesitant about going to the UK is the fact that preference is given to EU nationals for postgraduate training.
All I would like for myself is the best possible training that I can receive. In my home country, we do not have a medical school, but we do have three regional medical schools. While education is very good at the medical schools, postgraduate training however is not up to par. This affects me even more because I am certain that I want to be a surgeon, and right now I am very interested in cardiothoracic surgery.
As you know, coming to the US as an international student would be a gamble for me. As international students are rarely accepted (and only accepted to the majority of private schools) and for the past few years at the least, international students have made up only 1% of medical school matriculants. It would be devastating to invest so much money into a US undergrad education and still not secure a medical school acceptance.
Also, i understand what you are saying about IMG’s and residency positions, and difficulty increases with surgery. If do go the British medical school, I will still take the USMLE’s and apply for residency positions to increase my options. Even though it will be very difficult, I know that the US values prestige. So hopefully a British trained doctor with an impressive CV would be viewed more favourably than doctors from other less developed countries. If so, I should still stand a good chance.
I really apologize for such a long post, but considering all of this, do you think that it is in my best interests to go to college in the USA or medical school in the UK?</p>
<p>I think you should stick with the UK option. It’s hard to keep all your options open. As a non US citizen your US options are very limited to begin with.</p>
<p>FYI, post-grad training in the US also favors US citizens since there are a number of residency programs who simply will not consider internationals, including a number of top tier programs. (The hospitals will not sponsor internationals for visas.) Also internationals are forbidden by federal regulation from participating in any residency program funded in part or in full by the NIH. You need to have a state medical license in order to work in a hospital as part of your residency training–there are about 12 states which will not as matter of policy license internationals.</p>
<p>~~~~</p>
<p>You should ask yourself 2 questions. Only if you can honestly answer “yes” to both of them should you consider attempting a US undergrad —> US med school route</p>
<p>1) Are you Ok with an alternate non-physician career? (Because the odds say you’re not going to get into a US med school.)</p>
<p>2) Can you/your family afford to pay ~$350K to pay for your medical education in the US?
(Because only 3 or 4 US medical schools offer any financial aid–including loans-- to internationals. In order to matriculate once you are accepted, you will have place 1-4 years worth of tuition and living expenses in an escrow account or you will not be allowed to enroll.)</p>
<p>Thank you both for your replies,
I am aware that a number of US residencies and states do not accept internationals. Even though this presents another obstacle, it is still relatively small compared with the obstacles an IMG’s face in getting to the US, so I am not worried about that so much. </p>
<p>And regarding your questions</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Medicine is the ONLY thing that I can see myself doing…at least happily. In my mind, there is no other career that even compares.</p></li>
<li><p>My family would be able to pay for my medical education in the US, however with the added costs of an undergraduate degree, and that the fact that I have a younger brother who will also attend university; it would be impossible to afford it all. </p></li>
</ol>
<p>Since I’ve answered no to both questions, I guess going the US route would not be in my favour. Even though I would have loved to have the iconic American college experience, I’ve realised that UK route presents the best and surest opportunity for me and my future.</p>