I’m currently a sophomore at an U.S. high school. I’m an U.K. citizen. I wish to study medicine, however if I don’t get into a guaranteed medical school acceptance program, what would the process be for me to study in Canada or U.K. and then come back to the US for residency or come back after completing residency in the U.K. or Canada?
Canada and the UK are totally different situations. Canada would be much easier than the UK. But if you are not also a Canadian citizen then admission to any Canadian medical school is virtually impossible.
So if I were to study in Canada rather than U.K., returning to U.S. for residency or after residency would be easier than the U.K.?
Yes, but there are only a handful of slots at Canadian medical schools allocated to non-Canadians.
Is studying Pre Med in the U.K. a better option and then try to apply to US and Canadian Medical schools? If I don’t get accepted, then should I continue in the U.K. system until I’m done with everything and then write the USMLE to come to the US?
US and Canadian medical schools will not accept pre-med prerequisites completed in the UK. There are a couple of CC’ers who are very familiar with this process and will hopefully chime in here soon.
Medicine in the UK is primarily a 6 year direct admit program. Pre-medicine as a major simply does not exist in the UK. There are a few post-grad entry med school programs in the UK, but their number is limited and admission is extremely competitive.
AMCAS, TMDSAS and AACOMAS will not accept or verify transcripts from foreign institutions–including those from the UK. Without having your transcripts verified, your med school application is DOA and simply will not transmitted to ANY US med school fro admission consideration. US medical schools require that at a minimum ALL your pre-reqs (including things like English comp and social sciences) be completed at an accredited US or Canadian undergrad. Additionally there are number of US med schools that require a minimum of 30-90 credits be earned from a US or Canadian undergrad for admission consideration.
So attending a UK undergrad would only work if you are willing to complete a post-bacc in the US upon your return to US. Post baccs last anywhere from 20 to 36 months, depending on what coursework you need to take. The post bacc would be followed a by med school application cycle which takes a full year (June thru Aug of the following year.) If you are looking to shorten the amount of time it takes to earn a MD, going to undergrad in the UK is counter-productive since it wall add 2-3 years to your route, even if you allow for a 3 year UK undergrad.
Should you go to the UK and complete med school there, you would to apply for a US residency as a US IMG. First you would need to register with the ECFMG and have your application vetted. (Mandatory–and a pretty straight forward process but processing your application takes anywhere from 3-24 months) Next, you would need to prepare for, take and pass the USMLE Step 1, Step 2CE, Step 2CK exams (and the UK curriculum does not prepare you for these critical exams). (Mandatory) Next you’d need to spend about year getting clinical exposure at US programs. (Not mandatory but without US LORs, you’re not going to get residency interviews) Because of insurance and accreditation requirements you need to do this during your last year of UK medical school–and your home program may not allow you time to off do elective rotations in the US. Once you’ve graduated from UK med school, you’re no longer are eligible for malpractice insurance coverage through your school and would need to purchase at least $1M in coverage independently if you want any clinical rotations where you have actual patient contact. You could do US clinical observerships without malpractice, but these are considered much weaker clinical experiences and result in weaker LORs. You could also do research internships, but again these offer little or no patient contact and generally do not yield strong LORs.
In 2014 (the last year that the NRMP identified the country of medical education for Match applicants), there weren’t enough US IMGs from the UK to report any outcomes. (That’s requires at least 7 applicants.) Of the non-US citizen UK applicants–37 matched; 31 did not.
Going to Canada—
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attending a Canadian undergrad will not lead to a transcript problem like going to the UK would because the US and Canada share undergrad accreditation systems.
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the US & Canada also share a common accreditation system for medical schools and grads of US and Canadian schools are recognized by both countries. However, Canada has very, very few seat that are available to international applicants. (And most international seat are reserved for “sponsored” students–i.e. students from countries who pay medical schools to hold seats open for their students. Neither the US or UK sponsors seats. ) As Canadian med grad, there are a couple of hoops you’d still have to jump through–USMLEs and US clinical rotations.
Are you a dual UK/US citizen or a US green card holder? If not then chances for admission to US medical schools is greatly reduced.
I do not have green card or US citizenship.
In that case your best option would be school in the UK.
What if I were to complete the 6 year direct admit program in the U.K. and also complete my residency there? Would I be able to return to the US? If so, what exams or what would the process be? Not being a PR or Citizen, I am severely disadvantaged if I were to do Pre-Med in the US. Only 66 universities would even accept my application for medical school. So would I have a better chance trying to finish everything in the U.K. and then return , or go to Canada after the medical school part in the U.K.
I heard that in the U.K., one would have to complete service on the NHS after they become a doctor. Is this true?
@WayOutWestMom ^^^
Is there a possibility that you could apply for US permanent resident/green card status now?
I could be wrong, but all my doctor friends who were full fledged doctors overseas (meaning they completed residency in their country long time ago). Need to start from their USMLE step 1 process again as described by WOWM in her post. So, whether you completed residency or not seems does not matter. There might be exceptions, but I am not aware of.
In addition, MOST FMGs are going to be matched into FM residency, even they can get in, examples of my Overseas Doctor friends are plentiful and they are all in their own FM clinic.
I could, but I would get it when I’m 30 or more.
You could return, but you would NOT be able to practice medicine in the US unless you completed an entirely new US residency. You would need to apply to residency thru ECFMG and take the USMLEs. Unless you are world renown in your specialty, you’d need to do observerships or research internships to collect some US LORs for a residency application.
If I did the 6 year direct admit program in the U.K., would I be able to apply for a residency program in Canada without any difficulties.
Non Canadians are not allowed to enter residency training in Canada.
Since you are a UK citizen–yes.
Actually the odds are even more bleak than you think. Of those 66 med schools, about 1/3 only admit Canadians. Of the schools that do accept true internationals, less than a dozen routinely accept internationals. Last year fewer than 100 non-Canadian internationals matriculated into all US med schools combined.
Another issue is financing your medical education. Non US citizens are not eligible for government loans–which is how most US med students pay for their medical educations. You will be expected to fund your own education. You will need to present proof of your ability to pay before you will be allowed to matriculate. This requires placing 2-4 years of tuition & fees in US escrow account. (Or about $120-300K). Or presenting a letter of guarantee from your home country’s government. Some schools require tuition & fees PLUS living expenses.
Financing is not an issue. So would you say that since I’m in a U.S. high school, if I were to not get into BS/MD programs, then I should just do pre med here and then try my chances with med school in the US.
As an applicant to a BS/MD program you will be an international applicant. A joint degree program is not a way around being international.