Do you want to be a physician or do you want to be a US physician?
If you only want to be a US physician, I would advise that you choose another career path for now (maybe a medicine-adjacent career) and then once you have your green card, apply for medical school.
@TomSrOfBoston is correct. There are only 9 BS/MD programs that will consider internationals for admission.
Boston University Seven-Year Liberal Arts/Medical Education Program
Brown University Program in Liberal Medical Education (PLME)
Case Western Reserve University Pre-Professional Scholars Program in Medicine
Northwestern University Honor Program In Medical Education (HPME)
Pennsylvania State University Accelerated Premedical-Medical Program
Rice/Baylor Medical Scholars Program (MSP)
University of Connecticut Special Program in Medicine
University Rochester – Rochester Early Medical Scholars (REMS)
Washington University in St. Louis University Scholars Program in Medicine
Acceptance rate for all of those programs are <10%, in many cases <5%. For international applicants, acceptance rates are even lower.
BTW, the difficulty internationals face does not end with gaining an admission to med school. Internationals who graduate from US med schools have difficulty finding a US residency due to visa issues. Many residency programs simply will not interview an international student–esp. “top” programs and competitive specialties.
Thanks a lot. I already had 2 of those universities on my list. I will be applying to all of these. I might consider even studying in the U.K. and becoming a doctor there. Really, thanks a lot to you both. I hope others find this thread because I am not the only one with these questions.
Although be aware that if you’ve not been resident in the U.K. for the last 3 years then you will be liable to pay overseas fees (about 25-30K pounds per year instead of the standard ~9000 pounds excluding living expenses). It is possible to qualify as a domestic student if your parents are overseas temporarily, but this is not always the case. Make sure you look into your specific circumstances.
Conversely you might qualify for in-state fees as a resident in some US states even without a green card, under provisions intended to benefit DACA and similar immigrants.
About that, If I refuse to take the 9000 pounds fee and pay the full 25-30 k pounds all 6 years until I graduate medical school, will I be expected to serve with NHS, or can I directly apply to US residency without having to serve with NHS?
There are very limited places for overseas students to study medicine in the U.K. So it is way harder to be admitted than as a domestic student. So I wouldn’t advise going that route: try to make sure you qualify for a domestic place.
I’m not sure what the situation is afterwards, but since it is not easy to get U.K. residency for non-citizens, I doubt there would be an obligation to stay. But how would be you then be allowed back into the US? If you don’t apply for/get a green card before the age of 21, then you can’t come back.
“Unless you are world renown in your specialty”
That is a tall order, BTW. My friend from Hong Kong since 1997(the day PRC took over UK govern ship), was a renowned Dermatologist in HK with three offices. He was making MILLIONS of US$ in HK, because his decision of moving to the USA, he had to start thru ECFMG and ended up in FM and has been practicing since. His loss (from 1997) is in the 10’s Millions US$, consider his successful practice in HK. Was he consider “Unless you are world renown in your specialty”? Not a chance.
@Warprince Theoretically anything is possible but be practical.
If you think you may be getting your US green card or citizenship in the next 6 years (before you start your MD education), then do your UG in US and apply for MD school and establish your career in US.
If not, best go to UK after HS and do your 6 year MD and establish your career in UK.
Getting in to BS/MD program is almost 0.00001% for the above 9 programs listed.
Here is the MSAR data (not sure which year’s data in the paid subscription).
Intl-Applicants Interviewed Matriculated via BS/MD
761 / 40 / 11 /0
338 / 6 / 2 / 0
471 / 34 / 7 / 0
458 / 25 / 0 / 0
452 / 11 / 2 / 0
255 / 4 / 1 / 0
207 / 0 / 0 / 0
10 / 0 / 0 / 0
390 / 77 / 9 / 0
Getting in to BS/MD or later MD, needs extensive planning & execution. Both processes are time consuming, expensive and stressful and at times hard to predict the outcome. So want to alert you before you spend energy and money.
My D went thru BS/MD process 3 years back and now done with the regular MD process. She is a US citizen with good academics.
“If you think you may be getting your US green card or citizenship in the next 6 years…”
And if you don’t have a green card (or are in process) by that point, absent unusual circumstances, you’ll be over 21 and have to go back to the UK anyway once your student visa expires.
I would be on a F-1 Visa
Can’t I apply to a Canadian university and get my permanent residency there within 5 years because I’m a British citizen, which would make me non-international for Canadian medical schools.
If you think getting Canadian citizenship or PR is easier and viable before you start MD, then that is a better option.
I have no idea how UK citizen are given PR or Citizenship there. For Asian countries folks, heard it is getting very hard, they have the point system and now a days with out Master’s degree, it is practically not possible to get PR there.
If you are wealthy. I think you still can gain Canadian citizenship with about $500K-1M to invest. Things change on day to day, month to moth basis and I have no time to chase the law. As far as I know, you need to invest in Canadian rural area, Vancouver and Toronto are off the limits. PEI and YT are better chances.
No. As a university student you would have a non-immigrant visa that requires you to leave Canada immediately upon graduation. I don’t believe you’re eligible to apply for PR status while you are on student visa. You would need to apply after graduation and qualify under the 4 available categories–family member, economic category (skilled worker or business developer ), refugee or humanitarian/other category.
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/helpcentre/answer.asp?qnum=514&top=15
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_to_Canada
https://www.canadianimmigration.net/study/permanent-residence-for-students/
Too late to edit the above–you can apply while on student visa but only after you’ve completed 2 years of schooling and have 1 year of employment experience in worker shortage field. You could then qualify as skilled worker. Your employment experience must be full time paid employment and cannot be a unpaid or volunteer internship.
US Residency programs could not care less about whether or not you fulfilled some UK citizen NHS requirement.
USIS immigration service is requiring sponsorship by US employers to grant work visa or green card(permanent residency). Exceptions:
If you study in Canada you can get a permanent resident permit if you graduate
from a university and work for a year (Canadian employers are allowed to hire you). After that you are a permanent resident and can apply to Canadian Med schools. All other criteria must be met, especially wrt grades and experience.
So I would have to wait for a year before I would apply to Med Schools because I would not be a permanent resident?
Yes. 4 years to your degree, 1 year with a work permit. And no arrest/misdemeanor etc.