I am currently in American high school and am very interested in the British model of one-on-one lessons and great specialization, especially at Oxford. I want to be a doctor but don’t want to be forced to live and work in the UK for my whole career (AFAIK, getting a British medical graduate degree makes it difficult for one to practice medicine anywhere else). My question is: are there any of the 3-year undergraduate course degrees, either specifically medicine or maybe other sciences, that would be accepted by US medical schools?
Would it be possible to go from American high school to Oxford medical (or other science?) undergrad
A UK medical degree is recognized and accepted in Australia, Canada and other Commonwealth countries. UK medical degree is also recognized throughout Europe. You aren’t “forced” to live & work in the UK if you don’t want to. (Each country will have its own regulations regarding residency training that you will need to meet, though.)
A UK medical degree is recognized and accepted in the US and you can practice in the US with a UK medical degree so long as you complete a US medical residency.
(By medical degree I mean the 6 year program that includes foundational coursework, pre-clinical coursework and initial clinical training. Not the 3 year undergrad [pre-medicine] course of study. Oxford and UK medical schools also offer a 4 year graduate entry medical degree.)
See ECFMG: https://www.ecfmg.org
for an explanation of the process of getting certified to enter the US NRMP match.
You will need to schedule US audition rotations during your clinical training in order to obtain US LORs for the residency application process.
As for doing a UK undergrad–no, there is no undergrad course of studies at Oxford (or anywhere else in the UK) that will be accepted for admission at most US medical schools. Nearly all US medical schools require a minimum of 60- 90 credits earned at a US or Canadian college/university. Those 60-90 credits must include at a minimum your pre-reqs, including 2 semesters of coursework in English writing skills.
Georgetown is the only MD school that I am aware that will consider an Oxford undergrad degree without requiring the applicant to have supplemented their undergrad degree with additional US college coursework. However, Georgetown uses AMCAS application service for admissions-- and AMCAS will not accept and will not verify foreign transcripts–so you will need to contact Georgetown’s Admission Office for specialized directions on how to apply.
You could conceivably apply only to Georgetown with an Oxford degree, but your chances for an admission at GT are vanishingly small since GT receives over 15,000 applications each year for 200 seats.
A small number of DO programs will consider international degrees on a case-by-case basis.
Frankly if you intend to apply to US medical schools, attending a university outside of the US or Canada is bad idea.
ETA: @WayOutWestMom got there before me…!
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UK medical programs are v hard for international students as places are very limited. I believe this is due to funding as they want British students who will stay to work in the NHS
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For entrance to US med school, you need to fulfill certain prerequisites at UG level. As far as I am aware, I don’t think these can be done overseas. This means that after completion of your UG degree, you will need to return to the US and complete a post bacc qualification of 1-2 years to ensure you have completed all the required courses that med schools want
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For small classes and student/teacher relationships you can look at US Liberal Arts Colleges. A number of these (e.g. Hamilton) and some larger universities (e.g. Brown) have open curricula meaning you have a much wider choice in what you study.
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However, your choice of classes will be limited by the Med School requirements, which are not just purely science based: you’ll have to do these
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You are correct that even if you were to attain a UK Medical Degree, getting residency in the US is either very difficult to impossible
Other posters will know more…
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Getting a US medical residency with a UK medical degree is difficult, though not impossible, especially since the OP is a US citizen and won’t need a work visa. The Oxford name may also get her look where PDs would typically simply screen out all other foreign medical schools.
However, her ability to match into the US is highly dependent upon a lot of factors that are very far in the future. Some of which are under her control and some of which aren’t.
In general residency applicants with foreign medical degrees are at a pretty severe disadvantage in the residency Match.
If the OP is looking for a compressed undergrad experience there are a handful of 6 and 7 year direct entry combined admissions programs that grant both a BA and MD at the same time
These are called BA/MD programs and there is separate forum for the discussion of these programs:
<a href="http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/multiple-degree-programs/">http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/multiple-degree-programs/</a>
None of the BA/MD programs are going to offer the intimate undergrad experience she seems to want, but they do shorten the timeline to a medical degree. In my personal opinion, it is much harder to get a Cambridge or Oxford medical degree than getting residency in US after that. There are thousands of FMGs getting into residency each year but oxford seems to have only 150 seats per year.
@josieb04 Just a note- you said you were interested in the Oxford model of teaching and I wanted to let you know that at Swarthmore they have a program based on that model where you have really small classes and such. I don’t remember the details, but since it seems from previous posters that your plan of going to a british university but wanting to practice medicine in the US is sort of flawed, the Swarthmore program could be a good alternative to sort of get that type of classes in the US
@josieb04 I looked it up and it’s their Honors Program. Website states " first modeled on the tutorial system at Oxford University". You apply after sophomore year and as a senior “must face written and oral evaluations by examiners who are among the best in their areas of expertise”.
One college to consider if you want a more intimate academic experience similar to Oxford would be Colorado College. CC has a unique academic schedule.–a block schedule. Students only enroll in one class at a time. One class, one professor, small class size even for intro level classes like gen chem or intro bio. Classes meet daily for several hours/day for 3.5 weeks.
https://www.coloradocollege.edu/basics/blockplan/
CC is small liberal arts college in Colorado Springs and has a very good track record of sending its grads to professional school.
@CollegeMamb0 is right on the limited number places for international medics at
Oxford. Last time I looked, it was something ridiculous like six international offers made each year.
Wow @HazeGrey did not think it was that small!
Perhaps you can explore all that you want both at Oxford and in the Tutorial offerings as a student at Williams College, in Massachusetts.
https://www.williams.edu/academics/tutorials/
https://exeter.williams.edu/academics/
https://careers.williams.edu/sciences-health-professions/four-year-plan/
Checked the 2018 Oxford stats - if I did the math right, looks 434 non-UK applications for Medicine, 8 offers made.
Oh I believe you and I knew it was low, but just not that low! Thanks !