What can I do ?

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Hello,

I'm Japanese student. I am studying in a Canadian high school.

I eventually want to practice in U.S or Canada.

But the thing is I only have about 200k for my whole medical training (including undergrad)

Do you guys know what's the best option for me ?

I'm so confused..

Originally Posted by tennisball80

Hello,

I'm Japanese student. I am studying in a Canadian high school.

I eventually want to practice in U.S or Canada.

But the thing is I only have about 200k for my whole medical training (including undergrad)

Do you guys know what's the best option for me ?

I'm so confused..

200k? That's a lot. Nobody actually has that much money going into med school... almost everybody gets loans and pays them off after becoming a doctor.

The best thing to do is probably to try to get into your local public university. $200k will be more than enough for everything then.

The problem the OP is facing that as a non-US citizen, she is NOT eligible for the government student loans that US citizens get. Therefore, she has to pay for undergrad and medical school with $200K which *can* be hard given the fact that most public colleges want citizens as their students so her best chances are at private schools.

She should work on getting citizenship in one or the other countries and a green card/PR at the very least as it will make things easier for medical school admission.

Consider community colleges for your first two years of undergrad. While you will hear stories that 4 year colleges are preferred (and they may be, especially for pre-med required courses), spending thousands of dollars to take general education classes doesn't make a lot of sense to me.

Get a copy of the MSAR to see what the requirements are for US and Canadian medical schools, so you know far in advance.

Non-citizens can still get private loans.

Also, citizenship/PR doesn't matter at many public schools... I wasn't a PR when I first applied to college, but I still got all of the same scholarships and discounts as a state resident.

What I'm concerning is that 200k is all of the money.

Japanese government does not have finiancial aid program unless you have graduated your high school in Japan. So i cant apply for financial aid program for undegraduate study while IT IS VERY EXPENSIVE FOR AN INTERNATIONAL STUDENT TO STUDY IN THE U.S.A for a bachelor degree.

WHat Ive thoght is that it might be helpful to do a 5 or 6 years premed/med program in Caribean and take USMLE. If I can't practice in the U.S, I still have other countries to go. It's better to be runing out of money during my medical traning in the U.S.

How do you guys think ?

If you finished high school in the US (I'm not sure about Canada), you can get in-state tuition fees (~$8,000/year) without being a US permanent resident.

You can also get loans from private banks.

If you want the cheapest way to do it, you can apply to 6-yr programs in the US (like UMKC). Also, do your best to get good grades and get scholarship.

Originally Posted by shan564

If you finished high school in the US (I'm not sure about Canada), you can get in-state tuition fees (~$8,000/year) without being a US permanent resident.

You can also get loans from private banks.

If you want the cheapest way to do it, you can apply to 6-yr programs in the US (like UMKC). Also, do your best to get good grades and get scholarship.

I fnished high school in Canada and I am still considred as international student in Canada and U.S and AT LEAST I need 25k every year for living expenses for four years no matter in Canada or US.

So basically I alreayd spent 100k before enterning medical school. So Im thinking I should apply for 6 or 6 years pre-med/med programs in Carribean.

25k for living expenses? You must have expensive tastes. I easily live off of about $15k/year, and I live pretty comfortably (i.e. nice car, eating out a lot, buying random toys, etc.).

If you want to go to the Caribbean, so be it... but it would probably be worth the money to get a loan from a private bank. If you want to go to a 6-yr program, why not choose one in the US? Also, you should consider the 6-yr programs in Australia.

One more thing... you could work during your undergrad (like I did). It's easy to make ~$10k/year, which is enough to live off of. I have a roommate who made about $6-7k per year throughout college and it was good enough for him to graduate with no debt (of course, he had scholarships to cover tuition).