Deep Deep Quagmire. Seeking Advice. Please Read.

[Acumenus]

I am an international student studying at a strictly traditional liberal arts college (in the non-conventional sense: there's no major/minor) in the U.S. I am a rising junior. My degree will be a BA in liberal arts: there's hardly any science courses in the programme. I have not taken any pre-reqs nor the MCAT. I have no experience. I have a 3.8+ GPA. I have visa and financial difficulties, so not sure how likely a post-bacc is at the moment. Any recommendations or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

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[ZedsDed]

I apologize if this is posted in the wrong section of the forum. Also, I apologize for the long epistle. I just started typing and didn't realize how lengthy it was getting. Please read it though and give me some feedback.

I read it, there was a whole lot of fluff and the length wasn't necessary. If you want more feedback you'll shorten it.

I am an international student studying at a strictly traditional liberal arts college (in the non-conventional sense: there's no major/minor) in the U.S. I am a rising junior. My degree will be a BA in liberal arts. The core of my current college is to harness critical thinking through discussion and questions; well, that's what it is theoretically. As such, there is little room for practicality hence the curriculum does not entertain "hard" science classes. With that said, I am worried that I am not getting adequate preparation for medical school. To be completely honest, I love my college, but I don't think I am being prepared at all.

Your school sounds silly and pretentious. Have you taken the pre-reqs or not?

You might wonder why did I selected such an anomalous school to begin with if my intentions were clear. The short answer is it was my only option. I am from a small island and my family is extremely poor. I applied to several schools in the U.S. and although I got into most of them, I was not able to matriculate to them for financial reasons. My current college, a late and final attempt, though not ideal, gave me a full scholarship so I attended. I had no intentions of attending medical school in the U.S. and I still don't as I know that it is financially impossible. Not to say that I am not trying despite the astronomical cost, but it is a far-fetched dream. I decided to apply to colleges in the U.S. not because thought it would be "free," rather, I knew my access to education would be "freer." I don't mean financially.

By "freer," I speak of one's access and prerogative to survey different academic fields and be as diverse as one's effort allows. In my country, we follow the British education system, which entails students specializing in a specific area at too early an age. I do not have a problem with this, and though I wish it were different, I think it made me a good student. The problem arose because my family could not afford the textbooks for the science classes; as a result, I had to commit to Business education since my brother had all the texts. This decision is written in stone once you finish year 9: unless you intend to repeat . I was only 13 when I made my decision and I didn't know that it would affect my current situation, but I have learned to live with it. Until now.

I did business right through sixth form. My grades were good: I got all A's in my A-level exams across 7 different subjects and received two national honours. But I was very unhappy as I have always had a mind to pursue the sciences. I had to find another option since I did not want a career in Business and I could not afford to retake O level science then proceed to A level. I did and it was a liberal arts education in the U.S. Unfortunately, it's not going the way I initially had hope.

Little did I know, my current college would make me no more eligible for medical school than my previous education did. I am not criticizing my current college or the programme as I strongly believe this type of education is necessary and should be implemented at the general level. However society values efficiency and so do medical schools.

Navigating this post was unnecessarily difficult. I know this is all very interesting and important stuff to you, but you literally could have distilled this post down to the following:

I am an international student

My degree will be a BA in liberal arts.

I have a 3.8+ GPA

"I have not taken the MCAT"
I still don't know whether or not you have taken the science prereqs. Please consider scrapping your post and distilling it down to a paragraph (at most.)

If you have taken science prereqs and kept a 3.8ish GPA, then you are competitive for an international applicant, as long as you do well on the MCAT (35+.)

If you have not taken the science prereqs, then please spend a few hours researching postbacc programs in the postbacc forum.

 

[Acumenus]

Thank you it was mostly a rant. No I have not taken the prereq, there's no science course at my college. I'll try to edit the post.

Edit: Haha I feel good about the edit. You were right.

 

[jl lin]

I read it, there was a whole lot of fluff and the length wasn't necessary. If you want more feedback you'll shorten it.

Your school sounds silly and pretentious. Have you taken the pre-reqs or not?

Navigating this post was unnecessarily difficult. I know this is all very interesting and important stuff to you, but you literally could have distilled this post down to the following:



"I have not taken the MCAT"
I still don't know whether or not you have taken the science prereqs. Please consider scrapping your post and distilling it down to a paragraph (at most.)

If you have taken science prereqs and kept a 3.8ish GPA, then you are competitive for an international applicant, as long as you do well on the MCAT (35+.)

If you have not taken the science prereqs, then please spend a few hours researching postbacc programs in the postbacc forum.

Seriously, I can be verbose at times, and I am saying ITA w/Zed.

Get to what you have according to MSAR and what you need. Seriously. There is so much to jump through as it is. You have to simplify somewhat here--for your own sake as well as for any insight from others.

 

[ZedsDed]

Thank you it was mostly a rant. No I have not taken the prereq, there's no science course at my college. I'll try to edit the post.

Then spend several hours researching here: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/forums/postbaccalaureate-programs.71/
You are competitive for the very best programs.

Good luck

 

[Acumenus]

Seriously, I can be verbose at times, and I am saying ITA w/Zed.

Get to what you have according to MSAR and what you need. Seriously. There is so much to jump through as it is. You have to simplify somewhat here--for your own sake as well as for any insight from others.

Got it. English is not a first language, so I always feel like I have to be wordy to say what I want. Zed just disproved that with his brief summary.

 

[Acumenus]

Then spend several hours researching here: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/forums/postbaccalaureate-programs.71/
You are competitive for the very best programs.

Good luck

will do so thanks

I'll update this thread with anything I decide.

 

[DrMidlife]

The advice is backwards so far. It makes no sense to advise on US med schools when there's no green card, no citizenship, no money.

The first question is this: where do people on your very small island home country go to med school? Presumably you're not the first one.

Is there a doctor on your very small island home country that can help you?

What is the deal with finances? Your family is broke, so it makes sense that you are saying you can't afford US med school. But why are you saying you could do med school in Europe etc?

In your shoes I'd be looking at the following issues, in order:
1. What kinds of medical schools are financially possible?
2. What do those schools require for admission?
3. What do you need to do to meet those requirements?

You have to find somebody who has done what you're trying to do. You're not going to find that in this particular forum. There is an international forum down below.

Best of luck to you.

 

[DrMidlife]

For those playing along at home, non-Canadian international students who want to get into US med schools have to:
1. be academically qualified on the terms set at each individual US med school
2. be in the top 5% of applicants, generally
3. be able to front the entire cost of 4 years of med ed into an escrow account, or be from a country with an education financing system that is recognized, at the discretion of each individual med school

So we're basically talking about very rich kids who have deep US ties.

 

[ZedsDed]

The advice is backwards so far. It makes no sense to advise on US med schools when there's no green card, no citizenship, no money.

The first question is this: where do people on your very small island home country go to med school? Presumably you're not the first one.

Is there a doctor on your very small island home country that can help you?

What is the deal with finances? Your family is broke, so it makes sense that you are saying you can't afford US med school. But why are you saying you could do med school in Europe etc?

In your shoes I'd be looking at the following issues, in order:
1. What kinds of medical schools are financially possible?
2. What do those schools require for admission?
3. What do you need to do to meet those requirements?

You have to find somebody who has done what you're trying to do. You're not going to find that in this particular forum. There is an international forum down below.

Best of luck to you.

Fair enough. I don't think about the financial feasibility of postbaccs nearly enough; let alone the practical implications for international students. Which is weird, considering that I come from poverty myself.
OP, I would make sure your goals are actually attainable before going on this high-risk adventure.

 

[DrMidlife]

PS here's a med school you should be looking at: http://medicc.org/ns/?page_id=63

Really.

 

[Acumenus]

The advice is backwards so far. It makes no sense to advise on US med schools when there's no green card, no citizenship, no money.

The first question is this: where do people on your very small island home country go to med school? Presumably you're not the first one.

Is there a doctor on your very small island home country that can help you?

What is the deal with finances? Your family is broke, so it makes sense that you are saying you can't afford US med school. But why are you saying you could do med school in Europe etc?

In your shoes I'd be looking at the following issues, in order:
1. What kinds of medical schools are financially possible?
2. What do those schools require for admission?
3. What do you need to do to meet those requirements?

You have to find somebody who has done what you're trying to do. You're not going to find that in this particular forum. There is an international forum down below.

Best of luck to you.

Good post. Yeah most of the doctors study at other Caribbean med school and they are funded by government. But that's only an option for students who left HS with science certificate. I left with Business so it's not an option for me. I will do the things you suggested though.

 

[Acumenus]

PS here's a med school you should be looking at: http://medicc.org/ns/?page_id=63

Really.

Cheers. I'll eventually get to it.

 

[Hyde]

I am an international student studying at a strictly traditional liberal arts college (in the non-conventional sense: there's no major/minor) in the U.S. I am a rising junior. My degree will be a BA in liberal arts: there's hardly any science courses in the programme. I have not taken any pre-reqs nor the MCAT. I have no experience. I have a 3.8+ GPA. I have visa and financial difficulties, so not sure how likely a post-bacc is at the moment. Any recommendations or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

You'll be a junior in the fall, so you should have time to get most if not all essential pre-med courses completed. It will be challenging in several ways: scheduling the classes, the level of compressed intensity, and maintaining your GPA and achieving a similar sGPA. You need to seek out med school knowledgeable counselors at your college so they can educate you and help you plan what needs to be done the next 2 years. You say that other students successfully completed pre-med classes so there's got to be some med school experts in your college's counseling dept - it seems as though you haven't been dealing with the ones you need. I wouldn't assume that these students got to med school due to "connections." That's not a good attitude to project. You need to be more proactive in finding some volunteering opportunities for weekends because your science courses will keep you busy during the week. If you find a prof you like this fall - read up on his/her research interests and projects - and visit him/her during office hours and see if you might be a fit for a project next summer. That will help for future references and EC's.

I'm not certain but I seem to recall reading that int'l students ( who don't have US citizenship) cannot get US gov't student loans. So unless you get private or family funding, paying for a post bacc program here would be problematic. At this point you need to make the best use that you can of the remaining full scholarship time you have at the US college to give yourself some measure of flexibility and marketability to position yourself for eventually applying to a Euro med school. Good luck!

 

[Goro]

This is very simple. You MUST get your visa and finances in order first, and do not even bother thinking about preparing for med school until you do so.

Also develop a Plan B in case you have to go back to the Old Country.

I am an international student studying at a strictly traditional liberal arts college (in the non-conventional sense: there's no major/minor) in the U.S. I am a rising junior. My degree will be a BA in liberal arts: there's hardly any science courses in the programme. I have not taken any pre-reqs nor the MCAT. I have no experience. I have a 3.8+ GPA. I have visa and financial difficulties, so not sure how likely a post-bacc is at the moment. Any recommendations or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

[SPionic]

Hi OP, your undergrad sounds like my undergrad. Actually, it might be the same school. I went in knowing that it was not the best preparation for a career in science, and had a fantastic experience/learned a lot. I spent four years afterwards working and taking prereqs as I could afford them. However, as a US citizen, my path was considerably easier than yours will be. :/
In any case, I would use your remaining years in the US volunteering in a hospital setting/shadowing doctors, and setting yourself up with job skills that are marketable enough in the US to get sponsored for a visa. Look for internship opportunities through your school that enable you to stay in the US through the summer and gain experience. If you can get a job/visa in the US (a big if), medical school prerequisites are offered as evening courses at some community colleges, which you could pay for out of pocket while working during the day. University of Maryland has a Science in the Evening program that is also an affordable way to take prerequisites, but it is only available to international students who are permanent residents.
Applying US MD as an international student is a crapshoot even if you have the money to pay for school out of pocket.