MCAT for Filipinos

heartDoctor said:

i'm a junior college taking BA Psychology as my pre med at the University of the Philippines. as of the moment, i am waiting for the application period of the NMAT here in the Philippines. but, i am also interested in practicing med in the US... am i allowed to take the MCAT? what are the requirements?

Thank You in advance...

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to practice medicine as a foreign grad, you need the USMLE (1-3) and maybe some other additional processes to be accredited in the US. to attend medical school in the US, you need the MCAT. the NMAT ,i imagine, is your equivalent of the MCAT.

I'm pretty sure you're allowed to take the MCAT if you sign up for it. However, you'll need to goto a testing center, which I assume isn't readily available in the Philippines.

In terms of practicing in the states, what sehnsucht said is correct. Taking the MCAT really contributes very little to your ability to practice here. If you do want to practice in the States, your best shot is probably to complete your medical training in the Philippines then come here to take all the board exams to get your license. The other path is to just take the MCAT and apply directly to a US medical school.

You would have to complete at least some undergrad classes in the US in addition to MCAT in order to apply to med school here. There are schools that do not require UG prepreqs completed in the US but there are VERY few and VERY hard to get into (i.e. WashU or Harvard). Best recommendation to you is to work on getting your medical degree in the Philippines and studying for the USMLE at the same time and then just take the Step exams. If you get a good grade, there would not be too much trouble getting into a residency in the US... it probably wont be a dermo residency (of course depends on your USMLE score, if they are through the roof, the sky is the limit), but you probably will get into a residency program. In addition, many US med schools (i.e. Hopkins, WashU, NYMC, and others) require 100% prepayment of medical school tuition + living expenses (about $220,000-240,000) upfront payment.