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I got a pm from a parent asking what were the factors involved in coming to India.... or if it was a good Idea... wrote them a long reply which i thought could be usefull to others as well... here is is... if you have something to add... please do... hope this gets the ball rolling...
ok well deciding to come to India is a very big decision and it has a lot of factors involved... I can not say if its a good idea or not for your son particulary as I do not know him and have not spoken to him personally but I will outline a few points of interest that are crucial to making the decision to come to india the right decision.
1) you should first and foremost ask your son what HE wants to do. If he says he wants to stay in america and finish his schooling you should at not cost force him to come to India... this will save you a lot of money as well as time... as if he doesn't adjust well here you will lose your whole donation amount as well as the time and effort taken to set up in india. However should he be willing to listen to the benefits of coming to India you can tell him the following:
- you will be garunteed a seat in a medical college and you will be able to skip undergraduate studies in america.... so in essence you are sure that you are getting into a med school whereas in the states you have to compete and you are not garunteed acceptance into a medical college as competion is very tough...
2) regarding time and money
People always say you save time and money... this is not always true... The course in itself is 5.5 years... afterwhich you have to finish your USMLE's with good scores so studying for these exams takes a while and completing them usually takes a year... after which u apply to residency... so in total you will spend about 6.5 years if you finish everything without flunking, ie in the first attempt. The thing is that most NRI's, me included, rarely pass the first year exam on their first attempt... the teaching style as well as the examination style are very different... not to mention the culture shock that the student has to get used to... in reality NRI's usually take about 7 to 7.5 years to finish up the course and complete the USMLE's. so time is not really a factor as there are 7 year programs in the US too... but thesea re verrry very competitive... but they are there...
Next comes money. True the US system of education is very expensive... you will be paying around 300 grand for undergraduate studies alone if your son chooses to go to a UC school... if he chooses to go to a private school then even more... In india the donation amount is close to 90-100 lakhs so that comes out to roughly 250k dollars... and that is a one time lump sum fee... non refundable... true you will save money in the end... but what happens if your son decides he can't do it.... or he doesnt adjust here in india... or he cant adapt to the teaching style? then your 250 k is gone... I am not saying this discourage you or your son... I am giving you a heads up... that you should be careful about this... this is the reason you should ask your son first if he REALLY REALLY REALLY wants to be a doctor? Next if HE wants to come to India to study? if either of these answers especially the first one is a no or an im not sure... then i suggest you keep your son at home... but if he is sure he wants to be a doctor.. and if he is willing to come to india... i think maybe you can send him here to india to stay for a while... let him see how life is here on a daily basis.. alone...staying with relatives or so is ok i suppose but he should be in the mindset of living in india... because when we come on vacation we dont notice a lot of things or we tend to overlook it as we are in the mindset that we will be going home in few days... so what im saying is that he should come and stay here for a while in the mindset of staying here not a vacation... and after that if he is ok with coming to india and studying then it is safe bet... but he should be sure he wants to be a doctor... at the end of the day he shouldnt change his mind in the middle...
3) teaching style, adjustments, studying
Generally NRI's coming to india have to self study mostly... we dont really understand the teaching style in india and most teachers here are great at their field and they will help you... but they have no teaching background and do not know how to teach... they are very knowledgable and they will help you if you ask them to... but you will have to study yourself... and at such a higher level study i think it is the same in the US too... self study. never the less i must mention it to you... next is the adjustment... you have to be able to adjust to indian lifestyle... if your son knows the local language it is a big big plus... as he needs this to communicate with patients and it will help him in daily activities... but he should be fine with eating indian food everyday and he should be open to the adjustment... I can't tell you what the adjustment is exactly because it is different for everyone but it is a big change... and i have seen people unable to adjust... and they go back after a year... to avoid this letting ur son stay here for some time before taking admissions is advisable as stated above...
On another note... In my personal experience... I was sure i wanted to be a doctor... I was not that great of a student... I mean i got all A's but I did the bare minimum... I was not one of those students that will study and work hard for hours which is what it takes in america to get into a medical college... So India was good for me because I was sure... And I didnt want to go through the Undergraduate program in america and at the end of the day not get into medical college... in india I was garunteed to be a doctor at the end... So if your son sounds more like this picture then you might consider following the above steps to see if he will be ok with coming to india....
But if he your son is a studious person and you think that he can and will get into a medical college in the US... and if he is very american and he doesnt want to come to india... then You should keep him at home... and if he does not make it to a college at the end then you can send him to india as a last resort... because if he stays in the US he has a lot of benefits.... number one he is a US graduate so getting residency is a lot easier... and he can go for specialties like surgery which are virtually offlimits for foreign grads.. i say virtually because it is verrrrry verrrrry difficult to get these residencies normally and as Foreign grads its even harder... but it is not immposible... you have to be a very high scorer but its not immposible... also he has american clinical experience so he wont have to get that after his coursework like foreign grads... next benefit is that you can pay the amounts in installments not up front so its easier and safer should your son change his mind...but it will cost more in the US that is there...
ok well deciding to come to India is a very big decision and it has a lot of factors involved... I can not say if its a good idea or not for your son particulary as I do not know him and have not spoken to him personally but I will outline a few points of interest that are crucial to making the decision to come to india the right decision.
1) you should first and foremost ask your son what HE wants to do. If he says he wants to stay in america and finish his schooling you should at not cost force him to come to India... this will save you a lot of money as well as time... as if he doesn't adjust well here you will lose your whole donation amount as well as the time and effort taken to set up in india. However should he be willing to listen to the benefits of coming to India you can tell him the following:
- you will be garunteed a seat in a medical college and you will be able to skip undergraduate studies in america.... so in essence you are sure that you are getting into a med school whereas in the states you have to compete and you are not garunteed acceptance into a medical college as competion is very tough...
2) regarding time and money
People always say you save time and money... this is not always true... The course in itself is 5.5 years... afterwhich you have to finish your USMLE's with good scores so studying for these exams takes a while and completing them usually takes a year... after which u apply to residency... so in total you will spend about 6.5 years if you finish everything without flunking, ie in the first attempt. The thing is that most NRI's, me included, rarely pass the first year exam on their first attempt... the teaching style as well as the examination style are very different... not to mention the culture shock that the student has to get used to... in reality NRI's usually take about 7 to 7.5 years to finish up the course and complete the USMLE's. so time is not really a factor as there are 7 year programs in the US too... but thesea re verrry very competitive... but they are there...
Next comes money. True the US system of education is very expensive... you will be paying around 300 grand for undergraduate studies alone if your son chooses to go to a UC school... if he chooses to go to a private school then even more... In india the donation amount is close to 90-100 lakhs so that comes out to roughly 250k dollars... and that is a one time lump sum fee... non refundable... true you will save money in the end... but what happens if your son decides he can't do it.... or he doesnt adjust here in india... or he cant adapt to the teaching style? then your 250 k is gone... I am not saying this discourage you or your son... I am giving you a heads up... that you should be careful about this... this is the reason you should ask your son first if he REALLY REALLY REALLY wants to be a doctor? Next if HE wants to come to India to study? if either of these answers especially the first one is a no or an im not sure... then i suggest you keep your son at home... but if he is sure he wants to be a doctor.. and if he is willing to come to india... i think maybe you can send him here to india to stay for a while... let him see how life is here on a daily basis.. alone...staying with relatives or so is ok i suppose but he should be in the mindset of living in india... because when we come on vacation we dont notice a lot of things or we tend to overlook it as we are in the mindset that we will be going home in few days... so what im saying is that he should come and stay here for a while in the mindset of staying here not a vacation... and after that if he is ok with coming to india and studying then it is safe bet... but he should be sure he wants to be a doctor... at the end of the day he shouldnt change his mind in the middle...
3) teaching style, adjustments, studying
Generally NRI's coming to india have to self study mostly... we dont really understand the teaching style in india and most teachers here are great at their field and they will help you... but they have no teaching background and do not know how to teach... they are very knowledgable and they will help you if you ask them to... but you will have to study yourself... and at such a higher level study i think it is the same in the US too... self study. never the less i must mention it to you... next is the adjustment... you have to be able to adjust to indian lifestyle... if your son knows the local language it is a big big plus... as he needs this to communicate with patients and it will help him in daily activities... but he should be fine with eating indian food everyday and he should be open to the adjustment... I can't tell you what the adjustment is exactly because it is different for everyone but it is a big change... and i have seen people unable to adjust... and they go back after a year... to avoid this letting ur son stay here for some time before taking admissions is advisable as stated above...
On another note... In my personal experience... I was sure i wanted to be a doctor... I was not that great of a student... I mean i got all A's but I did the bare minimum... I was not one of those students that will study and work hard for hours which is what it takes in america to get into a medical college... So India was good for me because I was sure... And I didnt want to go through the Undergraduate program in america and at the end of the day not get into medical college... in india I was garunteed to be a doctor at the end... So if your son sounds more like this picture then you might consider following the above steps to see if he will be ok with coming to india....
But if he your son is a studious person and you think that he can and will get into a medical college in the US... and if he is very american and he doesnt want to come to india... then You should keep him at home... and if he does not make it to a college at the end then you can send him to india as a last resort... because if he stays in the US he has a lot of benefits.... number one he is a US graduate so getting residency is a lot easier... and he can go for specialties like surgery which are virtually offlimits for foreign grads.. i say virtually because it is verrrrry verrrrry difficult to get these residencies normally and as Foreign grads its even harder... but it is not immposible... you have to be a very high scorer but its not immposible... also he has american clinical experience so he wont have to get that after his coursework like foreign grads... next benefit is that you can pay the amounts in installments not up front so its easier and safer should your son change his mind...but it will cost more in the US that is there...