6 year foreign med school or go to college and do premed?

[redence]

-btw I posted something similar to this in the MD + high school forum a few weeks back- just wanted some input from foreign grads now-

I'm a 17 year old high school senior, and I have to apply to colleges soon. I'm interested in the health field, but I'm not 100% sure yet if I want to be either a doctor (Pediatrician) or a Physician Assistant (PA). I want to go to a U.S college and either complete pre-med or pre-pa, I might even do pre-health since I don't know which health field I want to go into. However, my Indian parents have a different outlook on my life. They're trying to force me to be a doctor, and this is not the main thing that's really pissing me off, but the fact that they say I'm too stupid to get into and complete a U.S med school. So they're planning to send me to a foreign U.S accredited 6 year med school either in Dominican Republic (Caribbean) or somewhere in Europe where they accept high school students. They believe that since I wasn't a competitive high school student, I have a 3.5 hs gpa, but a 26 on the ACT (tbh I didn't study for it). However, I also took honors and AP classes and did decent on them. I know for sure I wasn't the best hs student, but I also know I wasn't the worst. My Indian parents think that I will get easily weeded out of premed and not end up getting into a U.S med school due to my "low" hs grades, because it's too competitive for me, and the amount of Americans who drop out of U.S med school and fail in college. They think I'll end wasting my time and money on a U.S college doing premed. They gave me examples of Indian family friends who failed to get into U.S med schools. However, I also know family friends who also got into U.S med schools. They gave me examples of my parents friends who went to foreign med schools in India and Caribbean who are doctors. However, I know some foreigners who didn't get into a residency either. I've heard many bad things about foreign med schools, and I believe I'm too immature (17 yrs old) to start med school especially in a third world country. -.-

According to my parents, who both went to foreign med school, FOREIGN MED SCHOOL IS EASY, all I have to really study for is the USMLE, to get into a U.S residency. The funny thing is that both my parents ended up not passing the USMLE or not matching into a residency. My father, "smart" kid in India, got accepted into a good Indian med school, and came to the U.S and matched into a residency, but he fooled around/didn't study and lost his residency. Till this day, he is looking for a residency. My mom on the other hand, went to a foreign med school in Dominican Republic, she said the classes are easy, but ended up getting a low score on the USMLE, and not even getting a residency. She ended up being a Nurse Practitioner. What's even scarier is that she wants me to go to the same foreign med school in Dominican Republic that she went to because it's "easy" with minimal amount of studying, but the only thing I would really have to study hard for is the USMLE. Overall summary of what my parents think, they legit said this to me: Foreign med school is an easy way to get into the U.S system to be a doctor, it's short, cheap, and easier. In the U.S med schools it is too hard and people end up failing. As long as I study hard for the USMLE (which the foreign med school doesn't teach) on my own and get a good score on it, I will get into a residency.

I'm not even sure if I want to be a doctor or PA yet. I told my parents that I would rather be a PA (just not to go to a foreign med school), and they got mad and yelled at me, "all PA'S do is clean up **** and get paid low compared to a doctor". They called me dumb and immature when I said I would rather try to get into a U.S med school. They even threatened not to pay for my tuition if I go study in the U.S. When I told them about the negative reviews about foreign med schools and the low USMLE scores, and low residency match rates from the Internet, they told me: "those are just American's who never been to foreign med school, and don't know what they are talking about." I've been stressed and depressed about what I should do with my life now. They would always yell and argue with me everytime I say I wanted to apply to a U.S college. Should i go to a foreign u.s accredited med school or u.s college?

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Domperidone]

aw dude. tl;dr.

if your goal is to practice in the US for ANY field of medicine (peds included) --> premed (or some other undergrad degree) --> US MD or DO.

if your goal is to not practice in the US --> move to the new country you actually want to practice in and spend the rest of your life in. attend the dominican school if you actually want to move there, for instance.

failing these, re-evaluate. see what's missing in your application.
only consider off-shore options (as the alternative path to the US) if you fail to get offers after 2-3 application cycles to US MD or DO.

your parents did not attend med school or go to residency in this generation. or any residency program for that matter. what does that tell you about going to an offshore medical school when they failed to match with their 'foreign degrees'? if it was so easy, why is your father still looking and your mother's an NP? why look down on PAs when she's also a midlevel provider?

for the love of gawd.
attend college, do something you love for 4 years. grow. mature.
move away from home. don't throw away 6+ years of your life over bad advice, cause that is some bad advice. you know what i learned in college? that my parents weren't always right like they were when i was in high school, and that I needed to make my own mistakes (because they were mine). living someone else's life is unfair or fulfilling their unfulfilled dreams.

i really hope this wasn't a troll.

 

[Chondroclast]

Go to college in the US and apply for MD/DO. Becoming a US doctor from a foreign med school is HARDER than going to med school in the US. Classes are not easier in foreign med schools, it's all the same classes/material. If you go to a good med school, they teach you everything you need to know for step 1 while you're in your first 2 years. Do your research before making a huge mistake. You are 17- go to college, live your college life, have some fun, study hard, join clubs, make friends.. then apply to US med schools. If that fails, seek help then.

 

[mcat_taker]

-btw I posted something similar to this in the MD + high school forum a few weeks back- just wanted some input from foreign grads now-

I'm a 17 year old high school senior, and I have to apply to colleges soon. I'm interested in the health field, but I'm not 100% sure yet if I want to be either a doctor (Pediatrician) or a Physician Assistant (PA). I want to go to a U.S college and either complete pre-med or pre-pa, I might even do pre-health since I don't know which health field I want to go into. However, my Indian parents have a different outlook on my life. They're trying to force me to be a doctor, and this is not the main thing that's really pissing me off, but the fact that they say I'm too stupid to get into and complete a U.S med school. So they're planning to send me to a foreign U.S accredited 6 year med school either in Dominican Republic (Caribbean) or somewhere in Europe where they accept high school students. They believe that since I wasn't a competitive high school student, I have a 3.5 hs gpa, but a 26 on the ACT (tbh I didn't study for it). However, I also took honors and AP classes and did decent on them. I know for sure I wasn't the best hs student, but I also know I wasn't the worst. My Indian parents think that I will get easily weeded out of premed and not end up getting into a U.S med school due to my "low" hs grades, because it's too competitive for me, and the amount of Americans who drop out of U.S med school and fail in college. They think I'll end wasting my time and money on a U.S college doing premed. They gave me examples of Indian family friends who failed to get into U.S med schools. However, I also know family friends who also got into U.S med schools. They gave me examples of my parents friends who went to foreign med schools in India and Caribbean who are doctors. However, I know some foreigners who didn't get into a residency either. I've heard many bad things about foreign med schools, and I believe I'm too immature (17 yrs old) to start med school especially in a third world country. -.-

According to my parents, who both went to foreign med school, FOREIGN MED SCHOOL IS EASY, all I have to really study for is the USMLE, to get into a U.S residency. The funny thing is that both my parents ended up not passing the USMLE or not matching into a residency. My father, "smart" kid in India, got accepted into a good Indian med school, and came to the U.S and matched into a residency, but he fooled around/didn't study and lost his residency. Till this day, he is looking for a residency. My mom on the other hand, went to a foreign med school in Dominican Republic, she said the classes are easy, but ended up getting a low score on the USMLE, and not even getting a residency. She ended up being a Nurse Practitioner. What's even scarier is that she wants me to go to the same foreign med school in Dominican Republic that she went to because it's "easy" with minimal amount of studying, but the only thing I would really have to study hard for is the USMLE. Overall summary of what my parents think, they legit said this to me: Foreign med school is an easy way to get into the U.S system to be a doctor, it's short, cheap, and easier. In the U.S med schools it is too hard and people end up failing. As long as I study hard for the USMLE (which the foreign med school doesn't teach) on my own and get a good score on it, I will get into a residency.

I'm not even sure if I want to be a doctor or PA yet. I told my parents that I would rather be a PA (just not to go to a foreign med school), and they got mad and yelled at me, "all PA'S do is clean up **** and get paid low compared to a doctor". They called me dumb and immature when I said I would rather try to get into a U.S med school. They even threatened not to pay for my tuition if I go study in the U.S. When I told them about the negative reviews about foreign med schools and the low USMLE scores, and low residency match rates from the Internet, they told me: "those are just American's who never been to foreign med school, and don't know what they are talking about." I've been stressed and depressed about what I should do with my life now. They would always yell and argue with me everytime I say I wanted to apply to a U.S college. Should i go to a foreign u.s accredited med school or u.s college?

You have a mature and well developed outlook on this. Your parents are wrong, people who end up getting into U.S. med schools very rarely fail out. People are more likely to fail out going abroad.

You have a clean slate as you haven't started college, you can work hard for that GPA and MCAT. See if you even like premed classes or medicine. Ultimately it is your decision not your parents. But in this day and age, getting a college degree first is an excellent plan as it opens up doors regardless of whether or not you want to do medicine.

 

[AlteredScale]

You've posted this question thread multiple times within the same forum as well across different forums so closing. Here is a link to the older thread if one would like to contribute to the discussion: I want to be a pediatrician, should I go to a 6 year caribean med school right after high school?