An international high school student trying to apply for MD or DO

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Hello, I am a Korean high schooler studying in a Science High School, with distinctions from a normal high school. We have a minimum of 4 seniors going to Oxbridge every year and many go to American universities as well. Some have SCI grade journal articles as well.
I am a freshman currently within the field of computational biology and conducting research also. I may be possible to list in an open access journal like PLOS or PeerJ before graduation. I am also preparing for the fall SAT (should not be a problem fulfilling the standards) and took an AP CS test a few days ago, likely a 5.
I want to to be a clinic with weights on pathological and pharmacological research, but I cannot go to a Korean medical school because of our country's policy on limiting students like us from becoming doctors. So I want to go to pre-med (or alternatively a university that allows me to continue my research) in the US or study computational biology in the UK (It's way easier to go to Oxbridge than Harvard/MIT) and then join a US MD/DO course. Is there a US medical school that accepts a student like me in relatively high acceptance rates? I also prefer financial aids over the huge fees that I have to afford. My family is not that rich enough to spend over $40000 every year without cutting budgets down. Thank you.

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It is possible, but very difficult, for international students to attend a US Medical School. To do so, you need higher stats than an American applicant and to show dedication that you intend to practice in the U.S.--they don't want to waste resources training a physician who won't contribute to the system/research. Here's a thread (very old) about international applicants that might help you: International Students who have made it to US Medical Schools

If you want to go to a US medical school, you should go to college in the US. Why do you, though? If you want to do computational biology/research, is there any reason you don't want to get a Ph.D.? Why is it so important that you also have a clinic? And what do you mean by "students like us"?

I saw a thread a while ago in the pre-MD forum regarding which med schools take more than one or two international applicants/year, but I can't find it again. I'll let you know if I do.
 
It is possible, but very difficult, for international students to attend a US Medical School. To do so, you need higher stats than an American applicant and to show dedication that you intend to practice in the U.S.--they don't want to waste resources training a physician who won't contribute to the system/research. Here's a thread (very old) about international applicants that might help you: International Students who have made it to US Medical Schools

If you want to go to a US medical school, you should go to college in the US. Why do you, though? If you want to do computational biology/research, is there any reason you don't want to get a Ph.D.? Why is it so important that you also have a clinic? And what do you mean by "students like us"?

I saw a thread a while ago in the pre-MD forum regarding which med schools take more than one or two international applicants/year, but I can't find it again. I'll let you know if I do.

It's better to do research as a MD since my area is closely related to medical research and my mentor is a professor-MD in his mid-30s that increases his university's rankings just by his presence with DNA splicing research. He is a peer reviewer of a few major journals. I want to follow his tracks but my school (students like us->students is specialized science schools) prohibits me from getting in medic school and there isn't even a grad medic school here.
 
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It's better to do research as a MD since my area is closely related to medical research and my mentor is a professor-MD in his mid-30s that increases his university's rankings just by his presence with DNA splicing research. He is a peer reviewer of a few major journals. I want to follow his tracks but my school (students like us->students is specialized science schools) prohibits me from getting in medic school and there isn't even a grad medic school here.

Hm... as a U.S. student, I don't know a lot about your system, but it sounds like the path you've lined up for yourself is going to be a difficult one. You should definitely go to college in the country you want to go to medical school in. And most loans/financial aid packages are federal and thus not available to international students. No medical school accepts students (just in general) in high rates, and usually very few are international students. For you career path, it sounds like you would want an MD-PhD program. About forty such programs function as PhD programs, so tuition is free and you get a small stipend of money.

However, these programs are near impossible for even U.S. students to get into, their acceptance rates are so low. You would definitely need top-level grades, MCAT score, ECs, etc. Anything's possible if you work hard enough, but that doesn't mean it's likely.

Here's a link to the AMCAS page exploring MD-PhD programs. Only MSTPs give you that stipend, the others are expensive. Applying to MD-PhD Programs

Good luck!
 
This is a situation that is kinda complex on many levels. First of all, it seems like you are more interested in clinical research/academic medicine than you are in practicing general medicine. If that's the case, I would recommend you would fare better at MD schools, just because in general, you would have better access to more clinical research and academic medicine opportunities affiliated with large, university-based teaching hospitals. DO schools, while they make fantastic physicians, may not necessarily provide you the same academic research opportunities you are looking for (again, this is just generally speaking).
The main issue is your current status as a student. I'm well aware of how the Korean educational system works (I've lived there for over half my life), and I understand your plight that it would be difficult to attend medical school in Korea based on your attendance at a specialized science high school. However, there are two major challenges for you to face. Assuming that you want to practice in the US, you would need extremely stellar grades in a US college because you would most likely be held to a higher standard for medical school admissions, and they are very competitive. I do know of 1 or 2 international students who managed to receive acceptance at a US MD School, but there entire academic profile was outstanding and stellar with great research accomplishments and extracurriculars, and these candidates are not common. That's not to say that you can't be one of them, but you should definitely know what you are getting into - MD schools are hard enough to get into, even for US students.
The other problem is financial aid. In general, medical school is EXPENSIVE (I'm sure that the majority of medical students can agree that we all will have some level of substantial debt by the time graduation comes), but at least as a US citizen, we are entitled to government loans to help pay cost. As an international student, you would not have the same access to loans that we do, and some medical schools, while they take international students, will definitely ponder whether you would have the resources to pay for the education. Unless you have savings to help pay, you will either need to get private loans or pay through savings (which I assume is difficult for you). Scholarships are very hard to come by, even more for international students - I would not bank on getting those.
 
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