Applying to 5 year MBBS program from junior college?

[Eclipse2020]

Hi,

I am currently in my first year at junior college, also known as a community college in the United States I am only staying for one year and will receive my AA, or associates degrees, this academic year. My parents are both US educated doctors and my brother and sister are currently in a medical school here in the U.S. We have relatives in London, and I was thinking that if I could work extremely hard right now in junior college, maybe I could save a year by doing a 5 or 6 year MBBS program in England and then take the USMLE and do residency in the U.S. In high school I have passed four AP exams with two 4s, and two 3s. My SAT score was a 2120 which was nearly the top 2% of the 2 million test takers in the U.S, and is a good score for Ivy League universities in the U.S. However I only had good S.A.T scores but didn't fare to well in high school.

How would I go about applying to a medical school in England? I mean if they accept high school students, wouldn't they accept junior college students as well? What are the requirements and expectations, and lastly, what is the chance that I might get accepted?

I am aiming for a 3.8 to 4.0 GPA in junior college, and have my first two years worth of undergraduate science courses done in one year(by May 2013)

How would I go about applying to schools such as Barts at Queen Mary, University of London, or other schools, preferably ones ranked lower than Barts. Also when are the deadlines if I wanted to apply to a medical school to start in the Fall of 2013)

 

[bambi]

Hi,

I am currently in my first year at junior college, also known as a community college in the United States I am only staying for one year and will receive my AA, or associates degrees, this academic year. My parents are both US educated doctors and my brother and sister are currently in a medical school here in the U.S. We have relatives in London, and I was thinking that if I could work extremely hard right now in junior college, maybe I could save a year by doing a 5 or 6 year MBBS program in England and then take the USMLE and do residency in the U.S. In high school I have passed four AP exams with two 4s, and two 3s. My SAT score was a 2120 which was nearly the top 2% of the 2 million test takers in the U.S, and is a good score for Ivy League universities in the U.S. However I only had good S.A.T scores but didn't fare to well in high school.

How would I go about applying to a medical school in England? I mean if they accept high school students, wouldn't they accept junior college students as well? What are the requirements and expectations, and lastly, what is the chance that I might get accepted?

I am aiming for a 3.8 to 4.0 GPA in junior college, and have my first two years worth of undergraduate science courses done in one year(by May 2013)

How would I go about applying to schools such as Barts at Queen Mary, University of London, or other schools, preferably ones ranked lower than Barts. Also when are the deadlines if I wanted to apply to a medical school to start in the Fall of 2013)

If you don't have the stats that you would need to be on track to get into med school in the US you will not get in in the UK. Our school education is a different level to yours, competition to get into med school is much worse here in terms of numbers and stats and that's made worse by the fact you are only allowed to apply to 4 schools.

You will need to check individual school websites for their exact requirements. Check the UCAS website to find out which schools there are etc, you apply through UCAS also.

Also, schools here are not ranked, not in the way you mean at least, there are league tables but they focus on things like student satisfaction. There are no tiers of medical school here, official or unofficial, they are all technically considered equal. As a doctor, seeing people from all different schools I would say this is pretty true, different schools have different strengths and therefore so do graduates.

Finally, it is much better to train in the country you want to work in. The medical environment in the US is dramatically different to that in the UK and it can be a difficult adjustment.

 

[jenl]

what is the harm in applying - you may very well get in, try Irish schools as well, including RCSI. I am from a house full of Irish grads all working in Canada/USA now.

 

[bambi]

what is the harm in applying - you may very well get in, try Irish schools as well, including RCSI. I am from a house full of Irish grads all working in Canada/USA now.

Irish schools are a whole different ball game!

Don't know huge amounts about them as never needed to but it seems a lot of people get in with stats that wouldn't get them in at home?? This really isn't the case for UK schools. Obviously applying does no harm, (only a couple of schools don't let you reapply if you have been previously rejected) but false hope just ends in tears.

If you can improve your stats fine, you might get in, but then you shouldn't even be trying, you should do everything you possibly can to stay at home!!!!

 

[xadmin]

UK schools are really hard to get in. If you are a US Citizen, it is better for you to apply to your own US medical schools.

 

[Medstart108]

Hi,

I am currently in my first year at junior college, also known as a community college in the United States I am only staying for one year and will receive my AA, or associates degrees, this academic year. My parents are both US educated doctors and my brother and sister are currently in a medical school here in the U.S. We have relatives in London, and I was thinking that if I could work extremely hard right now in junior college, maybe I could save a year by doing a 5 or 6 year MBBS program in England and then take the USMLE and do residency in the U.S. In high school I have passed four AP exams with two 4s, and two 3s. My SAT score was a 2120 which was nearly the top 2% of the 2 million test takers in the U.S, and is a good score for Ivy League universities in the U.S. However I only had good S.A.T scores but didn't fare to well in high school.

How would I go about applying to a medical school in England? I mean if they accept high school students, wouldn't they accept junior college students as well? What are the requirements and expectations, and lastly, what is the chance that I might get accepted?

I am aiming for a 3.8 to 4.0 GPA in junior college, and have my first two years worth of undergraduate science courses done in one year(by May 2013)

How would I go about applying to schools such as Barts at Queen Mary, University of London, or other schools, preferably ones ranked lower than Barts. Also when are the deadlines if I wanted to apply to a medical school to start in the Fall of 2013)

Its definitely possible to get into UK schools. However. I'm not gonna lie though 2120 is not Ivy League quality unless you back that up with very good grades, ridiculous ECs, legacy or under-represented minority status. Ivy League quality is 2200+ unless you have something mentioned above.

I got into a UK medical school straight from high school. You would have to do an interview in the UK as well as write the UKCAT and possibly the BMAT. To be honest, unless you love the UK or have some sort of attachment there, as you said you have relatives, I wouldn't recommend you go. If you get into the UK, you could probably get into the US. This is because the UK restricts the number of internationals to 7.5% of total students. This makes it even tougher for internationals to get into medicine than home students, the opposite of nearly all other courses.

I'm Canadian, and the province where i'm from, Ontario, has the lowest chance of getting into medical school (5% for people from the GTA) since every other province in Canada protects 90% of their spots to their own provincial residents except for Ontario. In addition to that, some of Ontario's medical schools (cough Western and Northern Ontario) protect their spots for residents from North or Southwestern Ontario👎. Not to mention we are gunner capital due to the fact that everyone and their mother wants to become a doctor. Thats why i chose to skip the whole process and go to the UK.

However, its a lot easier in the US. Medical schools are opening up every year there. I wouldn't recommend you spend an inordinate amount of money to study medicine there. Yes you save 2-3 years, but the hassle of studying for the USMLEs on your own, dealing with scheduling differences between countries is just not worth it imo. Not to mention that you will be considered an IMG. I used to love being a Canadian citizen, I still do, however, my life would be so much easier if I was american. US medical school acceptance rates are 40%, while in Canada they differ depending on province and city from 5% in Toronto all the way to 27% in Alberta, but nowhere near the US.

However, if you do decide you really want to study in the UK. Try St. George's UofL. I got in there, but didn't choose to go there. However, its the easiest to get into imo. They have a program specifically for internationals that allows you to do 2 years of clinical rotations in the US.

 

[bambi]

I got into a UK medical school straight from high school. You would have to do an interview in the UK as well as write the UKCAT and possibly the BMAT. To be honest, unless you love the UK or have some sort of attachment there, as you said you have relatives, I wouldn't recommend you go. If you get into the UK, you could probably get into the US. This is because the UK restricts the number of internationals to 7.5% of total students. This makes it even tougher for internationals to get into medicine than home students, the opposite of nearly all other courses.

It is much easier to get into medicine in the UK as an international student than it is as a home student. The stats we require of you are no where near what is required of home students. The number of places may be capped but there is still far less competition in terms of numbers and quality of applicants.

 

[xadmin]

Congrat on Edinburgh, why 6 years program?

Its definitely possible to get into UK schools. However. I'm not gonna lie though 2120 is not Ivy League quality unless you back that up with very good grades, ridiculous ECs, legacy or under-represented minority status. Ivy League quality is 2200+ unless you have something mentioned above.

I got into a UK medical school straight from high school. You would have to do an interview in the UK as well as write the UKCAT and possibly the BMAT. To be honest, unless you love the UK or have some sort of attachment there, as you said you have relatives, I wouldn't recommend you go. If you get into the UK, you could probably get into the US. This is because the UK restricts the number of internationals to 7.5% of total students. This makes it even tougher for internationals to get into medicine than home students, the opposite of nearly all other courses.

I'm Canadian, and the province where i'm from, Ontario, has the lowest chance of getting into medical school (5% for people from the GTA) since every other province in Canada protects 90% of their spots to their own provincial residents except for Ontario. In addition to that, some of Ontario's medical schools (cough Western and Northern Ontario) protect their spots for residents from North or Southwestern Ontario👎. Not to mention we are gunner capital due to the fact that everyone and their mother wants to become a doctor. Thats why i chose to skip the whole process and go to the UK.

However, its a lot easier in the US. Medical schools are opening up every year there. I wouldn't recommend you spend an inordinate amount of money to study medicine there. Yes you save 2-3 years, but the hassle of studying for the USMLEs on your own, dealing with scheduling differences between countries is just not worth it imo. Not to mention that you will be considered an IMG. I used to love being a Canadian citizen, I still do, however, my life would be so much easier if I was american. US medical school acceptance rates are 40%, while in Canada they differ depending on province and city from 5% in Toronto all the way to 27% in Alberta, but nowhere near the US.

However, if you do decide you really want to study in the UK. Try St. George's UofL. I got in there, but didn't choose to go there. However, its the easiest to get into imo. They have a program specifically for internationals that allows you to do 2 years of clinical rotations in the US.

 

[Medstart108]

It is much easier to get into medicine in the UK as an international student than it is as a home student. The stats we require of you are no where near what is required of home students. The number of places may be capped but there is still far less competition in terms of numbers and quality of applicants.

I don't want to start some argument here, but i disagree. If you look at the stats for edinburgh, the acceptance rates for International students is 8% vs 15% for home students. i'm pretty sure that this applies for other schools as well. Oxford accepted only 1 international last year from 255 applications (its on their website just look up oxford medicine admission statistics). I completely agree for other courses, international students are accepted with lower stats (i have also looked up general admission statistics for st. andrews and acceptance rates for internationals are twice as high), but medicine is capped and a lot of countries in the world have very few medical schools and so their students apply to the UK. Off the top of my head (malaysia, singapore, indonesia, large parts of africa, india)

 

[Medstart108]

Congrat on Edinburgh, why 6 years program?

6 years because i also do research and get a BSc.

 

[bambi]

I don't want to start some argument here, but i disagree. If you look at the stats for edinburgh, the acceptance rates for International students is 8% vs 15% for home students. i'm pretty sure that this applies for other schools as well. Oxford accepted only 1 international last year from 255 applications (its on their website just look up oxford medicine admission statistics). I completely agree for other courses, international students are accepted with lower stats (i have also looked up general admission statistics for st. andrews and acceptance rates for internationals are twice as high), but medicine is capped and a lot of countries in the world have very few medical schools and so their students apply to the UK. Off the top of my head (malaysia, singapore, indonesia, large parts of africa, india)

You have been a med student for 5 minutes, I have been around looking at this sort of thing for over 10 years. Your other posts in other threads where you tell basically everyone they will get in show you don't really understand the expectations. Stats for 1 school for 1 year is not a good sample. Also, like I said, what is asked of internationals is not on par with what is asked of home students.

 

[Medstart108]

You have been a med student for 5 minutes, I have been around looking at this sort of thing for over 10 years. Your other posts in other threads where you tell basically everyone they will get in show you don't really understand the expectations. Stats for 1 school for 1 year is not a good sample. Also, like I said, what is asked of internationals is not on par with what is asked of home students.

You said you've been researching this for 10 years, can you provide me samples of evidence to prove internationals can get in with lower grades? My evidence on Oxford is for this year, but if you want to look at past years it is similar. The year before they accepted 2 internationals.

I tell people they have a shot when i believe they do. You are already a resident, so maybe back in the day everything was like you say. Things may have changed. Also, there is always a chance. If you look at FOI requests, there are people who are not your typical applicant with high scores that do get accepted. Just because your stats are below average does not mean you will be rejected for sure. You will have applicants that perform well on the interview or have other redeeming qualities other than grades. The better question is: Why tell people they don't have a shot when they do?

 

[bambi]

You said you've been researching this for 10 years, can you provide me samples of evidence to prove internationals can get in with lower grades? My evidence on Oxford is for this year, but if you want to look at past years it is similar. The year before they accepted 2 internationals.

I tell people they have a shot when i believe they do. You are already a resident, so maybe back in the day everything was like you say. Things may have changed. Also, there is always a chance. If you look at FOI requests, there are people who are not your typical applicant with high scores that do get accepted. Just because your stats are below average does not mean you will be rejected for sure. You will have applicants that perform well on the interview or have other redeeming qualities other than grades. The better question is: Why tell people they don't have a shot when they do?

I have never told people they don't have a shot when they do. You give people false hope which is cruel. Over 10 years it has become even harder for home students to get in but not a lot has changed for international students. Pure applicant numbers that you seem to enjoy quoting aren't the whole story.