foreigners' med school entrance in the US

[kellywang]

> hi, i've heard that it is extremely hard for
> international students to get into US medical
> schools although pre-med courses are complted in US
> collges; is this really true? if hard, how hard is
> it?
>
> would having greencard be benefitting?
>
> any reply will be greatly appreciated.
>
> sincerely,
> kelly

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[Winged Scapula]

Originally posted by kellywang:
•> hi, i've heard that it is extremely hard for
> international students to get into US medical
> schools although pre-med courses are complted in US
> collges; is this really true? if hard, how hard is
> it?
>
> would having greencard be benefitting?
>
> any reply will be greatly appreciated.
>
> sincerely,
> kelly•

Yes Kelly it IS true. The reason being is two fold:

1) many US medical schools are state supported by taxes. Thus, the states are bound to accept a vast majority of their students from the citizens who pay taxes in that state. Each state differs with regard to its requirements for state residency.

2) there are many many more US citizen applicants than there are spots. I can tell you that it was my experience in Australia that the Aussie citizens were angry about international students taking "their spots" (when they were actually reserved for international students and not available to Aussies), so I'm sure you can imagine that US citizens would be a tad upset if these extremely competitive spots were given to someone who wasn't even a US citizen.

Having a green card does help. I do not know whether or not this makes you eligible for US loans or not so be aware that at the private medical colleges (at which you would have the most chance of gaining entrance) you may be required to have deposited into a savings account the full amount of tuition and living expenses for the 4 years. In case you are wondering, you stand a better chance of getting into medical school in Australia than you do in the US. Typically, out of 18,000+ US medical students, less than 100 are international students.

Hope this helps and best of luck.

 

[Dreamer]

Just short additon, green card allows you to borrow US loans.

 

[PuppyLuv]

it's tought but there's about 125 international students accepted each year. Most probably came from the school undergrad but some managed to even get into an allopathic state school (my cousin did it in '2000) but you have to be "extremely" qualified with extracurricular stuff up to yin-yang.
Best of luck!!!!