Getting into Med school with f1 visa and merit based scholarship/institutional loan

[Liz1234]

Hello,

I am a PhD student planning on defending my thesis in a year. I am planning on applying to med school after PhD and I am currently studying for MCAT. I did my undergrad in biochemistry and PhD in molecular biology, both degrees in the US, I have all the pre-requisite courses to apply for med school. I am an international student still on F1 student visa. I have heard that It's extremely difficult to get into med school with F1 student visa, but I have also heard few cases where international students get accepted and get school institutional loans (since international students do not qualify for governmental loans). Could you please advise on this issue and which schools to apply to.

Thank you.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Doug Underhill]

The difficulty of it is dependent on your financial aid. You are correct that you cannot get federal loans with a F1 visa. If you do not need loans (unlikely, I know), you can apply to more schools. I had an international Ph.D student in my lab who applied to, and got into, a mid-tier MD with a F1 student visa. She received institutional loans. The higher ranked programs tend to offer them: I know Vanderbilt and Dartmouth do offhand, and I'm pretty sure Yale does as well.

Is it possible for you to get a green card? There's a fast-track green card application for researchers who received 10+ publications while they were doing research in the US.

If you get a green card, you're basically on equal footing with every other applicant.

 

[Liz1234]

The difficulty of it is dependent on your financial aid. You are correct that you cannot get federal loans with a F1 visa. If you do not need loans (unlikely, I know), you can apply to more schools. I had an international Ph.D student in my lab who applied to, and got into, a mid-tier MD with a F1 student visa. She received institutional loans. The higher ranked programs tend to offer them: I know Vanderbilt and Dartmouth do offhand, and I'm pretty sure Yale does as well.

Is it possible for you to get a green card? There's a fast-track green card application for researchers who received 10+ publications while they were doing research in the US.

If you get a green card, you're basically on equal footing with every other applicant.

Hey, Thank you for the reply. would it possible to know which school the student applied to please, It would be helpful to hear from her (she is probably very busy, and not being able to see this post!), her experiences and which schools offer institutional loans. As of now, I only have 4 publications, so I guess it's not possible to get green card....Thanks again!

 

[Bottle]

I just wanted to point out that it is not really difficult. There are just two things that differ you from American.

1) you are limited to 60~ school instead of 150.

2) you cannot get financial aid. At least not government aid.