Getting into Med School

[Kanada]

First time poster here. I'm planning to go to med school and don't know how to proceed. I have a bachelor's degree in Microbiology from a university in Nigeria(2006) and a master's degree in Medical Science from a university in Japan(2012). I have never gone to school in the USA so I'm not familiar with the system here and I'm really sure what to do next. I know that I need to take the MCAT. I intend to start studying for it using examkrackers and TBR. Besides this what else would I need? Post bacc? DIY post bacc? I live in South Bend, IN, I don't think there's any post bacc program around me and I can't go to any universities farther away as I have a spouse, two very young children and another one on the way. I'd be grateful for any advice I can get here. Thanks

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[eteshoe]

You can get in contact with the admission office of IUSM - South Bend (Notre Dame) and get some more info. I know that Indiana has 'one' all0 school (multiple campuses for one giant system) and a osteo school (I think). A DIY post bacc might be your best bet. If you don't mind me asking, what is your current employment situation?

 

[DrMidlife]

First things first: US citizenship or permanent residency? If you don't at least hold a greencard, then the difficulty goes up 1000x.

 

[tnedoots]

This is from SLU (http://www.slu.edu/medicine/admissions/how-to-apply): Students who have received their education in a foreign school must complete at least one academic year of science course work in an accredited North American college or university prior to making application.

Check similar pages at schools you are interested in and see what they say. Then you can get an idea of what you need to do to make yourself as "qualified" as possible for the most schools.

 

[Kanada]

Thanks for all the replies

You can get in contact with the admission office of IUSM - South Bend (Notre Dame) and get some more info. I know that Indiana has 'one' all0 school (multiple campuses for one giant system) and a osteo school (I think). A DIY post bacc might be your best bet. If you don't mind me asking, what is your current employment situation?

Thanks. I had tried to contact this school but didn't receive any response.
I'll try again. I'm stay-at-home/unemployed. I came here on H4 visa so I've been unable to work.

First things first: US citizenship or permanent residency? If you don't at least hold a greencard, then the difficulty goes up 1000x.

Thanks for helping. Currently on H4 visa but in the process of obtaining a green card through my husband's job. We're hoping to get it before the end of the year. I would like to know, why is it so much more difficult without a green card?

This is from SLU (http://www.slu.edu/medicine/admissions/how-to-apply): Students who have received their education in a foreign school must complete at least one academic year of science course work in an accredited North American college or university prior to making application.

Check similar pages at schools you are interested in and see what they say. Then you can get an idea of what you need to do to make yourself as "qualified" as possible for the most schools.

.

Thank you for this. Does this mean that a DIY post bacc won't be enough? Yes, I guess I should check the requirements at other schools. The thing is that I'm not sure where we'll be when eventually I'm ready to get into med school, so I wanted to have a general idea of what I need to get done. This was very useful.

 

[DrMidlife]

Currently on H4 visa but in the process of obtaining a green card through my husband's job. We're hoping to get it before the end of the year. I would like to know, why is it so much more difficult without a green card?

Three reasons: cost, competition and community. This is no different from other countries. But specifically in the US:

Cost: average cost of attendance for 4 years of med school is over $250k. If you're not a citizen/greencarder, you may be required to escrow all 4 years before starting school. US citizens/greencarders can borrow US federal student loans.

Competition: About 40% to 45% of US med school applicants are accepted from the US pool. Typically international applicants are in the top 5% of all applicants. Canadians are a bit more welcome because their education system is pretty much the same as the US.

Community: In addition to outrageously high tuition, substantial public funds are expended to pay for the medical education of any given individual, particularly by each state to get doctors to stay and work. Young in-state Suzie and Sanjay aren't going to be denied a seat for somebody whose parents weren't paying state/fed taxes the last 20 years.

 

[eteshoe]

Along those line (as @DrMidlife had mentioned), once you've obtained a green card, it may be beneficial to get some sort of research-oriented job while you get your pre-reqs in order.

 

[futuremdforme]

You can start working on retaking your pre-reqs at a US university while you wait for our green card. You can go ahead and do the MCAT, volunteering, etc too. I'm pretty sure H4 is fine for those. Volunteering would be a really good thing to do while you're unable to work if you don't want to do school where you are for whatever reason. If you are going to be in your current location for at least a year, you can take basically all the pre-reqs since you know the material already, and just need to show that you can do well in a US system.