How does the System work?

[Paolo_Pinkel]

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Hi folks!

I am a Pre Med/Biology student from Germany and I am studying in Texas since this summer.
Honestly I don't know anything about the American Med Schools and how to get in etc. So I have a couple of questions and would be more than happy if you could help be a bit.

At first I'd like to know how to get into Medical School after 4 years of college? What is the important thing for the Med Schools? The GPA, the medical test or experiences in in the medical area ( I worked for example for one year as a nurse in a hospital in Germany)? How good do you have to be in College in order to get in Med School?
Is it important to go to a big, well known college to get into the Top Med School programs or do I have a chance too even if I go to a 11,000 students college?

How much does one year of Med School averagely cost?

A lots of questions and I hope you can enlighten me a tad because I am making my decision in these days if I should stay in the United States for the whole four years or if I go back to Germany after one year. Well, actually I planned on the last possibility but I like the states so much that I'd love to stay longer.

 

[pem8erly]

Hi folks!

I am a Pre Med/Biology student from Germany and I am studying in Texas since this summer.
Honestly I don't know anything about the American Med Schools and how to get in etc. So I have a couple of questions and would be more than happy if you could help be a bit.

At first I'd like to know how to get into Medical School after 4 years of college? What is the important thing for the Med Schools? The GPA, the medical test or experiences in in the medical area ( I worked for example for one year as a nurse in a hospital in Germany)? How good do you have to be in College in order to get in Med School?
Is it important to go to a big, well known college to get into the Top Med School programs or do I have a chance too even if I go to a 11,000 students college?

How much does one year of Med School averagely cost?

A lots of questions and I hope you can enlighten me a tad because I am making my decision in these days if I should stay in the United States for the whole four years or if I go back to Germany after one year. Well, actually I planned on the last possibility but I like the states so much that I'd love to stay longer.

the best recommendation is for you to research the websites of American Association of Medical Colleges (http://www.aamc.org) and American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine (http://www.aacom.org) these are the organizations that handle the applciation process for the 2 types of medical schools in the United States.

Very basics: yes you need to do well in college. There are people who have gotten into medical school with low GPA and turned out to be great doctors but usually they have either outstanding extracurricular experiences or MCAT scores or both. You need to have the pre-requisite courses: 1 year of biology, 1 year of general chemistry, 1 year of organic chemistry, 1 year of physics, sometimes also 1 semester of english and 1 semester of math depending on the school.

MCAT: 8 hour test applicants know as 8 hours of hell. Tests biology, general chemistry, organic chemistry, physics and has a verbal and writing section. This must be taken BEFORE applying to schools. (i'll try to explain the timeline next) The test is given twice a year, April and August.

The application becomes available early May, but cannot be submitted until June 1st. It asks for the basics: what classes you've taken, the grades, extracurricular activities. Most importantly there is an essay where you need to explain your motivation for applying to medical schools and why osteopathic medicine. The key here is to submit the application as soon as possible so that schools can evaluate you and send you a secondary application.

So usually one takes the April MCAT, and while waiting for scores to be released you start (or finish) working on the essay and asking around for letters of recommendations. If the scores come out and you're not satisfied and believe you can do better then you retake in August.

The schools send you secondaries which usually involve more essays and application fees. After this is submitted they will consider you for an interview. You have to have an interview to be admitted to medical school.

The process takes just about an entire year to go through.

Ok that's the broad view of things.

 

[pratik7]

the process starts by filling out a primary application through AMCAS. Then you will get secondaries from each school. Then an interview invite or rejection and a final decsion.

On paper, I would say the most important aspect of your application is your MCAT. However, GPA and clinical experience are also very important.

The application process is rather expensive. I have spent around 3000 dollars and know many people in the one to three thousand dollar range. However, it really depends on how schools you apply to and interviews you have to fly to.