How to get into medical school? (Foreign Grad)

[bampandaboo]

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Hi.

I am a green card holder who is about to graduate from BS Nursing from the Philippines. I intend to go into medical school in the US since I want to practice medicine there.

Now, I know that I need 60-90 undergrad credit hours to be eligible for medical school but I have no idea how the system works. I mean, do I just get my premedical classes from college? Like pick them out? Or do I have to go into a structured program?

I also heard that I could transfer my credits from my degree to a school... How do should I do that if I want to take all my pre-requisites in the US?

I hope that I don't have to take another undergrad though :\

I sent an email to one post-bacc premedical course and asked how to be eligible and I was told that I need atleast 90 undergrad credit hours to apply. How long will taking 90 credit hours take?

I'll be staying in California most probably but I'm welcome to moving for education 🙂

Thank you for helpful responses 😀

 

[Catalystik]

A typical undergrad takes 12-18 semester hours per term, with the average being 15-16. A lot of California schools work on the quarter system, which is different, and I'll leave to to someone from CA to explain that. Most take three years to complete 90 semester hours, though that can take less time if one goes to summer school and takes greater courseloads.

Until you have your final transcript evaluated by a service, it will be hard to find out how many of your credits will be accepted in transfer by a US school. You might email some admissions offices in the US in locations you'd like to live in and inquire if they accept foriegn transcripts for credit transfer, if they give graded or Pass/No Pass credit, and what steps are necessary to apply to the school from abroad. Since you have family in the US, maybe someone would be willing to make phone calls for you. Also consider, if a parent is an in-state resident of a state, then attending one of that state's public schools will be far cheaper than going to another state or a private school.

You don't need a structured program. But you should be a degree candidate so your have preference in registration. Which degree doesn't matter (you don't have to complete it if you already have a bachelors degree), but it might be helpful if it were in a science, and included most of the med school prerequisites in its requirements, like Biology, Chemistry, etc.