Hello, I got my BS and PhD degree in Cell Biology in China. Is that possible to apply a MD program in US? I noticed that most medical schools require undergraduate courses must be taken at an accredited US or Canadian college or university. 
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No, you need to complete at least 90 semester hrs in the US (or Canada) and have taken the pre-reqs here. Schools will not recognize your coursework from China. Some schools may be a little more lenient toward the 90 semester hr requirement, but you still have to repeat all the pre-reqs in the US.
Hello, I got my BS and PhD degree in Cell Biology in China. Is that possible to apply a MD program in US? I noticed that most medical schools require undergraduate courses must be taken at an accredited US or Canadian college or university.
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....and as I learnt the hard way, 90 undergrad semester hours.
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That's what I learnt too. I have a Master's degree in Chemistry (specialized in Organic Chemistry) from a foreign country. And now I am sitting through entry level (read very boring) chemistry classes. At least they are easy A's (for me) and I can afford to work on studying other stuff during a greater part of those clasess.
But I have a question to all on this thread: do we have to complete the 90 credits before we apply to medical school or will it be acceptable if we complete them before we matriculate ? I plan on completing all the pre-reqs as well take tons of upper division biology courses before I apply (would be between 70-75 sems credits) and then take the remaining 15 or so credits in my application year. Will that be Ok ?
But I have a question to all on this thread: do we have to complete the 90 credits before we apply to medical school or will it be acceptable if we complete them before we matriculate ? I plan on completing all the pre-reqs as well take tons of upper division biology courses before I apply (would be between 70-75 sems credits) and then take the remaining 15 or so credits in my application year. Will that be Ok ?
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Check with the schools. Most will require it before you matriculate (but not all). I don't think this will be much of a problem.
On a side-note, if you international students want to live in the U.S., it is 'learned' and NOT 'learnt.'
On a side-note, if you international students want to live in the U.S., it is 'learned' and NOT 'learnt.'
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No worries there - I will learn - with time.
I come from a culture where we were taught English the British way - after all, its their language to start with. I personally, wasn't even aware of American English or American football till I came to the US.
I have lived in 3 countries thus far and everywhere they have "their" way of doing things which "they" think is superior to the rest of the world. I don't see anything wrong with that mindset and actually find it pretty amusing if you look at the big picture.
Anyway, getting back to the OP's question - I know for a fact that AMCAS is not going to display the GPA for any credits taken at a non-US school (even if it be straight from Oxford or what not). You may choose to take a few classes here, apply and take a chance but I personally plan to take the 90 credits before I matriculate (hopefully!). Several schools say that they only need a year (about 30 credits) of school on US-soil, but I am sure that they probably won't even look at the application unless it came at least close to saving an African town or winning the Nobel prize. I can claim neither nor anything even remotely miraculous like those - so I am taking all these classes right now.
And yes, I had to work way harder to get my degree from my home country (compared to what I had/am having to do to get A's here) and still only got a 71% (Well it was the highest and my professors were really surprised that was that high). This is not to say that the entire coursework is much easier here - it is easier for the basic pre-reqs but the upper division courses are comparable. The major difference is the testing methodology - here it is very objective (short answers/multiple choice/problems) - there it is often very detail oriented and hence it is easy to miss out something and get points deducted. Overall - it would be very hard for AMCAS to compare them and hence that is probably a key reason why AMCAS chose to ignore them.
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Same here... lived in three countries (third being the US). I should have mentioned that I am technically an internaional student (though I have a green card). Having initially learned British English myself, I think American is far superior. Who wants to write out an extra letter when spelling words like colo'u'r.
No worries there - I will learn - with time.
I come from a culture where we were taught English the British way - after all, its their language to start with. I personally, wasn't even aware of American English or American football till I came to the US.
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I did call some med schools and they said that I did not to do all 90 semester hours as I have professional degree from another country and i am working in said field(pharmacy). So they said that if I just do the prereqs again I would be ok.
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Just curious: are you an Indian, lived in India, and then migrated to Britain before you come over to the States via L1 visa, then turned into H1-B during dot.com era, and eventually obtained your green-card?
You don't need to answer, at all.
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You can leave out the H1-B part. Got my Green Card directly from my L1 - the advantage of working in a company like IBM across 3 countries.
OP - one more thing that matters (somewhat indirectly) is whether you attended school in some capacity here or not - like doing an MS or a PhD. Not that these credits count towards your undergrad GPA in AMCAS, but I think it shows your interest in academia and you may get away with just doing the pre-reqs. It depends on the school though. I can claim neither MS nor PhD at a US school - so this is totally based of what I heard others with an international bachelors that got accepted to med school say here on this forum.
TX schhools need 90 credits on US soil and while most CA schools say that only need an year of classes on US soil, they probably are looking for reasons to reject you as they have so many great looking apps. Not having done sufficient coursework in the US is probably a good enough reason.
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yeah, I know tx schools need 90 credits period as a friend of mine had to go back to school(foreign degree was in microbiology0 but now I am shaking. Wonder if I should try to get confirmation of the need to do only prerequisites in writing. I did take at least 3 exams to get licensed here. My degree was evaluated by the national asssociation of pharmacy boards and i had to take an exam to prove that I have the same knowledge base as an american trained pharmacist.(wonder if that counts for something) and then i had to take the same licensing exams that american trained pharmacists take
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What are you studying now in California, a BA/BS in a university, or an AA/AS degree in a community college?
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Right now, I am enrolled in a Post Bacc program at UC Berkeley Extension. This works far better with my schedule since I work full-time.
Earlier (Fall 2006 - Spring 2008), I had completed 30 credits from Cal State (SJSU).
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yeah I guess i should. I know that a couple of schools only require one year of sciences on US soil if you already have a degree.But is doesnt't hurt to double check.
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So, U.S. medical schools need to know that you can adjust to the style of education here. Medical school is tough for people who are accustomed to the type of teaching and assessment used in the U.S. It will just bury you if you are not used to that. This is one reason why many U.S. medical schools insist on you completing 60-90 credits stateside.
When I applied a few years ago, I think Albany Medical College was the only place that said they would not require the prereqs to be completed a second time. At the other extreme, there were programs like Temple who stated: "we do not honor foreign undergraduate degrees" (they wanted a second BA/BS to be completed in the U.S.; I think they take themselves a little too seriously). You'll find that most schools are somewhere in between. The medical school I ultimately attended accepted 91 credits from a U.S. graduate degree and I just completed the two prereq's I was missing at a local CC the year I applied.
I hope that helps.
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So, any course taken in the US soil counts for that 90 credits?
When I first heard of that "applicants need to take 90 credits on US soil", I thought it should have been taken in the scope of a BA/BS/AA/AS degree by attending to a college/university on US soil.
How about EMT, CNA, RN, etc. certification courses? Will they also count against this "90 credits on US soil" thing?
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I have no clue about any other courses. All my courses taken so far were geared towards a BS (both at Cal State - SJSU and at UC Berkeley). I believe, I have seen that they need college level courses - but others on this forum can answer that with more authority. I believe that intense coursework counts more to med schools. I did not have any Bio background before (my BS/MS were in Chemistry - and I had Physics and Math as minors) - so I have tons of upper division bio in my 90 credits.
Here is what I have taken so far:
Animal Biology (Biol II) (w Lab)
Cell Biology (Bio III) (w Lab)
Biological Safety - had to take this - was compulsory
General Genetics
Immunology
Mammalian Physiology
Developmental Biology
General Biochemistry
English Composition I
English Composition II
General Chemistry I (w Lab)
Physics I (w Lab)
I intend to take:
2010 Summer - General Human Anatomy
2010 Summer - Statistics
2010 Fall - Calculus A
2010 Fall - Organic Chemistry I (w Lab)
2010 Fall - General Chemistry II (w Lab)
2011 Spring - Organic Chemistry II (w Lab)
2011 Spring - Physics II (w Lab)
2011 Spring - Medical Microbiology
I will be applying next June with 72 credits. I will still be taking 18 more credits the year I apply unless I get accepted and the school does not require me to complete the 90 credits.
I would love to take some additional upper div Bio lab classes (like anatomy lab or micro lab) - but since labs only have 1 or at most 2 credits and I need complete the 90 credits fast - they are not value for my time. I already have the 2 bio classes with lab which schools require.
