International BS in Intl.rel.

[europ321123]

Hello!
I am from Russia and now have a bachelor's degree in International Relations, gpa 5 out of 5. I'm also a US green card holder, but I have never studied in the US. At Russian high school, I really liked biology and have 5/5 gpa, but I decided to choose political science.

Now I want to change my career and become a physician/dentist. As I understand it, the best option is a second bachelor's degree in biology, but this is a long time and again I need to maintain a very high gpa to get into medical school.

I recently learned about PostBac Premed Programs. I called several of them. UC Berkeley offers just to take additional courses, and the University of Virginia has a one-year program of necessary PRE-REC for medical school. But they told me that they can take me, but the medical schools will ask for 90 credits in the US, so this is not the best option for me. Whether this is true? Maybe I didn't find something on the forum, sorry.

The main question is, what do you think is the best way for me to become a successful medical school applicant. Of course, I would like to do everything faster, because of my age.

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[Dral]

90 credits? Jeez. That's basically a little less than 3 normal years of undergrad. That seems like a lot.

I don't know the very best approach as a foreign grad such as yourself, but I think you're on the right track by contacting programs to inquire about their requirements.

Things could be very different based on whether you can designate all your time to courses versus having to work to support yourself while taking courses.

 

[europ321123]

90 credits? Jeez. That's basically a little less than 3 normal years of undergrad. That seems like a lot.

I don't know the very best approach as a foreign grad such as yourself, but I think you're on the right track by contacting programs to inquire about their requirements.

Things could be very different based on whether you can designate all your time to courses versus having to work to support yourself while taking courses.

Thank you for reply! I have the opportunity to devote myself only to my studies, but I was convinced at the University of Virginia that all medical schools will want at least 90 credits in the United States. But I'm not sure that they are right. Do you think this is true? I'm new to this forum, in general, after a postbac, it's really possible to get into a medical school if the bachelor was abroad and in another specialty?

 

[Dral]

I unfortunately do not know the answer to that. However, hopefully this can help you out:

Applying to Medical School as an International Applicant

Information for international applicants who want to apply to U.S. medical schools.

students-residents.aamc.org

It links to this page where you can apply the filter "accepts international applicants" (link below). From there you can go to the school's page and see what their requirements far for foreign graduates. If you don't find it, you can contact the school individually.

https://apps.aamc.org/msar-ui/#/landing

Here is what I found on Boston University's website (first on the list).

Are Canadian students considered International students? How many slots are there for Canadian students?​

Residency is not a requirement for Boston University School of Medicine. BUSM has no limitation on consideration of out-of-state or international students. All applicants must meet our stated requirements and we expect that prerequisites will be fulfilled through course work completed at any accredited 4 year US or Canadian College. Please note that Canadian applicants, should they be accepted, would be considered international applicants in terms of financial aid. For questions regarding financial aid, please contact the Office of Student Financial Services.


From that I interpret that you would need to complete the prereq courses at a US (or Canadian) university. However, from that I don't think you would need to necessarily complete a degree...just finish the med school prereq courses (Bio I, Bio II, Chem, etc). I know you are not Canadian, but that paragraph addresses what is required of all applicants (including what we are to assume applies to all international applicants).

Best of luck.

 

[europ321123]

Thank you for help? How do you think is path to dentist easier in case of undergrad premed?
Best regards

 

[Dral]

I don't know the path to dentistry well since I never considered that path. However, there is a group of dental forums on this site. You may get some answers by posting a dental specific question there.

 

[europ321123]

I don't know the path to dentistry well since I never considered that path. However, there is a group of dental forums on this site. You may get some answers by posting a dental specific question there.

Thanks a lot for your help! Maybe someone went by path like mine. Will wait here for additional response

 

[aceegreene]

Hey @rus474848. I’m in the same situation as you are, pursuing med school in the US with a foreign bachelor’s in a different field.

It’s definitely possible to get into US med school with a foreign undergrad. One of the best resources for information on this topic is this post: A Guide to Applying US Med School with a Foreign Bachelor Degree

Also, since you have a green card you won’t be considered an international student and would be eligible for financial aid etc.

But you’ll have to get a post bacc from a US four-year degree granting institution. You can do it DIY or join a structured one. I believe Berkeley is more DIY but I’m not too sure of the details.

And as you’ll find while reading the thread I posted, the number of credits needed vary by school and 90 is ideal as it meets the requirement of all the schools (at least the ones I’ve come across) for people in our situation. But I’ve also read of people here on SDN get in with 60 or even 30-32. So it kind of depends on where you want to apply.

As a side note, it’s definitely not easy to get into med school here and the road is long. But if this is what you want to do, then jump in and go for it!

 

[europ321123]

Hey @rus474848. I’m in the same situation as you are, pursuing med school in the US with a foreign bachelor’s in a different field.

It’s definitely possible to get into US med school with a foreign undergrad. One of the best resources for information on this topic is this post: A Guide to Applying US Med School with a Foreign Bachelor Degree

Also, since you have a green card you won’t be considered an international student and would be eligible for financial aid etc.

But you’ll have to get a post bacc from a US four-year degree granting institution. You can do it DIY or join a structured one. I believe Berkeley is more DIY but I’m not too sure of the details.

And as you’ll find while reading the thread I posted, the number of credits needed vary by school and 90 is ideal as it meets the requirement of all the schools (at least the ones I’ve come across) for people in our situation. But I’ve also read of people here on SDN get in with 60 or even 30-32. So it kind of depends on where you want to apply.

As a side note, it’s definitely not easy to get into med school here and the road is long. But if this is what you want to do, then jump in and go for it!

Thank you for your reply! I hope your training is going well! Can you tell how you got into a medical school with a foreign education?

 

[aceegreene]

Thank you for your reply! I hope your training is going well! Can you tell how you got into a medical school with a foreign education?

No problem. Apologies if my earlier response was unclear, I am also pursuing a post bacc right now and plan on applying to med schools down the line.

 

[europ321123]

No problem. Apologies if my earlier response was unclear, I am also pursuing a post bacc right now and plan on applying to med schools down the line.

If it’s not a secret, which post bacc do you chose and what BS you have before, I mean field and country ? Because in post which you shared, this person have biology major in first BS. Thanks for reply

 

[aceegreene]

If it’s not a secret, which post bacc do you chose and what BS you have before, I mean field and country ? Because in post which you shared, this person have biology major in first BS. Thanks for reply

PM’ing you

 

[europ321123]

Maybe this question is not for this topic, but I don't quite understand the situation with Caribbean Schools, because some sites say that, say, CMU (Curacao) it doesn't have accreditation for the US, but I've read a lot of stories about people from Russia or Ukraine and another Post-Soviet countries finishing their degree there and then passing the USMLE and matching US residency. If CMU lacks accreditation, I do not think that any Russian universities care about accreditation for US. In my case, I can't get a Doctor of medicine degree in Russia, because I live here in the United States. But I just worried about my pre-med here, because it expensive and I need maintain very high GPA from first semester, which would be difficult for me...

 

[gyngyn]

Maybe this question is not for this topic, but I don't quite understand the situation with Caribbean Schools, because some sites say that, say, CMU (Curacao) it doesn't have accreditation for the US, but I've read a lot of stories about people from Russia or Ukraine and another Post-Soviet countries finishing their degree there and then passing the USMLE and matching US residency. If CMU lacks accreditation, I do not think that any Russian universities care about accreditation for US. In my case, I can't get a Doctor of medicine degree in Russia, because I live here in the United States. But I just worried about my pre-med here, because it expensive and I need maintain very high GPA from first semester, which would be difficult for me...

None of the Caribbean schools are accredited by US accreditation agencies.
There are over 60 such schools that will be happy to accept you (and especially your tuition).

If the goal is to practice in the US it is strongly recommended that you attend a US medical school.
The chance that you will never be able to be trained in any specialty is dramatically higher as a graduate of off shore schools. The odds that you will not be allowed to sit for USMLE is incomparably higher.

Here's the Caribbean forum: Caribbean

 

[europ321123]

None of the Caribbean schools are accredited by US accreditation agencies.
There are over 60 such schools that will be happy to accept you (and especially your tuition).

If the goal is to practice in the US it is strongly recommended that you attend a US medical school.
The chance that you will never be able to be trained in any specialty is dramatically higher as a graduate of off shore schools. The odds that you will not be allowed to sit for USMLE is incomparably higher.

Here's the Caribbean forum: Caribbean

Thanks! I asked because I read that many graduates of Russian medical universities passed the USMLE with very high scores and Matched to US residency. I also heard that Americans study in Poland or other EU's countries. So, the Caribbean's schools are worse than European ones, if the goal is practice in the America?

 

[gyngyn]

Thanks! I asked because I read that many graduates of Russian medical universities passed the USMLE with very high scores and Matched to US residency. I also heard that Americans study in Poland or other EU's countries. So, the Caribbean's schools are worse than European ones, if the goal is practice in the America?

We have insufficient data to declare that one is worse than the other, only that neither is preferred.

 

[Goro]

Thanks! I asked because I read that many graduates of Russian medical universities passed the USMLE with very high scores and Matched to US residency. I also heard that Americans study in Poland or other EU's countries. So, the Caribbean's schools are worse than European ones, if the goal is practice in the America?

If you really want to be a doctor in America, go to medical school in America.