Albany MC
Albert Einstein
Baylor*
Boston U
Columbia*
Cornell
Dartmouth Medical School
Duke
Emory
Harvard*
Howard University
Indiana U
Jefferson MC
Johns Hopkins
Mount Sinai*
Northwestern*
NY MC
NYU
Penn State
Rosalind Franklin
St. Louis University
Stanford
SUNY Upstate
Tufts
Tulane
U Chicago
UCLA
U Conn
UCSF
U MN*
U Penn*
U of Vermont
U VA
Vanderbilt*
Wake Forest
Wash U*
Yale*
*Offer merit scholarships (please keep this)
Sorry guys I am going to write an encyclopedia on the subject, because I emailed like 30 or so schools, to prevent something like the U of Pitt fiasco to happen. It will help people to see the replies that I got to the following questions:
1. Do you accept international students?
2. If you do, are there loans or scholarships available for international
students?
It is crucial to note the difference between schools that offer money and those that only accept students. Several schools will require an Escrow Account for the full amount of money needed for four years of med schools (between ~200k) like Hopkins, Duke or UVA.
Duke:
"Yes, Duke does accept international students if you have at least one year
in a U.S. school. However, we offer no financial aid and require payment in full of all tuition, fees and living expenses in advance."
UVA:
"Applicants who are not US citizens or permanent residents of the US are
eligible to apply to the M.D. program at the University of Virginia,
provided they have completed (or will complete) their undergraduate
programs in a US or Canadian college or university. If accepted however,
these individuals are not eligible for any form of financial aid and must
therefore document their ability to pay for their own medical education
before being allowed to matriculate (approximately $200,000 US for four
years of tuition and living expenses."
Most likely very few of us will be able to easily get that kind of dough, so the difference between the possibility of some sort of merit scholarship or none is crucial. Another option is MSTP for the research-oriented smart ones.
In other words, in a simplified perspective there are three groups of schools:
Do not accept international students:
U of Wash:
"Thank you for your inquiry about the University of Washington School of Medicine. Unfortunately we are only able to take permanent residents
(green card holders) and citizens of the United States into our MD
program."
Accept but don't provide any funding:
Stanford:
"You are welcome to apply to Stanford and it is to your advantage that you
are attending a U.S. university. You will be responsible for the funding
of your MD degree."
Schools that accept and provide merit scholarships:
U Penn:
"International students are not eligible for federal loans (Stafford loans) and are also not eligible for any need-based aid from Penn. But, there are merit scholarships that all students accepted to Penn Med are considered for each year (usually about 6-10 scholarships)."
It should be noted that even those that accept internationals are iffy about them, like the response from Tufts shows:
Tufts:
"International applicants are eligible to apply to TUSM, but should be
advised that we admit very few international applicants and give
strong preference to United States citizens and permanent residents."
Or UCSF:
"It is very difficult to gain entry, however, without holding a permanent resident visa or US citizenship."
And things change year to year:
Chicago:
This year our Pritzker loan funds are very limited and international students receipt of these funds would be unlikely. We do have some funds that are used for merit based scholarships which could be used for international students.
Bottom line, it is a very challenging task for any student to get into medical school, but even more so for foreigners. Whoever wants to go down this route should keep in mind that you will often encounter conflicting reports and anecdotal evidence around so the best source of info is the schools.
