my chances? Please help!

[Kevin883]

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I really need your guys advice for my decisions 🙂 I took all the pre-medical courses from Korea(where I was born) 8 years ago. I have taken some practice MCAT exams, and I am confident that I can get the score around 40 (12-14-14). Although my GPA in college was good (3.8 out of 4.0), I am wondering if the admission committee will consider that my pre-mecial courses are not enough because they were offered from a college in other country? Do you guys think that I need to re-take these courses in a college in US? I don't have time to take these courses now because I have a full time job to keep. If it's necessary to re-take these courses, I guess I have to sleep less time to make it 🙂 Thanks in advance.

 

[csgirl]

You should definitely try to take some courses in the US. It's extremely hard for international students to get into US medical schools... especially for those who don't go to college in the US. Even if you do get a 40 MCAT it's still going to be hard. It's not impossible though.

Good luck!

 

[E'01]

Welcome to SDN 🙂 Please someone correct me if I'm wrong, but most medical schools ask that if your academic coursework is international then you need to spend two years at a U.S college at where you'd take your pre-med courses. But, there are services available in which you can pay to have your degree/coursework "translated" to U.S. standards. I'm not sure if this applied to medical schools (for other graduate programs, it does). You should ask the medical schools you plan to apply to if they would accept that.

 

[zancudo]

I am pretty sure that E'01 is right. Many of the more competitive schools require that some pre-medical coursework be done in the U.S.. You might want to check out the web-pages of some of the schools that you are considering to make sure. Good luck!!! 😉

 

[none]

Confident you can get a 40??? Know someone working at the AAMC? That's something pretty major to be confident of...

 

[Jalby]

I'm actually pretty sure that it is one year of US courses you need to take for almost all of the medical schools.

 

[jargon124]

I agree with None,

You should think twice before taking that 40 for granted.

 

[Kevin883]

Thanks for all of your input. Actually I already got a Master's degree from one US university, but my major is Computer Science, and you can image there is NO pre-medical related courses such as biology appeared in my US college transcript. So looks like I have to find out one college nearby and take all these courses 🙂

Thanks your guys again for your help!

 

[csgirl]

kevin: yeah, but at least you have ~a~ US transcript... I think that will help at least a little bit.

 

[audeo]

If you've got a Master's degree, then you have no trouble in terms of eligibility question in most of the schools. I believe you that you are confident about MCAT. I am from Korea too so I know that science section won't be a problem. However, the question is what is your motivation for applying to med school. It should be something valid, or at least sound like valid. I am actually interested in biomedical research and that is the primary reason I am applying to med school. I wonder what yours is. If you just wanna be a doctor, why not practise in Korea? I would much rather live in Korea if I were clinically oriented.

 

[Legend]

Originally posted by audeo:
•If you've got a Master's degree, then you have no trouble in terms of eligibility question in most of the schools. I believe you that you are confident about MCAT. I am from Korea too so I know that science section won't be a problem. However, the question is what is your motivation for applying to med school. It should be something valid, or at least sound like valid. I am actually interested in biomedical research and that is the primary reason I am applying to med school. I wonder what yours is. If you just wanna be a doctor, why not practise in Korea? I would much rather live in Korea if I were clinically oriented.•

Why would you want to practice in Korea if you were clinically oriented? I believe most of Korean doctors are unhappy about the issue with prescription drugs.

 

[Bruin4Life]

Call individual schools, fax them or email them asking them specifically your question. Though you sound like a very bright person, by any standard, a 40 on the MCAT usually crosses over to the realm of luck. You can be the cream of the crop and realistically expect a 34+, but a 40 on the MCAT takes more than test-taking skills, more than a extraordinary grasp of the material, and more than excellent reading comprehension skills--it takes luck as well. Expecting a 40 is simply an unrealistic goal for anyone.