Need an advice on my progress...!!!

[UKGRADUATE]

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Hi everyone, straight to the point, I have obtained my degree from uk 5 years ago, now I am a resident in california. Decided to go to medical school, contacted few school, and decided to take the pre-reqs, 1 year general chemistry, 1 year ochem, 1 year physics, 1 year bio.

started last semester with gen chem 1 and gen bio 1 and physics 1 and got A's in all of these courses, planning to take gen che 2, gen bio 2, physics 2 next semester, and take the MCAT in the summer and continue with taking the classes.

Do I have to apply to medical school school AFTER I am done with pre-reqs or can I do it while I am in progress, secondly isit advisable to take the MCAT after the pre-reqs.

Anyone took similar path????

 

[Scottish Chap]

Hi everyone, straight to the point, I have obtained my degree from uk 5 years ago, now I am a resident in california. Decided to go to medical school, contacted few school, and decided to take the pre-reqs, 1 year general chemistry, 1 year ochem, 1 year physics, 1 year bio.

started last semester with gen chem 1 and gen bio 1 and physics 1 and got A's in all of these courses, planning to take gen che 2, gen bio 2, physics 2 next semester, and take the MCAT in the summer and continue with taking the classes.

Do I have to apply to medical school school AFTER I am done with pre-reqs or can I do it while I am in progress, secondly isit advisable to take the MCAT after the pre-reqs.

Anyone took similar path????

I'm a British graduate in the second year of an American medical program. After you have gained 60-90 credits in the U.S., you will be eligible to apply. You must have taken the MCAT by that point and, no, you need not have fulfilled all of your prereq's at the time of application, but you must be close - they will have to completed by the time schools starts the following year.

Other than obtaining 60-90 credits, a couple of other foreign graduates I know have found success by transferring the foreign credits into a U.S. undergraduate degree. You will not be assigned a GPA for them, but you will get the listed credits and they will be verified on the AMCAS form you file when applying to medical schools. Just something to think about. Your 1st, 2.1, or 2.2 degree from the U.K., sadly, won't mean anything to American schools but, if you do not transfer your credits and if you were performing no less than a 2.1 standard in most of your British courses, consider having your transcript evaluated by a professional agency like WES, then send that to all the medical schools, too. That's what I did.

Lastly, do not underestimate the MCAT. While the material may appear basic, you must have your wits about you and you pretty much have to be looking at getting most of the questions correct under timed conditions to obtain a presentable application to medical school. You should take it only when you have finished all the prereq's - not like yours truly who took it without ever taking a formal physics class in his life.

Lastly, get your green card if you do not already have it. It's incredibly difficult to secure admission and almost impossible to secure a loan without it.

Good luck!

 

[UKGRADUATE]

Scottish Chap

Thanks for the great post, I do Have a 2.2 pharmacy degree from uk, and I know because of that I have to do well on my pre-reqs for medical school, but I am wondering, u said that I have to do 60-90 hours before I apply, but most schools only ask for 32 hours of required pre-req, like UCSD, so why do I have to take another 32 hours considering that I already hold a degree!!!

BTW, I am green card holder

 

[Scottish Chap]

Scottish Chap

Thanks for the great post, I do Have a 2.2 pharmacy degree from uk, and I know because of that I have to do well on my pre-reqs for medical school, but I am wondering, u said that I have to do 60-90 hours before I apply, but most schools only ask for 32 hours of required pre-req, like UCSD, so why do I have to take another 32 hours considering that I already hold a degree!!!

BTW, I am green card holder

I never looked at any of the UC schools, but the absolute minumum that schools wanted from me was 60 hours (I was applying with two U.S. graduate degrees, too). I've never heard of just 32 hours if you do not have a U.S. degree. Most schools that I questioned (around 50-60) wanted 90 credits. Keep in mind that your undergraduate degree is not an accredited degree for applying to U.S. medical schools and it cannot be entered onto the application form (AMCAS) as verified credits. Thus, it's going to appear as though you do not have a degree - just 32 credits and a GPA will be shown for those credits. Without doing something extra to stand out, I'd be afraid of being eliminated by the school's computer. I suppose it's technically possible to ask the director of admissions to watch out for your application if they insist that your case is special and that you only need 32 credits, but I'm not sure how realistic that approach is.

Since you know that UC schools are insanely difficult to win an offer of admission from - even with a U.S. degree, good MCAT, and U.S. citizenship - I would really try casting my net wider to maximize your chance of getting into medical school. You only need an offer of admission from one school and so I would maximize my chances of admission by trying to be presentable to several schools. At least, that's the strategic move I took, and it worked out.

Although I didn't investigate osteopathic medical schools, I beleive that they do count foreign degrees and so it might not be an issue there. I believe there is one osteopathic medical school in Northern CA. As of this year, osteopathic medical school graduates are indistinguishable from allopathic graduates in terms of residency opportunities in all 50 states.