Non trad froeign transcript

[Kayoak]

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Hi,
I'm a 30 year old foreigner looking to potentially study medicine in the USA. I have a BA and MA in theology from a Turkish university, and I am currently about to finish my PhD in philosophy from Finland. I will hopefully become a US citizen soon.

Can I submit any of my degrees (BA, MA or PhD) as my major to apply to med school? Can I then take the pre-reqs in 2 years and apply? If so, how will my GPA be calculated? Do US medical schools accept foreign degrees for US citizens? If not, will I have to start an undergraduate degree here in USA from scratch?

 

[LizzyM]

US medical schools do not accept any degrees earned abroad. If you purchase access to the MSAR (Medical School Application Requirements, an online publication of the AAMC Association of American Medical Colleges) you will see that schools will consider applicants with 90 college credits (a typical bachelor's degree in the US is 120 credits) so it might be possible for you to take the equivalent of 3 academic years of college coursework and apply to medical school. You will see in the MSAR that most schools required a year of college biology with lab, a year of general chemistry with labs, a year of organic chemistry with labs, and a year of physics with labs. Many schools also like to see biochemistry and genetics. You may also want to take statistics, maybe a semester of calculus, and some behavioral science such as psychology/sociology/anthropology. Some schools require coursework in English.

You might want to look at formal "post-bac" programs that could guide you through what is essentially a degree program.

Only coursework taken in the US (or Canada) will count toward your GPA.

Depending on your financial situation, you may be better off applying for and earning an undergraduate degree that qualifies for student loans over a post-bac which may not.

After you finish your coursework, you'll be ready to make some final prep for the MCAT but if the material is relatively fresh you may not need as much prep as people who take the exam a few years after taking the required courses. From there you make the application in June to start medical school 12-14 months later. There is the primary (AMCAS) application, a secondary application from each school, interview days at each school that chooses to interview you, and then offers (plural-- if you are lucky) to consider in March/April with final decisions due in mid-spring.

So, you are looking at a minimum of starting med school 4 years from now at the earliest and that's if you can squeeze into classes starting this fall or winter. The deck for admissions is stacked against international students so you'll want a green card, or full US citizenship, before submitting your AMCAS application.

Start by buying access to the MSAR. It is not expensive and will be a good start to seeing what you'll need to do if you take this path.

 

[nicesecrets]

I only want to add that there are other schools that are more lenient with US coursework. There is a good post about this by another user (A Guide to Applying US Med School with a Foreign Bachelor Degree) that is a few years old but some schools are ok with a minimum of one year of US undergrad coursework including prereqs, while others want 60/90/US undergrad. I would recommend going to school websites for this info.

I applied this cycle with a foreign undergrad and US PhD after completing 63 post-bacc credits from the US. Most schools I applied to were ok with 30-90 post-bacc credits if you had a foreign bachelor's.

 

[dr.worldwide]

May I clarify this just little.

AMCAS does not accept foreign transcripts nor uses foreign grades for their GPA calculations (unless these courses have been transferred and evaluated by a US/Canadian UG College. Since this is the primary application used across all US MD schools, you will then have to deal with those individual medical schools that will take both foreign student (if you are not PR/Citizen) and also accept foreign coursework/degrees. At least half of US medical schools do not accept either one or both of these.

While the 90 UG credit rule is listed on virtually all medical school's websites, for those schools that accept either international students (who are usually doing UG degrees in the US) and those with international degrees, as well as those now much more accepting of nontrads, there is often a policy on the website or hidden in the student handbook that allows an alternative methods, usually a year of UG (32 credits) or two years by some. There must be some now that accept Special Masters (though I have not looked at this particular issue in a decade).

Lets just guesstimate that half have some acceptance of foreign degrees. However, half of these are likely the top schools that take superstar students from top overseas schools Such as Oxford/Cambridge, Toyko University, etc. This leave you at best with a quarter of all US MD schools with theoretically having some chance at. And of you have to investigate each individual school to see how procede.

Realistically, with no science background, you are looking at a minimum of 2-3 years premedical course and prep work to even have a ghost of a chance to be accepted.

Hi there. I was wondering if I may also ask for advice (from anyone in this thread).

I'm a senior at a university in the Philippines, and I'm currently planning my course of action for after graduation, which will be next year. I've done a lot of research about the requirements for foreign bachelors grads applying to US medical schools. I even did a summer program at a uni in California that focused on medical school and applying so I understand the necessity of some US coursework to even be considered for these schools, as well as looking into the specific requirements of each school for international grads.

I was wondering if getting a masters in the US might take care of these coursework requirements completely, or if the better route to go is doing a post-bacc (or maybe even non-degree coursework). Getting into an MD school is my end goal, and I'm not sure which is the wiser path time and resources-wise. I'm genuinely interested in getting a MMSc in this one field, but I don't want to jump into it too quickly if completing it wouldn't even contribute much towards meeting the med school requirements (i.e. college-level science courses). A post-bacc might also be quicker for the schools that only require a year or so of UG coursework. I'm also a US citizen and was wondering how this would factor into getting accepted with consideration for the different options I'm thinking of (not factoring in extra-curriculars and all that).

 

[nicesecrets]

Hi there. I was wondering if I may also ask for advice (from anyone in this thread).

I'm a senior at a university in the Philippines, and I'm currently planning my course of action for after graduation, which will be next year. I've done a lot of research about the requirements for foreign bachelors grads applying to US medical schools. I even did a summer program at a uni in California that focused on medical school and applying so I understand the necessity of some US coursework to even be considered for these schools, as well as looking into the specific requirements of each school for international grads.

I was wondering if getting a masters in the US might take care of these coursework requirements completely, or if the better route to go is doing a post-bacc (or maybe even non-degree coursework). Getting into an MD school is my end goal, and I'm not sure which is the wiser path time and resources-wise. I'm genuinely interested in getting a MMSc in this one field, but I don't want to jump into it too quickly if completing it wouldn't even contribute much towards meeting the med school requirements (i.e. college-level science courses). A post-bacc might also be quicker for the schools that only require a year or so of UG coursework. I'm also a US citizen and was wondering how this would factor into getting accepted with consideration for the different options I'm thinking of (not factoring in extra-curriculars and all that).

You will still need US undergraduate coursework. However, some schools might consider post graduate coursework as part of their overall US education requirement. For example, I completed 63 US undergraduate credits and I have a US PhD which is 75 credits. I reached out to several schools which had a 90 credit requirement and they said that they would accept my US post-bacc + PhD as satisfying 90 credits total provided I had all the pre-reqs completed.

So, definitely make sure you take the pre reqs in the US and also reach out to each individual University where you are unclear about the criteria for coursework. Most universities are very helpful and straightforward with their feedback. There have been schools that have encouraged me to apply with some pre reqs and others that have flat out said that I should not apply because I do not have an undergrad from the US.

 

[Kayoak]

May I clarify this just little.

AMCAS does not accept foreign transcripts nor uses foreign grades for their GPA calculations (unless these courses have been transferred and evaluated by a US/Canadian UG College. Since this is the primary application used across all US MD schools, you will then have to deal with those individual medical schools that will take both foreign student (if you are not PR/Citizen) and also accept foreign coursework/degrees. At least half of US medical schools do not accept either one or both of these.

While the 90 UG credit rule is listed on virtually all medical school's websites, for those schools that accept either international students (who are usually doing UG degrees in the US) and those with international degrees, as well as those now much more accepting of nontrads, there is often a policy on the website or hidden in the student handbook that allows an alternative methods, usually a year of UG (32 credits) or two years by some. There must be some now that accept Special Masters (though I have not looked at this particular issue in a decade).

Lets just guesstimate that half have some acceptance of foreign degrees. However, half of these are likely the top schools that take superstar students from top overseas schools Such as Oxford/Cambridge, Toyko University, etc. This leave you at best with a quarter of all US MD schools with theoretically having some chance at. And of you have to investigate each individual school to see how procede.

Realistically, with no science background, you are looking at a minimum of 2-3 years premedical course and prep work to even have a ghost of a chance to be accepted.

Thank you both for your answers!
I was thinking of applying to a local college as a premed undergrad in biology, completing 2 years of prereqs (60 credits) and then applying to medschool. It seems there are more than a few schools that allow applications with 2 years or less in US universities. In this case, I could drop-out after 2 years and apply to one of these schools with my foreign degree, correct? I guess this would be a better path since I could take out loans for both undergrad and medschool.

 

[dr.worldwide]

You will still need US undergraduate coursework. However, some schools might consider post graduate coursework as part of their overall US education requirement. For example, I completed 63 US undergraduate credits and I have a US PhD which is 75 credits. I reached out to several schools which had a 90 credit requirement and they said that they would accept my US post-bacc + PhD as satisfying 90 credits total provided I had all the pre-reqs completed.

So, definitely make sure you take the pre reqs in the US and also reach out to each individual University where you are unclear about the criteria for coursework. Most universities are very helpful and straightforward with their feedback. There have been schools that have encouraged me to apply with some pre reqs and others that have flat out said that I should not apply because I do not have an undergrad from the US.

Did you do the post-bacc or your PhD first? And do you recommend doing one first over the other before applying to med school?

 

[nicesecrets]

Did you do the post-bacc or your PhD first? And do you recommend doing one first over the other before applying to med school?

I did the PhD first.. but would definitely recommend doing the post-bacc first (and only) especially if you know you want to do medicine from the moment you come to the US. The only time I would recommend doing something else is if you need to seriously consider a plan B. For example, if you are international (not permanent resident) or are really struggling with the post bacc courses/MCAT. In that case, it would be more helpful to have an advanced degree rather than a second bachelor's.

My story is a little unique, I came here to do the PhD and working in pharma now, but only realized I wanted to apply to med school at the end of my grad degree..

 

[nicesecrets]

Thank you both for your answers!
I was thinking of applying to a local college as a premed undergrad in biology, completing 2 years of prereqs (60 credits) and then applying to medschool. It seems there are more than a few schools that allow applications with 2 years or less in US universities. In this case, I could drop-out after 2 years and apply to one of these schools with my foreign degree, correct? I guess this would be a better path since I could take out loans for both undergrad and medschool.

You could also just take a DIY post-bacc as a non-enrolled student. Yes, you may not get the best time slots for some classes (so many 8 am classes, sigh) but I was able to enroll in all my prerequisite courses as a non-enrolled student and it worked out much cheaper for me.