Permanent residency status and admission to medical schools

[anub2]

I am currently an undergrad freshmen, and have applied for permanent residency.

Therefore, I was wondering...

How do medical schools look at applicants that are in process of getting permanent residency?

In general, the applicants who are permanent residents, how are they treated? Is it hard to get admission into a medical school if you have status of permanent residency or if you are in process of getting it?

I am asking because apparently International applicants have hard time getting into a medical school in the US.

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[anub2]

bump

 

[phenolphthalein]

A permanent resident is treated the same as a US citizen for admission and financial aid purposes.

Even if you haven't gotten a physical green card by the time you apply, the stamp in your passport will suffice.

Yes, in general as an international student (no PR status) you are at a serious disadvantage. There are only a few schools that will accept your application and none of them will offer any financial aid -- except for MSTP which is always fully funded regardless of citizenship.

 

[anub2]

So..
In process of permanent residency = treated like International?

and btw, whats MSTP??

 

[tofurious]

Does applying to medical school mean you should be automatically treated as a medical student?

No, therefore, APPLYING for PR = no PR NOW.

 

[anub2]

Yeah, but PR is different isnt it? INS gives you a number (something like A #...) before a physical green card. I am wondering if that counts as PR.

 

[CH3CH2OH]

Originally posted by anub2
Yeah, but PR is different isnt it? INS gives you a number (something like A #...) before a physical green card. I am wondering if that counts as PR.

i'm wondering about that too...seems like nobody can answer that question not even our lawyers...
but i did hear somewhere that once you are approved for GC you're considered a permanent resident (approved=getting that A#, work permit, etc.) but i don't really know...

MSTP=Medical Scientist Training Program (MD/PhD)

 

[supereagles]

Originally posted by anub2
I am currently an undergrad freshmen, and have applied for permanent residency.

Therefore, I was wondering...

How do medical schools look at applicants that are in process of getting permanent residency?

In general, the applicants who are permanent residents, how are they treated? Is it hard to get admission into a medical school if you have status of permanent residency or if you are in process of getting it?

I am asking because apparently International applicants have hard time getting into a medical school in the US.

I totally feel your pain. It appears that indeed nobody seems to know the anwser to that question. I could however give you some insights into this situation since i am in exactly the same boat. Not having a green card or the stamp in your passport (which most school consider as being a PR since you are entitled for financial aid ) automatically places you as an international student. However, there are many routes to getting a GC, people on asylum status are are entiled to federal financial aid therefore even though they are still technically international students they are looked upon more favorably by schools. i personally received a phone call from the director of admissions of a UC school telling me that had i been on asylum that i would be granted admission. That being said, having an A# or a work permit (I-688A or B) does not qualify you for any form of federal financial aid and in the eyes of the ADCOMS you are still an international student. Having a temporary permanent residency (I-688) however qualifies you for aid and if you are in this situation you might want to communicate this fact to the schools.

In the end it all comes down to this. Not having a GC places you at a huge disadvantage (this fact has already been beaten to death) but it does not mean that your dreams cannot be realized. You might need better than average stats and ECs to make this dream possible. Since you are in the process of getting a GC you might need to send in some additional supporting docments to school that you plan to apply to and hopefully this would make a difference. This is what i did and it appeared to have gotten me quite a number of interviews even from UC schools. Just felt i should put in my two cents. (men right now i feel like an immigration lawyer).

 

[supereagles]

Originally posted by anub2
Yeah, but PR is different isnt it? INS gives you a number (something like A #...) before a physical green card. I am wondering if that counts as PR.

I wish it did but unfortunately it does not. Sorry

 

[nothingman]

There are only a few schools that will accept your application and none of them will offer any financial aid -- except for MSTP which is always fully funded regardless of citizenship.

As someone who went through the MD/PhD application process last year as a non-PR, non-US citizen... far from all MD/PhD programs accept non-PR/non-citizens, and if they do, the money comes from sources OTHER than the MSTP training grant. The MSTP grant is supplied to schools by the NIH with stipulations that it's NOT to be given to non-citizens/non-PR. There is a substantial number of MD/PhD programs that now accept foreigners with full funding, equivalent to funding by the federal MSTP money (look for surge's thread on this in the MDPhD forum; a list of such schools is posted) but that funding cannot come from MSTP (instead, it comes from private foundations, the school itself, etc.)

Good luck!

 

[Neuronix]

Originally posted by phenolphthalein
Yes, in general as an international student (no PR status) you are at a serious disadvantage. There are only a few schools that will accept your application and none of them will offer any financial aid -- except for MSTP which is always fully funded regardless of citizenship.

The international MSTPs are still at a serious disadvantage. The programs are only allowed to use private money to fund them (NOT from the NIH, the government sponser of MSTP). For that reason and maybe others, a majority of MSTPs forbid foreign students from applying. The ones that do take foreign students have very small and strict quotas of like 1 per year. At a small number of schools like Hopkins, you can still be accepted MD/PhD without medical school funding, and some internationals get stuck with this arrangement.

 

[anub2]

I'm so confused..I don't know what to do about this..but in any case im still a freshman and hopefully ill be a permanent resident in time for applying..

supereagles..thanks for your reply..appreciate it

 

[lotanna]

Originally posted by anub2
I'm so confused..I don't know what to do about this..but in any case im still a freshman and hopefully ill be a permanent resident in time for applying..

supereagles..thanks for your reply..appreciate it

yeah u still have a while anyway, so u'll be good to go when the time comes.


@supereagles, my broda how bodi?

 

[supereagles]

Originally posted by lotanna
yeah u still have a while anyway, so u'll be good to go when the time comes.


@supereagles, my broda how bodi?

Bodi dey inside clothes. Congrats on your acceptance. Make sure say you represent Niga well!

 

[JohnHolmes]

Originally posted by phenolphthalein
A permanent resident is treated the same as a US citizen for admission and financial aid purposes.

Even if you haven't gotten a physical green card by the time you apply, the stamp in your passport will suffice.

Yes, in general as an international student (no PR status) you are at a serious disadvantage. There are only a few schools that will accept your application and none of them will offer any financial aid -- except for MSTP which is always fully funded regardless of citizenship.

Do you KNOW this to be the case. I am not so sure about that ...

Additionally, you are wrong about MSTP. They are funded regardless of STATE citizenship, not international. Money comes from the NIH, with federal stipulations, do you think the US is into training international scientists to return to their own countries at a price tag of over half a million a pop? Negative, my friend.

Coops

 

[phenolphthalein]

Originally posted by Cooper_Wriston
Do you KNOW this to be the case. I am not so sure about that ...

Additionally, you are wrong about MSTP. They are funded regardless of STATE citizenship, not international. Money comes from the NIH, with federal stipulations, do you think the US is into training international scientists to return to their own countries at a price tag of over half a million a pop? Negative, my friend.

Coops

Alright, fair enough, I was sloppy with wording. MSTP is the formal name of the NIH program, and yes they don't support foreign students; universities support foreign MD/Phds with university funds. I was pointing that out based on anecdotal evidence of a couple of foreign acquaintances who have gone the Md/Phd. funded route successfully. However, as Neuronix (who is currently doing an MD/Phd) pointed out, even that route is problematic. The other assertions are based on my own experience as an F1 -> PR -> citizen.

It also occurred to me thinking about this issue some more that admissions is not the end of the difficulties for a foreign student. Assuming as a foreign student you beat the odds and get in and can find a private lender who will give you a loan to go to school or you just have wealthy parents, there is still residency to contend with. As an F1 student, the residency program would have to sponsor you for a work visa (H1, I'm assuming) and I doubt they will be very excited to do that since it costs them significant time and money to do the paperwork and get the certification from the labor department. It's likely that only the less desirable programs/hospitals would want to do that so you may be limited in residency options as well.

 

[JohnHolmes]

Overall,

I think the admissions policy of medical schools re: international applicants is quite fair. Obviously the citizen of any country should have an expectation to be treated with strong preference for admission to an institution in their home country. This is also a concern for loans. An international student attending an American Instution on federal loans could simply leave the US and default on all loans with relative impunity at the end of their medical education. Hence the escrow account.

Coops

 

[CalBeE]

Well the OP said he/she is a freshman in college. I think by the time you apply (Summer after your third year?), you'll receive the actual green card already.

Even if things don't work out, foreign students DO have chances. I wouldn't say SERIOUSLY disadvantaged, but your app will have to be above average.

Columbia, Northwestern, and Vanderbilt all have about 10 international students matriculating in each class--that'll be about 10% of the student population.

 

[anub2]

Is there any way i can get a list of schools that accept International applications?

 

[CalBeE]

Originally posted by anub2
Is there any way i can get a list of schools that accept International applications?

Not sure where to get such a list. What I did was pay $10 for USNews ranking. For many schools there are statistics on the number of international students applied, interviewed, accepted, and matriculated.