Pre-med track at NYU? + Neural Science major?

[jsx]

Hi everyone!

I'm currently a Medical student in Switzerland (1st year).
However, I'm having major difficulties with regards to my language of study, as I'm fluent in English (I think in English and have always studied in English) and my Medical course is in French.
Besides making eloquent expression difficult, this makes it hard for me to even understand exam questions, as I have to dissect the wording of a question to be confident with its meaning.
I think we can all agree Medicine is hard enough as it is without adding language difficulties to the mix!!! x)

I'm thus looking to apply to ENGLISH Medical/Pre-med programs abroad.
I'm interested in the pre-med track at NYU and had a few questions regarding it:

1.) Can I be a Neural Science major and a Pre-med student? What does this represent in terms of workload?
2.) What are the pre-med courses studied in first year? What about the subsequent years?
3.) What is Pre-med at NYU like? In terms of the workload, the quality of the teaching, etc?
4.) Does Pre-med at NYU prepare you well for the MCAT?
Are admissions to top medical schools (ex. Harvard Medical School) common after an NYU undergrad education?
5.) What is the hardest first year course? + What books do you use? (I'm just asking this because I've bought a bunch of books which I intended to use for Medical school here in Switzerland, and wanted to know which I should keep.)

Questions regarding a Neural Science major:

6.) What is Neural Science at NYU like?
7.) What books are used for Neural Science? (I believe that Neural Science and Bio majors only diverge in 3rd year. Is this true? If so, what books are used in Bio?)
8.) How big are the classes? (what about in pre-med?)

Thank you!!! 🙂
jsx

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[goatmed]

1. Yes. Neuroscience is one of many majors you can choose from, pre-med is not a major in its own but a designation that adds classes to your major. Fortunately, neuroscience and pre-med usually have overlap.

2. It really depends on you, but the classic first year courses are bio 1 and 2, chem 1 and 2, phys 1 and 2 and other lower-level science courses

I wish I could help you with NYU-specific questions, perhaps someone else here studied there.

One last thing you should be aware of is that applying to medical school as an international student in the United States, even having done your undergraduate studies here, is far from easy. Some schools give preference to in-states, I'd say most give preference to U.S. citizens/permanent residents. So, I'd suggest you only make the investment of coming to study in America if you're a really good student, as in stellar enough schools will overlook your student visa status, or you have some means of becoming a U.S. permanent resident or citizen. If you want to practice medicine in Switzerland in the long run, you may want to look into how a foreign medical graduate gets to work in Switzerland, as countries are often protective of their domestic graduates.

 

[jsx]

1. Yes. Neuroscience is one of many majors you can choose from, pre-med is not a major in its own but a designation that adds classes to your major. Fortunately, neuroscience and pre-med usually have overlap.

2. It really depends on you, but the classic first year courses are bio 1 and 2, chem 1 and 2, phys 1 and 2 and other lower-level science courses

I wish I could help you with NYU-specific questions, perhaps someone else here studied there.

One last thing you should be aware of is that applying to medical school as an international student in the United States, even having done your undergraduate studies here, is far from easy. Some schools give preference to in-states, I'd say most give preference to U.S. citizens/permanent residents. So, I'd suggest you only make the investment of coming to study in America if you're a really good student, as in stellar enough schools will overlook your student visa status, or you have some means of becoming a U.S. permanent resident or citizen. If you want to practice medicine in Switzerland in the long run, you may want to look into how a foreign medical graduate gets to work in Switzerland, as countries are often protective of their domestic graduates.

Thank you for your helpful answers!

> Could you please elaborate on what kinds of difficulties international students would meet upon applying to Med school? (Are we talking 10% of students or only a handful per graduation class?)
> Would I still encounter these difficulties if I intended to complete my residency & eventually practice in the US?

> Also, do you know if studying Medicine in English in Europe (ex. in Warsaw) would facilitate the process of then applying to residencies/jobs in Switzerland? I believe there is a system of equivalence for all European med students but I'm not sure..

> And lastly, can one study Medicine in Europe (ex. in Warsaw) and then go on to do their residency in the US?

Thank you! 🙂
Jenny

 

[goatmed]

Thank you for your helpful answers!

> Could you please elaborate on what kinds of difficulties international students would meet upon applying to Med school? (Are we talking 10% of students or only a handful per graduation class?)
> Would I still encounter these difficulties if I intended to complete my residency & eventually practice in the US?

> Also, do you know if studying Medicine in English in Europe (ex. in Warsaw) would facilitate the process of then applying to residencies/jobs in Switzerland? I believe there is a system of equivalence for all European med students but I'm not sure..

> And lastly, can one study Medicine in Europe (ex. in Warsaw) and then go on to do their residency in the US?

Thank you! 🙂
Jenny

1. So, because reasons which I'm not sure of but @gonnif is probably familiar with, only 59 out of 164 medical schools in the U.S. accept international students. What's worse, even among those that accept the percent of international students who enter is very very small and usually includes stellar students who are overqualified for a given school. This means if you're a great student, the ceiling could still be drawn for you around mid-level medical schools, most of which will be private and expensive. In short, it's a gamble and you don't always get what you can.

If you want specific data about accepted international students, the AAMC has a database called the MSAR gives you the number of accepted international students at each school. Unfortunately, it doesn't include cumulative stats for ALL schools to my knowledge. While a lot of this information is behind paywall, if you want to know the number of accepted international students at any particular schools you can PM me and I'll fetch it for you 😉

While I am vastly underqualified to talk about residencies, I believe that some of the same problems exist for international students, but less so for international students who graduated here vs international students who graduated abroad.

2. Switzerland is a very particular case because, while it is part of Schengen and has specific bilateral treaties for a lot of things with the EU, it isn't a member. I know that within the EU, so long as you have language proficiency your title as a doctor is accepted everywhere. I've also known a few Spaniards who studied in private medical schools in the Czech Republic. Nonetheless, this link includes some of the Guidelines for practicing in Switzerland with a foreign diploma (ist deutsch deine Muttersprache?) You might wanna check that out. Also, this Swiss site seems to imply you can work with a EU/EFTA degree given you meet minimum requirements (my German is not at the bureaucratic terminology level yet):

Die Anerkennung von Diplomen in Human-, Zahn-, Veterinärmedizin und Pharmazie erfolgt nach dem sogenannten sektoriellen Anerkennungssystem (automatische Anerkennung). Die EU-Richtlinie legt unter anderem die Minimalanforderungen an die entsprechende Ausbildung fest und führt in ihren Anhängen die zu anerkennenden Diplome namentlich auf.

3. Achieving residency with a foreign medical degree is a big no-no from what people say on this forum, unless you're a great student and you can rock your steps (and even then, you have a very limited assortment of residence spots to choose from.) Americans who go study in the Caribbean (because they don't get into American medical schools) often try this, and for one reason or another over half of them never make it to American residency. It's also a big risk.

Hope that helps!

 

[Lost in Translation]

I am an NYU grad with a BS in NS. I'll answer your questions later tonight if I get to them.

 

[AttemptingScholar]

Currently halfway through undergrad at NYU, can answer questions. I'm curious, however, as to why you've focused on this school? In American, we usually apply to lots of schools, get accepted into a few, and pick from there. It's rarely anyone's experience to want to attend a single college like this (unless they have one state school).

 

[jsx]

Thank you for the highly illuminating answers!!!

So, from all this information, I'm guessing that the best would be to:

Study Medicine in Warsaw, whilst trying to achieve and maintain stellar grades and achieve other distinctions (ex. in Research opportunities), and then return to Switzerland for Residency?
I certainly meet the Swiss language requirements and I will always be a Swiss citizen, so I shouldn't meet difficulties.. right?
What scares me most in that I'll be at a disadvantage to match into the prestigious residencies (Cardiothoracic surgery, etc)
Do you think this would be the case?

Thanks again!!! 🙂
jsx

 

[jsx]

I've been accepted elsewhere and am thus applying only to the US uni I'm really keen on attending.

 

[goatmed]

Thank you for the highly illuminating answers!!!

So, from all this information, I'm guessing that the best would be to:

Study Medicine in Warsaw, whilst trying to achieve and maintain stellar grades and achieve other distinctions (ex. in Research opportunities), and then return to Switzerland for Residency?
I certainly meet the Swiss language requirements and I will always be a Swiss citizen, so I shouldn't meet difficulties.. right?
What scares me most in that I'll be at a disadvantage to match into the prestigious residencies (Cardiothoracic surgery, etc)
Do you think this would be the case?

Thanks again!!! 🙂
jsx

That largely depends in how the Swiss match medical graduates to residency. If you're still there, you might wanna ask physicians who have already gone through the process how it works. For instance, in America residency programs consider you on the basis of STEP (standardized medical school exams) scores, grades, achievements (like research, other qualifications, etc.) and an interview. But in Spain, everyone takes a test and becomes ranked on its sole basis which entitles you to a spot given you score well enough regardless of where you went to medical school. Every country has its protocols and idiosyncrasies, so you might be better off asking doctors who have gone through your country's system than a bunch of American undergraduate students.

 

[efle]

Is getting an entire american bachelor's degree really a better route than, you know, learning French?

 

[cantankerous]

Save your money. Go somewhere cheaper.