Transferring to US Schools

[doctorm&m]

I will be a student at SGU this August and am interested in finding info about transferring to US schools. I, unfortunately, was not accepted to any US med school...waitlisted to two schools. Although I have nothing against foreign medical schools, especially SGU, if there were any possibility of going to a US school I would take it. Is there anyone who is thinking about going this route or have actually done this and would like to put in their two cents? I know that there are several students who transfer and I was just wondering as to what the whole process is....competitiveness....ect. What are some of the schools that look favorably on Foreign students...their requirements? Any feedback would be appreciated.

Thanks.

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[jdub]

one could probably write a whole book on this topic. as you most likely have heard, don?t count on transferring. as far as sgu goes, there is a list that is posted that shows some stats and the places where people transfer. it happens every year for 10 or so people. the best chances of transferring happen after your second year and from what the admin have told me, you will have the best chance transferring to a school that you interviewed at, that is if they accept transfers from non-lcme accredited schools, which is sgu and others.

i was also told that you had to have grades very close to a 4.0 and having done alright on the mcat definitely would help. i have posted a few times about transferring, since i will be trying to do that after i take the boards in febuary, but i have not gotten any solid responses other than from the moderator of the caribbean forum, he/she graduated from sgu and has a great residency postion at johns hopkins. transferring is not a must to do well, it would most likely help, but i don?t believe anybody can really quantify something like that.

maybe it will come easy for you, but you will really need to focus right from the get go. first term was the hardest schooling that i have ever done and anybody who tells you different is hiding something. there is definitely room to do well, but it can also eat you up if you are not careful. i personally came into it thinking that i was going to kick butt and be the best, but i found out really quick that sgu has more than its fair share of really smart folks and that it was not going to be easy. i have been fortunate enough to have gotten almost all a?s, and i did well on the mcat as well, but even with that, i am assuming that i will do fine on the boards too, it will be unlikely at best that i will be able to transfer. i even interviewed at eight school and was put on six waitlist before i went down to grenada. i really don?t want to be discouraging, because it really is possible to transfer and do well in school and get a good residency, etc, if i can come close to getting striaght a?s, then just about anybody can, but the reality is that out of 400-450 people that finish their second year at sgu, only about 10 or so transfer, so the odds are not really high.

anyhow, i will be able to give you some more definite answers after i apply for transfers next feb. if you have any other questions about sgu or what ever, let me know. best of luck and enjoy the rest of your summer vacation.

jhonny

p.s. i will be applying to tulane, ny med college, and chicago school of med, they have all taken sgu grads in the past and i interviewed with them as well. you will need to look at each school separately to see if they take students with advance standing and students from non-lcme accredited schools. there are a handful. you also have to remember that somebody needs to drop out or leave a school for a spot to be open. one of my friends transfered to drexel after first term, but he had to start over, so that might be a possibility as well.

 

[Megalofyia]

Does anybody know which 18 US med schools accept Carribbean transfer students?

 

[doctorm&m]

hi jhonny,

thanks for your reply. I do realize that it is an almost impossible process, but it is something I am very interested in doing. I have been corresponding with a SGU student you just started at Columbia this year...and I guess there are a few schools out there who accept non LCME accredited schools. Good luck in your endeavors. thanks again for your input.

 

[WiscoFan14]

For those of you out there that are truly passionate/interested about transferring to a US school...why not consider a post-bacc enrichment program in the US (Gtown, Finch, BU, etc.)...go do the program, kill it, and then get into a US school? I understand the desire to "get things started" and go down to SGU (I almost did that myself, at SGU actually), but in the long run, if you know you are ready to really go all out for a year to prove yourself...why not do that here in the States, then if you don't get in you can head down to the Carib with less desire/stress about having to transfer. I think its significantly easier (and the numbers prove it) to get into a US school after doing great in a US post-bacc/Masters program than it is to get into a US school as a Carib transfer. Just a thought. Good luck to all. In the end it still says MD so don't sweat it too much.

 

[Aucdoctobe]

For those of you out there that are truly passionate/interested about transferring to a US school...why not consider a post-bacc enrichment program in the US (Gtown, Finch, BU, etc.)...go do the program, kill it, and then get into a US school? I understand the desire to "get things started" and go down to SGU (I almost did that myself, at SGU actually), but in the long run, if you know you are ready to really go all out for a year to prove yourself...why not do that here in the States, then if you don't get in you can head down to the Carib with less desire/stress about having to transfer. I think its significantly easier (and the numbers prove it) to get into a US school after doing great in a US post-bacc/Masters program than it is to get into a US school as a Carib transfer. Just a thought. Good luck to all. In the end it still says MD so don't sweat it too much.

Good luck to you also Wiscofan. Thank you for your argument, but I have to respectfully disagree. Though we have all heard of people who pursued post-bacc programs and got into medical school, there are many people who had the opposite course of action. They paid a high amount of money to get into medical school while achieving nothing. At least in the Caribbean, you know that if you pass, you will become a doctor. In post-bac and med science programs if you make C's you flunk out and have nothing except for high debt which can ruin your life. Programs like Drexel, Georgetown, ect.. are money making entities. Those programs are revenue generators which allow medical schools to make money while not having to admit more medical students.

I would certainly prefer the guaranteed medical education and practice over the more dangerous alternative.

 

[Dr Dean]

If you're going Caribbean, go Caribbean not as a backdoor into US medical schools. At the Big 3 Caribbeans, you will be back in the US doing rotations after 2 years, or even 16 months at one. If you're going for prestige, do better on your gpa and MCAT.

DEAN SAID DAT.
ROAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

 

[Aucdoctobe]

If you're going Caribbean, go Caribbean not as a backdoor into US medical schools. At the Big 3 Caribbeans, you will be back in the US doing rotations after 2 years, or even 16 months at one. If you're going for prestige, do better on your gpa and MCAT.

DEAN SAID DAT.
ROAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

lol.. Dean, how you are going to prevent Edwards from driving us all out of business in the future???

 

[anm139]

i am thikning about joining st. matthew's university and was also curious about transferring later on to an american school. i know that there is a slim chance of this working out, but will schools consider st. matthew's students with excellent grades? or do they only look at the Big 3? also in order to transfer, what requirements must be met? do you have to have a b.s. and mcat?

 

[Dr Dean]

lol.. Dean, how you are going to prevent Edwards from driving us all out of business in the future???

They better make me surgeon general. RAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

 

[ULTRON]

BUMP.

When you transfer to a US medical school from a foreign medical school, what "reason" do you give for transfer?

I mean most US school state on their websites that they accept students based on need. Of course we all want to get our MDs from US schools, but we don't mention that on the advanced standing interview (do we?)

So what reason do you give?

ULTRON

 

[Bill Lumbergh]

BUMP.

When you transfer to a US medical school from a foreign medical school, what "reason" do you give for transfer?

I mean most US school state on their websites that they accept students based on need. Of course we all want to get our MDs from US schools, but we don't mention that on the advanced standing interview (do we?)

So what reason do you give?

ULTRON

wow, old thread...

there's no need to make up a reason. truth is, you have a better reason for transferring than anyone in a US school. say you know that it will benefit you to graduate from a US school when it comes to residency placements. at least, that's the answer i gave, and i was accepted for a transfer. i think that question is really for students in US schools who want to transfer to another.

 

[Mooby]

wow, old thread...

there's no need to make up a reason. truth is, you have a better reason for transferring than anyone in a US school. say you know that it will benefit you to graduate from a US school when it comes to residency placements. at least, that's the answer i gave, and i was accepted for a transfer. i think that question is really for students in US schools who want to transfer to another.

If you don't mind, could you tell us what school you went to for the 1st two years and what schools you applied for transfer to?

I plan on trying to transfer after Step 1 as well. I'm entering AUC this August most likely and I'm trying to setup a plan. I've heard the major factor is Step 1 scores more so than individual class scores, since many times they don't know how to gauge the Caribbean schools.

 

[phisigman03]

If you don't mind me asking what is the typical undergrad GPA and MCat when transfering to a US school??? Do they even matter or the schools just look at mED School GPA and step 1 ????

 

[Bill Lumbergh]

mooby and phisigman,

i transferred after 1 year at sgu into 2nd year at drexel, so i haven't taken step 1 yet. i only applied to tulane and drexel because they were the only 2 schools i could find with spots open that took students from foreign med schools into 2nd year. that's not to say that this year will be the same. you gotta do your research each year and spend a lot of time on the phone/web finding out what schools will take you cuz it changes each year.

as for undergrad gpa and mcat for transfers, i really wouldn't know. they do seem to take people with strong premed backgrounds - those who just missed US schools when they applied. i interviewed with someone who was applying for a transfer into 3rd year from ross with a 258 on his step 1, but didn't get into drexel and didn't even get an interview at nymc cuz of a 22 mcat (well, maybe he botched the interview at drexel, but from how he described it, nymc seemed to have a cutoff).

good luck to you both

 

[ULTRON]

Thanks for the replies everyone. So if we transfer to a US medical school in the third year, we still have to take the ECFGM certification, do we?

ULTRON