UK and ireland med school help

[DrFeelgoodMD]

Hey all,

I wont be applying to medical school in a few years, but I would like to know of the schools in the area that are US student friendly...meaining they accept a higher than average number of international students from the US. I have visited both London and Ireland and would absolutely love to go to medical school there if I am denied acceptance in the states. (Frankly, I wouldnt seriously consider going there even if i did get into US schools...) I just want to try something different and from what I have heard, many of the schools in Europe are well recognized.

If anyone could help me that would be awesome!!

Thanks,

J

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[leorl]

At the moment, the Irish schools are US-friendly, with the number of foreign students at 50%, and the Americans comprising around 33% of the foreign students (up to 20 or so, possibly higher at RCSI). However, there are changes to the entire med ed structure in Ireland taking place as we speak, which aim to increase the number of Irish places and either keeping the number of foreign students the same or decreasing them. If they're decreased, the North American population may possibly be hit first, because a couple other countries who supply foreign students have twinning programs with the government. I'm not an expert on exactly what changes will be implemented or speculating on what will happen to foreign students, but the foreign student percentage will definitely not remain at 50%. So a short answer to your question would be that the state of US acceptances will probably not be the same by the time you apply as it is now, and it's hard to know which schools if any will be more receptive to US applicants. Having said that, if you do get an opportunity, it's a good one!

 

[DrFeelgoodMD]

what about gpa and mcat requirements...what is the average that they look for from students in both ireland and london?

Thanks,

J

 

[ramekin]

what about gpa and mcat requirements...what is the average that they look for from students in both ireland and london?

Thanks,

J

Your best bet would be to contact the schools to which you're thinking of applying individually. British medical schools operate by numerus clausus for the admission of international students, with the current restriction set at 10% by the British government.

UK medical schools generally admit students who have studied for Advanced Diplomas (the Baccalaureate or General Certificate of Education at Advanced Level) in the natural and mathematical sciences - no undergraduate degree is required, since pre-med requirements will already have been satisfied by the age of 18/19.

Traditionally, UK medical schools' international student intake is drawn primarily from the Commonwealth countries (India, Singapore, Hong Kong, etc) that follow the British or European system of specialized post-16 education, therefore, there is confusion by some medical schools regarding qualifications obtained outside of this system. An American undergraduate degree would not satisfy the matriculation requirements at some British medical schools (for example University College London) but others would be more willing to consider non-UK degrees on an individually competitive basis (for example King's College London, Queen Mary and Westfield College London). Again, call each medical school and ask the admissions officer regarding their policy for international applicants with qualifications gained in the USA.

5-year undergraduate courses do not require the MSAT or GAMSAT, but will require the UKCAT for 2007 admission, in addition to providing evidence for having fulfilled basic requirements for proficiency at Advanced Level in the natural sciences.

4-year Graduate Entry Programs will require either the MSAT or GAMSAT. Entry onto the Graduate Entry Programs is severely competitive, however. Most medical schools operating GEP courses will require of graduates a minimum of a 2.1 Honors Degree in a relevent scientific discipline. For a view of the current situation vis a vis GEP courses: http://education.guardian.co.uk/higher/postgraduate/story/0,,1751023,00.html

There are five medical schools in London, each is allied to a constituent College of the Univ of London:

- Guy's, King's and St. Thomas' School of Medicine, King's College http://www.kcl.ac.uk/
- Royal Free and University College Medical School, University College http://www.ucl.ac.uk/
- Imperial College School of Medicine, Imperial College http://www.ic.ac.uk/
- Bart's and the Royal London Medical School, Queen Mary & Westfield College, http://www.qmw.ac.uk/
- St. George's Hospital Medical School, (not allied to a College) http://www.sghms.ac.uk/

 

[DrFeelgoodMD]

Thanks to everyone for all your help...but I have been searching all their websites, and am still having trouble finding information about students who have bachelors degrees already completed and the gpa requirements/MCAT scores coming from the USA. I will begin emailing these schools over the course of the weekend.

Thanks again, everyone!!

J

P.S. - how many med schools are there in ireland?

 

[leorl]

If you have all that information (bachelor's degree, etc.) then you'd simply apply through UCAS for the UK and Atlantic Bridge (www.atlanticbridge.com) for Ireland. There are 5 Irish schools: Trinity College (www.tcd.ie/Health_Sciences), University College Dublin (www.ucd.ie), Royal College of Surgeons Ireland (www.rcsi.ie), University College Cork (www.ucc.ie), and the National University of Ireland Galway (www.nuig.ie) . At the moment, NUIG doesn't go through Atlantic Bridge and information about their foreign student population isn't as public or as known as the other colleges.

 

[CaliMed217]

Hi,

I'm also a US citizen looking into UK med school. Ramekin's post was very thorough but I thought I'd reiterate some points based on my research so far.

I've emailed 4/5 of the schools in London to ask about specific requirements coming from the US. Unfortunately, only one school has replied so far - UCL sent me an email saying that international applicants are NOT eligible for admission with a Bachelor's degree. So as of now, UCL is not an option for international applicants unless they have the International or European Baccalaureate, etc. Here's a link to their acceptable requirements: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/medicalschool/prospective-students/entry-reqs/index.htm

Queen Mary seems to be relatively open to international applicants. They have a very detailed section on their webpage geared towards prospective international students. Here's a link to the general requirements (not med school-specific): http://www.qmul.ac.uk/international/countries/usa/
Apparently they also accept students with Associates degrees with a GPA of 3.5 of better.

When I as on a year-abroad at King's, I met a girl from the US who had been accepted to King's after attending Junior College in the States. This was for a Biomedical Science course, NOT Medicine, but if you ever become determined to attend uni in the UK, that might be an option you could look into.
The King's requirements can be found at this link: http://www.kcl.ac.uk/ugp07/programme/85
It looks like they will accept a Bachelors with an equivalent of a 2:1, which is a 3.5 GPA (some have said 3.4) and you must take the UKCAT (UK Clinical Aptitude Test).
www.ukcat.ac.uk/home/

Imperial also accepts a Bachelors with a 3.5 GPA. They require applicants to take an exam called the BMAT (BioMedical Admissions Test) which is only offered once a year and is only administered at certain locations in the U.S.
www.bmat.org.uk

It's a bit tricky since there are several different admissions tests for med school. Unlike in the US where we have the one and only MCAT, you would have to take several exams if you wanted to apply to all the unis in London and be considered for undergraduate and graduate entry (BMAT, UKCAT, MSAT, GAMSAT).

Since you are a while away from applying, some of the requirements might change by the time you are ready for med school. You probably have to be at least mildy competitive in the States to hope for acceptance to a UK uni (everyone has a different definition of what is competitive . . . I'd say a 3.5 is mildy competitive).

Hey all,

I wont be applying to medical school in a few years, but I would like to know of the schools in the area that are US student friendly...meaining they accept a higher than average number of international students from the US. I have visited both London and Ireland and would absolutely love to go to medical school there if I am denied acceptance in the states. (Frankly, I wouldnt seriously consider going there even if i did get into US schools...) I just want to try something different and from what I have heard, many of the schools in Europe are well recognized.

If anyone could help me that would be awesome!!

Thanks,

J