UK Medicine - Graduate Entrey

[shirochan88]

Greetings all,

This post is really to get some advice and suggestions. Does anyone know which UK Medical Schools Accept International Applicants that already have an Undergraduate Degree?

Also if anyone of you are currently international students studying in UK medicine please share your experience

Thanks

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[zeeez]

Hi!

Here's some info about the medical schools in London..... hope it helps.....UCL doesn't (basically they think American and Canadian undergrad. degrees are worth nothing unless you have a PHD). I know Kings and Queen Mary's does for sure. You could try Imperial as well but that's SUPER hard to get in. Usually with the schools that consider your North American undergrad. will let you apply as a graduate program and possible knock a year off your 5 year program ( again, depending on the school).

Goodluck!!

Ciao

 

[Live4Life]

Why do they feel that American and Canadian undergrad degrees are worthless?

 

[zeeez]

I guess because they have a grudge against us because we don't do A levels lollzz.........or maybe it's just because UCL has a certain image to maintain. (it is one of the best places to go to, so they're a bit snobbish).

 

[med2UCC]

Why do they feel that American and Canadian undergrad degrees are worthless?

I suspect it has a bit to do with the degree of grade inflation that has gone on in North American universities over the past 25 years or so. I am in a somewhat unique position to comment on this as I have been in and out of university sicne 1983, and have seen the changes of standards over the yearsl. When I started my undergraduate arts degree in 1983 any mark over 70% was considered to be a good mark, and almost no-one in an arts course got anything over 80%. As a result, my transcript from that time looks rather tatty compared to the high-80's and mid-90's I was earning in arts courses in 1992, but in reality only the actual marks had changed-I was still in the top 10% of my classes (wish I could have pointed that out to the admissions committees at home). My American room-mate goes to Rutgers, and told me at the beginning of this year that she regularly gets 98% on papers and exams in her arts courses there. Even allowing for a little boasting, these seem like disproportionately high marks to me, unlikely even. She told me yesterday that Rutgers is going to allow her an A on her transcript for every course on which she has gotten more than 65% here, a tacit acknowledgment that European universities mark to a harder standard than North American ones.
I also have to say that while I was doing those undergrad arts courses in 1992-93 we were asked to edit our classmates' rough drafts in one class (a nuisance for me since I don't usually produce a rough draft) and I was appalled by the elementary mistakes in grammar and spelling being made on these. My sister who teaches an undergrad music appreciation course tells me that she is allowed to fail virtually no one and has on more than one occasion received essays that contain no punctuation whatsoever except for one period at the very end (of a 6 page paper), and completely random capitalization.
Science courses are generally a lilttle harder to blag your way through, but marks there are similarly inflated. Physiology essays that would have netted me marks in the 80's and 90's at home get a grudging 1H here. I also remember with some fondness a few psychology courses I took that had bonus marks involved for participating in experiments; I got 102% in one course due to these, although on my transcript it is only a 99 (I suspect the computer won't register marks in 3 digits, and good for it since it would be the only entity at that particular institution excercising any sort of restraint over grade inflation). These were not courses taken at little community colleges either, but at respected universities which regularly rate among the top in the country. There is a reason why the English regard our degrees with some suspicion; it is not a completely unjustified snobbery.
Cheers,
M

 

[Dr Noodle]

London colleges in particular seem to be very strict with admissions. They won't accept the Irish leaving cert for their undergraduate courses (don't blame them though). They seem to put a lot more emphasis on the life sciences compared to schools in the rest of the country.

UCL, Cambridge, Oxford, Imperial...they're all supposedly the 'best' place to go to. At the end of the day it really comes down to personal preference regarding course style (eg PBL vs traditional vs integrated, when you have placements etc), lifestyle, extra curricular activities etc.

Your best bet is to scour all the college websites. For a list of all the medical schools, check: http://search.ucas.co.uk/cgi-bin/hs...on.whereNext?query=427&word=MEDICINE&single=Y

Good luck

 

[inversion]

The main reason some universities do not accept US or Canadian undergrad. degrees is simply because they are different than the undergrad. degrees in the UK. For example, for most B.Sc. in the US, the general chemistry, organic chemistry, microbiology, and physics one will study are equivalent to the subject material studied for the A-level examinations in the UK, which students take before entering college. The system in the UK is a lot more structured than the US system, in the sense that one chooses a career path years before attending college, so it is difficult to transplant a foreign component into this system.

 

[Live4Life]

The main reason some universities do not accept US or Canadian undergrad. degrees is simply because they are different than the undergrad. degrees in the UK. For example, for most B.Sc. in the US, the general chemistry, organic chemistry, microbiology, and physics one will study are equivalent to the subject material studied for the A-level examinations in the UK, which students take before entering college. The system in the UK is a lot more structured than the US system, in the sense that one chooses a career path years before attending college, so it is difficult to transplant a foreign component into this system.

I'm glad that I am not stuck in the UK system because I have literally changed my career choice about four times since entering college.

 

[Dr Noodle]

To the OP, have you considered doing an undergraduate course? Outside of London (the London courses are six years long, the students there do a compulsory intercalated BSc year) most courses are five years so only one extra year though I understand that would probably cost a lot for an international student but possibly cheaper than doing the graduate programme.

However, considering the current, fairly abysmal job situation there at the moment it's recommended that you do the BSc as you get extra points for your job applications after and probably a good idea seeing what people are saying about the US BSc above.

You could always consider Ireland too. I don't know what the situation here is regarding the US degree. There are currently four GEPs- at RCSI (Dublin), UCC (Cork), UCD (Dublin) and UL (Limerick).

 

[gmacpac]

Hi,

Can anyone of you comment on University of East Anglia's 5 yr MBBS program?

I've been accepted there, so I'm trying to decide if I should go to UK vs. stay in USA and go to a DO program.

 

[Scottish Chap]

Hi,

Can anyone of you comment on University of East Anglia's 5 yr MBBS program?

I've been accepted there, so I'm trying to decide if I should go to UK vs. stay in USA and go to a DO program.

UEA is a very new medical school that was created in response to the acute physician shortage in the U.K. I have not been there, but keep in mind the issues you may face with a new medical school that does not have an international reputation - since you intend to practice in the U.S. (I assume).

It all boils down to whether you care about the letters after your name. Osteopathic medical schools will make it easier for you to study for and do well on the board examinations, and they are American schools. You'll be on your own overseas. Living in the U.K. is VERY expensive (I have first-hand experience).

Good luck. I'm sure you'll do well wherever you go.

 

[gmacpac]

Thank you for your help.

 

[cheliong]

Hi,

I am graduating with bachelor next year and is hoping to apply to Oxford.

Is Oxford good for Medicine? How is the teaching quality, is it good? Do they have excellent research facility?

To be honest, I seldom see research publications from Oxford, I see mostly from John Hopkins and Harvard...

I agree that Oxford is one of the best university in the world, but I am still unsure whether the medical faculty is on par to Oxford's great name. Universitas Indonesia (National Uni of Indonesia), for example, is famous in Indonesia. However, the arts and philosophy faculty is bad... That's why I wonder how's the situation for Oxford's Medicine.

Thank you!

 

[Dr Noodle]

I think Cambridge has a better reputation for medicine than Oxford but Oxford does have a very good one. However all the medical schools in the UK have good reputations (the ones on UCAS anyway).

Personally I think you should be concerning yourself more with the style of teaching offered and which you feel would suit you best.

 

[bambi]

Oxford is amazing for med, you probably hear more about Cambridge because their med school is about twice as big. The John Radcliffe in Oxford is an amazing hospital too.

The London med schools are not necessarily the best, you have just heard more about them because they are in London, don't be fooled. They are not all 6 years either, Barts and St Georges aren't UCL and Imperial are and I don't remember if Kings is but it will say in the prospectus. All of our med schools are on UCAS by the way.

Most countries don't accept qualifications from other places. It is true though that it is harder to do well in the UK. In my 2nd year of uni there were a lot of students from the US spending a term with us and about 61% (at undergrad, not med) which for us is a low 2.1 was equivalent to marks in the 90s at their home unis.

 

[ForeignMed]

a good place to get an overview of UK medical schools (graduate entry and high school entry) is http://www.medschoolsonline.co.uk/