US Education system

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.

bambi

Junior Member
15+ Year Member
20+ Year Member
Joined
Aug 5, 2003
Messages
826
Reaction score
33
Hi, I am an 18 year old student in the Uk and I am going to one of the London med schools this September and I was just wondering about your education sytem as it seems completely different to ours. What age do you actually start med school? All I know on that subject is what I have seen in films, Premed? What sort of things do they ask on the MCAT and what is the highest you can get. Also what is the highest GPA you can have? I read on one of the posts that the interviews are quite relaxed so I was wondering what sort of things they ask, over here they are usually really formal. Also how many med schools are you actually allowed to apply to? Here we can only apply to 4 but we can also apply to 2 different courses in case we get rejected by the med schools. Your entire application process seems a lot more complicated than it is here. Here we take GCSEs when we are 16 in science, maths, english and then a choice of languages, techology, art etc, usually 8-12 in total. Then at 17 we take AS levels in 4 subjects which can be whatever we want. Then we take A levels at 18 in 3 subjects ie. we drop one of our AS subjects and carry on with 3, some people however take 4 or 5 but that is quite rare. When we apply to uni we have to give our GCSE and AS grades and also our predicted A level grades. We also have to write our personal statement explaining why we want to do medicine, law, economics etc. why we think we would be good at the subject, what work experience we have done etc. We also have references from each teacher but they are usually quite short. This is all done through a system called UCAS who then send our applications to our chosen universities. I was hoping someone could explain the system you have.

Members don't see this ad.
 
Wow, your system seems so complicated and involved, but I guess that cause I haven't been through it. Anyways, probably the biggest difference in the US education system is that there are no national exams required to graduate from high school. The carriculum for a high school degree is determined by the individual states, some which will require you to pass standardized exams administered by the state's education board. What courses you have to pass is also determined by individual states. To get into an undergraduate college, you need to have a high school diploma or equivalent, and in most cases you need to have taken the SAT. The SAT is a standarized exam offered by an indipendent company which tests english and math comprehension. (There is also another test called the ACT which is equivalent to the SAT. Colleges typically don't have a preference on which one you take. Students in different regions typically take one or the other, the SAT's are prevalent on the east and west coast, while the ACT is prevalent in the central regions, though you can take either test anywhere in the US). College admissions is based off your performance in the standardized test, high school GPA, extra carricululars, and stuff like that. The choice of major is up to the student, but admission into colleges is typically based on the student demonstrating some interest or strength in that major. Once in college, you begin preparing for med schools. Almost all US med schools have the same pre-requisites, which is a year of physics, biology, inorganic chemistry, organic chemistry, and english, though there can be a little bit of variation on that. Additionally, you are required to have taken the MCAT, a standardized exam administered by the association of american medical colleges (AAMC) which tests knowledge in biology, chemistry, physics, organic chemistry, reading comprehension, and writing (there's an essay section). Getting into med school is primarily based on your GPA and your MCAT scores, as well as other items such as medical experience, extra carriculars, letters of recommendation, and so fourth; in a lot of ways, it's similar to applying to the undergraduate colleges. The highest GPA one can attain is %100, though it is commonly refered to in terms of a relative scale where 4.0 is the highest. Letter grades are assigned to courses taken in college which correspond to a numerical grade which averages into the GPA. (A = 4.0, B= 3.0, C=2.0, and so on. Thus, if you took four classes each of equal credit hours and got two A's, a B and a C, you would have a 3.25 GPA for the semester). Some colleges have slightly different GPA systems (MIT works off of a 5.0 system, the highest GPA you can get at Cornell is 4.3/4.0 if you get all A+ in every class). To apply to medical school, you use a service offered by the AAMC called the AMCAS application. It's a common application where you fill out all your information and designate which schools you want to have it sent to. The only limit on schools you can apply to is how much money and time you're willing to put into the process, as it costs $150 for the first school, and then $30 for every subsequent school. Not ever school uses AMCAS; for example, the Texas schools have their own small version of AMCAS, and Columbia uses its own application process. After schools receive the AMCAS, they have the option of sending you a secondary application in which you fill out some more information, write a few more essays, and send even more money (anywhere in the range of $50 to $100 per secondary). Then after you return the secondaries and have your letters of recommendation sent, schools may invite you for an interview or decide to reject you. Interviews are typically held at the school, though some will offer regional interviews in your area with a school alumni if you request it or have good reasons why you can't go to the school. After the interview, the school can choose to reject you, waitlist you, or accept you. If you're waitlisted, it means that you're on a list of potential candidates they'll offer acceptances to if sufficient people who were offered first round acceptances turn them down. You can potentially be called of a waitlist right up until the morning classes start.

Whooo, that's a lot of typing, I wish the words would flow that easily on my med school essays. :p Hope I answered your question.
 
Thanks for your reply, another question though, how long (years) after you finish high school before you are actually a doctor? In England med school is 5 years with an extra pre reg year working in a hospital and then you are a doctor. Sometimes it is 6 years and then the pre reg because you can do an extra intercallated degree in a year. We also have 4 year progs for grads ie. someone who already has a science degree. Then it is onto specialist training which is about 3-10 years,t hen eventually if you are good enough you can become a consultant. Also is the qualification an MD? Over here it is either MBBS, MBChB or BMBChir (from Oxford and Cambridge) they all mean the same though, do different schools give different qualifications in the US?:confused:
 
Members don't see this ad :)
The time between high school and become a doctor can be extremely varied. If you go the traditional route, you graduate high school at about the age of 18, go to 4 years of undergraduate college, then 4 years of medical school, then a year of internship, then the residency which be anywhere from 3 to 7 years depending on which speciality. The times though can be quite varied. Not everyone goes into undergraduate colleges straight out of HS. Some people may take more than 4 years to finish their undergraduate degree, and many people do not go to medical school straight out of college for many reason: some pursue graduate degrees, or post baccularate programs to boost their GPA, or even to get a job in their major rather than go to medical school. These non traditional applicants are not uncommon, with some students starting med school when they are in their forties. Once you start med school it's almost always 4 years, with some schools allowing for 5 year programs, but they're the exception more than the rule. Internship and residency, where you do your hospital time, varies depending on speciality.

The MD is the most prevalent doctoral degree in medicine, which you technically earn after med school, but you really aren't a true "doctor" until you pass the board exams in your speciality. Other degrees that exist are DO, which are doctor of Ostheopathy, a different style of medicine, but in many places it is considered equivilant of the MD. There are also other degrees in chiropractry, dentistry, podiatry and a few others, but most medical professions are represented by MD degrees.
 
Originally posted by bambi
Thanks for your reply, another question though, how long (years) after you finish high school before you are actually a doctor? In England med school is 5 years with an extra pre reg year working in a hospital and then you are a doctor. Sometimes it is 6 years and then the pre reg because you can do an extra intercallated degree in a year. We also have 4 year progs for grads ie. someone who already has a science degree. Then it is onto specialist training which is about 3-10 years,t hen eventually if you are good enough you can become a consultant. Also is the qualification an MD? Over here it is either MBBS, MBChB or BMBChir (from Oxford and Cambridge) they all mean the same though, do different schools give different qualifications in the US?:confused:

Pretty informative thread I must add.
I think it all averages out to be about the same # of years. A couple of my cousins are in schls in London and Dublin.
Why do doctors in the UK get paid so low compared to the US?
 
I agree, very informative thread. The years it takes to become a doctor, without specialty or residency are 6 for the UK and 8 for the U.S. if I added correctly. The major difference seems to be that in the UK you have to know at the end of highschool whether or not you want to become a doc, whereas here we can kinda take our time. My 2 cents.
 
Man the British system sounds scary. :eek:
 
What London schools are your cousins at? Unfortunately most jobs pay a lot less in England, I think a newly qualified doctor earns about 16 000 pounds but it depends where you are offered a job. Even consultants only earn about 60 000 unless they do private work which quite a lot do now. THe worst thing about the British system is only being able to apply to 4 med schools. Results day is also awful though because everything rests on our A level grades and if you have a bad day on an exam day it could ruin everything and you could lose your place at med school. Results are Aug 14th and I am terrified!
 
I interviewed at mcv. no offence but richmond is...well for lack of a better term...a sh-t hole. I would rather be in philly...and thats not saying much. mcv is prolly a good school but for out of state you might be better going to an NY school. The stats are better and you don't need to worry about getting shot walking to your car.
 
Top