what are the cheapest Med schools and how can i pay tuition and fees

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GOOD_MAN

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well i don't have that much of money to pay for MD school
and my score is around A&B in school with 3.61 GPA and MCAT is 41
i am have a degree in applied chemistry from Damascus university so i am looking to study medical in US or any other country for 4 years program and practice in US ...
but the problem is that tuition is too damn high .
and i am not looking to get loans while studying ..
so my questions are :
1_ can i work while studying and how much could I make ??? and can i cover tuition with working ?
2_ most university doesn't accept international ... so what are best universities that accept international with lower tuition and fees
3_ what u think people about Baylor university Medicine and
UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas or University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center
4_ does Texas A&M Health Science Center and University of Texas Health Science Center—Houston accept international ?

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41 MCAT, wow! Congrats on that.

Unfortunately, as an international applicant, I don't think you qualify for loans anyway.
 
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My suggestions would be to heavily research scholarship options that your high MCAT score, personal goals, personal history, geographic history, etc. might qualify you for. I read the part about your wanting to "practice in the US;" however, if you were amenable to returning to Syria on a humanitarian medical mission, then I think you should send a short "to-the-point" email to medical schools that share that goal asking about any scholarships they might provide.

Your questions:
1. You might be able to get into a medical school that will waive tuition if you do research for them. Case Western might do that. Maybe other people on here can name a few more? Otherwise, medical school tuition runs $250k or more, and it will be essentially impossible to cover that with a normal job. I've heard that it is very difficult to keep up in class work if you work full time while in classes (maybe a medical student can confirm or contradict this last sentence).
2. I'm not sure. The MSAR book online might reveal the number of international students each school accepts. Then you can look into tuition at those schools.
3. I'm not sure.
4. I'm not sure.
 
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Do keep in mind that many medical schools in the US require that you have a degree from a US or Canadian institution. I've seen some bright students come to the US to do a doctoral degree (many schools have tuition and stipends to cover the cost of that education) and then apply for MD. Some students also wait until they qualify for permanent residency.
 
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See if you can find an education Individual Development Account (IDA) that you qualify for that can be used for medical school.
 
Some policies to be aware of when applying to Texas schools: http://www.tmdsas.com/medical/foreign_Coursework.html

Foreign Coursework
State law requires that academic work taken at foreign colleges, universities or preparatory schools shall be excluded from the calculation of the GPA for students seeking admission to graduate or post-baccalaureate professional school.

Undergraduate foreign coursework that appears as transfer credit on the transcript of a regionally accredited US college will count towards the 90 hour requirement. Each individual transfer course credit granted by the US school must be listed on the transcript. Lump sum credit with no specific course and hour identification will not be accepted.

Foreign coursework will not count towards satisfying any of the required courses listed in theEducation Requirements section. All prerequisites must be taken at a regionally accredited US or Canadian college or university.

Copies of transcripts or other credentials from foreign schools MUST be provided to TMDSAS in order to distribute to the medical schools where they are evaluated based on criteria established by the Admissions Committee at the respective school. Consideration of coursework from schools outside the US or Canada requires an evaluation by a certified educational credentials evaluation service. Courses taken at a Canadian university are not included in the overall GPA calculated by TMDSAS but are evaluated at the respective TMDSAS schools.

International Students
The following professional schools will only review and consider for admissions applicants who are U.S. citizens or Permanent Residents of the U.S.:

  • UT Southwestern Medical Center
  • UT Medical Branch at Galveston
  • UT School of Medicine at San Antonio
  • UT Health Science Center in Houston
  • Texas A&M Health Science Center, College of Medicine
  • Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center School of Medicine
  • Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center - Paul L. Foster School of Medicine at El Paso
 
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NYCdude thanks .. i made that score and worked hard and studied a lot to get that score and did it 3 times to grant it
Gauss44 thanks but what university u suggest to study in it ? and where have u studied ur MD school ?
LizzyM thanks and u i guess u suggest me to wait until i get green card .
Catalystik thanks i didn't know that about state law !!! it was shock
Monika12 thanks and what university u complete ur study in ? and those 20 hours ... how much hourly pay ? i wish i saved that much .. i will take a look on wells fargo ... oh no so how can i get my credits eligible for counting in AMCAS
to all : do u suggest studying out side USA and then do residency in US ??
is it easy to get in orthopedic residency program ?
which universities outside US do 4 years program ?

 
oh thanks u all
do u have any other suggestion ?
 
Why did you not study medicine in Damascus? There are some truly brilliant doctors here in the US working in some of the most competitive specialties who got medical degrees abroad.

Countries that do 4 year medical degrees (US, Canada, some schools in Australia and UK) are all very expensive and would do everything to admit their own citizens/residents. Your best course of action is to enroll into your country's medical school even if it means 6-7 more years. Remember you only need to get a degree there, you don't need any additional training!!! It will still take you less time than hypothetically coming here to do prerequisite work or PhD. Maybe you could get advance standing in your medical school as you already did the coursework of first 3 or so years?
 
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Your MCAT will probably expire before you're ready to apply here.

If you haven't taken any US prereqs you need to spend at least two years taking them and some upper level sciences. That gives you one application cycle assuming you took your MCAT this year. And all the people I know who are either in med school or have graduated did not work at all, except maybe some research which was around 8 hours a week or so. This doesn't even take into account becoming a permanent resident or whatnot, and I have no insight on that, maybe some others on here can comment on that.

Also I'm very skeptical about that 41 when reading your grammar (thinking specifically of verbal).
 
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Call me cynical, but I'm going to have to say this is a troll. I couldn't imagine weak grammar/attention-to-detail coming from someone that scored a 41 on the MCAT... That pretty much mandates an 11+ verbal on top of an exceptional science background.

On the off chance that this is legit, I'd say that you are pretty hard pressed to find a fool-proof way to a cheap/free medical education. With a score like yours and an interesting background, you do seem like a candidate that would be considered for scholarships... but as others have mentioned, by the time you are prepped to apply in the U.S. your scores will probably be invalid. Best of luck, regardless!
 
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Why did you not study medicine in Damascus? There are some truly brilliant doctors here in the US working in some of the most competitive specialties who got medical degrees abroad.

Countries that do 4 year medical degrees (US, Canada, some schools in Australia and UK) are all very expensive and would do everything to admit their own citizens/residents. Your best course of action is to enroll into your country's medical school even if it means 6-7 more years. Remember you only need to get a degree there, you don't need any additional training!!! It will still take you less time than hypothetically coming here to do prerequisite work or PhD. Maybe you could get advance standing in your medical school as you already did the coursework of first 3 or so years?

In where I'm originally from students who study dentistry/medicine/pharmacy/biology all take same classes in the first 3 years then each path differentiates. Physicians do 3 more years before they are awarded a medical degree after a total of 6 years (without the right to practice!). Then they must complete additional training in order to get a license but you wouldn't need to do that part of the training if you plan on immigrating to the US. And of course you have to be the brightest student in your class.

Uh, because Damascus??? What good is an MD if you're dead or constantly in fear for your life?

http://news.yahoo.com/east-damascus-hit-fiercest-clashes-months-monitor-152802420.html
 
Not anywhere :p I hope you don't suggest all Syrian refugees to board planes to US

I would, actually. We welcomed Vietnamese refugees in the 70's and other groups at other times. Immigrants like OP are hard working and entrepreneurial and add much needed vitality to the economy.
 
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I would, actually. We welcomed Vietnamese refugees in the 70's and other groups at other times. Immigrants like OP are hard working and entrepreneurial and add much needed vitality to the economy.

This isn't how seeking asylum works. No airport is allowed to board people to a destination if they do not have a proper visa or their country has visa-free arrangements or if the country of destination has agreed to accept refugees (which I don't believe is something the Congress is planning to do). There are hundreds of thousands of refugees in Syria, and if they were all to arrive to the US, this won't be beneficial for the economy. They will have to seek asylum in bordering countries. Moreover, the OP wants to be a doctor and the process of getting permanent residency as a refugee may take years in the US, with no guaranteed outcomes. True refugees are concerned with their immediate safety and well-being, not the luxury of getting a medical education.

Even though it is a zone of ongoing conflict, I'm sure that the life there goes on and people still attend universities.
 
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allenlchs i couldn't study in damascus because i am not eligible to study medicine and i didn't meet their requirements beside there is no way to study medicine in syria ...

IL Pre Med thanks and well sorry bro but i used some sample questions and others so i passed verbal lol ... MCAT verbal questions is weak ..
DoctorWhoo thank u so much well i am kid and i am only 3 years old fooling here and make fun in this group ... sure i am troll ...
Monika12 yes school in syria still open ... same thing i didn't meet the requirements to be eligible to study medicine in syria ..

and becoming refugee in US it really hard to become a refugee and only specific people become refugee ...
well i took MCAT last year in 2013 . how long it valid ? or when it expires ?
 
thanks Mon :D u the best
well i don't speak french .. i learn it and it easy language but not fluent .. well medical universities in arab areas r not as US universities
i heard that in zagreb is 4 years for MD school and also in italy la spenzia Roma university and pavia have 4 years do u suggest it ??
what kind of degree u suggest me to take ( like double major ) ?
 
no i don't speak italian because studying there in English lol :D
oh i see thanks mon :D
thanks moisne i will search :D
 
thanks Mon :D u the best
well i don't speak french .. i learn it and it easy language but not fluent .. well medical universities in arab areas r not as US universities
i heard that in zagreb is 4 years for MD school and also in italy la spenzia Roma university and pavia have 4 years do u suggest it ??
what kind of degree u suggest me to take ( like double major ) ?

well i don't have that much of money to pay for MD school
and my score is around A&B in school with 3.61 GPA and MCAT is 41
i am have a degree in applied chemistry from Damascus university so i am looking to study medical in US or any other country for 4 years program and practice in US ...
but the problem is that tuition is too damn high .
and i am not looking to get loans while studying ..
so my questions are :
1_ can i work while studying and how much could I make ??? and can i cover tuition with working ?
2_ most university doesn't accept international ... so what are best universities that accept international with lower tuition and fees
3_ what u think people about Baylor university Medicine and
UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas or University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center
4_ does Texas A&M Health Science Center and University of Texas Health Science Center—Houston accept international ?

Check out IUHS.edu. I am a current student. Send me a proviate message if you like and I'll respond.
 
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