What should i consider when applying for a PhD program?

[swafact]

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Hello everyone, and from the beginning sorry for the long post...

I'm a medical student, currently 2nd Year in the University of Milan, Italy (a special English Course). i've been considering transferring to a different country, mainly because i dont like the italian culture that much... my options are limited, since in europe not a lot of the countries offer courses in english, and most of the ones who do, are expensive...

One of my options is Romania.

My problem goes like this, i know University of Milan has an international reputation, and on the ranking scale is better than all universities in Romania...honestly i dont care about that, because when it comes to medical students, doesn't matter what university you are in, as long as you study hard (since the books are the same all over the place). But obviously, Graduate universities don't think the same way as i do, and they look at WHAT university i came from.

I want to do research MORE than to be a doctor, Virology/Nanotechnology/Immunology are my main and only options. My question is, if i want to apply for a PhD program or multiple programs, will the university i'm applying to consider from which university i've taken my MD degree from?? that is, does it matter more if i apply to such program if i've graduated from the University of Milan than from a University in Romania or not??

Again sorry for the long post, and thank you for reading.

 

[GadRads]

No, they won't consider where you got your degree. Have a strong GRE, good letters, and some research experience and getting into a good American PhD program is possible. Top bioscience PhD programs (Harvard, Yale, Hopkins, Princeton, etc) are much harder to get into ...

 

[jlescher]

You will have an MD degree and that carries a lot more weight than which school you came from. To be honest you probably don't need a PhD. You could just come to the US and do a research fellowship. Getting a few publications under your belt and experience will allow you to start applying for grants and maybe land you a staff position. Getting the Phd probably isn't worth your time. I work at the NIH in translational research and my PI is an MD.