Where do I begin?

[SP1978]

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Hi, new person here.

Have recently moved to the US from the UK, and am contemplating completely changing career. I would like to move into a more caring profession, though I haven't really got much beyond that yet. Both medicine and veterinary medicine are of interest to me, but where can I find out about other career options over here - are there good websites? How did you all decide what field you wanted to go into?

The whole health care and college systems are very different to the UK, so I really am starting at the beginning. I have 2 history degrees from the UK (one undergraduate and one postgraduate), but I don't know how to work out what benefit they will be to getting into college. I haven't done any science or maths since high school (though I have several years of financial industry experience, followed by a year working in housing benefits in the UK - I think that might be what you guys call welfare - so my number crunching ability is probably okay). I see a lot of references to GPA - that's not something used in the UK so I have no idea how I'd score on that, though my undergraduate degree was a 2.1 (second highest classification).

Any pointers you could give me to get me started would be great!

Thanks!

 

[DrTroll]

Don't mean to discourage you, but if you decide to pursue M.D. you literally have to start from the beginning. Medical schools require 90 credit hours from a U.S. undergraduate institute, so your degree from U.K. does not help. 90 hours normally take ppl 3 years to finish.

If you want to look up other healthcare related options, pretty much any large university website will be helpful, most medical school also have school of health professions (the others). Why don't you start by going to the university website that's closest to you or most interested to you.

 

[Dianyla]

Don't mean to discourage you, but if you decide to pursue M.D. you literally have to start from the beginning. Medical schools require 90 credit hours from a U.S. undergraduate institute, so your degree from U.K. does not help. 90 hours normally take ppl 3 years to finish.

Not necessarily. A lot of schools will accept a foreign baccalaureate as long as the applicant has had at least a year of coursework at a US/Canadian school. They especially want the core science prereqs (Biology, Chem, Organic Chem, Physics) taken here. So the OP is perfectly poised to take the science prereqs here and apply, though it may depend on the school.

The bigger issue is whether you're a legal alien in this country. Very few medical schools (in fact, I don't know of any, but there might be) offer any kind of immigration assistance.

 

[SP1978]

Thanks for the replies.

I know I'd need to get the appropriate pre-requisites in science, and that I'd be going back to the beginning. I can't be the first person to contemplate that, I'm sure. At this point I'm really looking for info on possible career options to work out what I'd want to do and to identify my goals. Back in the UK, I'd know where to look for that info, but as your health and education systems are totally different here, I'm unsure where to start looking. I have been looking at info on at the medical and veterinary schools near where I live, but any other website recommendations would be really helpful.

I should add I don't have any immigration issues - I am here entirely legally and my visa permits me to study (and, once I get one more document, I'll also be permitted to work).

 

[toastedcheese]

Where are you located? There are dedicated premedical postbac programs that would be a good place to start looking.

http://services.aamc.org/postbac/

 

[petyr_baelish]

Look here!
These forums are an incredible source of information.

Just make sure not to listen to any discouraging advice as it tends to be more extreme here since a lot of people on this forum have unnecessarily high standards.🙄

You will need to complete at least a year of undergraduate coursework here, as the above posters have already mentioned.

Most universities have pre-health professions 'advisors.' Upon admission to a community college or 4 year university you should ask the registrar/admissions people to point you in their direction.

The advisors can be highly critical of potential applicants as well. Just be sure not to let this dissuade you.

If you get the grades, and you score well on the MCAT (standardized admissions test required for graduate medical school entry), and you have volunteering, clinical and/or shadowing (observing a doctor) experience AND you can use those experiences to justify why you are choosing that field, you will be golden.
GOOD LUCK!

 

[murfettie]

you more or less cannot attend american med schools without a green card or citizenship. visa is normally not sufficient.
some schools will admit you with only a visa, but they want to see a quarter of a mil or so set aside to pay for it up front.

i'm not attempting to be discouraging, just want you to know the policy.
i couldn't contemplate this path until i got my green card.

 

[student1799]

If you want specific insight about getting into med school with a UK degree, I would recommend PM'ing Scottish Chap. (Came here from the UK, went to med school at SUNY Upstate, now a resident.) His situation is different than yours in that he had a PhD in chemistry, but he should still be very knowledgeable about the ins and outs of the admissions process.

 

[sharmi]

Most schools typically look for 60 - 90 credits. Some look for a year of attending US school - so that would around 30 credits. I know most schools in California say they only need a year of classes in the US for people with an international degree, but its so competitive out here, that I sure that 30 won't be enough. Maybe if you have a PhD from a US school it will be enough. Most schools in Texas need 90 credits. Its very subjective to say the least.
But a 4 year university would look much better on the application than a community college, especially, if you haven't got a bachelors' from a US school. Also, as a lot of the others have said, you need a green card at a minimum.

 

[briton]

I've been in your position, although I did have a green card. If you have any way of getting a green card then this will make life a lot easier for you.

I too had a degree from the UK but had to go back to school here and take 90 hours before I could apply. You probably won't need to complete another degree here though. Whatever the case, you probably have at least 3 yrs of undergrad in the US before applying if you plan to apply broadly. Some schools require less than 90 hours so you might look into this some more but as a bare minimum, you will probably have to take the pre-req classes here. This will benefit you with taking the MCAT however, since you will sharpen your maths and science skills.

I can only speak for Texas, but your grade (2:1) won't have any effect on your med school app since foreign coursework is generally not included in your GPA calculation. You mention that you are considering other health care professions. If you consider PA school then things are different. They DO consider foreign coursework in your GPA and you may have to have your UK coursework evaluated by one of the transcript evaluation companies that they recommend.

Whatever you decide, good luck with your application.

 

[SP1978]

Hi,

Thanks for the responses - have had internet problems so haven't been online for a few days.

You've given me lots to think about. I am here on a dual intent visa and the lawyers have already kick started the green card process. So even if I am looking at three years of uni again before applying to medical school I should hopefully be very close to getting the green card once I've finished uni. I do know that I am classed as out of state for tuition purposes for another six months, but I'm not looking to start college until around that time anyway.

I need to research different career options (as I'm not fully committed to being a doctor, and there may well be a different health related career that would suit me better), and find out about how to go about volunteering out here. It's fair to say that when my husband and I were moved out here by his company, I was very much an afterthought and they have provided zero assistance in things like sourcing job, career, educational or volunteering opportunities!