Int'l fee applicant but ordinarily resident - slimmer chance of getting in?

As an aspiring medic, this issue worries me a lot. I hope there is someone here that had been in the same situation as I am in right now. I have tried contacting application officers but they simply give me vague answers that are not useful at all.

So basically I'm under a Tier 1 Visa which is a definite leave to remain and not limited to education only. I have done my GCSE and soon, my AS levels in a UK state school. I have been and will be an ordinarily resident ( at least 3 years in the UK) by the time of application and by the time I start my course, will be 6 months away from being granted a PR Status.

Since the British government have restricted international fee paying students applying to medicine to 8% only, my question is, am I being considered, in terms of the application process, an international student? If so, there will be a huge disadvantage of me applying for medicine in UK universities and the fact is, since I'm living in the UK for the past 3 years now, I have nowhere else to apply for medicine! I don't mind paying the international fees, but do I really have 8% chance of getting into med schools while all my friends have a higher, fairer opportunity to study medicine?

Thanks in advance :smile:

Reply 1

L'Etudiant

13

You will get your PR about 6 months after the beginning of the academic year? If so, why don't you take a gap year/ defer entry?

I think some Universities continue to charge you the fees they charges when you were a first year student, so if you were classified as being an International Student on day one then they have no obligation to change your fees to that of home students' after a change in your status. Also, those classified as International students are not eligible for a loan either.

I don't know how things work for Medicine but I believe that what I said above is correct for most, if not all degrees and universities.
I hope someone can give you a better answer :smile:

Reply 2

nexttime

22

International applicants undoubtedly do worse out of the applications process, but its hard to tell whether that's because the med schools are stricter or because internationals are less well versed in british applications, british culture etc.

I'd be tempted to say you'll stand a better chance as a home student, though can't back that up with evidence.

But what difference does it make anyway? You'll probably apply either way wouldn't you?

Reply 3

wizard101

10

Original post by Vodka

As an aspiring medic, this issue worries me a lot. I hope there is someone here that had been in the same situation as I am in right now. I have tried contacting application officers but they simply give me vague answers that are not useful at all.

So basically I'm under a Tier 1 Visa which is a definite leave to remain and not limited to education only. I have done my GCSE and soon, my AS levels in a UK state school. I have been and will be an ordinarily resident ( at least 3 years in the UK) by the time of application and by the time I start my course, will be 6 months away from being granted a PR Status.

Since the British government have restricted international fee paying students applying to medicine to 8% only, my question is, am I being considered, in terms of the application process, an international student? If so, there will be a huge disadvantage of me applying for medicine in UK universities and the fact is, since I'm living in the UK for the past 3 years now, I have nowhere else to apply for medicine! I don't mind paying the international fees, but do I really have 8% chance of getting into med schools while all my friends have a higher, fairer opportunity to study medicine?

Thanks in advance :smile:

Read this:
http://www.permanentresident.co.uk/

Hope it answers your question. I am pretty much in the same situation as you :smile:

Reply 4

astro67

10

Original post by Vodka

As an aspiring medic, this issue worries me a lot. I hope there is someone here that had been in the same situation as I am in right now. I have tried contacting application officers but they simply give me vague answers that are not useful at all.

So basically I'm under a Tier 1 Visa which is a definite leave to remain and not limited to education only. I have done my GCSE and soon, my AS levels in a UK state school. I have been and will be an ordinarily resident ( at least 3 years in the UK) by the time of application and by the time I start my course, will be 6 months away from being granted a PR Status.

Since the British government have restricted international fee paying students applying to medicine to 8% only, my question is, am I being considered, in terms of the application process, an international student? If so, there will be a huge disadvantage of me applying for medicine in UK universities and the fact is, since I'm living in the UK for the past 3 years now, I have nowhere else to apply for medicine! I don't mind paying the international fees, but do I really have 8% chance of getting into med schools while all my friends have a higher, fairer opportunity to study medicine?

Thanks in advance :smile:

My understanding of the situation is that in order to qualify for home fees you need to have settled status (indefinite leave to remain) and have been ordinarily resident for 3 years at the relevant date, usually shortly before the course starts. It sounds like you will satisfy the second condition but not the first for the start date you have in mind. If you don't qualify for home fees, you will have to compete for the 8% of places set aside for overseas fees applicants. If you want to compete for the other 92% of places, it sounds like you would need to take a gap year. Of course, it may be that the situation isn't as bad as it seems at first glance - it may be that the size of the overseas fees application field that are offering an equivalent level of preparation to the home fees field may be in proportion to the smaller number of places available. The overall success rates for overseas fees applicants are lower than for home fees applicants but that might be significantly affected by cultural differences that wouldn't apply to you.

If paying overseas fees doesn't bother you, it seems like you may have a wider choice of options than just the UK. There are medical schools in other countries that teach in English - you might be able to consider one of them - it's usually the cost that rules that out for most people but it sounds like that might not be so much of a problem for you.