Want To Study MEDICINE In The US?

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She's deluding herself frankly - after she finishes her studies, under what assumption does she believe she'll be allowed to stay in the US?

She would not obviously be eligible to apply for a Green Card and her student visa would have expired - she can either live in the US as an illegal therefore, or she'll have to return back to the UK. Period.

She probably hadn't fully researched it when I was talking to her (a couple of years back now), and I was probably eager to belief that she could do it this way out of hope for myself.

Reply 81

AManuel

I am a year 11 student and i was wondering what A-levels are needed/wanted to study medicine in the USA. Money is not an issue and I have an American passport, but was born and lived in the UK. Does anyone know what A levels i should do and also, could some one please explain the whole masters and premed course thing as it is rather confusing.

Thank you

Reply 82

simon-leeds

KCosmo - You'll find if you actuallt do research instead of just listening to manchild 007 you'll find that if you obtain an H1B visa you can get US residency once you complete your erm, residency, and even if you don't you only have to return to the UK for two years.

Reply 83

simon-leeds

In fact there is a very good article on the Student BMJ website, this is the first sentence: "The American College of Physicians recently released a paper on the integral role that international medical graduates (IMGs) have in healthcare delivery in the United States and proposed many recommendations to support the ongoing presence of these graduates in the medical workforce."

Reply 84

phetylheminthes

I have completed my A'level from Bangladesh and want to study medicine in USA.....so on the basis of information you have provided..it summarizes that its quite tough to get a financial support while Graduating in medicine.If so,then how should i manage expenses by working over there?Will i be allowed to work?https://www.aamc.org/services/first/first_factsheets/183294/afford_med_school.html.It says about a few steps of financial aid support for International graduate applicants for medicine.If there is a huge job uncertainty after completing graduation in medicine,then what the international graduates ultimately do?

Reply 85

vitruvian

Original post by manchild007

If your grandparents are in the US, they can sponsor your mother/father for Green Card citizenship, who would then need to sponsor you as I'm assuming you are over 18. If so, the whole process can take up to 3/4 years each time (usually nearer the 3 year mark), so you're in for a long wait.

Other ways - invest more than $1 million in a US business, which hires more than 10 US citizens etc.

In order to "get a normal job over there", you need a Green Card and/or US Citizenship - you can't just walk-in and say I'll work in the US and then can you guys give me a GC and/or USC, that's backward logic (i.e. you need the latter to do the former, not the former in order to get the latter). They have plenty of workers in the US to do "normal jobs" and with an unemployment rate of 10% and EVEN tougher immigration laws set to come in, don't bet on getting in anytime soon. Though marrying an American is a safe-bet :smile:

Sorry - its tough I know.

I have never heard more bull in my life. There are plenty of physicians who are not US citizens, and do not have a green card who currently work in the U.S.

You need to get matched into a residency program. This is tough because they first match US medical school graduates followed by U.S. citizens and PRs who are foreign medical grads, and then select for foreign citizens with an overseas medical degree. With that said, the U.S. is large enough, and has enough diversity that you can probably get a match as long as you have excellent USMLE scores.

Again, many physicians from Asia come over with a foreign medical degree, and no green card. They are currently practicing in many good U.S. hospitals.

Reply 86

vitruvian

Original post by phetylheminthes

Do your undergrad in the U.S. This gives you a better chance of getting into medical school programs. Very few medical schools offer financial aid to international students; the exceptions are the top tier schools (Harvard, Yale etc). Many schools who do accept some internationals require you to show proof for at least 1 year of funding. Some even ask for proof of funding for all four years!

If you don't want to go through the expensive route outlined above, study an undergraduate medical degree in your home country, or elsewhere. Apply for U.S. residency, and get matched. From there, the hospital that will accept you can get you a green card. It's hard to match into a residency program as a foreign citizen with an overseas medical degree, but I am sure you can do it if you work hard enough.

Reply 87

vitruvian

Original post by KCosmo

My grandparent's aren't in the US unfortunately, and I don't have $1 million :tongue:

What about this:

I get my medical degree in the UK,
Do a degree in a US university, (possibly some kind of science degree, I could apply as an international student, my chances would be much greater than before as I would already have a medical degree/loads of experience),
then apply for a green card as I will have been studying in the US for X number of years, hopefully X will be greater than the period of time required to apply,
then with a green card I should be able to apply for a job practising medicine (would do the USMLE sometime during my second degree).

I'm scraping the barrel a bit now, I know :tongue:

Would this be possible though? I know a girl who is doing a postgraduate degree at Harvard, and is planning on staying in America, would this be the kind of route that she is taking? Cheers

As a current U.S. medical student who is prowling these forums to help a friend decide among UK Masters degrees, it incences me to read some of the utterly wrongful advice being doled out here.

Do your medical degree in the U.K. I am not sure how the post-degree training requirements are conducted in the U.K., but you can apply to a U.S. residency program. You will need to take the USMLE exams first. Part of the exam can be completed outside the U.S., while some components need to be completed within the U.S. Since you are a U.K. citizen, you can come over without a visa for 30?? days and take this portion of the test in the U.S.

If your scores are good enough, and your research background etc is strong enough, you may get placed into a residency program. These are quite tough to get, but we have a shortage of primary care physicians, and some specialists in the U.S. Also, you may have luck placing into more rural hospitals. You can get a green card as you do the residency, and can move to another job once you cement your green card.

I hope this helps! :smile:

Reply 88

vitruvian

Original post by AManuel

To get into a U.S. medical school, you need to have a four year Bachelor's degree with some course specifications (1 yr Bio, Chem etc). These are easy to fulfill, which means that you won't need to major in a science degree. Although it's probably easier for the MCATs etc if you are a science major, humanities majors often do as well as (if not better) than science majors on the MCAT due to the critical thinking skills they've honed throughout the degree.

The "pre-med" course is simply a generalized term used to describe an undergraduate student who is interested in pursuing a graduate medical degree. Again,this can be any major as long as you take the required classes for medical school.

I am not sure what you mean by the "masters" course. American students who have not done well academically during their undergraduate years may choose to pursue a 1 yr post-bacc/Masters course to show the medical school that they are capable of academic excellence. This is only in extreme cases though i.e. GPA below 3.5 etc. In most cases, U.S. undergraduates apply to medical school directly after their 4 yr degree.

You may also want to look into DO schools, which are less competitive. A DO and MD are essentially the same in terms of the career, although the MD carries more prestige. I have found that most patients cannot differentiate between the two. The only problem with the DO is that you can only practice in the U.S. (last I checked), while an MD is more transferable across countries.

Let me know if you have any more questions. I am a current medical student in California.

Reply 89

phetylheminthes

can i apply for U.S citizenship while doing Undergrad in U.S?

Reply 90

phetylheminthes

Since u are studying medical,what would you suggest me to do if i want a financial aid and at the same time want to get into medical school after completing the bachelor degree?Your valuable suggestion might help me since you are in the respective field.

Reply 91

FutureMedicalDoctor

Original post by KCosmo

She probably hadn't fully researched it when I was talking to her (a couple of years back now), and I was probably eager to belief that she could do it this way out of hope for myself.

That person you were talking to was talking absolute bull. You CAN work in the US with a UK medical degree without a green card. You just have to pass Step I, II and III of the USMLE exam, this allows you to practice medicine in the U.S being a foreign student. If you pass the tests, you then look for a residency program. After completing the residency program, you are almost eligible to be a specialist in the U.S. You need to be board-certified according to your state also. Now you apply for a H1-B visa, which allows you to engage in clinical practice, but it doesn't entitle you to stay, just training. As for staying, some foreign doctors hire immigration attorneys which are able to 'convert' your H1-B visas into permanent stay. For more information see the following links:
https://www.aamc.org/students/residents/
http://www.workpermit.com/us/medical_h1b_foreign_doctors.htm

It's not an easy process, but it's not too difficult either. Smile! It is possible :smile:

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 92

simon-leeds

The best rout is to match somewhere that offers H-1B visas then if you manage to find an attending job after residency/fellowship you should be able to get a green card.

Reply 93

vitruvian

Original post by phetylheminthes

It's hard to get financial aid from medical schools if you're a non-citizen, and don't have a green card. Some med schools do offer financial aid in the form of merit scholarships/loans to international students, but these are tough schools to get into (Harvard, Yale, Dartmouth) etc.

Most schools that take international students want them to show proof of funding for anywhere between 1-4 years of study. To do this, you could get a loan from a private U.S. bank with a co-signer who is a U.S. citizen/PR. It's difficult to get loans from U.S. banks without a cosigner who is resident there. I think Citibank has a program where they loan out around ~ $300,000 to health care professionals. https://online.citibank.com/US/JRS/pands/detail.do?ID=CitiAssistHPRL

Reply 94

FutureMedicalDoctor

Original post by manchild007

do you have us citizenship or a green card?

If not, then no.

that is the biggest bull**** i've ever heard in my entire life.

Are you even american?! Have you done any research?!

Reply 95

vitruvian

Original post by FutureMedicalDoctor

that is the biggest bull**** i've ever heard in my entire life.

Are you even american?! Have you done any research?!

Hahaha. I second that. Although I frequent these threads, I usually don't post. However, I felt compelled to do so after seeing those inane comments that seemed to reverberate throughout the thread.

Reply 96

simon-leeds

Original post by FutureMedicalDoctor

that is the biggest bull**** i've ever heard in my entire life.

Are you even american?! Have you done any research?!

Seconded. For someone who claims to go to Yale and seems to think he knows about this, manchild 007 is surprisingly ignorant about the whole matter.

Reply 97

Deathliga

For medicine in Stanford, how long would it take for a foreign student to finish the course.
They say that it's a graduate course so I will need to take an undergraduate course before I study medicine. From an undergraduate to getting a medicine master degree in the graduate course, how long would this take?

Reply 98

manchild007

Original post by Deathliga

Undergraduate is 4 years, plus another 4-5 years for the graduate medicine degree. Total; 8-9 years.

Also as a non-US citizen, you won't receive any aid from the university;

Foreign students are not eligible for institutional or federal financial aid.

So your looking at needing to have at least $200k-250k in your account just for the medical degree alone; money which you will need to show the university you have in advance, otherwise your visa to the US will not be granted.