Foreign Medical School and New Pre-Reqs

Nontraditional Premed Discussion
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Sorry, this is two questions in one post, but I thought it would be better than two posts.

  1. Has anyone looked into American programs in other countries? I’m really interested in Columbia University’s program in Israel, but I have to wonder how much of their info about residency placement and the like is marketing material that might have fudged numbers…

  2. What is the deal with the new pre-reqs for medical students entering 2016 or later? Is it definitely changing since the MCAT is changing?
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Can’t answer #1, but so far as #2 goes, the answer is yes. We discussed that a little bit over in the Applying forum, see this thread. Essentially, Biochemistry will become a prereq as well as a few semesters of social sciences (Psychology/Sociology).

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  • rachelb782 Said:
2) What is the deal with the new pre-reqs for medical students entering 2016 or later? Is it definitely changing since the MCAT is changing?



Given that the MCAT is administered by the AAMC (Association of American Medical Colleges), it stands to reason that the answer to your question is "yes" because the medical colleges are 100% involved in this change.
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Thanks for the link, bennard!

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With the residency programs now required to fill their positions with US MD/DO grads the spots are getting tighter and tighter for foreign grads. The big Carib schools have a little bit of leeway since they have major money invested in the residency programs they pay for. However the buzz on the internet is that the Carib MD “loophole” will be closing or getting ridiculously tighter. I would opt for every way possible to stay in the US. Not sure how accurate the buzz is about the Carib but it is a definite that US schools are filling their slots with more US and less others.

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I briefly looked into Duke’s Singapore program. Their students generally do quite well on the USMLE but most of them who want US residencies do not get them. From my understanding after looking into the program a bit if you don’t graduate from a US medical school you will always have the disadvantages that FMGs have.


These disadvantages CAN be overcomeable but wanting to spend time in a different country before returning to the US to practice is not a good reason to enroll unless you have a very strong in to the residency you want.

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Hi!


I have looked into this program as well and asked around. The program is only “affiliated” with Columbia University (the degree is awarded by Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, there are only 4th year electives at the CUMC). I dont know about placement but the price seems pretty high (nearly 60k/year) for what it is.

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Yeah, I looked into it some more. They claim their residency placement rate is 87%. I’m not sure how those numbers can be fudged, but I know that some schools do manage to do just that. Their affiliation with Columbia University is quite close; I think the fourth year of clinical rotations is done at Columbia, with the exception of 1 8-week rotation at a different pre-approved site. I’m not entirely sure about that, though. The information I got was kind of conflicting. You are right about the price tag, though. As much as I would LOVE to live and practice in Israel, I think I might be better served getting my med degree here and then moving once I was a fully-licensed doctor. Maybe if I weren’t an “old pre-med” with kids and a husband to consider, it would be an easier sell… Oh well. Thanks for all the input, guys!