Hello everyone, stumbled upon this website and have found your posts very informative and encouraging so i decided to sign up and see if you guys can help me with my dilemma…
A little background on myself: Im 34, migrated to the US 7 years ago. I graduated with a bachelors in clinical lab science from another country in '99, worked in an entirely different field for 4 years before coming to the US in 2003. Since i hadnt worked in the laboratory setting since graduation, i decided to do a one-year clinical in NJ to refresh my knowledge and be able to get certified as a Medical Technologist/Clinical Lab Scientist. I have been working as a Medical Technologist in one of the country’s most prestigious hospitals for 6 years now.
Recently i have realized that I want to pursue a career in medicine. Although working in a lab is a good career in itself, i feel i can do so much more as a doctor. So here is where all the questions come in.
Since I have a bachelors from a foreign country and i got that degree more than a decade ago, does this mean that I have to do a post-bac program here and retake all the basic science courses i already took? I am not averse to taking a post-bac partly because i did really poorly in college (young + partied all the time = GPA probably below 2.5). However, since coming to the US I have gotten my act together, got As in all of my classes (all clinical lab subjects such as microbiology, parasitology, hematology, etc.) during my 1-year clinical in NJ.
If i do get a accepted into a post-bac program, I will be probably 36 before i can even apply to med school. If i do really well with the post-bac and if i get a good score on the MCAT, will my undergraduate GPA still pull me down or can admissions committees forgive me for being young and stupid in college?
I really want to get into medical school here in the US as my life is now here, my partner is here and my other option, which is study in my home country and do residency here is far from ideal for me.
Is it even possible for me to get into a US Med school or should i forget doing a post-bac and just study medicine in my home-country? Would appreciate any and all advice! Thanks!
Welcome. I don’t have the answers for you, but I’ve seen your questions before. If you search around in the old threads, I think you’ll find some surprisingly similar questions.
I think (from what I remember) is that you will have to re-do the pre-reqs. The best way to find out for sure is to meet with pre-med advisors at local schools, lay it all on the table, and ask for their advice. Once you get their advice and think you have a plan (a solid strategy with a timeline), then I would try to meet with someone in admissions at your school of choice.
In terms of a bad under-grad GPA, one of the wise ones on this site wrote about time, distance, and shielding (who was that??..time to re-post it?). There are many of us on this site who overcame the less than stellar GPA’s when drinking in college was our main extra-curricular activity 
I think that your lab training and experience will look great on your application.
I don’t remember what people have said in terms of citizenship, foreign degrees, etc., but it has been discussed many times. Good luck to you as you work it all out.
the best thing to do is get your question answered from a US medical school. These are questions that happen all of the time and they are your best source for the right answer.
I agree with Gabe about talking to some US medical schools (calling the admissions department and speaking with an admissions representative). I believe most applicants with foreign degrees have to complete 60 undergraduate credit hours in the US. However, because the grading systems often vary in other countries, I think your application GPA is figured from your US credits only.
Not sure about this - hopefully someone else can jump in here.
Kate
- mikemed Said:
Hi mikemed,
You will need to complete way more than just the basic sciences. Based on your circumstances, a post-bac would not help you. You will need to complete a minimum of 90 semester hours (or 135 quarter hours) of coursework at an accredited college or university in the US or Canada before you can apply to an American medical school. Your remaining coursework will have to be evaluated through an agency that specializes in evaluating foreign transcripts - a very time-consuming & tedious process. Anecdotally, most foreigners come out on the losing end of this proposition as their 'converted' GPA tends to be far lower than what their GPA (or equivalent) was in their home country. For this reason, and because the majority of your coursework needs to be from an American school, it is advisable to get an entirely new bachelors degree before applying to medical school in the US or Canada.
- mikemed Said:
"If" is the operative word here. The advantage to getting an entirely new degree in the US is that the grades from your previous foreign degree will not enter into the medical school admissions equation - you would in essence be starting with a clean slate, an enviable position to be in. The disadvantage is the substantial amount of time (4 more years of your life) and money you will lose.
- mikemed Said:
That is a question only you can decide. Going the US route will be lengthy and expensive, but matching into a residency as a US grad will be a far less difficult prospect than trying to enter a residency as a FMG (Foreign Medical Graduate).
Here are some threads for you to browse:
http://www.oldpremeds.org/fusionbb/showtopic.php?t…
http://www.oldpremeds.org/fusionbb/showtopic.php?t…
http://www.oldpremeds.org/fusionbb/showtopic.php?t…
http://www.oldpremeds.org/fusionbb/showtopic.php?t…
http://www.oldpremeds.org/fusionbb/showtopic.php?t…
Now some opinions. Note that these are opinions, not facts so please do your own research. In general, foreign coursework is not going to count towards premed requirements. Therefore, having your foreign degree evaluated is of no use. However, if you are considering getting a bachelor’s degree here, part of your foreign coursework may be accepted, after evaluation, by an undergraduate institution. If those courses show up on that transcript, I think they will be included in your GPA and reported in your AMCAS application. I don’t know if foreign coursework is accepted directly by AMCAS/AACOMAS, evaluated or not.
If you are interested in this path, you’ll most likely require the basic 4 pre-reqs done here in the US, and several advanced science courses with preferably one or more semesters taken full-time. The number of credit hours could be anywhere from 40 to 90 or higher, depending on the medschools you plan on applying. There are a few people on this forum with foreign undergrad degrees who have been accepted after doing the basic pre-reqs, but they had graduate degrees from US institutions.
Thanks guys for all the helpful information. I have an appointment with Harvard extension this coming Thursday and will hopefully know which avenue to pursue. I would hate to have to do another bachelors here as I will be broke before I even start med school 
Another option I might have is to study in the Caribbean. I have heard that you could study there the first 2 years and then transfer here for the 3rd and 4th year. Does anyone know if that would potentially work?
Anyway, will post an update once I talk to the harvard health careers program director…
- mikemed Said:
This is not true. It is extremely rare, almost unheard of, for students to transfer between medical schools within a country. Transferring between an off-shore school (that is not accredited by any agency in the US or Canada) and any on-shore school is imposssible. Somebody's been giving you bad information.
I am by no means an expert on this subject but I did talk with a student that went to a Caribbean Med School once and they did allow her to come to the U.S. to complete years 3 and 4. You dont actually transfer back but I have heard you are allowed to complete your clinical years in U.S. hospitals.
Your information is partly correct in that you complete the first two years in the caribbean, then the two clinical year in the US; however, you do not transfer from schools. Ross, one of the big three, for example operates in this manner. Although students complete the final two years in the US you graduate from Ross University.
So i went to the Health Careers Program office at Harvard Extension and came out pretty hopeful. Mr. Peterson (The Assistant Program Director) said that I would be able to apply to the program despite my foreign degree and he mentioned that US Medical Schools would indeed look at just the courses I took here in the US for my GPA. He did say that I will have to take all 32 credits in the program in order for me to be considered by any medical school. The good news is the cost of the program is really quite low compared to others. Basically its $1100 per class x 8 spread over 2 years or however long i decide to finish my premed requirements.
Apparently the good schools in the Carribean will also require the same prereqs and the MCAT as well.
As you guys mentioned before I will have to talk to someone from an actual medical school to make sure that I will not be taking these courses in vain but i am excited at the prospect of being able to start chipping away at the premed requirements!
- mikemed Said:
Yes, it is true. US medical schools will only be interested in just the courses you took here in the US for your GPA. However, you are going to need way more than 32 credits to be considered by any American medical school. You will need a minimum of 90 credits and preferably a whole new bacherlors degree (120-125 credits).
- mikemed Said:
This is a good idea, but keep in mind that schools typically don't see applicants such as you and me (foreign undergrad.) The danger there is that you may get spurious advice. When you talk to the medsch, it might help to ask if they've ever admitted anyone in a position similar to yours, and how they evaluated that applicant. Another thing you should do before committing to the Harvard Extension program is to read up on all the options available to you. Specifically, this SDN link, and the post by Scottish Chap, a person who has been-there-done-that. His situation was different from yours in that he had a PhD from a US institution. However, his research into the whole foreign undergrad was comprehensive and I found the post useful. He's also posted on several other threads at SDN and it might help to browse those as well.
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=7...
Thank you guys for the info. TicDoc it looks like i do need to take a ton more of classes to be considered, and Dullhead, thanks for the link, it was quite informative. You mentioned you also have a foreign undergrad. May I ask what route you took/have been taking in order to apply?
Since i need so many credits, do you think that the classes i took in new jersey back in 2004 would count towards those credits? I went to a teaching hospital which did a 1-year clinical for medical laboratory science (lectures and labs in hematology, parasitology, immunology, microbiology, clinical chemistry). I did not receive a degree since I already had a degree from abroad, it was more like a certificate for me whereas my classmates were bio majors who went into the program as an additional year to their undergrads and came out with a biology/medical technology degree. Also, do you think that they will count as it has been quite a while since i took them?
I have engineering degrees - undergraduate from India and graduate from a UC. As much as I’d like to, quitting my job is not an option for me, so I’ve been taking courses at community college after work. I’ve done Bio I, Chem I, English I, and two psychology courses. I do plan on going full time, but that’s after I’m halfway in. At the rate I’m going, I will probably apply in July 2013. I’ll have 40 something credits from the CC, and 20 more from a UC or CSU. I’ll also have 40 something credits from my MS degree.
I don’t know if your classes from the certificate course will count - you should definitely research whether they’d count on AMCAS, and if not, whether they’d transfer because if they do, that’ll make a dent in that 60-90 credit number. Did you take those courses at an “accredited” college? Did you take the courses pass/fail, for audit, or did you receive a letter grade and GPA? If the college was accredited (if your classmates received biology degrees, I’m sure it must be) and if you received either a letter grade or pass/fail, you’ve already added to your 60-90 credit number.
It does not matter that you took your classes 6 years ago. My engineering credits from the UC are 13 years old. What matters is that these courses help in reducing that 60-90 credits number. However, if you had Bio/Phy/Chem/Ochem in that set from 6 years ago, you’ll probably have to retake those courses. This game has many puzzle pieces but over time you’ll figure them all out. Good luck, and continue posting here especially if you have new information. It helps folks like me and will help others in the future too.
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