This morning I went to the Uof Houston campus and spoke to a counselor about doing a post bacc pre-med.
I came out feeling…‘my thoughts of becoming a Doctor are shot down!’ … a thought at least…
First: I have a Bachelor in Engineering from India which he says wont count…and I have an MS in Computer Science from the US. He said that wont count either! I have to take 90 hours of classes starting with English I …
pretty much…a second undergrad degree…
That was a shock to hear that!
I mean, when he said I will have to do English I and II and Math all over again…
Second: The advisor’s attitude - ‘Yeeeahh…and we ALL live to a 100!!’ …‘True…your kids are grown a bit now…but they are still kids and need you!’… 'oookkkk…even if you are a great student…you will still need good communication skills etc etc…" etc. etc… he assumed I dont have any because of 
Hey, my exception to the whole talk was…I did not ask for ‘opinions’ …simply information,
of course…that was bad news too!
Any one on these forums are in the situation with a BS degree from abroad who want to do MD? How did you surmount this issue?
It is disappointing to know that there is NO credit for ANY education I ve had so far for an MD path. Believe me, I worked my butt off to get these degrees…
All opinions welcome!!!
My next step is to register for a Basic EMT course and work as an EMT to get exposure.
I will wait for more information before registering for pre med classes.
Why am I wanting to do an MD when I am 41 right now? The thought does not go away…no matter what I do!!! so I have to take care of it by going ahead with my instinct!
Thanks in advance,
Sara
There are several people on this forum who share your background; some have made it to medsch while others are just beginning. Dig into the forums or conduct a search – there are plenty of threads on this topic. I’ve participated in many of those, so one easy way is to click on my user ID and follow on to “Find posts by this user.” If you’re unable to locate them, post here again and I’ll dig up the links.
What I can offer right now is this: I’m not totally sure but you may need 90 credits in Texas (TMDSAS) because of your background. For med schools in other states, you’ll need at least your pre-reqs (Phy, Chem, OChem, Bio I and II) completed in an accredited US college, and perhaps a few other courses that some med schools specifically require (stats, biochem, genetics, social sciences etc.)
Thanks ‘Dullhead’
I really appreciated your quick response.
I was a bit ‘flustered’ this morning. Now…after a bit of perspective and ‘thinking through’ I’ve decided that perhaps that ‘half full’ glass was ‘parallax’ afterall! 
What’s the worst, I have to do 90 hours…so that would mean 2-3 years of full load course work…
I think I will do it if I wanted it badly!
The alternative of ‘burying’ myself behind computer code for the rest of my working life would be worse 
Shake it off. That advisor is a xenophobe and ageist who you should really consider reporting.
First of all, the advisor’s ageism is illegal:
http://www.oldpremeds.org/fusionbb/showtopic.php?t…
And here’s some more links to finish off your advisor’s ageism:
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://medicaleconomics.modernmedicine.com/memag/a…
http://www.une.edu/spotlights/display.cfm?customel…
http://www.oldpremeds.org/fusionbb/showpost.php?po…
Secondly, the advisor was wrong to outright dismiss all of your foreign coursework. Read the following:
http://www.oldpremeds.org/fusionbb/showpost.php?po…
Depending on your course-by-course evaluation and those grades, you might only need to have to take (and do well in) the remaining premedical prerequisites that you haven’t taken (like Organic Chemistry or Biology). Obviously though, you should try to supplement this by taking (and doing well in) advance-level premedical courses whenever possible. Regarding the year of undergraduate American English required for American medical schools, you could definitely present a compelling argument that you have met this requirement already because you have completed a MS degree here in the US (especially if it was thesis-based), you have worked here in the US for awhile, and you are teaching at an American college. Having great verbal and writing scores on the GRE and MCAT will help solidify your position. With your record, I think it is absolutely absurd to suggest that you have to start as a square one, American college premedical freshman.
Okay. I looked and found the following from TMDSAS:
http://www.utsystem.edu/tmdsas/medical/foreig n_Cou…
In particular, that advisor was wrong in dismissing all of your foreign coursework:
“[Applicants with foreign coursework need to have c]ompleted at least 90 undergraduate credit hours at an accredited US or Canadian college or university. Transfer credit from a school outside the US or Canada will apply to this requirement if individual courses appear on the transcript of an accredited US or Canadian college or university - lump sum credit is not allowed.”
But I was incorrect. You have to take all your premedical prerequisites at a US regionally accredited college:
“Required coursework must be taken at a regionally accredited US or Canadian college or university. Transfer credit from a school outside the US or Canada will not apply to the required courses.”
I think poster Dazed said these requirements were similar for the Minnesota medical schools, but most other medical schools (assuming you are a US citizen or permanent resident) that I’ve looked into have requirements more similar to my previous post.
I’ll write in more depth about this later but suffice it to say that your advisor was partially correct.
Before y’all fire off those angry responses, I am not saying that the OP can not get in to a med school. She certainly can but some of the issues raised by the advisor are correct and real!
Thanks for the helpful suggestions and information. I do appreciate it.
True, the advisor raised some valid issues…I have been grappling with myself…for the past 4 or so years. Hence the delay in going in to actually ‘find’ out if this is for me at all! What I found ‘disturbing’ was his tone/words which I did not expect from an advisor. How did he assume that I am oblivious to these very obvious personal issues. When the conversation started taking a bit of a personal turn, is when my feeling soured [ that ‘down’ kind a feeling].
I dont want to take any random decisions about such a time consuming and expensive career commitment. I plan on shadowing and also volunteering more. Also that EMT exposure could help. I still cannot rationalize why I am so drawn to a ‘high stress’ job as an EMT or being a doc…but the fact remains that I AM!
An example…I thought I love ALL aspects of teaching…but after one year of teaching, I found, I HATE grading, I HATE unmotivated, slacker students who NEVER give in work on time. I hate dealing with excuses on a constant basis.
So, even though I enjoy the student-teacher exchange there are unpleasant things to it too.
But, despite all that I still enjoy teaching…but it made me realize the value of my ‘quiet cubicle’ too. I plan on doing teaching part time for now.
I have to take this journey on my own to see what it is like…of course, the computers career is always there like an old faithful friend to fall back upon. Also, since I am interested in biology and medicine, I want to do some bio-medical engineering courses and try and steer my career more towards that instead of pure computer science.
Love you all at OPM…you are a great group!
and …Thanks!
…and ‘Dazed’…thanks for the reply. I do look forward to a detailed reply as you mentioned.
- risenshine001 Said:
I'll send you a PM since it might be a while until I post my experience to the main forums.
I would like to offer you some encouragement to pursue your dream of becoming a physician. Assuming that there are no mitigating circumstances (i.e. criminial records, exorbitant and outstanding debt, etc.), your passion to become a physician should be the driving force to pursue your goal of entering a medical school. In life, as you probably already know, there will always be naysayers, jealous colleagues, etc. who will be the thorn in your side when it comes to your dreams. Even well-meaning friends and family members may unintentionally contribute to your self-doubt regarding your dreams of becoming a doctor. In the face of such intentional and unintentional negativity, you must “stay the course!” It is your life and not anyone else’s life. At the end of the day, you are ultimately left with your own thoughts and must answer only to yourself. If you absolutely, positively cannot see yourself doing anything other than medicine, then pursue that with everything you’ve got, give it your all, and keep site of your goal. And just so you know, you are not alone. I’ve already dealt with (and am dealing with) certain folks in my own life who do not entirely encourage me in my journey towards becoming a doctor. I refuse to allow that to deter me from my goal and therefore I will succeed! You can do the same. In ten years you can be a doctor or in ten years you can be something else. That is a decision only you can (and should) make.
Thank you for the words of encouragement.
I do appreciate that a lot. 
You are right about this…I doing a lot of soul searching right now. I am hoping to find strong answers for myself.
One of my main concerns is…how I will deal with time away from children in a super busy premed/MD schedule.
Would love to hear how others deal with it.
Perhaps that should be a new thread ?