b@r!um

One very big med school issue for internationals is funding: decent med schools charge upwards of $30K for tuition each year (include living expenses and you are looking at $50K), and you cannot work because med school keeps you busy 12 months a year with classes or internships. American students can get federal loans to cover these expenses but foreign students have to find their own source of funding. Many med schools also shy away from the risk of admitting an international applicant: you don't want to admit someone who may not be able to get licensed to practice medicine, whose broken English might interfere with his job, or whose academic credentials you don't know (this applies only to applicants who got their undergraduate degrees abroad). And there is virtually nothing that med schools gain by admitting international applicants.

As for your undergraduate degree: you can get a degree in anything (including English or business) and then go to med school in the States. Most undergraduate degrees only require you to take half of your classes in your major and the rest is electives, which you can use take the courses required for admission to med school (calculus, general and organic chemistry, introductory physics, introductory biology - that's it!).

The "normal" time to complete an undergraduate degree is 4 years. Many students take longer than that but few finish earlier. You might be able to finish in 3 years if you come in with some transfer credit or take summer classes. At most universities the academic year consists of three "semesters" - fall, spring, summer - but you are only expected to take classes in the fall and the spring. Most students use the summer to get some work experience and have a few weeks off. (Pre-meds often spend their summer interning in a hospital to increase their chances of admission to med school.)