international pre med, after college what happens?

globalstudent · 04-08-2007, 03:37 PM

Hey guys,
I know that this is similar to a post I've seen somewhere else. I wanted to see what you guys thought from the medics point only. I plan to apply and hopefully get into Harvard, if I get my Bsc from there for pre-med and maybe after also a place in the Harvard Med School will I have any problems with papers, visa etc... Also if you get into Grad School for medicine what are your chances of getting in with financial aid from the University?

Thanks

b@r!um · 04-08-2007, 05:15 PM

Harvard Medical School's overall acceptance rate is 4.7%; I don't know how your international status would affect your chances.
You won't have troubles getting a visa as long as finances are ok.
Your main problem will be finances; there are only very few med schools which give fin aid to intls (Harvard being one of them), and those who do award mostly/only loans.

globalstudent · 04-08-2007, 05:49 PM

what's the difference with aid and loans? are loans like with high interest? Do you know any other school aside Harvard that offers aid to intnl and has a decent percentage of intl students?

b@r!um · 04-08-2007, 06:10 PM

Brown and Yale also admit intl med students with fin aid.

Financial aid is everything that you and your parent's don't pay out of pocket and might involve scholarships, loans and work-study (no work-study for med school of course). Loans that are directly awarded by undergrad institutions usually have an 8% interest rate; I don't know about medical school's interest rates. Btw, the average med school graduate has $110k of debts after graduation; Harvard expects their med students to take out $24,500 in loans every year before awarding any institutional scholarships.

Abhi08544 · 04-08-2007, 10:05 PM

Med School's rarely award aid to Int'ls

Noldo · 04-08-2007, 10:20 PM

Just a note that loans aren't always at 8 percent -- the loans I'm getting from Caltech are at 5 percent. It depends on the institution.

But yeah, medical school in the States involves a ridiculous amount of debt, and is probably worse if you're international.

dallas808 · 04-08-2007, 10:22 PM

But if you're going to HMS, plenty of private lenders are ready to write the check ... your only focus now should be gaining admission. Pursuing a medical degree in US (Harvard or not) is a very expensive endeavor.

globalstudent · 04-10-2007, 09:38 AM

Soz Dallas808 what do you mean by an HMS? Also, isn't there any way to have some type of aid for medical school? I really want to do research more than clinical although that choice still has not concretised since I have not done my pre-med. However, with the aid thing, aren't Universities always looking for future researchers?

vesalvay · 04-10-2007, 10:26 AM

lol HMS = Harvard Medical School Mr. Pre-med major

dallas808 · 04-11-2007, 12:21 AM

Quote:

with the aid thing, aren't Universities always looking for future researchers?

They sure do. The caveat is there are tens of applicants for every slot available. For US residents, their best chance for going to a med school is the ones in their respective state.

I am not an expert with med schools. But if you lurk around CC, you are bound to find an intl student who has been there done it.

globalstudent · 04-17-2007, 05:32 PM

so the golden question(s) are: Is there any Intl CCers, that against all odds managed to get a place in a US med-school and how did they do it?

Abhi08544 · 04-18-2007, 12:47 AM

Ask someone on the Med School Board. I am sure that there would be atleast one Int's CCer