Hello, I’d like to study abroad and I can’t decide on which I want to attend. USA has been scratched off my list since I don’t have my SAT 1 scores, because I’ll be taking the test in March and the deadlines are approaching soon. Besides, I’m a senior so I can’t really submit them by the next time the admissions are open. I was thinking of Canada (McGill, uOttawa etc.), but I can’t enter the MD program since I’m an international student.
What universities in English-speaking countries can I attend knowing that I don’t have my SAT 1 scores? I would like to major in a medicine related subject or enter Pre-med so I can further purse a degree in Medicine and hopefully become a surgeon.
GPA: 4.00 UW in the past 4 years (No AP or honours classes provided)
Ethnicity: Arab (living in the Middle East)
Income: Less than $66k
SAT subjects: 750 M2 730 Bio 720 M1 670 Chem and 600 Physics (I’m working on raising those two to the 700s range) the reason behind such weak score is the fact the my country requires 7 SAT subjects which doesn’t allow a student to focus on two subjects and get great scores, and on top of that my school is new and didn’t have enough teachers my math and physics teacher had to leave mid-second term so we couldn’t complete our math/physics course, and we couldn’t finish bio in time as well.
ECs: Very weak due to moving schools 3 times and moving countries twice in the past 4 years. (Class president in Sophomore year/Founder and editor-in-chief of the school newspaper in senior year/ going to volunteer at a hospital and a refugee camp in December and January/Won the basketball competition along with my team in my province/Won some random competitions related to general knowledge and writing and idk if that’s even considered as an EC lol)
Universities I’d like to attend: McGill, uOttawa, Uni of Tokyo, National uni of Korea, and John Hopkins (no sat 1 :/).
So what do you think, guys? What are my options? I don’t mind studying anywhere, but I prefer an English speaking country. Thanks.
Look at Tsinghua too, they offer full rides for top scorers.
What about NYU Abu Dhabi? They have excellent financial aid and accept SAT2 instead of SAT1.
Your scores are OK, but why don’t you have an English test? An English subject test (Literature) would be needed. Can’t you take it this December?
Same thing at Colby, Bowdoin, Middlebury, WPI, Wake Forest, Temple, Clark, Union.
However, don’t bother with JHU.
McGill, UBC, Mount Allison, and if you speak French ULaval, UdeM.
See with Ireland’s Royal College of Surgeons.
Why is it important to have an English test? I might take IELTs soon anyways.
A few questions and a thought.
First, what is your budget? As an international student getting financial aid is a challenge. There are a few schools in the US which provide need-based financial aid to international students. Getting into them and getting a substantial scholarship is very competitive, and a high reach even for students with perfect scores. McGill and Toronto are likely to be expensive given your families income.
Also, do you have any plans regarding what to do about medical school? The normal path to medical school in North America is to first get a four year bachelor’s degree including taking premed requirements, then four years of medical school. Most of the medical schools in Canada require Canadian citizenship, or have only a very few positions for international students and are also expensive for international students. I am not sure about hard it is for an international student to get into medical schools in the US.
@MYOS1634 suggested several good universities including Mount Allison in Canada. Mount Allison is a very good small university in a small town in New Brunswick. It was recently ranked the top “small primarily undergraduate” university in Canada, and has been ranked number 1 in this category for most of the past 25 years. Two other very good small Canadian universities are Acadia and St Francis Xavier, both in Nova Scotia. All three of these are SAT-optional and would be less expensive than McGill or Toronto with a total cost of attendance not much over C$30,000 per year, or about US$24,000 per year. We visited all three after my youngest was accepted to all, and we liked them all a lot. These small universities are however not very well known outside of eastern Canada. McGill, Toronto, or the schools in the US would generally be much better known. For larger Canadian schools you also might want to look at Dalhousie and Concordia. Both are quite good and would be similar in cost to the smaller schools. You might need the SAT for them however. There are quite a few other good larger Canadian schools. If you google “Macleans magazine medical school rankings” you should get a list of very good Canadian universities that have medical schools. You will note that most of them teach in English, but one (Ottawa) is bilingual and a few teach in French.
I am not sure whether you will need to take the TOEFL test. From your post it looks like your English might be fluent and taking the TOEFL might be somewhere on the borderline between a formality and a minor annoyance.
@Samix1 : because American colleges want you to show intellectual versatility. Test flexible colleges want to make sure you will be able to handle the 30% classes that won’t be in your major. So, not a test for international students - but an English Literature test that is the same for American students, to prove their reading and analytical skills.
Most colleges require a TOEFL score as a way to "cut’ students. It doesn’t matter if you score 84, 85, 90, if the college wanted 80 you’re good and they examine your application, if you score 71 it’s binned.
@DadTwoGirls, my budget should be somewhere around $23-24k, including residence & living expenses. And as mentioned above, I can’t really study Medicine in Canada because I need to have a citizenship or PR card. Besides, I’ve emailed uOttawa, a university that I really liked, and they told me that, unfortunately, international students can’t enter the MD program. So, I might have to complete my undergraduate in Canada and then move to America to study Medicine. I’ll even take a loan if that’s what it takes to study in USA. And about the TOEFL/IELTS, do I really need them if the schools I’ve attended taught in English only? Btw I’ll be going to the Canadian embassy in my country and see if I can get a PR card while I’m studying so I can enter the MD program.
@MYOS1634, I can’t really take Lit in December as I’m trying to improve my scores in both Chem and Physics in order to study Medicine over here if I can’t study abroad. I could add a 3rd subject on the day of the test, but I don’t see that necessary - or rather my dad wouldn’t approve of taking a 3rd subject.
I’ll be sure to check out the universities you guys mentioned, thanks a lot.
Unfortunately, it’s also the situation in the US - it’s almost always impossible for international students to study medicine here unless they’re admitted to a MD/PHD, which is research-based and requires you to have extensive undergraduate research experience.
Do you need SAT scores to study Medicine in your own country?
If you’re serious about studying in the US, you will add that 3rd subject that opens up several highly selective universities. If not, then, focus on Canada, keeping in mind it closes the doors to medicine.
You can also study medicine in Europe (for instance, anyone can take the first-year premed classes -“paces”- in France, as long as they speak French and can memorize tons of material in that language, and then take the qualifying exams at the end of the year. If you’re among the lucky few who pass, you got into med school. If you didn’t pass… you have to repeat in another subject.)
I don’t need SAT 1 scores in my country. And just so you know, I’ve taken the literature test, but my score wasn’t worth mentioning. I took it in May 2017 thinking that it’s easy, little did I know it was one of the hardest subject tests. And if I did take literature in December, I can’t apply to US schools since I don’t have SAT 1 scores and the deadlines are approaching in January I think.
About studying in Europe, I have considered studying in Germany or France, but the language is going to be a huge problem for me. I’m taking French classes in school, but I don’t feel like I’m good enough to speak the language nor write proper sentences other than the ones I’ve memorized.
Err, did you read what I wrote above? You CAN apply to a lot of excellent colleges that allow you to apply with SAT Literature, SAT Math, and SAT science, instead of the regular SAT (colleges that also have a huge endowment and thus excellent financial aid for internationals they admit. They’re all highly selective of course.) I even listed the colleges that would allow you that option. If you take the December test, you meet all January deadlines.
Oh I didn’t know that SAT 1 isn’t needed in some universities, thanks for informing me! Anyways, what would be a good score in Literature? And do you know anything about Australia and whether studying medicine over there is easy or not?
McGill and most Canadian universities only require the SAT for American applicants. Entry into a Canadian medical school for an international student is virtually impossible unless you are a legal immigrant to Canada.
In Australia, you need to be the best in your school, national board exams at or above 99 percentile, and there are no scholarships.
Re-read #1.
You could study at a private university in Germany called Jacobs University. They have a premed program, and don’t necessarily require SAT scores. You can take a “foundation year” which gives you more background knowledge and basic classes, but also take SAT classes provided by the University and then take the SAT to get admission into the university. Then you can take the pre-med degree, all in english; while learning German in the university.
^there’s no “premed degree” and American universities frown on that, they want students to be able to handle both a regular major (physics, philosophy, etc) along with their premed pre-reqs.
If you want to study medicine, your best option is to do that in your home country. Then if you still want to study in the US, you van take the foreign medical boards, and apply for a medical residency in the US.
I don’t think most best colleges will accept you without SATs. You could look for the test flexible schools like Northwestern and NYU.