Chances of getting into a top US med school with a British degree

[sraalles1]

Hi!
I've recently been accepted to Imperial College London to read for a BSc in Biochemistry and specialize in Neuroscience. I got 4 As in my A Levels at an exam average of approximately 90%.
I was wondering what my chances would be of getting into a top US medical school like Harvard, Johns Hopkins or Yale Medical School with such a qualification. My ultimate goal is become a neurosurgeon.
Please note that according to the Times Higher Education Supplement Imperial is ranked as the 9th best university in the world for science and 4th best for technology.(Visit www.thes.co.uk for more details)
I also would like to know whether I should complete a Masters in Research or Science which would only take an additional year and then consider applying to medical school. Also note that the BSc takes only 3 years to finish.
Any suggestions with regards to this matter would be much appreciated.

[Scottish Chap]

All American med shcools require you to have done at least 90 credits at a US or Canadian college at undergraduate level. This equates to about a year of classes and they need to cover bio, physics, organic chem and ??? (something else).

Then you need to sit the MCAT.

Doesn't matter where you graduated from. They'll be interested in your GPA and MCAT scores, and references from an American doctor.

Needless to say, it is incredibly hard getting into med school in a country which you are not a resident of.

Best of luck.

P.S. I would recommend trying to get onto a graduate medical course in the UK after your BSc, sit USMLEs as you go along, get some work experience/references in the States, then apply for residency there.

90 credits is more like 2-3 years of classes in the U.S., and the foreign degree still haunts you out here.

Within the 90 credits, without exception, U.S. medical schools require 6-8 credits in each of: general chemistry, organic chemistry, physics, biology (all with lab). Around one-third of the U.S. medical schools ask for 6-8 credits of college English, and a few will ask for Calculus (Hopkins, Harvard), statistics (Hopkins, Rochester), and biochemistry. All of those must be completed in the U.S. or Canada.

[Scottish Chap]

Hi!
I've recently been accepted to Imperial College London to read for a BSc in Biochemistry and specialize in Neuroscience. I got 4 As in my A Levels at an exam average of approximately 90%.
I was wondering what my chances would be of getting into a top US medical school like Harvard, Johns Hopkins or Yale Medical School with such a qualification. My ultimate goal is become a neurosurgeon.
Please note that according to the Times Higher Education Supplement Imperial is ranked as the 9th best university in the world for science and 4th best for technology.(Visit www.thes.co.uk for more details)
I also would like to know whether I should complete a Masters in Research or Science which would only take an additional year and then consider applying to medical school. Also note that the BSc takes only 3 years to finish.
Any suggestions with regards to this matter would be much appreciated.

The U.S. is pretty much a closed door unless you are willing to do your undergraduate degree out here. The previous poster's advice is sound - get your medical degree in the U.K. With your credentials, I am surprised that you did not apply. Can you transfer into the medical programme at Imperial College? When I was an undergraduate at the University of Edinburgh, a couple of students with exceptional grades in the first-year of a B.Sc. successfully transferred into the Edinburgh MBChB.

On a side note: without U.S. citizenship or a green card, you will not be eligible for loans for an undergraduate degree or for medical school. Harvard and Hopkins are charging around $35, 000 per year for medical school and that is for tuition alone.....

[Scottish Chap]

... by which, I wasn't trying to be rude, by the way...

I suppose I just don't understand why you're so keen to go to medical school in the US - if it's an MD you want, you can get those here. Takes a little longer, mind you...

Nor do I understand why you didn't apply for medicine, last year. Or maybe you did, and didn't score an offer... either way, emigrating isn't the answer!

You can achieve everything you want to achieve within the UK. And, honestly, I don't give a poop whether you listen to me, or not - if you choose not to pursue a place at a UK med school, someone else will. And maybe that person will become a more esteemed neurosurgeon than you, notwithstanding that you studied in the US...

Can I ask why going to the US means so much to you? I just don't understand your motivation, right now...

A medical degree in the U.K. from high school: 5 years of undergraduate. A medical degree in the U.S.: 4 years of undergraduate + 4 in years medical school. The U.K. is actually faster.

Your second point raises my own anxiety - why not apply to the U.K. now? It would save a whole lot of time, stress, money, and training that the OP would likely never use.

[Dick Cheney]

Precisely. Why the obsession with the USA? If I were trying to emigrate somewhere, I would go for Europe: Norway/Sweden, Germany or France. Norway is small but is flush with petrokronor, and like other civilised nations has a well funded welfare state and no poverty as one does in the UK. The USA is morally bankrupt - who would want to live in such a vile state? Only the greedy and vapid, methinks.

[Scottish Chap]

Careful now! I'm British and I choose to study medicine in an American medical school. There are plenty of good people in the U.S., and there are many compelling reasons for wanting to be a clinician in the U.S. For one: the research opportunities cannot be matched by any other country, and the residency programmes are highly-structured with a clear entry and exit point.

[Scottish Chap]

SC - I think you've misunderstood what I meant, re getting an MD.

Medical graduates in the UK are not awarded an MD - we're awarded an MBChB, MBBS, BM or BMBCh, depending upon the medical school that we attend.

An MD - a doctorate in medicine - is a postgraduate qualification. Like all doctorates, I imagine it's possible to do an MD in three years, which would make the UK and US routes to the MD of equal length... but, in my experience, doctors tend to undertake MDs in later life, when the trials and tribulations of being a junior doctor are behind them.

(Oh, and I've re-edited the offending word from "poop" to "damn" - I hope you don't mind, but I didn't want anyone reading this thread to think that I'd use the word "poop"!)

No, it's still faster in the U.K. I'm aware of what an MD is in the U.K. and that is not what the original poster is talking about. British medical school: 5-year medical degree (MBBS, MBChB etc.) + 2-year research degree (MD) = 7 years post-high school, so you still get there faster in the U.K....if you want "MD" after your name which, again, was not what the poster is primarily seeking.

No American medical school allows one to complete the training in three years with standard entry. There are, however, two Canadian medical schools that offer a three-year medical degree.

Your edit is better than the original word which is completely inappropriate.

[Gizmo says -]

reapply now, and you'll get in rather than study somefing thats worthless to you at the most expensively dumb place to study it.
or do a GEP, it'd be cheeper, macca.

[jxh487]

MD in UK is regarded at a similar level to honarary degrees like Doctor of Letters. They are very prestigious and rare. The fact of the matter is a more focused rather than general educational system means that the medicine route in Britain is quicker, even if you do GEP (which is 7 years including your 1st degree). Too many of us jump to criticise our education system when it is one of the best in the world.

[Gizmo says -]

a very kind post, macca. wel dun Scottish chap and all.