Question by Cait: How does the American university system work?
I live in the UK but am really interested in going to an American university, hopefully ivy league, I know that I would have to take SATs and have a good extra curricular application but I don’t understand the actual process- say I was going to medical school, would I go straight from high school or do something else first, then go In a few years ( at the moment I’m really interested in med school or a doctorate in biochemistry or molecular biology- do they specialise in those courses like in England )?? HELP!!!
Best answer:
Answer by Afisamuleal
Yes. However, there is no medical degree at the undergraduate level. There are pre-med courses, and people do this and go on to medical school later in life, but doctors are in school a long time, one of the longest amounts of time of any profession in the US. If you’re going to become a doctor, your undergraduate needs to be in something else (although you can and should be taking pre-med classes), hopefully something related to the subject. Theoretically, doctors bring expertise from different fields into their doctoring. Chemistry is a popular undergraduate for a doctor, as well as biology.
A bachelor’s degree (undergraduate) takes about 4 years to complete. Following this is a Master’s, which takes about the same, and then comes a PhD. If you get a Bachelors, a Masters, and a PhD, they need not be in the same field. I know someone who has a BA in English, a MS in Chemistry, and PhD in math.
When you look at a college’s website, they’ll have all the majors you can pursue at their college listed. These majors vary between schools, but most schools offer chemistry.
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The first answer pretty much covers it, but just as an add-on…
You need a bachelor’s degree before you can apply to medical school. Your bachelor’s could be in anything (I know doctors who majored in Russian and another in dance, but the most popular is something in science). Then you apply to medical school, but first you have to take the M-CAT first which is just another test that is focused heavily on science–this is to make sure that you have a good basis for medical school. Also, most application process involves an interview.
By the way, when are you planning to go to school here? Next year? Most Ivy school’s deadline for applicants is sometime in December or January at the latest. And it’s earlier for Early Priority ones. That means you have to make sure you get your SAT’s done by November or December at the very latest. Also, most good colleges require 2 SAT Subject tests. And if you apply for financial aid, you will have to fill out more applications. I am not exactly sure if this applies to international students, but you might have to file a CSS Profile with collegeboard.com (also where you take SATs); that’s something for the financial aid office.
it works like any university in the world
The US medical school system is different then the UK system. In the US you need to have a bachelors degree, you need to have taken courses that meet the medical school’s pre-requisites, have at least a 3.6 GPA to be competitive for medical school, and take the MCAT test which is taken towards the end of your undergraduate studies. Whereas in the UK you enter medical school after you have completed your A-Levels.
There are three challenges for you. One challenge will be deciding where do you want to study for your undergraduate degree. If you study in the UK for your bachelors there is a good chance a US medical school will not take your UK bachelors degree due to the fact there are fundamental differences between a US bachelors degree and a UK bachelors degree. This means you will have to try to get a student visa that will cover you for eight years (4 years undergraduate studies + 4 years medical school).
Second challenge will be getting the funding to cover you while you are in the US. US schools are much more expensive than the UK. Undergraduate education in the US can easily cost you £25,000 per year for tuition only. When you factor in food, books, living expenses, health insurance, and transport it will easily run you another £15,000 per year. Then when you get into medical school it is quite possible it will cost you nearly £300,000.
Third challenge for you will be adjusting to the American educational system. American education is quite different than how it is taught in the UK. There is more testing and more demands are placed on students then in the UK. I suspect if you went to the US to study it will be a very big culture shock for you.
My advice to you is to contact the medical schools that you are interested in attending and ask them about how do they handle UK bachelor degrees in a natural science discipline.
i think i kind of get what your going at. my cousins go to school in england. one was a year younger than me and said he was still like in high school or something. so i am still confused because i am in the U.S. and in my 3rd year of college but. i believe all colleges are practically the same. you get accepted and then you are an undergraduate where you study toward your major + General Education classes all students have to take which well prolong your studies. i believe they have bio chem and molecular biology but it does vary from different schools. as for med school. you study something like biology first then go to graduate school or med school.