States or Europe?

[Rand79]

Okay, I am in a huge dilemma right now...and still have plenty of questions.

[Miklos]

1) What do you think of the decision to drop Vanderbilt and pursue an EE education(to return to the states to practice)? I realize that only a handful are accredited in all US states and residency might be a little tougher. This would be opposed to just finishing up my degree here and tring to subsequently get into a US MD program.

IMO, this depends on what you'd like to do.

Ask yourself what kind of residency you wish to pursue.

If it is a competitive one, I would put up with the bureaucratic boondoogle of the US system, take the MCAT and apply. In the long run, I believe that it will be worth it. By going abroad, you essentially close the door on the most competitive residencies, no matter, what kind of stats you've had in the past.

2) What are some good 4 year programs which are taught in English (financial aid is going to be a concern also)?

IMO, SGU, AUC and Ross in the Caribbean.
Why? They have a proven track record of getting US students residencies.
Regarding financing...they don't come cheap.

3) What have been your regrets/concerns of studying overseas (if you have)?

I think that the EE route is one less travelled. IMO, the schools are simply not set up to help you get a residency in the states. For this reason, I recommend against coming to the region unless one has really done their homework and knows what one is getting into.

[cristagali]

wow 24 years old. You'll be collecting social security soon!,ha! Listen, I used to work at Vandy too as a Tech in the ER. Vandy and Nashville are a great place and to have a Phd from vandy is very good. 34 on MCAT and you can;t wait a year?? Talk to Vandy admissions. They should be flexible to your needs and allow you to do both, start your MD and stretch out your basic science years to finish Phd. admissions committess are full of crap. When I was there they accepted a guy who had NO Chemistry courses. They accepted him on condition he go to Lipscomb and knock out general and organic chem during the summer, so there is flexibilty there, just be persistence. I'm in school in Hungary at University of Debrecen. Prague would be a great place too to go to school, but I really think you should stay in states and finish Phd and apply to US MD school. I started med school in my 30's, so whats the rush?? Enjoy life, good luck. 8)

[wolfvgang22]

Everybody here is right on. You would be choosing to do things the hard way if you go EE or caribbean.
Honestly, EE schools and caribbean schools are primarily for scrubs like me who screwed up in undergrad and had limited choices. When we graduate med school we will likely still have limited choices as it's difficult for an IMG to get competitive residencies like dermatology, opthamology, etc.

With your grades and accomplishments, you should definitely talk to the med school people where you are. They are bound to help out someone with your credentials, if they don't appear to be helpful try other U.S. schools and be persistent. Somebody will take a flyer on you!

Have you considered med school in Ireland? There is much less stigma attached to Irish schools than EE or caribbean schools IMHO, and more residencies may be open to you after attending an Irish school.

Though EE schools are in Europe, and that's nice and all, it'll get old in about 6 weeks or so.

EE schools don't teach to the USMLE, either, which is the test you need to do well on to get a good U.S. residency in the field of your choice. They usually offer rotations in EE hospitals, which is different than the U.S system. You would miss out on the networking done in U.S. clinicals, which could lead to a nice residency.

Finally, IMHO, the better schools in europe tend to offer the longer programs. It seems to me that these fairly new 4-year English programs in EE is primarily a sort of marketing gimmick to get scrubs like me into their school. How well that correalates with quality education, I don't know.

If you absolutely must go overseas, go SGU, Ross, AUC, or maybe Saba. Those are the schools with proven track records. You can get loans via Medachiever by Keybank or Teri loans. You can get staffords as well, but schools that offer staffords usually have a correspondingly higher tuition.
Good luck in your new adventure!

[neongoat]

For some (not all) US schoolsm you can apply to start next year (fall 2005) and take the MCAT in the spring. You will be behind everyone else, but if you do well on the MCAT you can get into your state school. If your state of residence is TN, then I can even give you a few numbers to call so you can talk to admissions directors.

As time seems to be of concern to you and since you have already completed a lot of science classes, I would recommend against a 6-year program. They are designed for high school level students and will not prepare you for the USMLE (you will have to do this personally).

As far as a 4-year program in EE that allows US financial aid, I think only the schools in Poland qualify at the moment, and they all prefer that you present an official MCAT score. This could perhaps be waived for you since you are in a graduate science program already. I think the 4-year programs in Poland start at about 10,000$ per year for tuition.

Also, you cannot get advance placement in a 6-year program even though you have already had many of the courses. Even if they did let you do this, you would not be able to get the US to recognize this "advance placement" and you would have lots of trouble when you come back to do your training.

If I were you, I would talk to vanderbilt med school since you're in their grad program already (if you don't mind borrowing 200,000$ for the MD), or I would apply to your state schools (which will be much easier to get into and provide just as good of an education and cost much less).

If you find that it is too late to start at a US school next fall, or if you are just itching to live somewhere other than the US, then try the caribbean schools or mexico. There are a few that are pretty good, and if you go to the dominican republic or mexico, then you can learn spanish too! These schools require the MCAT too, but they will most likely allow you to present the scores next summer. Also, don't listen to all the crap about not being able to get a residency position or not passing the USMLE if you go to a foreign school. If you are as comfortable in science classes as you have lead us to believe, and you genuinely want to be a doctor, you will have no real problems with the USMLE or getting a residency (as long as you insist on being a dermatologist or orthopaedic surgeon).

If you have any more questions let me know,

Neongoat