Problems Faced by Foreign Medical Students in the U.S
There are a plenty of insurmountable challenges that have to be faced by International students who want to get their medical education in the US. Some of the public schools and private universities have very few openings for highly competitive slots for foreign students, adaptability issues and so on. However, it is not impossible though they have to get through several complications in order to gel with the local students and follow their way of an education system. It becomes very challenging for the first time visitors for the reason that the entire atmosphere itself is new and it takes some time to get used to it.
The language barrier is the commonest factor that could affect students in the first place. It is just not about knowing a foreign language but the way of usage. The concept differs for a tourist or just a business purpose visitor where they are like a quick time task finishers who don’t have to master the local culture. Wherein for foreign students in the United States, the time taken to understand the niche culture makes may put them through some hard times. Again, it is just another challenge that passes away in the first place. Communication could be mastered in a quick time depending upon an individual’s absorbing efficiency.
The medical education seems to be very costly for foreign students in most medical schools that require at least four years of study post completing an undergraduate degree. They should also go through at least three more years of training in their specific medical fields and they would provide with some decent pay. In certain cases international students may not be accepted for many medical programs at public universities in the U.S. Also, it becomes very difficult for them to get openings in private universities citing fewer allocations which create a great deal of competition.
Despite all these intricacies, there are many students who get through their medical studies in the United States. One among them is Fatima Ismail. Out of her own fascination to become a doctor at her very early age, she has successfully pulled off a career as a doctor at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland after completing primary medical school education in her home country, Dubai. She said a lot of children with developmental disabilities that are not taken care of very well in the Middle East intrigued her to take a medical career.
An important thing for foreign students is to design and stick with a proper planning system in order to get admission at U.S. medical schools. Johns Hopkins is one of the leading medical schools in the United States and its director says “there are also some of the medical schools in the U.S. that require U.G degree to be completed in their institution rather than one’s home country”. For that reason, those institutions require the students to take up at least one year of additional coursework in any area in the U.S. in order to decode their respective capabilities in respective courses. In this competitive process of pursuing a medical course in the United States, proper preparation and cleverness are an absolute necessity. The default priority to the U.S graduates would definitely cut down the opportunities for foreign students in the international medical schools. In spite of that, deserving talents shall not be missed by the leading medical schools under appropriate circumstances.
Cultural challenges are the biggest ones in the U.S that almost every one of the foreign students faces. People call it as “Cultural shock”. Though it seems to be hard at the beginning with the mixed feelings of homesickness and irritability, it becomes a part of life once passed a saturation point.
