Undergraduate Study Abroad

Many prehealth students ask if it is feasible or desirable for them to study abroad. With careful planning, this is an excellent idea. You could plan to spend either a summer, a semester, or a full year abroad.

If you plan to spend a full year overseas, you must bear in mind that you will need to complete all your prehealth courses in a U.S. college in time for the MCAT, and be available throughout most of your senior year for interviews at the schools to which you are applying. You could therefore most conveniently spend either your sophomore or junior year away. You could sit for your MCAT either immediately after completing Organic Chemistry and Physics, or wait until the following year. This depends entirely upon when you feel you will be best prepared. If you would like to take advantage of a study abroad opportunity, you should keep in close contact both with the our office Preprofessional Advising Center and NYU Study Abroad (212-998-4433).

NYU currently offers Principles of Biology I & II, General Physics I & II, and Organic Chemistry I & II with labs at its site in London. As these grades will appear on your regular NYU transcript, they are acceptable to all medical schools in this country.

Please note that when you apply to medical school, you must classify your semester(s) spent studying abroad as a program that was separate from your courses taken at Washington Square, even if you were at an NYU site. Be sure to consult the AMCAS instructions on study abroad coursework for further clarification.

In addition to the usual sites in the U.S., Canada, Guam, Puerto Rico and Virgin Islands, the MCAT is administered at several other overseas locations on the same days as they are offered in the United States. For more information about these testing sites, you may write to AMCAS, visit their web site at http://www.aamc.org, or call them at (202) 828-0600.