Applying to the UK as an international student is slightly different to applying as a home student. Being away from the UK means that you might not have access to visit a number of universities before you apply. Finance also becomes an important factor as you will have to pay full tuition fees which vary considerably with each med school.

Key issues that international students have to face when applying to med school are:

• Distance – being away from the UK might mean that you don’t get to visit the med schools before you apply to them, or you can attend fewer open days than UK students. This makes choosing a med school that is right for you more challenging. Make sure you read our med schoolreviews which can give you an insiders view of each med school in the uk.

• Competitiveness – the number of places for international students is much lower than the number of places for UK students. This means that you will have to stand out from the crowd. Read our international student profiles to see what our students did to get their place at med school.

• Cost – as an international student you will have to pay full tuition fees. These can vary widely between med schools. You can find information about tuition fees on our med school pages

• Visas and occupational health – there may be additional requirements for international students. You can read what our students advise in the student profiles section and below.

This having been said, international students have to submit a personal statement and undergo an interview process which is the same for domestic UK applicants. The advice on this site about how to apply, write your personal statement and perform at interview therefore also applies to international students. You can also use the med school reviews on this site to get a better idea about what med schools you might want to apply to and you can gain insights about the interview formats for these schools in our student profiles section.

Below is a list of full student profiles from our international students. You can also find a collection of accounts by med students who applied to med school from abroad by clicking on this link:

http://www.mymedschool.co.uk/international_stud_experiance.php?pgid=19