Medical training in the United Kingdom begins at the undergraduate level. Universities and medical schools offer undergraduate courses in medicine that lead to a bachelor of medicine and surgery. As a foreign applicant, you should be aware that competition for these programs is intense. By law, UK universities are only allowed to accept between six and 16 students from outside the European Economic Area, which means you will be competing with students from all over the world. What makes the competition even tougher is that many universities try to accept students from underprivileged countries where medical facilities and study are scarce or nonexistence. Applicants should have excellent academic accomplishments, especially in chemistry and biology, and they may be required to take the BioMedical Admissions Test or the Medical Schools Admissions Test.
If you want to carry out postgraduate studies in medicine in the United Kingdom, you must first complete your medical studies in the United States. When arriving in the United Kingdom, you must register with the General Medicine Council if the course you are taking has a clinical component. All prospective postgraduate students in medicine are advised to contact the General Medicine Council at least nine months before entering the United Kingdom.
Most medical and dental schools require prospective students to take the UK Clinical Aptitude Test. This test doesn't contain scientific questions or questions that found in the curriculum of medical schools. Instead, it tests the cognitive powers of the prospective student. It consists of four subtests on verbal reasoning, quantitative reasoning, abstract reasoning and problem solving. The testing is done on computer. You can register to take the UK Clinical Aptitude Test online. It is possible to take the exam in the United States. However, you must first register, and you will be sent a letter explaining how to take the test from abroad and where you must go for it.