Hello everyone! Thank you for stopping by. I will be graduating a US university in 2027 and would like to move to belgium for medical school and I dont have plans of coming back to the US (only to visit though).
Quick background:
– I speak fluent English and Spanish.
– I have a few internships under my belt and Extracurriculars.
– microbiology major
I have taken a few french language classes, and have quite a bit of an understanding of spoken and written french. I also have my partner who is belgian and I think fortunately the visa portion of the process will be easier in my case.
I would not say im fluent at all in any sense, I have tons to practice, I know this. In addition, I have been using this link to give me a sense of the process of applying to medical school in belgium:
https://aljawaz.com/en/study-medicine-in-belgium-the-complete-guide/
My goal is to be a neurologist or if it interests me neurosurgery. I understand this is a difficult path, Im quite aware, but whatever it takes!
My only concern pertains to the wallonie-brussels federation entry exam. I have high test anxiety which I am working on with a therapist and practice. I worry because I require accomodations in my current college due to my ADHD. Do they provide accomodations for students with learning disabilities or physical ones? For instance extra time as an accomodation. (ADHD with official american documentation).
I have no idea what type of questions will be asked or if my MCAT (medical college admissions test for US students) prep test books will be enough to prepare me for the belgian entry exam. Anybody have suggestions? Study guides? Slides, pdfs, book recommendations?
On a different topic: any advice on how to adjust to belgian culture? Anything that will give me some serious culture shock? Just for fun I’d love to hear what your favorite thing about belgium and or its people is and why 🙂 Thank you again for your time!
2 comments
The exam has 2 parts. One part is scientific knowledge of biology, maths, physics and chemistry. Questions are on highschool level. The second part of the test is comprehensive reading, communication and evidence appraisal.
In Wallonia you have to get 50% on the whole test and 40% minimum on all the subjects to pass (although that will change. They will only let the best x% of people in the test start).
I wouldn’t do the test unless you are fluent in French. I would contact the organisation of the exam to know if there are any accomodations that can be made.
The medical curriculum as whole can be harsh but the entrance exam is very hit or miss. To give an idea, only 6% of test-takers can start with medical school. There are 2 testing moments.
The level of education in the US and here is very different, so I don’t know if you’ll even be able to pass. I’ve never regarded the medical entrance test are ‘super difficult’, but it is a *an entire day* and there’s a lot of stress involved which often makes people who are normally more than smart enough to pass (read: people who’ve studied years of a different college major) fail anyway.
Do you actually speak French? As in, scientific French? You don’t just need to be able to say “hello” and “goodbye”, you’ll have to be able to pass a test on biology, mathematics, physics, chemistry …
Use Belgian prep materials and not American ones if you want to pass.
As far as culture goes; you’ll be fine. That isn’t the thing you have to worry about. My favorite thing about this place is that it’s relatively peaceful, the people are quite friendly and introverted and the food is great! If you have student debt from the U.S. though, it’s better to stay there. You’re not going to earn even a fraction of what you’ll get there, meaning it’ll be harder to pay off student debt. If the reason you’re coming here is because you can’t into medical school there, I’d likewise say it’s better to stay there.