Any person who has completed the minimum requirements as detailed below may apply for admission into a medical college in Pakistan. There was previously a rule which stated that candidates younger than 17 or older than 25 at the time of admission are prohibited from applying but this was repealed completely in May 2007 by the Pakistan Medical & Dental Council. Being a citizen of Pakistan is not a prerequisite for admission.

In order to apply you must have completed your secondary school education. For American students, this means four years of high school and a high school diploma. For those following the UK system, this means successfully passing your 'O' and 'A' Level exams. Unless you show proof of graduation your application will not be processed by the Inter-Board Committee of Chairmen (IBCC), the Pakistani government agency responsible for converting the grades/marks of foreign schools into the Pakistani educational system.

Additionally you must have successfully completed one full year of each of the following during your secondary education: biology with lab, chemistry with lab, physics with lab, and four years of English in your secondary education. Because all Pakistani medical colleges carry out instruction in English you are required to have passed English in your secondary education. If you have not fulfilled all of these requirements, you will not be eligible to apply to any medical college in Pakistan.

There are no age limit restrictions for applying into any medical college in Pakistan. There was previously a rule which stated that candidates younger than 17 or older than 25 at the time of admission are prohibited from applying but this was repealed completely in May 2007 by the Pakistan Medical & Dental Council.

The length of the admissions process for a medical college in Pakistan is dependent on a multitude of factors, with two being the most profound determinants of how long it will actually take. The first and most important is the processing of the Equivalence Certificate by the Inter-Board Committee of Chairmen, the Pakistani government agency responsible for converting the grades/marks of foreign schools into the Pakistani educational system.

You can only apply however for the Equivalence Certificate once you have your secondary education diploma so in the mean time let us consider the second factor: the school you wish to apply to. If you are applying to a private medical college (i.e. Aga Khan or Shifa College of Medicine) you will have to take the SAT-II Subject Test exams in biology, chemistry, and physics. These tests are not offered usually for a four month period during the summer so you must begin preparing for and taking these exams earlier on in the year. Many applicants have been forced to delay applying for admissions for one year because they were unable to take their SAT-II tests in time. So, plan ahead!

If you are applying to a college run by the Government of Pakistan (i.e. King Edward Medical College or Fatimah Jinnah Medical College) then you should start applying as soon as you have received your secondary school diploma. You must get your Equivalence Certificate as soon as possible. Also contact the nearest Embassy of Pakistan in your home country and ask them for details about applying to a government college. Also, don't forget this forum has amassed a ton of invaluable information that you won't find elsewhere -- use the Search tool!

All medical colleges in Pakistan irrespective of whether they are run by the Government of Pakistan or by private institutions impart the same medical degree on all graduates (M.B.B.S) which requires completion of a five year program. Every year we receive questions from foreign students interested in applying about the existence of a four year program. No such program exists. All medical programs are five years long with the first two years being mainly classroom teaching and the latter three years being primarily clinical with patient interaction.

It is not possible to complete a degree in less than five years. All M.B.B.S. degrees require the completion of a five year period of study.

An M.B.B.S. degree stands for Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery and is equivalent to an M.D. degree awarded in the United States to a graduating physician.

All medical colleges in Pakistan which are operating within the guidelines of the Government of Pakistan's Ministry of Health and Ministry of Education carry the certification of the Pakistan Medical & Dental Council (PM&DC). In order to check whether the school that you are wishing to apply to is licensed to produce medical graduates please check the PM&DC website.

In order to practice abroad (i.e. USA or UK) the medical school must be officially recognized by the World Health Organization. Click here to see a list of the schools currently approved by the WHO.

If you graduate from a medical college which is on the list of schools approved by the WHO then you are allowed to take the United States Medical Licensing Exam (USMLE) and upon successfully passing it, allowed to apply for a residency and begin practicing in the United States.

Some states in the US do have specific requirements however. Please consult the Medical Board of your specific state in order to determine if you will be allowed state licensure upon graduation.

The IBCC Equivalence Certificate is a document granted by the Inter-Board Committee of Chairmen (IBCC) which converts your transcripts from foreign schools (those in the USA, UK, etc) to those of the Pakistani standard. If you are a foreign student (or a local Pakistani who has completed his/her O/A Levels) you are required to have an IBCC Equivalence Certificate in the Pre-Medical category with at least a score of 660 out of 1100 total.

Without this you will not be granted admission in any medical college in Pakistan, public or private. Some private colleges will grant you admission based off of your foreign transcripts without having seen any Equivalence Certificate. Do not believe them. They will later require you to show proof of the certificate and if your grades are unable to earn a 660 score on conversion you will have wasted time and money. Be 100% sure about this: even if a school grants you admission, you will not graduate as a physician in Pakistan without an IBCC Equivalence Certificate in Pre-Medical with a score of at least 660.

The IBCC process can span anywhere from 7 business days to as long as a couple of months depending on whether or not you have all the proper documentation. IBCC requires you to have one year of biology with lab, physics with lab, and chemistry with lab along with four years of English in order for you to be eligible for a Pre-Medical certification. They will sometimes be unwilling to accept courses such as "Literature" or "Composition" as an English class but usually talking to them for a while about it and demanding it be counted as an English class works out ok.

For your IBCC certificate application you must bring at least two original versions of your secondary school transcripts each in its own sealed envelope along with your original diploma and any other scores you wish to submit (AP test scores -- also original and sealed). Also have two or three passport size photos of yourself. Although they only require one transcript, it is better to have multiples of everything just in case. If you're in Pakistan the last thing you want to have to do is get in touch with your school back home to get new transcripts.

Simply put: yes they can! When you submit your transcripts for conversion, IBCC will after their 7 day processing period give you a letter stating your provisional score but they will not give you a real Equivalence Certificate. However, you can use this letter they provide to apply and gain admission at any medical college. In the meanwhile IBCC will send a letter to your secondary school and request verification of the transcripts that you provided them in order to make sure that no grades/marks have been changed on the papers that you submitted. Do not try to fool the IBCC -- they do follow up on everything and if they find that you have forged a transcript they can easily block you from ever gaining admission into any medical college in Pakistan.

As a general rule, medical colleges run by the Government of Pakistan do not currently require SAT-I or SAT-II Subject Test scores from foreign applicants. This may change at some point in the future but at present only private colleges in Pakistan require any SAT scores to be submitted for admissions consideration.

Currently Aga Khan University is the only medical college requiring the SAT-I test, whereas most other private colleges only require the SAT-II Subject Tests. If you are applying to a private college we suggest you check the forums for the specific college you are applying to but generally be expected to take the SAT-II Subject Tests in biology, chemistry, and physics.

For the IBCC Equivalence Certificate you must have a score not lower than 660 in the Pre-Medical classification. A 660 does not guarantee that you will gain admission in a medical college, it simply means you are eligible to gain admission. The actual score that you need in order to be accepted is variable and depends on the college you're applying to and the scores other applicants have that year. Ask the school what the average score was for the previous year.

For the SAT-I (where it is required), usually a 1250 is the minimum score required to be eligible. For SAT-II exams, ask the college you are applying to, however most have requirements around 650 for the subjects of biology, chemistry, and physics.

The two application processes are completely different. However they both begin with obtaining an IBCC Equivalence Certificate first.

After that if you are applying to a government college and are outside of Pakistan, you will get an application form from the nearest Pakistani Embassy/Consulate in your area and submit all forms to them. If you are in Pakistan and applying for a seat on the Self-Finance Program you will submit your application materials to the Higher Education Commission. If you are applying for the Pakistan Technical Assistance Program, submit your application to the Economic Affairs Division.

If you apply to a government college and are a foreigner, you will not have to give an entrance examination. You simply submit your Equivalence Certificate along with the rest of your application.

For private medical colleges, you will deal with the Student Affairs/Admissions department of that college directly after having obtained your Equivalence Certificate. Follow their application requirements and obtain a prospectus and then submit your application directly to them. The entrance requirements are different -- you will most likely either have to submit SAT-II Subject Tests scores along with your high school transcripts and the Equivalence Certificate or take the college's entrance test. Foreigners are strongly suggested to take the SAT-II Subject Tests rather than try to compete with the local applicants on the entrance examination.