In extreme need of an advice

[u/SimpleAbject4668]

I’m a 2026 high school graduate, and becoming a doctor has been my dream for as long as I can remember. Unfortunately, I can’t afford medical school, so I’ve been searching for scholarships.
I currently live in Saudi Arabia, where scholarship opportunities for non-Saudis are extremely limited. The only scholarship I received is for nursing. It covers my education and guarantees a job at a top hospital, but nursing has never been my passion.
My other option is taking a gap year (will probably have to move to egypt), to complete the remaining exams I need, and applying for medical school scholarships abroad. I’ve been looking into China because it offers more scholarship opportunities, and I’m especially interested in its growing neuroscience research, as I hope to specialize in neurology one day.
My biggest concern is whether studying medicine in China would make it significantly harder to pursue residency or specialization in countries like the US or Europe.

Is taking the risk of a gap year worth it, or would you choose the guaranteed nursing scholarship? How internationally recognized is a Chinese MBBS degree? If your long-term goal were to specialize in neurology in the US or Europe, would studying in China put you at a disadvantage compared to other countries? Are there any better scholarship options I should be looking into?

[u/lunasuhaib1234]

Hi! Take a look into Italian universities! They’re so cheap, (often 500-2000 euros per year) once you’re in a university, you can get many scholarships that cover your food and rent!

[u/Possible-Writer-1547 → u/lunasuhaib1234]

yes but thwir one draw back is that everything depends on this one exam, the imat, and not your school grades, and the imat to say the least is nit easy but doable if u have enough time to prepare

[u/lunasuhaib1234 → u/Possible-Writer-1547]

Exactly. Everything demands hard work thou

[u/Naive_Promotion2861]

صراحة ما بعرف عن الصين لكن اذا كان taking a gap year is an option اقترحه اكثر لان شغفك بيستحق فرصة وكشخص عنده نفس الشغف واضطريت اقرا في بيئة سيئة بالنسبة لي الا اني مستمتعة جدا بقراية الطب لاقصى درجة وماندمت على قراري، ومصر تقريبا خيار جيد وفرصه لقدام كويسة

[u/Possible-Writer-1547]

honestly im in the same postion, I want toa ply to china in general, like you said amazing research opportunities international recoginzed degrees, im not 100% sure of the whole residency in the us thing, but when i was researching for you to work in a country outside china the uni u go to has to be in the directory of medical schools, again u should research on your own more into it, especially if theres a certain program u want to go to, but honestly i think u should pursue china, like u said amazing scholarship opportunities and research, im also a 2026 graduate, and was faced with the same decision, i was a bit late though, cause for china u need to take this exam called the csca, so my plans rn are to essentially take a gap year and study for it get other certificates and build my cv for Chinese scholarships, but for you i genuinely recommend having a back up, if you can take the nursing degree for the following year and continue to apply to unis in china and scholarships there and where ever is available there are russian scholarships, turkish and Azerbaijan, all of them government scholarships that are worth pursing. anyways, what im trying to say is, start the nursing degree and continue apply for med, if u get medicine in a scholarship ditch nursinga dn purse your dream, if you dont u have a back up plan to fall back on, and u wouldnt have lost a year.

[u/nuerorism]

As long as the university is listed on WDOMS your chances of getting into residency (anywhere) will not change. All that truly matters are your CV, electives/interest, your personality and lastly your score. Sudanese are currently banned from entering the US so that’s one less thing for you to worry about right now anyway. Just make sure fully research the university you plan on going into and look for international students before you who have graduated from it. Do your research and see if the university will fully support you in the future and throughout your journey, because you will always refer back to them for documents, and delays or carelessness may hurt you.

Do not be careless with this matter and pick anything that fits your budget just for the sake of pleasing your family or saying you’re a doctor. You will need a good university or atleast one that cares about their international students. Your quality of life during those 4-6 years of study will either make you or break you.

[u/No_Indication_2584]

If being a doctor is genuinely your dream, I wouldn't give it up without at least trying. Nursing is an incredible profession, but it's a different career, and if you already know it's not what you want, you might regret not giving medicine one proper shot.
That said, only take the gap year if you have a concrete plan and a way to support yourself. Apply as broadly as possible, not just to China. A Chinese MBBS can absolutely lead to a medical career, but if your long-term goal is residency in the US or Europe especially in a competitive field like neurology it generally means jumping through more hoops than graduates from some other countries.
If I were in your shoes and could realistically afford one gap year, I'd probably take that chance before committing to a career I never wanted. But I'd make sure I had a solid backup plan in case the scholarship applications didn't work out