f_w said:
The rest are state schools. They don't charge tuition unless you fall behind in the regular schedule of classes and exams (there are some administrative fees of maybe $100-200/year, at times this includes a bus and subway pass for the city the school is located in).
Concerning these "administrative fees" for attending med school in Germany, currently it is more like $250-350/semester (this may vary depending on the university/state), however this is likely to change pretty soon, as it is planned to introduce real tuiton fees, so due to the time it takes to complete med school in Germany, you are pretty likely to become subject of future tuition, regardless of whether this may become the case tomorrow or in a couple of years, thus don't expect German med school to basically remain 'free'.
Still, overall tuition is unlikely to exceed $1500-2500 USD/year (again, depending on factors such as the university/state), thus still relatively affordable compared to the US, even if you add monthly living expenses of maybe ~ $1000 US.
f_w said:
Nothing in life is free. You have to take the extra time into account that it takes to obtain fluency in german (unless you are bilingual to start with, 2 years of US highschool german won't cut it)
Agreed, attending German med school should definitely only be considered an option if you feel truly comfortable expressing yourself in German, as well as understanding it to advanced level, as there is currently not a single German med school that offers international/English courses.
And then there are also some specific requirements that US students may not be aware of.
f_w said:
as well as the fact that medical school is typically 6 years.
Yes, the average med school graduate spent typically 6-7 years in med school (including however the US equivalent of pre-med training).
Also, you need to realize that many German students would often much rather attend med school in the US, rather than in Germany-so it may appear weird to a German student why a US student would want to attend German med school.
Additionally, it is generally not even easy for German applicants to get into med school, so many German pre-meds are often even evaluating alternatives such as attending med school in Switzerland, Austria, the UK, France, Italy and even Poland or Hungary.
As for financial 'cost' you have to look at cost of living, travel to the US as well as the opportunity cost of entering the workforce a couple of years later. So, despite the money saved on tuition, you might end up with a total 'cost' not so much different from attending tuition financed overseas schools.
Another thing to consider is the fact that while some German universities may indeed recommend students to prepare for, and take the USMLE exams (occassionally, even offering preparatory courses, i.e. in English terminology), actually doing so does also create additional costs.
If you are somewhat fluent in German you may find the following sites helpful (entry requirements, course schedules etc.):
http://www.medi-learn.de
http://www.medizinstudent.de
http://www.thieme.de
http://www.medi-learn.de/medizinstudium/foren
http://forum.medizinstudent.de
...the last ones being basically the German equivalent of SDN, if your German is not sufficient you may be able to use google to come up with an acceptable translation, alternatively you may also consider participating in the forum discussions in English, as basically the majority of German med students speaks sufficient English and most forum users would probably appreciate someone who can provide insights into the US med school system.
HTH
