I thought I'd do you a favor by talking about this term being thrown around constantly by me: Pakistan Technical Assistance Programme (aka PTAP). It's actually run under the Economic Affairs Division (EAD) in Islamabad. Think of it as a scholarship where you pay very little to a government medical college in Pakistan because of your merit. Super basic, I know. Essentially, anyone interested in pursuing post-secondary in Pakistan will have to pay more money than the locals. If you're a dual national trying to attend DOW Medical College, it's $18000/year. It's a heavy price. However if you're a local, it's less than a quarter of that amount. Now I know some colleges in Peshawar only require $6000/year so if you can afford this price, go for it by all means. However, if Peshawar is not a place you can go to then we can definitely look towards PTAP. Now PTAP has over 300 seats however, not all of them are for takes; there are many seats categorized for friendly countries of Pakistan. The ones that dual nationals, or foreign nationals go for are 20 MBBS seats internationally. So yes, prepare yourself for LOADS of competition. Now the way this works is when you finish high school, and your SAT II Subject Tests you'll start preparing for your PTAP application. The application comes out in August, and you have until October 10 to submit all your documents. THATS A LOT OF TIME. In that time period, you will need to get an equivalency, and all other supporting documents. The whole process of equivalency is stressful on its own, so no, it ain't that easy. Equivalency is basically IBCC converting your high school grades into Pakistani grades. You'll get a score out of 1100 in the end. Cool so far? Keep in mind, PTAP is for select government colleges only. With the application, they release an advertisement as well as the list of institutions, 8 for MBBS. You rank the institutions based on your preference from 1 to 8 in the application. After you're through with the application, then comes the merit lists. Merit lists are released in November, December and January. Why are there multiple merit lists? Because people drop out last minute. So if you don't make it to the first merit list, pray someone else decides to drop their application so you can get onto the list. I know, super selfish, but there's no other way to make it onto the merit list. Usually, people change their mind and it creates seats for others to come onto the list so don't lose hope. In 2017-2018 application, the lowest mark was 896/1100 (81.5%)on the last merit list; however then they only had 15 seats for MBBS. Students who make it to the merit list need to confirm within 5 days by email or fax to PTAP and then the whole process of applying to the college/university starts. Keep in mind, they mention the college along with the student name on the merit list. Now you might be wondering, what's the point of the SAT Subject tests? Well, they're still important so don't forget them. When the merit lists are being made PTAP looks at students with the same equivalencies and chooses the one with the higher SAT subject test mark. So if 2 students both have a 905/1100, the student with the higher SAT Subject Test mark will get onto the list before. Now this is unconfirmed, but many sources say PTAP takes 50% of your grade from the SAT II, and 50% from your grade 11 and 12 marks (aka your HSSC/F.Sc in Pakistani education system).
I think I've said enough for the day :)
IMPORTANT NOTE: PTAP offers more than MBBS admissions. You can also do BDS, engineering, and pharmacy.
All the PTAP helpful links are attached below.
EAD (Economic Affairs Division) official website: http://www.ead.gov.pk/
FOR 2019-2020 APPLICATIONS
PTAP Application Form: http://www.ead.gov.pk/userfiles1/file/EAD/2019/Application_Form.pdf
PTAP Advertisement/Requirements: http://www.ead.gov.pk/userfiles1/file/EAD/2019/Advertisement_R.pdf
PTAP List of Institutions:
MERIT LIST
PTAP 2017-2018 Last Merit List:
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