Help with school list plz (4.0/526/international student)

[harder]

Hey physician scientists! Please help me with my school list. I feel mine is very unbalanced and really appreciate any advice/critique!

2.5 yrs of research w/ 5 publications (2nd and 3rd author) and own thesis project
Research interest: regenerative medicine; neurology; immunology (I want to explore more!)

School list:

MD-PhD

1. Harvard Medical School (MD/PhD, HST)
2. Perelman Upenn (MD/PhD)
3. Cornell Tri-I (MD/PhD)
4. Washington University at St. Louis (MD/PhD)
5. John Hopkins U (MD/PhD)
6. Northwestern (MD-PhD)
7. U Chicago (MD/PhD)
8. Yale (MD/PhD)
9. Columbia U College of P&S (MD/PhD)
10. Mayo Clinic (MD/PhD)
11. Vanderbilt University (MD/PhD)
12. Northwestern (MD/PhD)
13. UVA (MD/PhD)
14. Emory (MD-PhD)
15. UC Davis (MD-PhD)
16. Baylor College of Medicine (MD/PhD)
17. UT southwestern (MD-PhD)
18. Icahn Mt. Sinai (MD-PhD)
19. Geisel Dartmouth (MD/PhD)
20. Boston University (MD/PhD)
21. UT San Antonio (MD-PhD)
22. Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and Princeton University (MD-PhD
23. Medical College of Wisconsin (MD-PhD)
24. Medical College of South Carolina (MD-PhD)
25. Penn State (MD-PhD)
26. T. Jefferson U S. Kimmel (MD-PhD)
27. Chicago Franklin U (MD-PhD)
28. AECOM (MD/PhD)
29. State U of NY, Upstate (MD-PhD)
30. Stony Brook U (MD-PhD)
31. U of Connecticut (MD-PhD)
32. U of Kentucky (MD-PhD)
33. U of Minnesota (MD/PhD)
34. U of Missouri, Columbia (MD/PhD)
35. U of Pittsburgh (MD/PhD)

MD

1. UCSF (MD) w/ Master in clinical and translational research
2. Cleveland clinic- case western reserve university (research MD)
3. Saint Louis University
4. U Hawaii John A. Burns
5. Loma Linda U

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[soporific]

I think you can cut your list down to under 20 total. You obviously have excellent stats and if you have 5 publications (are any first author?) you are well set. Would suggest, at least for applications, narrowing your research interests. That being said, it may be OK to present different research interests to different schools depending on their strengths (as long as you are truly interested in them!).

 

[mynameistoolong]

A lot of schools on that list don't take internationals. Pritzker, Yale, Mayo, funded Hopkins spots, Davis, RWJMS, Rosalind Franklin, Stony Brook, Kentucky, Missouri, and Pitt are all no-gos (for MSTP. Some of the MDs will take you). Some of those take Canadians, but I saw that you aren't. Double-check each program yourself though.

For MD, UCSF and Hawaii don't take internationals either as far as I know (UCSF will consider you on paper, but doesn't take any).

I don't think you should cut any schools (after getting rid of those you're ineligible for) since you're international, but you shouldn't need to add any since you have 5 pubs (not that you could).

 

[harder]

I think you can cut your list down to under 20 total. You obviously have excellent stats and if you have 5 publications (are any first author?) you are well set. Would suggest, at least for applications, narrowing your research interests. That being said, it may be OK to present different research interests to different schools depending on their strengths (as long as you are truly interested in them!).

My previous research experience is in regenerative medicine but I became interested in neuro and immuno during shadowing. Shall I focus more on fields related to my research experience when applying?

 

[harder]

A lot of schools on that list don't take internationals. Pritzker, Yale, Mayo, funded Hopkins spots, Davis, RWJMS, Rosalind Franklin, Stony Brook, Kentucky, Missouri, and Pitt are all no-gos (for MSTP. Some of the MDs will take you). Some of those take Canadians, but I saw that you aren't. Double-check each program yourself though.

For MD, UCSF and Hawaii don't take internationals either as far as I know (UCSF will consider you on paper, but doesn't take any).

I don't think you should cut any schools (after getting rid of those you're ineligible for) since you're international, but you shouldn't need to add any since you have 5 pubs (not that you could).

Thanks for the detailed suggestions! I am really confused on what schools do accept internationals and what don't. The MD-PhD school list with international/Canadian information from AAMC website (attached below) listed the schools that you said are no-gos. Did you mean that they just say "yes" on paper and don't really consider internationals in practice?

 

[mynameistoolong]

That survey is from 2012. It's a good start, but check individual school websites. Mayo stopped accepting non-Canadians 3 years ago and Pitt stopped this past cycle (found out the hard way... waste of money).

 

[harder]

That survey is from 2012. It's a good start, but check individual school websites. Mayo stopped accepting non-Canadians 3 years ago and Pitt stopped this past cycle (found out the hard way).

Wow I didn't know that! Thank you for sharing your experience!

 

[Fencer]

There should be an updated list by this summer. An email requesting information went to the PDs a few weeks ago.

 

[harder]

There should be an updated list by this summer. An email requesting information went to the PDs a few weeks ago.

Thank you for that inside information!