Please help me make to decide when to apply (almost permanent resident and non-traditional)

[tomiyan]

Hey guys,

I spent 6 years on biomedical research in Japan after graduation from an American University, but I decided to go to a medical school in the states.
Would you guys help me make a plan for a few years to come?

Here is my background.
1. I am turning 29 in February 2015.
2. I am a Japanese citizen
3. I have a fiance who is American; hence, please assume I will get a permanent residency once I move to the US.
4. Zero shadowing hours. (I am asking an US naval hospital in Japan if I can shadow the doctors there, but I have not received any replies yet. So I might have to move to the states first in order to get shadowing experience before apply.)

Let's say the US naval hospital lets me shadow the doctors. we have two plans.

Plan 1.
Apply in 2015.
If I get accepted, we'll move to the US early enough in 2016 to be eligible for financial aid.
If I get rejected, we'll move to the US anyway, so that I will have a permanent residency by the time I send the application in 2016.

Plan 2. We are also thinking of sending my first application in 2016 and moving in 2017.

I am concerned with age discrimination during admission process. In Japan, they say you are significantly disadvantaged if you are 30 or older. I know the US schools say they don't discriminate by age. But I am afraid sometimes it does not work like that in the real world. So I wonder if there is a trend for a certain age in the US similar to that in Japan. In this point of view, Plan 1 seems better to me.

However, it cost a lot of money to move and start a life in a new country, so we would like to save money. We are not sure if we can save enough by 2016. This is why we are considering Plan 2.

So which do you think is more beneficial for us? I know some amazing people were accepted when they were 50 or older in the past, but please provide me with the idea or information that applies to the majority or the average people.

Also, how advantageous is it to be a registered resident of a particular state if I am applying to the public schools that accept both in-state and out-of-state applicants? If the state residency significantly increase the chance of getting accepted, I would consider working for a year after moving to the states.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[deleted651092]

Wait until you've become a permanent citizen BEFORE applying to med schools, you'll have a better chance of getting accepted somewhere. Don't worry about your age, lots of people start med school in their 30s.

 

[tomiyan]

Wait until you've become a permanent citizen BEFORE applying to med schools, you'll have a better chance of getting accepted somewhere. Don't worry about your age, lots of people start med school in their 30s.

Thank you ptr28. I think we'll wait til we have enough money to move comfortably.

I understand the chance of getting accepted as an international student is really really low, but I was going to apply as an international student first just to see and feel lucky to be able to work as a physician a year longer if I got accepted.
Of course, if I get rejected the first time, I will re-apply in the following year as a permanent resident.
Do you think there are any downsides of doing that besides wasting money and effort? For example, does it make you less competitive if you apply the same school twice?