WAMC: International Student, 3.76 sGPA 3.81 cGPA, 514->512 MCAT

[artsygirl02]

I am an international student currently doing my undergrad in the US, and I will be starting my final year for my 4-year Bachelors in Biomedical Engineering.

cGPA: 3.81
sGPA: 3.76
MCAT score: 514 (131/125/129/129) on Jan 27, 2023 and 512 (129/125/129/129) on Jun 3, 2023
Country of Citizenship: South Asia
Undergrad: UNC Chapel Hill
Clinical Experience: 150 hrs as a volunteer at Free clinics (basically worked as a MA) and 200 hrs volunteer at the hospital ED as a behavior health companion and aide. No actual work experience due to visa restrictions (it's complicated)

Research: 1300 hrs in two labs related to regenerative medicine. Middle author in a publication under review with Nature Communications from first lab. Doing honors thesis project with second lab right now

Non-clinical volunteering: Adapting toys for children with disabilities (150 hrs), helping refugee families adjust to living in the US (150 hrs), swim instructor with Special Olympics (90 hrs), volunteer at Ronald McDonald House in Children's hospital where I provided support to families (60 hrs)

Shadowing: 50 hours with Family medicine and 20 hrs Emergency Medicine at time of application

Leadership: One of the senior officers who helped start a STEM mentorship service for underserved schools in NC. Outreach officer in the biggest dance company at my campus.

Extracurriculars: A modern jazz choreographer for beginner dances in the dance company, laser cutting and painting as a hobby

Other things: No work experience due to visa status- I was only able to volunteer. I am now on a student visa but that happened very recently (this June). I recently learned my decrease in MCAT can be a huge red flag. My retake was during the time my visa status was being changed and it was a stressful time, but I recognize that since I was in such a situation, I should have pushed the date back if I was determined to retake. Any advice or comments specific to this particular aspect would be really appreciated (how adcoms might view it, how to talk about it if asked, etc.) I also am thinking about applying to some MD/PhD programs because of my passion for regenerative medicine research.

School List:
Target
Rutgers NJMS (I have ties to NJ- my parents live there and have property)
Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson
NYUSOM-LI
Sidney Kimmel
SUNY Norton
University of Colorado SOM (some ties due to family friends in the state)
West Virginia University SOM
University of Illinois College of Medicine (some ties due to family friends in the state)
Tulane

Reach
Renaissance - Stony Brook
Boston University
UNC Chapel Hill
Dartmouth
Emory

Far Reach and MD/PhD
Icahn at Mount Sinai
Case Western
Harvard (MD and MD/PhD)
WashU at St. Louis (MD/PhD)
Medical University of South Carolina (MD/PhD)
Northwestern (MD/PhD)

My app will likely to get verified next week and I have finished about half of the secondaries (mostly for my target schools). I would appreciate any advice on schools I should add/remove from this list, along with my chances for this cycle.

Main Concerns (tldr)
- International student - is it worth applying with my stats
- 2 point drop in MCAT - did not think this would be viewed so negatively and would appreciate honest views on this. Do I have no hope because of this on top of my international student status?
- No work experience due to visa but I was able to write meaningfully about my volunteer experiences

Thank you in advance!!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

You can see if your parent's property ownership is helpful for NJ schools when it comes to establishing residency, but only some schools will consider anyone not already a citizen or permanent resident. I would also encourage you to consider M.S. or Ph.D. programs that would accept international applicants until you get a green card.

 

[artsygirl02]

You can see if your parent's property ownership is helpful for NJ schools when it comes to establishing residency, but only some schools will consider anyone not already a citizen or permanent resident. I would also encourage you to consider M.S. or Ph.D. programs that would accept international applicants until you get a green card.

Thank you so much for your reply! I will definitely look into MS and PhD programs for biomedical engineering soon. I have also made this school list based on whether they matriculated international students recently, so I am hoping they will at least give me a chance

 

[Pipi&Pomegranate]

International student here applying this year! Unfortunately, I think as international students, ties dont mean much, since we are not even technically resident. Rutgers favor citizen/resident over international students so I would not put a lot of hope on it. I would say expand your clinical experience and research significantly, maybe considering a gap year or two and then apply to a bunch of schools (I applied to all that even say they would consider international students!)

 

[Faha]

Your chances are better at DO schools and I suggest these:
AZCOM
CCOM
KCU-COM
UNECOM
MSUCOM
NSU-KPCOM
WESTERN
WCU-COM
Touro-NY

 

[gyngyn]

There are schools on your list that matriculated no international students (Rutgers), or just one (RWJ and early decision at that), or 2 (WVU).
If you intend on on an MD application, purchase the MSAR and apply to any that match your stats and have matriculated at least 3! Any less than that are likely to be inside candidates. If it saves you even one faulty application, it will have paid for itself threefold.

 

[artsygirl02]

International student here applying this year! Unfortunately, I think as international students, ties dont mean much, since we are not even technically resident. Rutgers favor citizen/resident over international students so I would not put a lot of hope on it. I would say expand your clinical experience and research significantly, maybe considering a gap year or two and then apply to a bunch of schools (I applied to all that even say they would consider international students!)

Nice to meet a fellow international applicant! I wish I could take gap years but my visa stuff has made it a bit challenging. Nevertheless, I will definitely try to do as you suggested if I do not get in this cycle. Thank you for your advice!

 

[artsygirl02]

Your chances are better at DO schools and I suggest these:
AZCOM
CCOM
KCU-COM
UNECOM
MSUCOM
NSU-KPCOM
WESTERN
WCU-COM
Touro-NY

Thank you so much!! Was considering applying DO too and this list is super helpful!

 

[artsygirl02]

There are schools on your list that matriculated no international students (Rutgers), or just one (RWJ and early decision at that), or 2 (WVU).
If you intend on on an MD application, purchase the MSAR and apply to any match your stats and have matriculated at least 3! Any less than that are likely to be inside candidates. If it saves you even one faulty application, it will have paid for itself threefold.

I chose Rutgers since my parents are tax-paying residents there and in the process of applying for green card so I was hoping that would benefit me. Do you think that will not be the case?
But I do see your point and will remove WVU! I do have MSAR- I just wanted to take the chance since there are such limited schools you can apply to as an international student and with my stats

 

[gyngyn]

I chose Rutgers since my parents are tax-paying residents there and in the process of applying for green card so I was hoping that would benefit me. Do you think that will not be the case?
But I do see your point and will remove WVU! I do have MSAR- I just wanted to take the chance since there are such limited schools you can apply to as an international student and with my stats

If you possess a green card at the time of your application, do apply; but all non-citizens pay taxes...
A green card can take years, if not decades.
You have the right to take chances. It is our job to point out that these are (very) long odds. Zero matriculants is real data.