Russian/Ukrainian/Soviet Premeds/Applicants

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vasyaiya

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Anybody from the Eastern Block here trying to get into the med school in the states? How difficult is it for us to get an admission? How do we rank/stand out against everybody else? Any success stories? Recent attempts? Or just want to chat with russian/ukrainian or any former soviet premeds, please feel free to write.
 
vasyaiya said:
Anybody from the Eastern Block here trying to get into the med school in the states? How difficult is it for us to get an admission? How do we rank/stand out against everybody else? Any success stories? Recent attempts? Or just want to chat with russian/ukrainian or any former soviet premeds, please feel free to write.
Click to expand...


Hey there 😀

I was recently accepted to a school here in Cali.

The hardest thing for me was doing well on the evil evil MCAT because of the language issues. I thought my English was very good. . . until I got back the score 😱😱😱. And the sad thing about it is that most Americans sitting on ad comms don't know and don't care about how tough it is to MASTER a second language. Not just to say or read a few words, but to be truly fluent and to be able to think in a foreign language. . . . 🙁 'Cause that's what you have to be able to do to score well on the stupid test 👎

I think in most parts of the country we are somewhat of an exotic fruit, there's not a lot of us applying so it's easier to stand out

Born in the
cf_ussr.gif


:horns:😎:horns:
 
ya tozhe govoryu po russki 😀 (born and raised in mother Rossiya)
verbal was hell, but ok score results--priceless😛

there are so few of us though 🙁 that is not good.

oh and I use the "Russian Collection" OPI nail polish when getting manis with friends. does that make me more of a Russian? i make myself think that at times.

Also, Dorogie Russko-govoryashie pre-medi, S Novim Godom:hardy: schaste'm i zdorov'eim. where are pickles and Stoli?:hardy::hardy::hardy:
 
I'm from Ukraine, went to high school and college here. My pre-med advisor thinks me being from the former USSR country will only make me stand out and also he believes adcoms look good at people that come from Europe because we have a stronger educational background and etc. Hopefully that will help as I'm applying this summer!😀
 
yaaa iz ukraini. but i went to school here.

but still hopefully being an immigrant helps 🙂
 
Where's Jochi??
 
I am a graduate of St Petersburg State U , English major. I have a very hard time now - I did not get a degree in the US and applying with a foreign bachelor makes things very uncertain. also my verbal mcat sucked. So far, I do not have a single interview...
 
I was born in Kiev, Ukraine. You'd be surprised, but I actually had 3 or 4 Russian-speaking people on one of my interviews.

c novim godom rebyata y devchonki
 
privet y'all -- who knew there were so many of us? and i especially had no idea about pickle and doublecortin! (i sort of guessed with lisichka haha). interestingly, verbal was my highest subsection on the mcat (13)...if only the sciences were that high!
 
Eudjinn said:
I was born in Kiev, Ukraine. You'd be surprised, but I actually had 3 or 4 Russian-speaking people on one of my interviews.

c novim godom rebyata y devchonki
Click to expand...
😱😱😱, no way. I've had very few people with foreign accents at any of my interviews
 
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08675309 said:
privet y'all -- who knew there were so many of us? and i especially had no idea about pickle and doublecortin! (i sort of guessed with lisichka haha). interestingly, verbal was my highest subsection on the mcat (13)...if only the sciences were that high!
Click to expand...


😱:wow:. Sweet Mary mother of God!!!!!! I'd give up a kidney and half the liver for a 13 on verbal
 
ja jestem z Polska, poszedł wobec kolega tutaj
 
08675309 said:
privet y'all -- who knew there were so many of us? and i especially had no idea about pickle and doublecortin! (i sort of guessed with lisichka haha). interestingly, verbal was my highest subsection on the mcat (13)...if only the sciences were that high!
Click to expand...

Sorry - I didn't mean to deceive, I'm ... alas ... American. I just wondered into your thread to see if Jochi had posted. She is of Eastern European persuasion if I'm not mistaken. Carry on!
 
Doublecortin said:
😱:wow:. Sweet Mary mother of God!!!!!! I'd give up a kidney and half the liver for a 13 on verbal
Click to expand...

haha pochki tvoyi mne ne nuzhni, but what did you get on your physical sciences? maybe we can plan a secret soviet trade!😉
 
Doublecortin said:
😱😱😱, no way. I've had very few people with foreign accents at any of my interviews
Click to expand...

It's not always the accents that you should look for as a sign. I'd go by the name as a more reliable way to tell who's who. If you were to judge me by the accent you'd say I was a mafioso from Brooklyn (I've lived here for 16 years)
 
Eudjinn said:
It's not always the accents that you should look for as a sign. I'd go by the name as a more reliable way to tell who's who. If you were to judge me by the accent you'd say I was a mafioso from Brooklyn (I've lived here for 16 years)
Click to expand...

👍 and some of us don't have accents
 
Eudjinn said:
It's not always the accents that you should look for as a sign. I'd go by the name as a more reliable way to tell who's who. If you were to judge me by the accent you'd say I was a mafioso from Brooklyn (I've lived here for 16 years)
Click to expand...

All my life I've dreamed of becoming a mafioso...

(Alright, I'll leave your thread now!)
 
I met a Russian MD/PhD applicant at several interviews with me and she is hella cute. That accent is so sexy...
 
08675309 said:
haha pochki tvoyi mne ne nuzhni, but what did you get on your physical sciences? maybe we can plan a secret soviet trade!😉
Click to expand...


nah, I only got an 11 🙁 👎
 
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Gavaroo pa ruskiy y pa angleeskiy harashoh, comrade


Applying in 2 yrs, expecting to get pwnd on the mcat and die of an myocardial infarction coupled with an aneurysm
 
.
 
Last edited:
Vo pervih konechno,
Vseh pozdravlyayu s Novim Godom. (Samiy bolshoy i luchshiy prazdnik, kotoriy u nas est, bil i budet.)
Nadeyus etot noviy god prineset nam mnogo horoshego. Vo pervih konechno postupleniye v med school i nachalo novogo vitka nashey zhizni. My budem vrachami. Eto super zdorovo. Ochen zhal chto vrachi u nas ne v takom pochete kak zdes. Nu mozhet kogda-nibud oni stanut tak zhe uvazhaemi.
Born in Turkmen SSR to a Ukrainian father, tatar/bashkir mother. Raised in the USSR. Graduated from Kiev University of Technology and Design.
By the way i did get a lot of grins (and I bet denials from the adcoms) for not having US bachelor's. But God is good. I was accepted into med school on my first interview. I am waiting for 2 pending decisions, and have 3 more interview invites. I am going to only one of them though, in California.
MCAT 35: Verb 10, Phys 13, Bio 12. Essay miserable M. (Oh well. No one ever questioned that on my interviews). Translated/evaluated GPA 3.7
Good luck to all of us on this quest to become great physicians.
We do have an edge over everybody else. Hard work and discipline, ability to think outside the box and solve unsolvable problems separate us from the rest.
Write about your interviews, admissions, and denials here. We'll see how we are doing compared to the rest.
S Novim Godom.
🙂😍:laugh:🙂🙂🙂🙂
 
[Born in Turkmen SSR to a Ukrainian father, tatar/bashkir mother. Raised in the USSR. Graduated from Kiev University of Technology and Design.
By the way i did get a lot of grins (and I bet denials from the adcoms) for not having US bachelor's. But God is good. I was accepted into med school on my first interview. I am waiting for 2 pending decisions, and have 3 more interview invites. I am going to only one of them though, in California.
MCAT 35: Verb 10, Phys 13, Bio 12. Essay miserable M. (Oh well. No one ever questioned that on my interviews). Translated/evaluated GPA 3.7

Hi:
I also do not get this poor attitude to people like us from ADCOMS for not having US bachelor. Most of them are just so mean when you explain your situation and ask for help.
I took a lot of classes in this country though, all prerequisites.
Did you take your premed classes in Kiev or in the US? (they want physics, bio, math ect)? Or all your classes come from Kiev University ?
How did you evaluate your degree - through WES or any other place?
Congratulations and good luck!
 
Hey guys, I was born in the former USSR, now Belarus, but moved when I was 5. I grew up in Scotland and England though (I became a British citizen) but now I'm a permanent resident here.

Nice to see this thread! 🙂
 
Hi:
I also do not get this poor attitude to people like us from ADCOMS for not having US bachelor. Most of them are just so mean when you explain your situation and ask for help.
I took a lot of classes in this country though, all prerequisites.
Did you take your premed classes in Kiev or in the US? (they want physics, bio, math ect)? Or all your classes come from Kiev University ?
How did you evaluate your degree - through WES or any other place?
Congratulations and good luck!

I took my physical sciences in Kiev. I took biology here. I also graduated from a nursing program in the states. Lots of clinical experience.
I evaluated my degree through one of the recognised services. I cann't remember which one now. I think there is 6 or 7 of them. Wes probably being the most famous. So use that one, if needed.
If you took all your prereqs here and have bachelors from out of country, you should be ok. Most schools will accept your bachelors if you have 1-2 years of US coursework, especially if prereqs are from here. So that should not be a problem. Also a strong MCAT will help a bit. They look at it as a validation of your education and knowledge.
There are some schools that will not accept foreign coursework at all. They will also need bachelors from the us college or university. You usually can find out that information on the admission page in requirements section. It is normally plainly stated. If in doubt, email adcom and clarify the policy about foreign coursework/degree. I researched every single school (125) and applied to a big number of them. I would say that 50% of schools will be ok with your stats. Good luck with the process. Post your success here.
Any more questions please feel free to ask.
 
Soviet Russia jokes were so last year.
 
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I took my physical sciences in Kiev. I took biology here. I also graduated from a nursing program in the states. Lots of clinical experience.
I evaluated my degree through one of the recognised services. I cann't remember which one now. I think there is 6 or 7 of them. Wes probably being the most famous. So use that one, if needed.
If you took all your prereqs here and have bachelors from out of country, you should be ok. Most schools will accept your bachelors if you have 1-2 years of US coursework, especially if prereqs are from here. So that should not be a problem. Also a strong MCAT will help a bit. They look at it as a validation of your education and knowledge.
There are some schools that will not accept foreign coursework at all. They will also need bachelors from the us college or university. You usually can find out that information on the admission page in requirements section. It is normally plainly stated. If in doubt, email adcom and clarify the policy about foreign coursework/degree. I researched every single school (125) and applied to a big number of them. I would say that 50% of schools will be ok with your stats. Good luck with the process. Post your success here.
Any more questions please feel free to ask.[/quote]


Thanks for reply!
I blew my verbal section of MCAT (5), but everything else is fine with my application. But... so far no big success - only rejections and 2 pre-interview holds. Seems like I'll have to retake MCAT and reapply next year...
How did you get such a great score on Verbal (10)? Are you a native speaker of English?
I lived in the US for 5 years, but this did not help me with verbal.
 
Thanks for reply!
I blew my verbal section of MCAT (5), but everything else is fine with my application. But... so far no big success - only rejections and 2 pre-interview holds. Seems like I'll have to retake MCAT and reapply next year...
How did you get such a great score on Verbal (10)? Are you a native speaker of English?
I lived in the US for 5 years, but this did not help me with verbal.[/quote]

No, I lived here just over 7 years. My verbal sucked also when I started studying. I did score 7 on my diagnostic. I took Kaplan, which I found to be very very helpful. My average was 7-9. Only once I hit a 10 on my prep test. On the real thing I did better than most of the times during practice. I think the key in verbal is speed. At first I would not finish with at least 2 passages. Reading speed is very important. I tried to read a passage from the book in my 10 minute break before jumping on Verbal. It really helps set your mind on it. Kaplan recommends reading magazine, journals on a daily basis to get ready for verbal. And also focus on main topic, not on details. You can find details if needed. The whole idea is to understand the passage, not to memorize it. But honestly I was "freaken" impressed with my 10, as much as you are.
Retaking MCAT is a good idea. Your magic numbers are 10-V, 10-P, 11-B. And do not take mcat again unles you are hitting these numbers in practice. It is a waiste of money and time. And schools do not like to see 2 low scores and one high. All they want is just one high score.
Good luck to you.
 
vasyaiya said:
Thanks for reply!
I blew my verbal section of MCAT (5), but everything else is fine with my application. But... so far no big success - only rejections and 2 pre-interview holds. Seems like I'll have to retake MCAT and reapply next year...
How did you get such a great score on Verbal (10)? Are you a native speaker of English?
I lived in the US for 5 years, but this did not help me with verbal.
Click to expand...

No, I lived here just over 7 years. My verbal sucked also when I started studying. I did score 7 on my diagnostic. I took Kaplan, which I found to be very very helpful. My average was 7-9. Only once I hit a 10 on my prep test. On the real thing I did better than most of the times during practice. I think the key in verbal is speed. At first I would not finish with at least 2 passages. Reading speed is very important. I tried to read a passage from the book in my 10 minute break before jumping on Verbal. It really helps set your mind on it. Kaplan recommends reading magazine, journals on a daily basis to get ready for verbal. And also focus on main topic, not on details. You can find details if needed. The whole idea is to understand the passage, not to memorize it. But honestly I was "freaken" impressed with my 10, as much as you are.
Retaking MCAT is a good idea. Your magic numbers are 10-V, 10-P, 11-B. And do not take mcat again unles you are hitting these numbers in practice. It is a waiste of money and time. And schools do not like to see 2 low scores and one high. All they want is just one high score.
Good luck to you.[/quote]

Thanks !
 
aww, comrads! i love this helping one another out business😍
 
My gf is Russian...That is all I have to contribute👍.
 
i dont think adcoms will view us as a minority... russians are white. But Yay for ruskiiis!
 
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Privet!

S Novim Godom!

Eudjinn said:
I was born in Kiev, Ukraine. You'd be surprised, but I actually had 3 or 4 Russian-speaking people on one of my interviews.
Click to expand...


Sup, bro!

Brooklyn goes to NYCOM, huh?

I also was accepted there. I have a few russian-speaking friends in the school.

I've been in the US for less than 5 yrs. Transfered from university in Russia.

Maybe that was the reason I messed up my verbal [VR 6 - PS 12 - BS 10 - O]. GPA from Brooklyn College 3.873

Well, still have few interviews coming. Keeping fingers crossed. 😉

😛:clap:😆
 
ya rusko-govoryashii amerikanets. Zhil b Rossiye na nekotorii let. S novim godom vcyem i uspekha, zdorovya i chistikh zubov!
 
patzan said:
ya rusko-govoryashii amerikanets. Zhil b Rossiye na nekotorii let. S novim godom vcyem i uspekha, zdorovya i chistikh zubov!
Click to expand...

wow that's awesome! i don't know many americans that choose to learn russian, i commend you! 🙂
 
academician2008 said:
Privet!

S Novim Godom!




Sup, bro!

Brooklyn goes to NYCOM, huh?

I also was accepted there. I have a few russian-speaking friends in the school.

I've been in the US for less than 5 yrs. Transfered from university in Russia.

Maybe that was the reason I messed up my verbal [VR 6 - PS 12 - BS 10 - O]. GPA from Brooklyn College 3.873

Well, still have few interviews coming. Keeping fingers crossed. 😉

😛:clap:😆
Click to expand...

ahem, and he's also a model and dancer...😍
 
Bump it to the top.
 
08675309 said:
ahem, and he's also a model and dancer...😍
Click to expand...


yeah, trying hard not to limit myself with college walls... 🙂

life should be fun, right? :laugh::banana:

are you applying too?
 
Good to know that we have a strong tribe. I'm originally from Latvia. Came here 15 years ago.

Nadeyus shto mi budim odnoklasniki 🙂
 
S proshedshim tovarishi! Originally from Kyrgyzstan, I've been living in the States since 9th grade.
 
academician2008 said:
yeah, trying hard not to limit myself with college walls... 🙂

life should be fun, right? :laugh::banana:

are you applying too?
Click to expand...

aha 🙂 udachi tebe, i'm sure you'll be fine with your great credentials. you'll have to tell us about your uspekhi 😉
 
We need more acceptances on this thread. Write about your interviews and results. We need more encouragement.
Good luck.
 
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