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Started by donaldduckfanatic
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It would help having your school list. Did you confirm those schools accept international students according to their websites and MSAR data? I am skittish when I see "I heard these schools accept international students."

My impressions: your clinical experience is limited to endocrinology shadowing and helping cancer patients (500+ hours). But your description of your cancer center work seems like an auxiliary, running a store in your hospital for cancer patients. I don't know if you get a sense of what it is like to work in clinic, and I'm not sure if just endo + onc is enough coverage. Were these done in the United States?

Fundraising does not help you with service orientation, and you have a lot under your non-clinical volunteering that involves fundraising and event planning. Lots of tutoring or mentoring. Tell me why your global health experience isn't "voluntouring"; how many hours were you working on your mission vs. fundraising or recruiting?

Why didn't you apply to your Canadian institutions? Sure, it's extremely competitive, but your metrics should warrant some attention. Maybe that's what many American schools are thinking, especially given that you would ultimately need to show you can put 4 years of tuition in escrow before attending.
 
I also worked with nurses to coordinate blood test appointments with patients (i.e nurse gives me info about waiting times to tell the patient and tells me to call patients and lead them to the blood drawing room) but this was not memorable as i barely interacted with patients and was less memorable than the moments i had when fitting wigs on their heads or giving them snacks and chatting while they receive chemo. I also have 10 hours of shadowing a surgical oncologist. Endocrinology shadowing was done abroad, neither in canada or the US, and my other experiences were all in canada. The endocrinology shadowing was at a private clinic so my general impression is that this minimizes the effects of different health systems as private clinics are not subject to health system problems as much as public hospitals, but i could just be telling myself this to make me a bit less nervous about my lack of US shadowing.

I dont consider my global health work “voluntouring” because its my home country that im still very culturally and physically (through family) attached to. But please correct me if im wrong, im trying to pinpoint areas for improvement.

Thanks for replying!
 
donaldduckfanatic said:
I also worked with nurses to coordinate blood test appointments with patients (i.e nurse gives me info about waiting times to tell the patient and tells me to call patients and lead them to the blood drawing room) but this was not memorable as i barely interacted with patients and was less memorable than the moments i had when fitting wigs on their heads or giving them snacks and chatting while they receive chemo. I also have 10 hours of shadowing a surgical oncologist. Endocrinology shadowing was done abroad, neither in canada or the US, and my other experiences were all in canada. The endocrinology shadowing was at a private clinic so my general impression is that this minimizes the effects of different health systems as private clinics are not subject to health system problems as much as public hospitals, but i could just be telling myself this to make me a bit less nervous about my lack of US shadowing.

I dont consider my global health work “voluntouring” because its my home country that im still very culturally and physically (through family) attached to. But please correct me if im wrong, im trying to pinpoint areas for improvement.

Thanks for replying!
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Current geopolitics notwithstanding, you need more shadowing in the US if you can. We have a combination of public safety net, academic, and private hospitals with private practices affiliated with many of them or (rarely) standalone. Do you feel your application isn't competitive for Canadian schools?
 
Mr.Smile12 said:
Current geopolitics notwithstanding, you need more shadowing in the US if you can. We have a combination of public safety net, academic, and private hospitals with private practices affiliated with many of them or (rarely) standalone. Do you feel your application isn't competitive for Canadian schools?
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Unfortunately, my CARS score makes my application extremely uncompetitive in canada and i dont wanna risk a retake, so i applied to the US. It was a point lower than my FL average, but i still took the MCAT cause i was averaging higher on other sections as well so i thought it would be good enough for USMD.

Do you think there’s no chance i can get in with my current app again this year without the US shadowing? Also if i do start more in Canada, im worried it wont look as positive as it’s right before the cycle. Is there any truth to this?
 
donaldduckfanatic said:
Unfortunately, my CARS score makes my application extremely uncompetitive in canada and i dont wanna risk a retake, so i applied to the US. It was a point lower than my FL average, but i still took the MCAT cause i was averaging higher on other sections as well so i thought it would be good enough for USMD.

Do you think there’s no chance i can get in with my current app again this year without the US shadowing? Also if i do start more in Canada, im worried it wont look as positive as it’s right before the cycle. Is there any truth to this?
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What are significant improvements from your last profile? Did you post a WAMC profile here?
 
+150 hours volunteering at the same cancer clinic

will have another paper published

+200 hours of leading team to host outreach events to high school students at the cancer center

+ 200 leading global health non profit

+10 hours shadowing

+1800 hours of research
`
new role as career coordinator at the cancer centre hosting events to connect professionals with grad students

new role on DEI committee at cancer center
 
When you reapply, you should include both MD and DO schools. For MD schools I suggest these:
Wayne State
Michigan State
Central Michigan
Dartmouth
George Washington
Georgetown
Jefferson
Loma Linda (if you fit their mission)
New York Medical College
TCU
Tulane
Colorado
Illinois
Virginia Commonwealth
Washington University (in St. Louis)
For DO schools I suggest these:
CCOM
AZCOM
KCU-COM
LUCOM
MSUCOM
NSU-KPCOM
UNECOM
Touro-NY
WCU-COM
WESTERN
 
Faha said:
When you reapply, you should include both MD and DO schools. For MD schools I suggest these:
Wayne State
Michigan State
Central Michigan
Dartmouth
George Washington
Georgetown
Jefferson
Loma Linda (if you fit their mission)
New York Medical College
TCU
Tulane
Colorado
Illinois
Virginia Commonwealth
Washington University (in St. Louis)
For DO schools I suggest these:
CCOMobv
AZCOM
KCU-COM
LUCOM
MSUCOM
NSU-KPCOM
UNECOM
Touro-NY
WCU-COM
WESTERN
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Thanks! If I've been aiming for higher tiers which evidently didn't work out for me, but I'm just trying to figure out why. You didn't recommend any of the top research schools so it looks like you've maybe seen a gap that I can work on. Would you recommend retaking the MCAT? I'm asking cause I don't think mid-lower tier schools are more forgiving than higher tier ones when it comes to clinical experience, which I feel is my weak point. And I have a lot of research hours and a grad degree doing full time research, which I think higher tier schools value more than mid-lower tier schools. So I feel that my application is geared towards the research intensive schools
 
Faha said:
You do not need to retake a MCAT of 518. Applicants to high tier schools actually have more clinical and non clinical hours than applicants to lower tier schools.
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So would you say that the problem with my first app was non clinical and clinical hours? I know no one can pinpoint the exact reason, but i just feel stupid reapplying without knowing the reason i was rejected. Sorry for the many follow up qs, i just dont wanna make the same mistakes
 
donaldduckfanatic said:
So would you say that the problem with my first app was non clinical and clinical hours? I know no one can pinpoint the exact reason, but i just feel stupid reapplying without knowing the reason i was rejected. Sorry for the many follow up qs, i just dont wanna make the same mistakes
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Probably your non clinical volunteering hours (outside of teaching, fundraising and mentoring).
 
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Although you shouldn't retake a 518, it is a point or two too low for the stat-wh0re schools. That and being an international student is a problem that can't be easily corrected. On the other hand, getting more hours serving the most vulnerable in non-clinical settings is easily corrected.
 
LizzyM said:
Although you shouldn't retake a 518, it is a point or two too low for the stat-wh0re schools. That and being an international student is a problem that can't be easily corrected. On the other hand, getting more hours serving the most vulnerable in non-clinical settings is easily corrected.
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I still work at a crisis line and ive gone to schools on indigenous reserves to teach. Im planning on continuing with the crisis line, but ive seen your post about online non clinical volunteering, so im assuming you mean soup kitchen type volunteering? Thanks!
 
donaldduckfanatic said:
I still work at a crisis line and ive gone to schools on indigenous reserves to teach. Im planning on continuing with the crisis line, but ive seen your post about online non clinical volunteering, so im assuming you mean soup kitchen type volunteering? Thanks!
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Food distribution, shelter volunteer, job and tax preparation, legal support, transportation services, or housing rehabilitation. 150 hours at submission. For brand schools, 250 hours minimum recommended.
 
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