3.93 cGPA, 516 MCAT, international reapplicant

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tayn

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Hi all,

Non-Canadian international applicant looking for guidance after a previous unsuccessful cycle. I had applied to 13 schools, all MD/PhD, transferred into the MD pool if the option was available after MD/PhD rejection, and received only one II, from Harvard.

This year, I retook the MCAT and added a new volunteering activity based on feedback from 3 admissions officers at 3 different schools. I also applied to 27 schools, all MD-only, but finished secondaries in late August/early September since my MCAT score came out August 18.

Do I have a good chance at getting in somewhere with these improvements and broader school list? Should I apply to DO schools as well? Thanks for any recommendations you can give, and I'll be happy to give any more details that may be helpful!

cGPA - 3.93
sGPA - 3.97

MCAT
Aug 2013 - 32 (10/11/11)
Jul 2015 - 516 (129/129/130/128)

Clinical Volunteering
- No One Dies Alone, projected 150 hr by fall 2016
- Comfort Cart, 100 hr

Non-clinical Volunteering
- Habitat for Humanity, 200 hr

Shadowing
- general surgery, 20 hr
- emergency medicine, 15 hr
- pediatric endocrinology, 50 hr

Research
- clinical and bench research on a rare disease, ongoing and 2 yr so far
- undergraduate research in 2 labs, 2.5 yr
- 1 co-first author publication of 3 listed in PubMed, out of 5 total
- presented at Pediatric Academic Societies meeting

Employment
- receptionist at buildings & grounds department, 1500 hr

Extracurriculars
- vice president of biology club, 150 hr
- officer of campus EMT team, 300 hr

Extra
- graduated 2013 in 3 years with departmental honors
- Phi Beta Kappa

Schools, listed by median MCAT
Rosalind Franklin
Penn State
NYMC
SUNY Upstate
Dartmouth
Jefferson
Stony Brook
Tulane
Albert Einstein
BU
Duke
Emory
Case Western
Columbia
Johns Hopkins
Pitt
UVA
Harvard
Mount Sinai
Northwestern
Stanford
UChicago
Vanderbilt
Cornell
Yale
UPenn
WUSTL

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Invest in MSAR, and target the 62 MD schools that accepted more than a few internationals. MSU is one of them, I believe.

And yes, consider DO schools too. There are at least 14 that will take you. Mine alas, requires green card.
 
Invest in MSAR, and target the 62 MD schools that accepted more than a few internationals. MSU is one of them, I believe.

And yes, consider DO schools too. There are at least 14 that will take you. Mine alas, requires green card.

Thank you for your advice @Goro ! I did use the MSAR to make my list. From the 68 medical schools that I found there, I removed the ones that were HBCU, Canadian, Caribbean, or mission-focused schools. I also removed schools that interviewed and/or accepted fewer than 3 international applicants. The 27 above basically represent the remainder.

MSU was one that interviewed 2 and accepted 2, so I took it off the list.

Is the timing still alright to apply for DO schools this cycle?
 
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Yes, the DO cycle is longer. You're fine even through Dec.


Thank you for your advice @Goro ! I did use the MSAR to make my list. From the 68 medical schools that I found there, I removed the ones that were HBCU, Canadian, Caribbean, or mission-focused schools. I also removed schools that interviewed and/or accepted fewer than 3 international applicants. The 27 above basically represent the remainder.

MSU was one that interviewed 2 and accepted 2, so I took it off the list.

Is the timing still alright to apply for DO schools this cycle?
 
Thanks again! I will be applying for DO as soon as I can. And if you could say, do you have an idea of what chance my success with the MD schools is?

Yes, the DO cycle is longer. You're fine even through Dec.
 
While your stats are impressive, especially those GPAs, your list looks extremely top-heavy. A lot of those schools would be tough to get into for a U.S. citizen (even with those stats). I still think you've got a pretty decent shot with MD though, assuming your interview skills are solid.

Goro already said it, but you're still fine for the majority of DO schools, especially with your numbers. If you haven't started an app with AACOMAS yet, I'd avoid KCU, otherwise I don't know any other schools where it's too late to apply.
 
While your stats are impressive, especially those GPAs, your list looks extremely top-heavy. A lot of those schools would be tough to get into for a U.S. citizen (even with those stats). I still think you've got a pretty decent shot with MD though, assuming your interview skills are solid.

Goro already said it, but you're still fine for the majority of DO schools, especially with your numbers. If you haven't started an app with AACOMAS yet, I'd avoid KCU, otherwise I don't know any other schools where it's too late to apply.
That is the very nature of the international dilemma.
They can only apply to the schools that will consider them.
 
Thanks for your reply @Stagg737 ! Yeah, it's an incredibly top-heavy list - a result of most schools that accept internationals being top tier. I haven't started the AACOMAS app, yet, so is the reasoning behind avoiding KCU because their cycle is earlier than other schools?

While your stats are impressive, especially those GPAs, your list looks extremely top-heavy. A lot of those schools would be tough to get into for a U.S. citizen (even with those stats). I still think you've got a pretty decent shot with MD though, assuming your interview skills are solid.

Goro already said it, but you're still fine for the majority of DO schools, especially with your numbers. If you haven't started an app with AACOMAS yet, I'd avoid KCU, otherwise I don't know any other schools where it's too late to apply.
 
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Thanks for your reply @Stagg737 ! Yeah, it's an incredibly top-heavy list - a result of most schools that accept internationals being top tier. I haven't started the AACOMAS app, yet, so is the reasoning behind avoiding KCU because their cycle is earlier than other schools?

It's unfortunate, but if that's how it is, then I wish you the best. Yes, KCU has filled it's class by the end of December the past few years. So even if you submitted your primary app today you wouldn't be finished until mid November/December and would likely end up interviewing for the waitlist. There are plenty of excellent DO schools that it is certainly not too late to submit a primary to though. If you're going to apply DO, I'd get it submitted asap and I think you'd get more than a few ii's.
 
It's also worth asking where are you a re-applicant at(ie where did you apply last cycle)
 
@GrapesofRath , here is the list of the schools I applied to last cycle, all of which considered MD/PhD applications from internationals. I have reapplied to all of them this cycle, but MD-only:

Albert Einstein
BU
Columbia
Dartmouth
Harvard
Johns Hopkins
Northwestern
Penn State
UPenn
Rosalind Franklin
SUNY Upstate
Jefferson
Pitt
Cornell

It's also worth asking where are you a re-applicant at(ie where did you apply last cycle)
 
Rosalind Franklin
NYMC
Stony Brook
Tulane
Duke
Emory
Case Western
UVA
Harvard
Mount Sinai
Northwestern
Stanford
UChicago
Vanderbilt
Yale
UPenn
WUSTL


While you could possibly be pleasantly surprised, I wouldn't count from much love from the schools you are a re-applicant at, particularly some of the bigger names.

What I highlighted above are the schools where you will be a first time applicant. Very very top heavy, but as gyngyn alluded to above, that's kind of how it has to go for Canadians. Even as a US applicant, schools like WASHU, Penn, Yale, Chicago and Stanford would be pretty long shots(you are right around their 10th percentile MCAT). Considering you got a II from Harvard last cycle, there obviously is something in your app that is rather appealing and stands out. So that leaves reach schools like Northwestern, Mt Sinai, UVA, Case, Emory and Duke(where you are below their MCAT median and would be reaches even for US applicants) and Tulane, Stony Brook NYMC and Rosalind as the lower tiers which might be more attainable. Obviously, the odds aren't maybe as favorable as you would like, but let's see how this cycle goes. An II from Harvard last cycle should at least keep you a bit optimistic.

IF you are open to DO applications, you will find much much more success.
 
Thanks very much for your thoughtful reply @GrapesofRath ! Yes, it's not looking very good so far MD-wise. Since I started this post and people suggested definitely apply DO, I've already run into a couple of problems looking up DO schools (a school on AACOM's list that says they accept internationals but isn't this cycle, another school that needs a public speaking class requirement I don't have). Hope some of the other schools on their list are places I can actually apply to!

While you could possibly be pleasantly surprised, I wouldn't count from much love from the schools you are a re-applicant at, particularly some of the bigger names.

What I highlighted above are the schools where you will be a first time applicant. Very very top heavy, but as gyngyn alluded to above, that's kind of how it has to go for Canadians. Even as a US applicant, schools like WASHU, Penn, Yale, Chicago and Stanford would be pretty long shots(you are right around their 10th percentile MCAT). Considering you got a II from Harvard last cycle, there obviously is something in your app that is rather appealing and stands out. So that leaves reach schools like Northwestern, Mt Sinai, UVA, Case, Emory and Duke(where you are below their MCAT median and would be reaches even for US applicants) and Tulane, Stony Brook NYMC and Rosalind as the lower tiers which might be more attainable. Obviously, the odds aren't maybe as favorable as you would like, but let's see how this cycle goes. An II from Harvard last cycle should at least keep you a bit optimistic.

IF you are open to DO applications, you will find much much more success.
 
Thanks very much for your thoughtful reply @GrapesofRath ! Yes, it's not looking very good so far MD-wise. Since I started this post and people suggested definitely apply DO, I've already run into a couple of problems looking up DO schools (a school on AACOM's list that says they accept internationals but isn't this cycle, another school that needs a public speaking class requirement I don't have). Hope some of the other schools on their list are places I can actually apply to!
Look at these:

AZCOM
Ccom
Kcumb
Lecom
Lmu
Marian
Msucom
Pcom
Pcom ga
Nova
VCOM (x2)
Rowan
Touro
Unecom
Tcom
Western
Pikeville
 
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