Advice Needed

[tzhbf]

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Greetings to all forum members:
I am a premed at a U.S University recently i have came across the opportunity to study abroad in a top ranked chinese medical school for a year. I will be able to take many of the 4th,5th year clinical rotations and classes with the chinese medical students. I am debuting rather to go or not to go because of the obvious one year time needed
to spare. Will this one year experience help me become more competitive when applying to medical school here in the U.S? Will the Medical school's admission board take notice of this clinical exposure? The bottom line is, will this one year spend be a important factor in my application's success? My Science GPA is 3.5
Mcat score is 28.

 

[lobster M.D.]

go because it would be a great life experience, not because of medical school, but for medical school, get a higher mcat

 

[tzhbf]

go because it would be a great life experience, not because of medical school, but for medical school, get a higher mcat

I am working on improving my MCAT score, my goal is to get atleast a 33 this april. From what i've read it seems that clinical experiences are very crucial in the application's success along with High GPA and good MCAT score. Even though it'd be a good life experience if it will not help me i'd rather spend that one year voluteering and doing research in the States.

 

[omgwtfbbq?]

how did you get this opportunity? it sounds great!

 

[OwnageMobile]

It seems to me, anecdotally, that adcoms tend to eat up the foreign study. I think it would be great experience, hella unique too. And yes, deffinitely work on that MCAT if you want to be competitive.

 

[tzhbf]

how did you get this opportunity? it sounds great!

The dean of the school was a research collaborator with my father.

 

[Flopotomist]

I would say that it depends on what your motivation is. If you motivation is to do something unique and cool - go for it. If it is to do something to help you get into medical school - I would say DON'T do it. With your stats, if you apply broad enough, you have a pretty good shot at getting in somewhere without waiting an extra year. Just my thoughts.

 

[tzhbf]

I realized that this is a unique opportunity for me to get the exposure to the medical education system of another country, but right now what i really need is clinical experience which i lack. I will definately go if the adcom will count this experience as clinical. If i go i will probably also be doing alot of humanitarian work in that country doing the breaks. Thanks everyone for their thoughts!

 

[CANES2006]

I would say that it depends on what your motivation is. If you motivation is to do something unique and cool - go for it. If it is to do something to help you get into medical school - I would say DON'T do it. With your stats, if you apply broad enough, you have a pretty good shot at getting in somewhere without waiting an extra year. Just my thoughts.

I second this post.

 

[tzhbf]

I second this post.

🙄 I am trying to find any excuse to go other than "better life experience". If it should only benefit me adventure wise then i will consider doing a year of research here in the states instead and take more classes to raise my GPA. Maybe i'll go next year.

 

[skypilot]

It will benefit your application. The only question is whether you are doing it because you want to. (good reason) or just for your application (bad reason) because there are easier ways to boost your application: Kaplan course, volunteer in a Hospital, etc.

But it looks like a fantastic opportunity to broaden your horizons so I would go if you have any inclination.

 

[tzhbf]

It will benefit your application. The only question is whether you are doing it because you want to. (good reason) or just for your application (bad reason) because there are easier ways to boost your application: Kaplan course, volunteer in a Hospital, etc.

But it looks like a fantastic opportunity to broaden your horizons so I would go if you have any inclination.

🙂 Thank You Skypilot....By the way from your experience how good of basic science skills are required for lets say if i were to do the clincal rotations with the rest of the chinese medical students? Thanks again for everyone's input.

 

[skypilot]

If you are doing the clinical skills without the basic sciences you will not have a complete understanding of what you are doing. For instance you won't be know the drugs effects on physiology and why they are prescribed.

But you will probably pick up a lot of basic knowledge along the way and hopefully have fun too. Again I wouldn't choose this project because you think it will give you a leg up in med school. Only do it if you think it will be fun for you.