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[grdsx]

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[gyngyn]

Primary care shadowing is my recommendation.
What did you do in Panama?

 

[gyngyn]

Thank you for the help! I plan on reaching out to my primary care physician to see if an opportunity is available.

In Panama, me and my organization went out to a rural, underserved area with a group of Panamanian doctors to help interview, examine, and diagnose patients coming into our free clinic. At all times, a licensed physician was with us when seeing patients. I am not sure whether to classify this experience as clinical volunteering or clinical shadowing.

Looking at my application overall, would you say I have a good shot at getting into a California MD program?

If you did anything that would have required training (or a license) that you do not possess, I would caution against including it in your application. If your presence took a job away from a local, it would not be a net positive for most reviewers. https://www.aamc.org/download/47425...al-shadowing-experience-executive-summary.pdf
Non US shadowing can be enlightening, but has little effect on a US application.

 

[gyngyn]

Thank you! I will be careful when describing this experience on my application.

Regarding my school list, would you say I have a good shot at California MD programs?

Even very strong CA applicants are more likely to matriculate OOS.
That said, you are certainly in the running for a CA spot.
Avoid mission-based schools if you don't fit the mission, though.

 

[Walter Raleigh]

Out of curiosity: what was the strongest applicant you ever saw? A Rwandan refugee with a first-author Nature paper and a PhD from Princeton?

 

[gyngyn]

Out of curiosity: what was the strongest applicant you ever saw? A Rwandan refugee with a first-author Nature paper and a PhD from Princeton?

I can't tell you without violating FERPA.
I have seen many applicants with one or more of these three, though.

 

[Walter Raleigh]

Have you seen anyone with a Nobel Peace Prize, or any full tenured professors at elite institutions? Any foreign heads of state, or Congresspeople, or governors? British knighthood recipients?

 

[gyngyn]

Have you seen anyone with a Nobel Peace Prize, or any full tenured professors at elite institutions? Any foreign heads of state, or Congresspeople, or governors? British knighthood recipients?

Nobel Prize, no. Father with Nobel, yes.
Professors at elite uni's, yes. We even admitted one once, what a disaster!
All the rest have sent letters on behalf of candidates, though I can't recall any Sir's or Dames off the top.

 

[Walter Raleigh]

What was disastrous about the full professor? Also, did a letter from the President of the United States have any weight?

 

[deleted967981]

It's not hard to get a LOR from your Congressperson, they do them all the time. I actually turned down letters from both my Senator and Representative. Having a letter from them be meaningful because they actually knew you instead of a form letter...that's a different story, I'm sure.

 

[Goro]

I've seen LORs from US Senators and Nobel laureates. They fail to salvage weak candidates

We've accepted PhDs, and refugees, and I've interviewed people with Cell and Nature papers. Don't recall if they came here.

 

[candbgirl]

@Goro so nice to see you back. You were missed.

 

[gyngyn]

What was disastrous about the full professor? Also, did a letter from the President of the United States have any weight?

We had to devise a new policy "on time to degree completion."
I believe he was a medical student for well over a decade.

 

[Walter Raleigh]

I've seen LORs from US Senators and Nobel laureates. They fail to salvage weak candidates

We've accepted PhDs, and refugees, and I've interviewed people with Cell and Nature papers. Don't recall if they came here.

Goro: no letters from sitting US presidents?

 

[Walter Raleigh]

We had to devise a new policy "on time to degree completion."
I believe he was a medical student for well over a decade.

What caused this individual to be a medical student for this long? Lots of failed courses? He got too enamored with research and took a lot of research years somehow? Also, did this individual eventually graduate?

 

[Goro]

Goro: no letters from sitting US presidents?

Not that I've seen. Why do you think that a presidential LOR would move the needle?

 

[Walter Raleigh]

The only way that this might change anything would be if the applicant was connected and powerful...but there are other, subtler, more effective ways of influencing admission through connections if your dad's golfing buddies with the President of the United States.

 

[gyngyn]

What caused this individual to be a medical student for this long? Lots of failed courses? He got too enamored with research and took a lot of research years somehow? Also, did this individual eventually graduate?

He didn't do research in medicine.
Medical LoA's, non-medical LoA's, repeating years, failure to meet milestones, failing steps...
Never graduated and sued.

 

[ihaveagf]

Goro: no letters from sitting US presidents?

Imagine getting a letter of rec from Trump. I bet it would hurt more than help

"I can tell you he is a great student, I can't tell you why but I can tell you that he is one of the greatest. You just have to believe me. I know it, he knows it, everybody knows it. *insert hand motion"

 

[Walter Raleigh]

There was Obama, Bush II, Clinton, Bush I...Imagine getting a letter of recommendation from Barack Obama. Although the Donald's letter probably carries less weight than Barack's would have.