being a ... weird candidate

[wonko]

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Hey Folks,

I am applying for MSTP studies and I am ... rather untraditional. I think I'll be rather easily identifiable but I'd like to hear your opinions if theres anything to better up now.

-European citizen, not a resident : choice of schools is really limited, 10 schools possible, many of them rather upper level
-I year at well known US university
-graduating from a very research intense undergrad: 1,5 yrs full time research experience (40+ hours a week in different labs in Europe and a big US university), about 6 more months full time soon.
-1800 hours work experience as an assistant nurse in Europe
- US GPA (13 CP, 6CP on graduate level) 4.0
-European GPA (100 CP, all science classes) 3.5 but top 3 of my year - scale is very different
-MCAT in April, 88/98 Percentile
-speaks 5 languages
-shadowing only 5 hours, but it was a physician scientist
-25 yrs old
-no official volunteering (I am chem, biophysics and genetics tutor in a student group but were unaffiliated and informal)
-some major life experiences

Any thoughts? Theres probably no data on my case (according to AMCAS no one ever with my nationality even applied) but I would value your input.

Cheers mates,

wonko

 

[Neuronix]

You are an unusual candidate. It's hard to know how to advise you. Opinions will be very personalized. Regardless, the deck is stacked against you as an international.

Where in Europe did you obtain your education? Undergraduate studies at a prestigious university in western Europe is helpful.

What have you been doing in the US and where? Well known does not translate into major research institution. I assume your research is and has been fairly independent basic research?

I'm not clear what to do with that MCAT percentile. What were the subsection and total scores?

You need more US shadowing/volunteering to understand our healthcare system. This is a good idea if you want to attend med school in the USA at all. MD-only may be your best option, as MD/PhD may not be possible for you.

 

[wonko]

Hey,

thanks for the answer.
My home institution is one of the big German Universities, good chunk of my research was done in their clinic. My research in the states was done at Michigan State. All my labs had me independently working on projects, the last one was very focused on translational medicine. I was basically treated as an incoming grad student at MSU - including presentation and discussion of my data.

I took the new MCAT in April and have so far just received my preliminary ranks.
Physical Science: 85-100 %
Verbal: 50-65% (ouch)
Biology: 85-100%
Psychology: 85-100%

Overall percentile: 88%-98%. I am aware you cant translate it to the old MCAT ranks but the ranks correspond to a 32-37.

I know that the US healthcare system is formally a big unknown. The physician scientist I shadowed one day made a great effort to introduce me into it as much as possible. I wont have many chances to see more of it hands on though since I have to go back to Germany now.

 

[Neuronix]

I don't know what to do with these new MCAT percentile ranks. The internet tells me you should be getting scores in the new scoring system? A google search suggests those can be roughly converted into the old scoring system.

There was a German fellow in the MD/PhD class below mine, but he did his undergrad in the USA. Generally, this is the way it works for US MD/PhD programs--you have to spend a significant amount of time here to be considered. The only rare exceptions I've seen or heard of have been for exceptional Canadians or English, and even that is quite uncommon. So I don't really know how to advise you.

My overall impression is that even if your MCAT score is high, I think this is a long shot for you given your limited time in the US and experience with the US system. Are there are any MD/PhD options in Germany? We used to have a program director on here from Switzerland. I could probably find his contact info if that would be helpful.

 

[Flavivirus]

Academic performance seems good and you will have 2 years of research experience. Being a little older/more mature than the average applicant can be a plus, especially if you made good use of your time outside of school.

Things that will help increase programs' interest:
1. any publications?
2. research experience--how much independence did you have, did you contribute intellectually to your project(s)
3. quality of your recommendation letters and prominence of your letter writers

 

[Lucca]

I don't know what to do with these new MCAT percentile ranks. The internet tells me you should be getting scores in the new scoring system? A google search suggests those can be roughly converted into the old scoring system.

Scoring for the new exam doesn't exactly exist yet. It will in a month or two once more people take the test and they have more data to work with. That's why people are reporting "preliminary" percentile ranks like "88/98" as the OP says. That is something like 33-39. A huge spread but overall a very strong score given how low most people have been reporting their percentiles (generally 70-90% on the SDN MCAT forums). Obviously the percentile means that he scored better than at least 88% or at most 98% of test-takers but I just wanted to give you something to compare to in the future.

 

[wonko]

Hey! Thanks again @all!
@Neuronix : I contacted a lot of the schools and some had "1 year at a US institution" as prereq - which I fullfill. I agree and I am grateful that you showed me what quite clearly is the main weakness - little exposure to the US system. One of my letters of recommendations will try to tackle it (PI that I shadowed that is a practising clinical scientist). Otherwise, as I am on my way back to Germany, not much I can do now unfortunately about that 🙁

MD PhD situation in Germany is... nothing I care about. Either you do both careers from scratch (as doing a 10-12 year PhD from undergrad on, then starting all over as undergrad medschool for another 9 years) or a 3 year PhD after medschool, which is highly disrespected among "real" PhDs I know because in medschool in germany there is very little research (some say none but I cant judge since I know only one curriculum). This is why I started with science to begin with. Switzerland is the same afaik, but that contact would be appreciated.

@Flavivirus:
1. I worked for a grad student - she does a "oldschool" dissertation (one big book published by University press). She will be the only author but I am probably gonna get mentioned - whenever that is.
My second rotation was good but the lab did not publish in that time nor will it anytime soon. That kind of lab. The lab I rotated in was way better in that regard, and I am contributing author in two manuscripts we are working on - however I dont know when they are going to be accepted so I probably can not bring them in to the application 🙁

2. I was very independent in all my labs. I can discuss my projects and Data any time in any depth. I actively contributed to experimental design and (fingers crossed) my LOR state that.

3. My letter writers are all quite prominent in niche fields - I do not have a clue how valuable that is. 2 of them are very active publishers though, the physician scientist is also active in various administrative positions. Again, I can not judge how "prominent" they are.

 

[Neuronix]

Check out this thread: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/shaping-the-md-phd-curriculum.507759

We haven't seen aag in a few years, but I'm sure you could figure out with google how to contact him off of SDN. His program may be a good option for you, and he may know about other options for you in Europe.