MD Canadian, 3.75 cGPA, 3.77 sGPA, 519 MCAT

[deleted354025]

Please do not quote this message as I would like to remove this post after. Thank you!

I am a Canadian applying for the first time this year, and am looking for some advice on my list of schools given my following stats:

1. cGPA: 3.75, sGPA: 3.77
2. MCAT: 519 (130/128/129/132)
3. Canadian citizen
4. ORM
5. Traditional applicant (3 years since grad), applying to MD
6. Canadian undergraduate degree (humanities)
7. Clinical experience: 5 years hospital volunteering, 1.5 years clinic volunteering
8. Research experience and productivity: 2 years clinical research job w/ 1 first author conference presentation (manuscript submitted for review)
9. Shadowing experience: 24 hours shadowing (family med and surgery)
10. Non-clinical volunteering: 5 years community non-profit volunteering
11. Other extracurricular activities: 2 years campus leadership, 1 season biking instructor, recreational runner
12. Relevant honors or awards: Dean’s list, honour society for major, small entrance scholarship

Additional consideration: I am 3 years out of school and sadly don't have any LORs from science professors. Because of this, I removed from my list of schools all those that require LORs specifically from science faculty.

List of schools:
Central Michigan
Dartmouth
Emory
Georgetown
Hawaii
Loyola?
Michigan State
Oakland
Rosalind Franklin
Tulane
University of Pittsburgh
Vanderbilt
Virginia Commonwealth

I would appreciate any advice on schools you guys think I should add or remove. Thank you so much!

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[Detective SnowBucket]

If you don't have the MSAR, you should really get it and look at which of those schools accept many OOS/OOC applicants. Also, you may want to get some clinical in there and bump your list up to like 20 schools. Otherwise, looks like you have a good mix of reach/target/safety schools.

I'd suggest
U of MD
Duke
UC....(Insert here which has most OOS)
Tufts
BU
Temple
Thomas Jefferson
Ichan
Drexel
Georgetown
Pitt
Wake Forest
UNC Chapel Hill

 

[seren1051]

Hi fellow Canadian! You seem like a solid applicant. Try to bump those shadowing hours to about 50, at least. Also, is there any way you can contact your university/past science professors to request a letter? I was able to request mine 3 years out of school, too. Perhaps schedule an appointment with them so you can sit down with them and remind them on who you were. While some schools may not explicitly state Science prof letters as a requirement, it's pretty much de facto standard - and as you can see from your list, it's severely limiting your choice.

For example, from your list, you'll have to remove following:

- Emory also requires you to submit two science letters as well.
- Michigan State requires at least one science letter.
- Loyola doesn't accept Canadians.
- Tulane also requires two science letters.

That leaves your list with just nine schools. Central Michigan wants ties to central Michigan (do you have one?), VCU, Rosy Franklin & Georgetown are probably the most applied schools in the country, Pitts and Vandy are reaches for US applicants with your stats. Canadians are expected to have higher academic credentials than American applicants.

From Detective Snowbucket's list, remove:
- Maryland, Duke, BU (2 Science) Sinai (1 Science)
- Tufts, Temple, Drexel, Wake (No Canadian)
- UNC Chapel Hill (little international matriculation)