Help out a prospective MD/PhD applicant

[mdphd09]

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Hi, I am a sophomore student who is a prospective MD/PhD applicant. I anticipate to end my sophomore year with ~ 3.5 gpa. I am worried about this gpa, and prospects of me getting into good MD/PhD programs. I would like to attend a school that has an excellent neuroscience program. Currently, I have been participating in research since my freshman year. I have a 3rd author paper in Journal of Molecular Biology, and recently, I have had a first author paper in PNAS that was just accepted with revisions. I have a great mentor who greatly admires my work ethic and scientific intellect, and has given me the privilege to have a first author paper at PNAS.

My problem is my gpa. I had a bad semester during the Fall semester of my sophomore year. I anticipate of graduating with a gpa of 3.75. Another possible downside in my application is that I am from a state school which is decent, and I am an international student.

I would appreciate it if anyone can give me advice as to what I can do from now on to enhance my chances at getting into good schools.

Thanks!

 

[soundnin]

the GPA thing won't hold you back at all. stop being a neurotic premed lol. your research sounds good too, especially if you keep it up. the only bump in your road is your international status

 

[delirium81]

Coming from a state school doesn't matter that much, and a 3.75 GPA is really not that bad. As far as I can tell from everything you've said, the only real negative is being an international student. If you were a U.S. citizen with a 3.75 GPA and a first author PNAS paper, and assuming you do really well on the MCATs, you'd be golden. However there are far fewer spots available for international students. This is not something I know much about, but there have been several other posts about it, so just do a forum search and see what others have said. Other than that, in terms of "enhancing" your chances: keep your GPA as high as possible, score really well on the MCATs, continue to do excellent research. That's about it really.

 

[check1212]

Congrats on your first author pub! That's really awesome 😀 I would also agree with the previous posters that your GPA and state school background aren't a problem.

Also, you may already be well aware/have plans for this, but remember not to neglect your clinical experiences! In explaining why you want to pursue an MD/PhD, you'll need to address both the MD and PhD aspects of it.

 

[Maebea]

You will be highly competitive for admission if you gpa improves to 3.7, you get a 35 on the MCAT and continue to do well in the lab.

See https://www.aamc.org/students/linkableblob/62760-4/data/faqtable-data.pdf for information on which programs take international students. Contact the programs that interest you to determine whether they have unlimited funding for internationals; some may have a limit on the number of internationals they can support.