Help with requirements for Med School after PhD

[Confused PhD]

Hi all,

This seems to be the best forum for me to find answers to questions on starting Med School after postdoc. I have a personal request for an informational interview without someone who has undertaken a similar journey postdoc to med school, preferably from women. I live in CT, USA and would love to talk to someone as I am quite anxious about understanding the requirements and learning about the ground work I need to do to pursue med school without damaging my existing personal life. I tried asking people in my community but unfortunately unsuccessful at getting advice and tips. I would really appreciate any response here. Thanks!

Background:
Female, married and thinking about having kids this year.
Finishing 3rd postdoc at Yale, Immunology
PhD at UCHC.
Green card application - ongoing.

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[gyngyn]

Only 57 US MD schools consider international applicants.
Most of them matriculate zero to 3. Many of them require a US Bachelor's degree or at least 90 US undergrad units.
Your MCAT score will be a significant consideration in your candidacy.
https://students-residents.aamc.org...ool/article/applying-international-applicant/
If you purchase the MSAR (about $26) you will have access to all this information.
Can you be more specific regarding damaging your existing personal life?

 

[Confused PhD]

@gyngyn
Thank you for responding to my message and providing some resources. I appears like it would be tough as an international candidate. This might be naive but could you explain what matriculate zero to 3, means? Does a PhD degree from the united states count?

Personal life: I am 29 years old and planning to have a baby next year.

Thank you in advance

 

[gyngyn]

The number of international matriculants at most of the 57 schools that consider them, are very few.
A PhD is a great accomplishment. It is not the way that academic prowess is assessed for medical school, though.
I wish you safe passage.

 

[Naruhodo]

Hi Confused PhD,

I took the route you describe (PhD->postdoc->soon-to-be medical student) with the significant advantage of being a US citizen (I am currently sponsoring my foreign husband's green card and the paperwork alone is a nightmare, so I wish you luck with that process too). I agree with gyngyn's comment about the challenges of getting into US medical schools as a foreign student. A friend of mine from grad school was brilliant, altruistic, well-published, and Canadian, and the last point was the reason that she ended up accepted at a single Canadian medical school with no US offers despite her accomplishments. She changed her ambitions at that point, declined the Canadian medical school in her home province due to a lack of research opportunities, and will be matriculating at Stanford law school in the fall with the goal of ultimately working on science policy.

One other point - I had nowhere near enough clinical hours and primary care shadowing to be taken seriously by the vast majority of US medical schools. My dedication to my PhD and postdoc meant that I was almost always in lab to the exclusion of creating a well-rounded application. Most medical school will want to see hundred of clinical volunteering and shadowing hours. Having seriously engaged in research is great, but generally it doesn't mean that they will overlook the legwork they expect to see from applicants getting to know what a medical career is really like.

I am not near you geographically, but I would be happy to exchange messages with you off the forums (see if you can send me a private message and I'll provide my email/skype). I don't mean to sound discouraging - I applaud you for considering this ambitious path, but you are right to carefully consider the steps ahead.

 

[chddoc]

Non-US undergrad and masters, then US PhD, 1 postdoc, naturalized US citizen here. One postdoc was a reason enough for me to seek other career and use for my science education! Hats off to you for three.. I finished taking the pre-req coursework, was involved in clinical and non-clinical volunteering for years and will be starting med school in fall. It requires some planning but it can be done.

Anyways, you'll find a lot of good information on this website. I think your post points to two things..requirements and your personal pace. Latter is for you to decide given your own schedule. But the postdoc research and doing anything else alongside is tricky at best. Towards the end of my postdoc, I cut back my hours in the lab (as well as a cut in the paycheck) to take the pre req classes. You can take classes in the evenings if a local institute offers them.

Having a green card or (eventually) citizenship will increase the number of schools you can apply to for the reasons mentioned in the other posts. That way you won't be considered an international applicant, just one who needs to complete the US requirements for the individual schools. The private and/or ivy- leagues are more open to international candidates and might be more accommodating of your international credentials (undergrad etc). Plus I am not sure if one is eligible for federal student loans as a green card holder, maybe private loans.

MSAR is definitely your friend. If you did not do your undergrad in US or Canada, then the schools will at minimum need you to take some coursework. MSAR will help you figure out whether the schools you might be looking into applying to need you to take some basic coursework alone or a total of 60 credit hours or 90 credit hours (and this may or may not include your PhD coursework, ask individual schools about that). If you haven't already started volunteering, maybe you can start doing that on the weekends.

Life-work balance will definitely require an understanding spouse. Maybe figuring out what you need to do to, how you are going to do it and discussing that with your husband, so both of you are on the same page, will help.

Good luck!