Help with school list - international - 3.88/520

[redpanda19]

PLEASE DO NOT QUOTE THIS MESSAGE

1. GPA: 3.88 (upward trend), major in psychology
2. MCAT: 520
3. Country of citizenship: China
4. Ethnicity: ORM
5. Undergraduate institution: Top US LAC
6. Clinical experience: def problem area, I only have ~70 hours of clinical volunteering in a hospital (cut short due to COVID) - I have reached out to a few docs and hoping to get into their lab as a volunteer, so perhaps I would have some before I apply/can project?
7. Research experience:
   • Undergraduate institution lab for 2 years and 1 summer: ~800 hours? (published chapter on mental health, 2 posters (but only school level conference), waiting to hear back on other pubs)
   • Gap year psych lab: (will be here for 2 years, almost 1 year by the time this cycle begins, ~1000(?) hours so far) 4 posters/presentations, 3 pubs in the works, + producing an app on mental health?
8. Shadowing: 0 in person, have been doing e-shadowing
9. Non-clinical volunteering:
   • As an undergraduate: Non-profit exec board and long-time member, tutor for middle schoolers (~600 hours?)
   • Current: volunteering at a mental health org (aimed at asian-american communities), hoping to work with Crisis Text Line (~200 hours?)
10. Other extracurricular activities: TA for psych class (merit-based position), became "lab manager" of the undergrad lab as a senior
11. Honors or awards: honor societies for psych, internal undergraduate awards for research/thesis work
12. LORS: will be strong

- I know my shadowing and clinical volunteering is very dismal... I am super worried about that in comparison to my research experience.
- I am struggling to make a medical school list, because I am an international student and I know my chances are already very low. The schools I've seen on MSAR that will take internationals seem very top heavy, so I am wondering if people have any suggestions.

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[Banco]

Your stats and research experience are in the range for what top/research heavy schools want, many of which also accept international students.

The problem is, you have 0 shadowing and minimal clinical experience. While adcoms may give some leniency because of COVID, you need to be able to formulate a good response to "why medicine" in your essays and interviews. With little experience, that's hard to do, and will limit you. I would at the very least try to scramble to get as much shadowing as possible prior to application submission.

Otherwise take a gap year and beef up your clinical experience.

If you do end up applying, try to apply to every school that accepts internationals that you can find.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Your non US citizenship is also an issue, so let me know if I missed any mention of getting a green card.

Schools that take international students... you may want to see if they are on research tracks.

 

[redpanda19]

Your non US citizenship is also an issue, so let me know if I missed any mention of getting a green card.

Schools that take international students... you may want to see if they are on research tracks.

I do not have a green card - I am currently on an F1. By research tracks do you mean MD/PhD?

 

[kamyab2244]

PLEASE DO NOT QUOTE THIS MESSAGE

1. GPA: 3.88 (upward trend), major in psychology
2. MCAT: 520
3. Country of citizenship: China
4. Ethnicity: ORM
5. Undergraduate institution: Top US LAC
6. Clinical experience: def problem area, I only have ~70 hours of clinical volunteering in a hospital (cut short due to COVID) - I have reached out to a few docs and hoping to get into their lab as a volunteer, so perhaps I would have some before I apply/can project?
7. Research experience:
   • Undergraduate institution lab for 2 years and 1 summer: ~800 hours? (published chapter on mental health, 2 posters (but only school level conference), waiting to hear back on other pubs)
   • Gap year psych lab: (will be here for 2 years, almost 1 year by the time this cycle begins, ~1000(?) hours so far) 4 posters/presentations, 3 pubs in the works, + producing an app on mental health?
8. Shadowing: 0 in person, have been doing e-shadowing
9. Non-clinical volunteering:
   • As an undergraduate: Non-profit exec board and long-time member, tutor for middle schoolers (~600 hours?)
   • Current: volunteering at a mental health org (aimed at asian-american communities), hoping to work with Crisis Text Line (~200 hours?)
10. Other extracurricular activities: TA for psych class (merit-based position), became "lab manager" of the undergrad lab as a senior
11. Honors or awards: honor societies for psych, internal undergraduate awards for research/thesis work
12. LORS: will be strong

- I know my shadowing and clinical volunteering is very dismal... I am super worried about that in comparison to my research experience.
- I am struggling to make a medical school list, because I am an international student and I know my chances are already very low. The schools I've seen on MSAR that will take internationals seem very top heavy, so I am wondering if people have any suggestions.

Hi.I am in a tough situation and I will be thankful if you can help me.
Actually,I am Iranian and I do not have green card or citizenship of US. Also,I have completed my bachelors in cell biology in Iran. Now I have admission from University of Illinois at Chicago in masters medical biotechnology and I will be in the US for fall 2021 with F1 visa...(I am 24 years old)
I am really interested in medicine...so I have searched a lot and found about 48 medical schools which accept international students.After reading their website,I found out most of them require 1 year study in the US which includes all the prerequisites(about 32 credits). my questions are:
1.Is withdrawing from masters and studying 1 year of prerequisites a good idea? do I have a chance to be accepted in med school as an international student?I do not know how much chance do I have?If I do not have real chance to be accepted,It is better for me to study my masters...
2.I have searched about postbacc programs but they need green card or citizenship of US..what should I do to take these 30 prerequisites as international student?
3.My uncle is a US citizen.can he cosign a loan for all the tuition and living costs?I dont have personal budget to pay the tuition and living costs for MD education
Thanks a lot for your help😊