i am an international student form nigeria...

[Olly5]

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and i am presently a junior at penn state university majoring in chemical engineering, i just wanted to know what my chances are of getting into medical school here in the states.
Thanks

 

[Raptor]

Olly5, first I want to welcome you to SDN.
Second, if you could gave your current GPA that could help us a lot in giving us our $0.02 cents. Also getting into medical school takes whole lot of other things, such as extracurricular (EC) activities, personal statement, research, volunteering, and things that make you stand out. So if you could gave us your current gpa we could help you out. Just my two cents.

 

[Spiderman [RNA Ladder 2003]]

Please, give your MCAT score, also.

 

[Olly5]

my gpa is about 3.5 , i have two current research positions and many volunteer activities, i start volunteering in a hospital this summer and probably in an aids clinic this fall, i plan on taking the mcat next spring, hope this helps.

 

[Spiderman [RNA Ladder 2003]]

You will be a junior in 2002-2003, right? Your GPA and ECs look alright, try to keep your GPA up and take a free Kaplan diagnostic. Some people take MCAT after their sophemore year. Do it only if you do well on the diagnostic test. I would think that verbal would be a problem so read more.

 

[sndvrtn]

As an international student, it is important to realize that many schools will not be able to accept you. State schools generally don't accept us foreign folk and a fair number of private schools also only take U.S. citizens or permanent residents. The U.S. News and World Report web site has statistics on the numbers of foreign students accpeted at different institutions. However, even here the numbers can be misleading as Rochester, for example, does take international students but only if they were undergrads at Rochester. (I only found out about this after forking out the AMCAS application fee.)
Anyway, after you figure out where to apply, being an international student is not going to work against you. At least I don't think it did in my experience. It was just something interesting to talk about at interviews, and a lot of schools seem to like the diversity an international student can add. Add to that your solid gpa and e.c.'s, all you need is a good MCAT and you're in! Good luck.

 

[Spiderman [RNA Ladder 2003]]

I am an international student and will be applying into med school this year. If I had more time, I would probably have taken a few med school classes. I heard some people here on SDN doing that and I liked the idea.

 

[Olly5]

hey sndvrtn and spiderman thanks for the replies, where are you guys from and what schools are you applying to?

 

[sndvrtn]

I'm from Sweden and I already applied. I sent applications to 16 schools. Rochester was one but I already told you about that. The others were Case Western(acc), Columbia(acc), Cornell(wait), Dartmouth(acc), Duke(withdrew), Emory(wait), Harvard(rej), Johns Hopkins(acc), Pritzker(withdrew), Stanford(acc), Tufts(withdrew), UPenn (waut), Vanderbilt(wait), Washington U.(int, withdrew), and Yale(int, withdrew).
Hope that helps. Good luck.

 

[Spiderman [RNA Ladder 2003]]

I am applying this year.
sndvrtn, please, post your stats, if you do not mind.

 

[Original]

By now I'm sure you've heard all the horror stories about how impossible it is for international students to get into U.S med schools. Like the previous posters said, you'll need to be competitive for the private schools since most public school don't accept international students period. Once you're competitive and all else is looking good, like Sndvrtn, I believe you'll actually be looked at favorably by adcoms due to the diversity you'll be bringing into the med school class by virtue of your different culture and national origin. Do well on your MCATs; raise (or at least maintain) your GPA; apply to alot (>15) of the RIGHT schools; and work hard on your application.

 

[Resident Alien]

i was waiting all this time for the resident nigerian expert to speak up! 😀 . Sorry about the world cup though <img border="0" title="" alt="[Frown]" src="frown.gif" />

 

[Original]

•••quote:•••Originally posted by Resident Alien:
•i was waiting all this time for the resident nigerian expert to speak up! 😀 . Sorry about the world cup though 🙁•••••Wow! I didn't know I was the resident nigerian expert 😀 In any case I've successfully put the Super Eagles' woes behind me. I'm moving on with my life :wink: . Brazil & Senegal are fun to watch. BTW how've you been? You've not been posting much lately.

 

[Resident Alien]

I liked senegal till they showed their rowdy side! Boy were they bad boys against denmark or what!

About posting....theres not a lot of quality discussion nowadays (dont you agree?!). I just chip in once in a while. :wink:

 

[warpath]

•••quote:•••Originally posted by Original:
• •••quote:•••Originally posted by Resident Alien:
•i was waiting all this time for the resident nigerian expert to speak up! 😀 . Sorry about the world cup though 🙁 •••••Wow! I didn't know I was the resident nigerian expert 😀 In any case I've successfully put the Super Eagles' woes behind me. I'm moving on with my life :wink: . Brazil & Senegal are fun to watch. BTW how've you been? You've not been posting much lately.•••••Too bad the eagles didn't even wait for me to get home before they washed out 🙁 . Oh well, my flight leaves in 6 hours so I'll be able to catch the match against England.

 

[Original]

Resident Alien,
I agree that there's not too much interesting stuff around here these days. Or perhaps we are just getting old 😀 .

Warpath,
Sorry about the super eagles debacle. That's their problem <img border="0" alt="[Laughy]" title="" src="graemlins/laughy.gif" /> . Hey have a blast out there man! Show them the Lagos hussle.

 

[Thewonderer]

<a href="http://forums.studentdoctor.net/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=011344" target="_blank">http://forums.studentdoctor.net/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=011344</a>

This should help you all out. Canadians are internationals (at least as far as I know when I applied). So the thread should be helpful. I also bumped it for you.

 

[sndvrtn]

Stats:
gpa: 3.8 (3.9 scince)
MCAT: 12V 14P 12B Q
EC: one year of behavioural science research, some limited hospital volunteer work, not a whole lot else
Small, private, third tier university

Hope that helps.

 

[Olly5]

hey just wanted to thank everyone that posted a reply, you've been a really big help. 🙂

 

[paean]

Actually, canadians are not considered international by most med schools in the US. However, canadian schools consider US students to be international, making it easier for Canadians to get in in the US than US citizens to get in in Canada.

 

[Thewonderer]

•••quote:•••Originally posted by paean:
•Actually, canadians are not considered international by most med schools in the US. However, canadian schools consider US students to be international, making it easier for Canadians to get in in the US than US citizens to get in in Canada.•••••Sorry, I disagree. Canadians are internationals for most if not all schools. I was told by U of
Washington in Seattle to not bother applying because I was an international (even though I am from right across the border, Vancouver, BC). I was rejected from MCP after they ate my AMCAS $$$ and told me that internationals are not considered. My Canadian friends have been told by Penn, Wash U. in St. Louis and Cornell to folk out $250k upfront for 4 years of tuition and living expense. Another friend was told by Duke to folk out the first year tuition + living expense before he was allowed to get his I-20 (i.e. F1 student visa).

Those sound pretty international to me! And these were all private schools.