MD INTERNATIONAL, 3.9cGPA, 514 MCAT

[doctorinthesky]

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• International student from India
• Undergrad from Stony Brook University
• 3.93 cGPA, 3.9 sGPA
• 514 MCAT. 92nd percentile.
  • 130 in Phys/Chem - 97th percentile.
  • 127 in CARS - 83rd percentile
  • 129 in Bio/Biochem - 92nd percentile
  • 128 in Psych/Soc - 86th percentile
• ECs:
  • - Shadowed an American MD for a month (ER, internal medicine), shadowed an MD in my home country for a month (cardiology)
  • - Joined an ambulance corp last year, certified EMT, one year of clinical experience plus my senior year.
  • - International Student Ambassador.
  • - Volunteered teaching underprivileged kids in India for a summer.
  • - One semester of psychology research.
  • - University Scholar
  • - Academic achievement awards for 2 consecutive years.
  • - Going to be working alongside a doctor for a month this summer and he's a professor at Weill Cornell.
• Strong LORs - two possibly even three MD's, one science professor, my research supervisor (An advisor told me Psych counts as a science prof? Please correct me if I'm wrong.), my ambulance corp president, one of my previous employers, scholar's advisor, English prof.

PLEASE be honest! I also really need help picking schools, haven't made a list yet, waiting to hear back from my advisor (got my score a couple hours ago) and just purchased the MSAR. Big problem is I'm international, super worried!

Thank you so much in advance 🙂

 

[gyngyn]

Buy the MSAR.

There are 62 MD schools that consider internationals.
Eliminate all of them that matriculated less than 4.
Eliminate the mission-based schools unless you fit the mission.
Identify the remaining ones where the median MCAT is near yours.

Come back with a list and we can help.

 

[doctorinthesky]

Thanks, gyngyn! I bought the MSAR this morning and I've shortlisted 20 schools so far:

Boston University
Case Western Reserve
Rosalind Franklin
Columbia
Duke
Emory
Dartmouth
Mount Sinai
NYMC
Northwestern
UPenn
Saint Louis University
Thomas Jefferson
Stony Brook University
Tulane
UCLA
UKentucky
UPittsburgh
UVirginia
Weill Cornell

I'm also probably applying to D.O. schools.

**EC'S EDIT: I'm also spending half my summer doing social work with a cancer organization in India.

 

[gyngyn]

Quite a few long shots, but that's the nature of the situation. Good list.

 

[radioactive15]

Your shortlist has quite a few top tier MD schools. (specifically, UPenn,Duke, UPitt, Columbia, and maybe Sinai).

I think you should remove some of those and replace them with "safety" schools, for example, Drexel, because a 514 = 33.5 on the old MCAT scale, and many of those top schools have median MCATs of 36+.

There also also some research heavy schools on your list, and 1 semester of research in undergrad may be too little for those schools. Just something else to consider.

Apply to DO schools too (I recommend that you apply to top-tier DO schools that accept international)

 

[doctorinthesky]

Your shortlist has quite a few top tier MD schools. (specifically, UPenn,Duke, UPitt, Columbia, and maybe Sinai).

I think you should remove some of those and replace them with "safety" schools, for example, Drexel, because a 514 = 33.5 on the old MCAT scale, and many of those top schools have median MCATs of 36+.

There also also some research heavy schools on your list, and 1 semester of research in undergrad may be too little for those schools. Just something else to consider.

Apply to DO schools too (I recommend that you apply to top-tier DO schools that accept international)

@radioactive15 @gyngyn thanks so much for your responses! Yes, I am applying to top tier D.O. schools as well. I've come up with a less top-heavy list of M.D. schools, if you'd take a look and give me your feedback:

UPDATED LIST:
Albert Einstein
Central Michigan University
Rosaling Franklin
George Washington
Howard
Louisiana State Univerisity
Wisconsin
Meharry
Michigan State University
NYMC
Oakland University
Penn State
Saint Louis
Thomas Jefferson
SUNY Upstate
Stony Brook
Tulane
U Hawaii
U Kentucky
U Louisville
U New Mexico
Utah
Virginia Commonwealth University
Wayne State
West Virginia University

Thanks a lot guys!

 

[gyngyn]

You can safely delete Howard, Meharry (mission-based).
Also, Louisville matriculated 0 and NM only 2 internationals. When the numbers are this low they tend to be inside candidates. Check to make sure they at least matriculate 3 or more before wasting time and effort on a secondary.

 

[icead]

I am an international student from India as well!
Just so you know, Central Michigan and Wayne only accept U.S. and Canadian citizens or permanent residents. It says so on their websites. I'd suggest double checking the website and possibly calling them before you apply.
Good luck on your applications 🙂

 

[doctorinthesky]

Thank you @icead and @gyngyn for your inputs. I guess those two are off my list then 🙁 already sent my primary though. Should've double-checked.

 

[doctorinthesky]

Posting to update my D.O. school list:

LECOM
PCOM (both campuses)
MSUCOM
AZCOM
CCOM
Touro (all campuses)

@gyngyn @radioactive15 how does this list look to you guys?