International MD/PhD applicant

[Sushrut]

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Hey everyone,

I'm an international (non-citizen + non-resident) currently studying at a top 10 LAC. I'm a junior, and after a lot of soul-searching, trying out different classes and working in different environments, I've decided that I want to be a physician-scientist. I'm double-majoring in biology and a humanity. I am absolutely sure this is what I want to do with my life - I know it's a hard life and that it'll be virtually impossible for me to get into grad+med school in the first place, but I'm going to give it my best shot anyway. I did really well freshman year, but I developed Clinical Depression and an anxiety disorder towards the end, and my grades took a major hit after that. I took some time off, and I'm a lot better now, and am doing very well academically too, but those three semesters of bad grades really killed my GPA - I'm looking at graduating with a 3.4~. I haven't taken the MCAT yet, but I know my stuff and tend to do well on standardised tests, so I'm not too worried about that. I have a lot of community service experience - not much research experience, but I am working on that. I'm planning on taking a couple of years off after college and hopefully doing a research fellowship of some sort. I was just wondering if there is anything else I can do to improve my chances of getting into an MD/PhD program? I really really want to spend my life doing this, and the knowledge that my Clinical Depression-caused bad academic spell could and probably will be the reason I can't, is killing me. Any suggestions at all are welcome.

Thank you so much, you have no idea how much I'd appreciate any help.

 

[DrDori]

well.. you can be a physician scientist in your country.. another thing is doing upper level courses in a post-bacc pre-md program to enhance your gpa, but as a biology student i do not what courses could still be missing for you..
good luck

 

[tiedyeddog]

Do well on the MCAT. If you haven't done much research how do you know you want to do an MD/PhD?

 

[DaveCarter]

I remember UW's admissions policy was to only accept the best of the best international students. I barely had any international students in my cohort.

 

[BrightandClear]

Hey everyone,

I'm an international (non-citizen + non-resident) currently studying at a top 10 LAC. I'm a junior, and after a lot of soul-searching, trying out different classes and working in different environments, I've decided that I want to be a physician-scientist. I'm double-majoring in biology and a humanity. I am absolutely sure this is what I want to do with my life - I know it's a hard life and that it'll be virtually impossible for me to get into grad+med school in the first place, but I'm going to give it my best shot anyway. I did really well freshman year, but I developed Clinical Depression and an anxiety disorder towards the end, and my grades took a major hit after that. I took some time off, and I'm a lot better now, and am doing very well academically too, but those three semesters of bad grades really killed my GPA - I'm looking at graduating with a 3.4~. I haven't taken the MCAT yet, but I know my stuff and tend to do well on standardised tests, so I'm not too worried about that. I have a lot of community service experience - not much research experience, but I am working on that. I'm planning on taking a couple of years off after college and hopefully doing a research fellowship of some sort. I was just wondering if there is anything else I can do to improve my chances of getting into an MD/PhD program? I really really want to spend my life doing this, and the knowledge that my Clinical Depression-caused bad academic spell could and probably will be the reason I can't, is killing me. Any suggestions at all are welcome.

Thank you so much, you have no idea how much I'd appreciate any help.

It's possible to overcome your undergraduate GPA. Mine is lower than what you're projecting, and I did okay this cycle. That said, I had a 4.0 in my last several semesters of undergrad, a 4.0 masters GPA, extensive research experience, stellar recommendations, and I killed the MCAT (so those are the things I'd work on). Based on my limited knowledge, though, the international applicant issue may not be so surmountable.