International (nontraditional) Applicant with multiple MCAT attempts

[Tidus41]

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Hi everyone,

I am looking for some advice for someone in my situation.

It has been two disappointing years of medical school applications and I am wondering what went wrong, your wisdom and counsel would be much appreciated at this point.

Here are my stats from the previous application cycle.

AMCAS GPA: 3.84
MCAT scores: 35 (January 2015), 32 (June 2014), 34 (June 2013), 32 (January 2013), 29 (August 2012).

On my work/activities what stands out most is my extensive research experience but I have a lot of good experiences in many different areas. Also, I had my work-activities and my personal statement reviewed by an academic consulting company and we believed that they were very well done when I submitted my primary application in July.

I should mention that I am a Canadian applicant, which does make it difficult for me to get in somewhere in the States. However, I am still surprised by the fact that I have applied for two straight years now and I have not received any interviews. I believe that the largest obstacle is the fact that I have written the MCAT 5 times in order to try and get an 11 on VR so that I could apply to the University of Western Ontario in Canada and to have a decent shot at Mac (I've been stuck on 10 for the last three times I wrote it). I realize that schools in the States do not like this because there is only one opportunity to do well on the USMLEs so they want people that did well on their MCAT the first time around.

Here are the schools that I applied to this past year. George Washington, UCONN, University of Minnesota Twin Cities, Case Western, Dartmouth, Penn State, Thomas Jefferson, Rosalind Franklin, Boston U, Tufts, Georgetown, New York Medical College, Saint Louis, Suny Upstate, Wayne State, University of Virginia.

I am wondering if you have any suggestions for me, I am currently in the first year of my Master's and I will be finishing up next year in June 2016. Therefore, I would be considered a non-traditional applicant.

Thanks so much for your help,

 

[NeuResurgens]

I was a bit confused for a second as I read the MCAT scores from left to right as chronological. Looked like your score kept going down, lol. I would say that you should maybe apply more broadly, a lot of the school's you applied to are pretty selective and it is harder for international students to get in. Also keep in mind that it's tougher for foreign medical graduates to get US residencies.

 

[Doug Underhill]

Do you have clinical experience?

 

[Blue Blood]

5 mcats, Canadian, and your justification was that you wanted to go to a Canadian school..

Not to be bash you, but it never occurred to you that this was a bad idea?

And you applied mostly mid and upper tier schools. Which isn't going to happen.

Edit: DO schools might take a chance on you or "low tier md" but you'll need a compelling story. Also @Goro might beat you up if you interview at his school for retaking those scores..

 

[gyngyn]

Identify the 62 MD schools that will accept applications from internationals.
Eliminate the ones that matriculate 3 or less for regular MD.
Eliminate mission-based schools.
Apply to the ones with a median MCAT of 33 or less.
Consider the following DO schools:
AZCOM
Campbell
Ccom
Kcumb
Lecom
Lmu
Mucom
Msucom
Pcom
Pcom ga
Nova
VCOM (all)
Rowan
Touro
Unecom
Tycom
Kycom
Western u
Wcu

 

[NeuResurgens]

Eliminate mission-based schools.

What is a mission-based school, exactly? Been meaning to ask this. Examples, etc.?

 

[gyngyn]

What is a mission-based school, exactly? Been meaning to ask this. Examples, etc.?

Medical schools affiliated with HBCU's.
Regional or state missions: The Puerto Rican schools UCR, UW, TX...
Religious missions: Loma Linda, Liberty.

 

[Tidus41]

Thanks for the advice guys. I just have two points to clarify,

Being a Canadian, I am not really familiar with DO schools at all. What is the real difference between an MD and a DO school? Do DO schools have significantly lower match rates? Can DOs still pursue all the specializations that an MD can?

Secondly, I assume from what I have heard that American Medical Schools are not going to just look at your MCAT scores as a blank slate (ignore your old scores) if you write the new MCAT but I read on another forum that when your old MCATs expire, schools will only look at your scores that are still valid? Can someone confirm if this is true?

 

[Cawolf]

Why have you had no luck in Canada? I assume you applied elsewhere than UWO?

This is my n=1, but an admissions member I have an open discussion with said that all scores (expired or not) are seen in your application.

 

[caffeinemia]

What is a mission-based school, exactly? Been meaning to ask this. Examples, etc.?

Aren't mission based schools are schools the ones that perform anatomy lab in the historic missions built by the Spanish missionaries in California in the 1700 and 1800s. For example, UC San Juan Capistrano.. 😛

 

[Doug Underhill]

The only mission based school I'm aware of is the Uniformed Service University of Health Sciences. Those guys go out on combat missions all the time. You should also eliminate them, as gyngyn said, as they only accept Americans and I'm not sure about how the Canadian government would feel about you joining the military of a foreign nation.

 

[NeuResurgens]

Aren't mission based schools are schools the ones that perform anatomy lab in the historic missions built by the Spanish missionaries in California in the 1700 and 1800s. For example, UC San Juan Capistrano.. 😛

Lol, for some reason those missions are what came to mind. I kept thinking of those scenes from Vertigo..