International student aiming for US MD schools

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lsmook97

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Hi,

I am South Korean (no green card or citizenship for US) and I graduated from the University of Toronto in 2021 with a major in Immunology and Human Biology. My GPA ended with 3.3, ending the last two years with 3.9 out of 4.0 scale. I took MCAT, but I was not feeling well on the test date, so ended up with 507 (my practice tests were around 512). Currently, I am working in a COVID19 testing clinic and planning to move on to other hospital related jobs. For ECs, I do have 200+ non-clinical volunteering, 200+ of clinic volunteering, and 2 years of military experience from mandatory service back in South Korea. For clinical shadowing, I have few physicians who promised for shadowing upcoming fall but in research wise, I am having huge trouble. For the 22-23 cycles, I am planning to improve my MCAT as much as I can and adding additional ECs.
I do want to become a surgeon in United States, but recently reading up all the challenges with international students, I am not sure what I should do to improve my chances. Any advices?

Thanks for any help!
 
lsmook97 said:
Hi,

I am South Korean (no green card or citizenship for US) and I graduated from the University of Toronto in 2021 with a major in Immunology and Human Biology. My GPA ended with 3.3, ending the last two years with 3.9 out of 4.0 scale. I took MCAT, but I was not feeling well on the test date, so ended up with 507 (my practice tests were around 512). Currently, I am working in a COVID19 testing clinic and planning to move on to other hospital related jobs. For ECs, I do have 200+ non-clinical volunteering, 200+ of clinic volunteering, and 2 years of military experience from mandatory service back in South Korea. For clinical shadowing, I have few physicians who promised for shadowing upcoming fall but in research wise, I am having huge trouble. For the 22-23 cycles, I am planning to improve my MCAT as much as I can and adding additional ECs.
I do want to become a surgeon in United States, but recently reading up all the challenges with international students, I am not sure what I should do to improve my chances. Any advices?

Thanks for any help!
Click to expand...

Purchase a subscription to the MSAR and research DO school websites to figure out which schools even accept international students, because it’s not many. You will need to tailor your application, including your retaken MCAT score, to these select schools. It is very difficult to gain acceptance to a US medical school without a US bachelor’s degree.
 
There are 45 US MD schools that consider internationals.
Filter the MSAR to find them ($28 for 1 year subscription).
Eliminate the ones where you don't fit the mission (e.g. HBCU's).
Eliminate the ones that matriculated less than 3 (they are often "inside" candidates).
Eliminate the ones with a median MCAT greater than yours.
Apply to the rest.
Sadly, with a 507 and a 3.3 gpa, you will need a very strong mission match to get an interview. Do not re-take the MCAT until you are confident of a much better score. All scores are visible. A string of weak scores is far more damaging than a single one.
There are about a dozen DO schools that consider internationals. Perhaps someone here knows which ones they are!

students-residents.aamc.org

Applying to Medical School as an International Applicant

Information for international applicants who want to apply to U.S. medical schools.
students-residents.aamc.org students-residents.aamc.org
www.aamc.org

As a non-U.S. citizen, I faced hurdles applying to U.S. medical schools. Now that I’ve made it, I want to help others like me

I started F-1 Doctors to help international students like me find mentorship when applying to U.S. medical schools.
www.aamc.org www.aamc.org
 
Last edited:
lsmook97 said:
Hi,

I am South Korean (no green card or citizenship for US) and I graduated from the University of Toronto in 2021 with a major in Immunology and Human Biology. My GPA ended with 3.3, ending the last two years with 3.9 out of 4.0 scale. I took MCAT, but I was not feeling well on the test date, so ended up with 507 (my practice tests were around 512). Currently, I am working in a COVID19 testing clinic and planning to move on to other hospital related jobs. For ECs, I do have 200+ non-clinical volunteering, 200+ of clinic volunteering, and 2 years of military experience from mandatory service back in South Korea. For clinical shadowing, I have few physicians who promised for shadowing upcoming fall but in research wise, I am having huge trouble. For the 22-23 cycles, I am planning to improve my MCAT as much as I can and adding additional ECs.
I do want to become a surgeon in United States, but recently reading up all the challenges with international students, I am not sure what I should do to improve my chances. Any advices?

Thanks for any help!
Click to expand...
There are about 16 DO schools that accept international students.
 
lsmook97 said:
Hi,

I am South Korean (no green card or citizenship for US) and I graduated from the University of Toronto in 2021 with a major in Immunology and Human Biology. My GPA ended with 3.3, ending the last two years with 3.9 out of 4.0 scale. I took MCAT, but I was not feeling well on the test date, so ended up with 507 (my practice tests were around 512). Currently, I am working in a COVID19 testing clinic and planning to move on to other hospital related jobs. For ECs, I do have 200+ non-clinical volunteering, 200+ of clinic volunteering, and 2 years of military experience from mandatory service back in South Korea. For clinical shadowing, I have few physicians who promised for shadowing upcoming fall but in research wise, I am having huge trouble. For the 22-23 cycles, I am planning to improve my MCAT as much as I can and adding additional ECs.
I do want to become a surgeon in United States, but recently reading up all the challenges with international students, I am not sure what I should do to improve my chances. Any advices?

Thanks for any help!
Click to expand...
Maybe a stupid question, but why the US with no prior tie to the country, as opposed to South Korea or Canada? If it's the US or bust, your path will be FAR easier if you can get yourself a Green Card before applying, in addition to equaling or exceeding your practice MCATs on a retake and doing significant post-bacc work to improve your GPA.

No one else is saying it, so I will. With your current stats, as an ORM, you'd be lucky to be accepted to a DO school if you were a citizen or permanent resident, and would have no shot at MD without some amazing X-Factor. Mandatory foreign military experience wouldn't count. As a foreign applicant, I don't think you'd have any shot at all, given how few slots exist for them and how intense the competition is.

I honestly think you will need to both significantly improve your stats AND get yourself into the permanent resident pool to have a realistic shot at a US medical school. Good luck!!
 
Last edited:
gyngyn said:
There are 45 US MD schools that consider internationals.
Filter the MSAR to find them ($28 for 1 year subscription).
Eliminate the ones where you don't fit the mission (e.g. HBCU's).
Eliminate the ones that matriculated less than 3 (they are often "inside" candidates.
Eliminate the ones with a median MCAT greater than yours.
Apply to the rest.
Sadly, with a 507 and a 3.3 gpa, you will need a very strong match to mission to get an interview. Do not re-take the MCAT until you are confident of a much better score. All scores are visible. A string of weak scores is far more damaging than a single one.
There are about a dozen DO schools that consider internationals. Perhaps someone here knows which ones they are!

students-residents.aamc.org

Applying to Medical School as an International Applicant

Information for international applicants who want to apply to U.S. medical schools.
students-residents.aamc.org students-residents.aamc.org
www.aamc.org

As a non-U.S. citizen, I faced hurdles applying to U.S. medical schools. Now that I’ve made it, I want to help others like me

I started F-1 Doctors to help international students like me find mentorship when applying to U.S. medical schools.
www.aamc.org www.aamc.org
Click to expand...
I am planning to enter the school again to boost my GPA and of course, retake MCAT. But before that to happen, I have to take care of the visa problem as well in Canada and I might have a year gap between returning school and right now. What do you think I will need to have a higher chance for MD schools? I will definitely look up for DO schools as well. Thanks for the suggestion.
 
KnightDoc said:
Maybe a stupid question, but why the US with no prior tie to the country, as opposed to South Korea or Canada? If it's the US or bust, you path will be FAR easier if you can get yourself a Green Card before applying, in addition to equaling or exceeding your practice MCATs on a retake and doing significant post-bacc work to improve your GPA.

No one else is saying it, so I will. With your current stats, as an ORM, you'd be lucky to be accepted to a DO school if you were a citizen or permanent resident, and would have no shot at MD without some amazing X-Factor. Mandatory foreign military experience wouldn't count. As a foreign applicant, I don't think you'd have any shot at all, given how few slots exist for them and how intense the competition is.

I honestly think you will need to both significantly improve your stats AND get yourself into the permanent resident pool to have a realistic shot at a US medical school. Good luck!!
Click to expand...
There are several reasons why I cannot go to two countries that you have suggested.

For South Korea, they have a different system where the medical school includes the undergraduate program (total of 6 years of study. I know there is a word for this program but I forgot). And they have a separate huge annual test every year which I need to study for it, but all of them are in Korean and those barely align with my studies I did throughout my high school to university. So basically I have to restudy the whole Korean curriculum to take that test and apply for Korean med school.

For Canadian med school, I am applying next year when I get my permanent residency, but the thing is the chances with my GPA is very very slim. Canadian medical schools weigh more on GPAs rather than MCAT or ECs.

But overall, thanks for the opinion. I'll definitely look for what I can do with my immigration status.
 
I did find this (google!):
 
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Totally agree with @KnightDoc . I don't think you have any shot, unfortunately Definitely not MD but also DO. Honestly, even if you had 527, it will be extremely hard because you are an international student. I'd say either get green card or try something else.
 
lsmook97 said:
I am planning to enter the school again to boost my GPA and of course, retake MCAT. But before that to happen, I have to take care of the visa problem as well in Canada and I might have a year gap between returning school and right now. What do you think I will need to have a higher chance for MD schools? I will definitely look up for DO schools as well. Thanks for the suggestion.
Click to expand...
My international students have taken as long as a decade to acquire a green card, sometimes longer...
 
kkkdada321 said:
Honestly, even if you had 527, it will be extremely hard because you are an international student. I'd say either get green card or try something else.
Click to expand...
We can estimate that the mean for successful internationals is about 514. About 300/year are successful. International Adventists have their own medical school. Loma Linda admitted 19 last year.
 
gyngyn said:
From the AAMC article in the first post.
Click to expand...
I see. That was from 2019, and includes TMDSAS. I wonder whether it became much more competitive for foreign applicants give the huge spike in applications last cycle?
 
KnightDoc said:
I see. That was from 2019, and includes TMDSAS. I wonder whether it became much more competitive for foreign applicants give the huge spike in applications last cycle?
Click to expand...
It has been hard to find a carve out of reliable recent data.
 
gyngyn said:
Sadly, with a 507 and a 3.3 gpa, you will need a very strong mission match to get an interview.
Click to expand...

It may be a stupid question tho, would you happen to know if I excel in a master's program would help increase my chances?
 
lsmook97 said:
It may be a stupid question tho, would you happen to know if I excel in a master's program would help increase my chances?
Click to expand...

Master's grades do not remediate undergraduate performance for an MD application.
DO schools see things differently.
 
gyngyn said:
Master's grades do not remediate undergraduate performance for an MD application.
DO schools see things differently.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the advice 🙂 I guess I have a clearer idea now. Gotta work on that GPA
 
Another thing you have to consider is that most non-US citizens do not quality for FAFSA. Unless you have a green card or are a refugee of some sort, you won't quality for US student loans. That leaves you to either a) pay out of pocket, b) scholarships (not always a lot), or c) taking out private loans with higher interest rates and someone willing to co-sign that $200k+ amount.
 
lumya said:
Another thing you have to consider is that most non-US citizens do not quality for FAFSA. Unless you have a green card or are a refugee of some sort, you won't quality for US student loans. That leaves you to either a) pay out of pocket, b) scholarships (not always a lot), or c) taking out private loans with higher interest rates and someone willing to co-sign that $200k+ amount.
Click to expand...
Yes I am very aware with the financial challenges that I may face. My parents do really support my effort in entering medical school, so they are willing to help. Thank you for a reminder 🙂
 
gyngyn said:
My international students have taken as long as a decade to acquire a green card, sometimes longer...
Click to expand...
I was born in India and my parents migrated here when I was three. Took until I was a junior in college to get my green card. Immigration is trash and it takes some way longer than others. I wouldn’t say the green card route is feasible.
 
TCU School of medicine accepts F-1 students. You might be able to find more similar schools. Good luck!!!
 
MedStarMD said:
TCU School of medicine accepts F-1 students. You might be able to find more similar schools. Good luck!!!
Click to expand...
This is a good example of my first post!
They do consider internationals, but they interviewed only 4 (of 173) and matriculated none.
 
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