- Joined
- May 20, 2022
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Hello SDN! I'm a 24-year-old male, non-traditional, immigrant from Kyrgyzstan. I recently got my U.S. citizenship. I plan to apply to M.D./D.O. programs in 2026. I'm in my second year of a B.S. at a T30 public university. I serve on Active Duty in the USAF as an Enlisted Medic.
I attended a 6-year M.D. program back in Russia. In Russia, you enter an M.D. program right after high school, and it's somewhat of a combined undergrad and M.D. program. For the first 2.5 years, you study basic sciences and start your M.D.-related coursework and cycles after that. I had to leave Russia after I successfully finished my 3rd year due to a series of tragic family events and political reasons.
Back in 2021, I started applying to U.S. 4-year institutions as an international transfer applicant. I went through an initial hard struggle trying to obtain official transcripts from Russia. Evaluation companies were unsuccessfully trying to contact the Russian school I was attending. Before I left, I obtained an official, stamped transcript enveloped and sealed, so one of the companies agreed to evaluate it. I don't know how the process works, but the rep from the evaluation company who was helping me with the process was Russian, so I assumed he was able to reach out to my school. In the end, it was all pointless. I applied and talked to over 10 different universities; all of them declined to transfer the courses towards my bachelor's degree. The only university that was able to transfer them only agreed to apply them as elective coursework that will not count towards my major. I sort of gave up on trying to fight with transfer offices and basically started from the beginning.
I plan to finish my bachelor's degree in Spring 2027. My GPA in the U.S. is 4.0, and so far, I have a little over 60 credits. I haven't taken the MCAT yet, but my diagnostics average at ~515.
I volunteer in our community and on base. I also have at least one shadowing session once a month. My clinical experience mostly comes from working as a USAF medic. We get exposure to a lot of inpatient and outpatient units, and usually, the scope of practice is somewhat similar to an EMT/LPN with a lot of trauma exposure.
My question is: Do I have to reflect my international coursework on my applications to medical schools, and can someone share a similar experience? If you were in a similar situation, how did you manage to obtain transcripts if the med school requested them?
Also, I welcome any advice on my journey. I can't really connect to my school's premed advisors due to my work schedule. I had several sessions with them and didn't really find them informative.
I attended a 6-year M.D. program back in Russia. In Russia, you enter an M.D. program right after high school, and it's somewhat of a combined undergrad and M.D. program. For the first 2.5 years, you study basic sciences and start your M.D.-related coursework and cycles after that. I had to leave Russia after I successfully finished my 3rd year due to a series of tragic family events and political reasons.
Back in 2021, I started applying to U.S. 4-year institutions as an international transfer applicant. I went through an initial hard struggle trying to obtain official transcripts from Russia. Evaluation companies were unsuccessfully trying to contact the Russian school I was attending. Before I left, I obtained an official, stamped transcript enveloped and sealed, so one of the companies agreed to evaluate it. I don't know how the process works, but the rep from the evaluation company who was helping me with the process was Russian, so I assumed he was able to reach out to my school. In the end, it was all pointless. I applied and talked to over 10 different universities; all of them declined to transfer the courses towards my bachelor's degree. The only university that was able to transfer them only agreed to apply them as elective coursework that will not count towards my major. I sort of gave up on trying to fight with transfer offices and basically started from the beginning.
I plan to finish my bachelor's degree in Spring 2027. My GPA in the U.S. is 4.0, and so far, I have a little over 60 credits. I haven't taken the MCAT yet, but my diagnostics average at ~515.
I volunteer in our community and on base. I also have at least one shadowing session once a month. My clinical experience mostly comes from working as a USAF medic. We get exposure to a lot of inpatient and outpatient units, and usually, the scope of practice is somewhat similar to an EMT/LPN with a lot of trauma exposure.
My question is: Do I have to reflect my international coursework on my applications to medical schools, and can someone share a similar experience? If you were in a similar situation, how did you manage to obtain transcripts if the med school requested them?
Also, I welcome any advice on my journey. I can't really connect to my school's premed advisors due to my work schedule. I had several sessions with them and didn't really find them informative.
