Maximum extend of stupidity!!!! Please read this

[shemshad6682]

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Hello all:
My situation that I want to describe here might be the most strange and weird one that I have stucked in my entire life.

To make a long story short, I went to medical school oversees for two years and then came here in 2006. For some reason that I don't wanna get into, bc i don't wanna give you guys to much headache, there was no way for me to get an official transcript for my record in medical school, so I could not transfer any of my course work to U.S. i ended up starting all over again from undergrad in 2007. now I am a senior, having a 4.0 GPA, which is no big work and easily explainable considering all the upper level courses I had taken in med school. Even worse, I was stupid enough to apply to dental school last cycle even though I had no interest whatsoever in dentistry and had no practical experience. I did well on DAT by just studying 2 weeks and scored 22 in AA. But bc I had no experience in dentistry and was switching from medicine, not surprisingly, I haven't gotten anywhere so far (despite having a couple interviews). now I don't know if I still wanna go if i even get in somewhere bc if i go into dental school, I would have regrets for rest of my life and I don't wanna live like that. I really like medicine and all my passion and interest is in medicine and nothing, nothing else. I am graduating this year and the only thing can comes into my mind is that take 1 or 2 years off doing some research, volunteering and other stuff about medicine. I have already gotten into a competitive 1 year postbac research fellowship that can be extended up to 3 years at NIH. My plan is to take MCAT sometimes next year and score 33+, which is I think achievable if I study enough. So i guess academically, there shouldn't be any problem, at least for the top 50 schools.

My only question is that do you think that taking 2 years off and sticking with research and community service stuff will be enough to convince adcomm that my real and only passion is in medicine and that dental school thing was just a stupid mistake? I know this switching from medicine to dentistry and now again from dentistry to medicine will be really hard to explain and is really bad, but should I completely give up hopes???? Have you seen anyone having similar situation than mine?
I have made myself ready for the worst case scenario, so please be as honest as you can.
Any comments will be appreciated.

I forgot to mention, I did a published research and worked in a clinic when I was in med school oversees, i don't know if that can be of any help, but still.......

 

[startswithb]

How/why would medical schools know you APPLIED to dental school?

 

[Mackey]

Breathe.

 

[extravagnat]

Med schools won't know unless you mention it. They only care about your undergrad stuff, grad school courses (if any) and of course your criminal record.

 

[shemshad6682]

Med schools won't know unless you mention it. They only care about your undergrad stuff, grad school courses (if any) and of course your criminal record.

I know. But the thing is that I have already applied to detal school, and on that I said that I have been in med school. Now in AAMCAS they ask if I have applied to other programs, dental school one of them. and I have to say YES, and if I say yes, they might take a look at my application for dental school and figure out that I have been in med school oversees. so I guess there is no way I can scape from it!!!!
Please correct me if I'm wrong though.

 

[shemshad6682]

Breathe.

Does that mean I have nothing to worry about? I wish I could be like that!!!!

 

[extravagnat]

I know. But the thing is that I have already applied to detal school, and on that I said that I have been in med school. Now in AAMCAS they ask if I have applied to other programs, dental school one of them. and I have to say YES, and if I say yes, they might take a look at my application for dental school and figure out that I have been in med school oversees. so I guess there is no way I can scape from it!!!!
Please correct me if I'm wrong though.

I see. I think your best option is to be honest about it. People change, so as long as you come up with a reasonable explanation/story as to why you went back and forth, then you should be fine. There is also a guy/girl here on SDN that is just finishing up their pharmacy program and will be starting med school this coming year (I think). You guys know who I am talking about? He/she might be able to give you a helpful advice.

 

[plauto]

given the title I thought you guys were gonna talk about Extenze.....

 

[Morsetlis]

Why? Have you tried it?

 

[tennisball80]

ADCOMS do not know you applied to dental schools. If you have a great GPA, MCAT and ECs, you will be fine.

Don't give up. If you really like medicine, go for it. Good luck.

 

[mmmcdowe]

Didn't one of your friends already post this for you?

 

[plauto]

Why? Have you tried it?

you tell me...😉

 

[Morsetlis]

Can't feel the difference, sorry.

 

[mediterranean]

given the title I thought you guys were gonna talk about Extenze.....

J DUB (tan Stewie avatar) was a more common example for me. 🙂

 

[mediterranean]

Someone who went from pharm (finsihing up his/her degree) to med was J DUB (tan Stewie avatar) if he doesn't mind chiming in he can help you.

 

[plauto]

Can't feel the difference, sorry.

I tried my best....gotta pop some more in.

 

[organdonor]

If the misspelling in the title was intentional, it was very clever. If not, well, it wasn't.

To the matter at hand. I believe med schools ask if you have matriculated. And you have, at another med school. They want to see that if you enrolled somewhere, you didn't just up and leave them. Which you did, unless the "headache" that you mentioned explains this in a way that admissions committees can sympathize with.

They are not going to like that you applied, got accepted, attended, and then dropped out. After all, if you did it there why wouldn't you do it at your next school? especially since you are doing the same thing for dental! Medical schools have a serious obligation to graduate their students, and why would they choose to accept someone who dropped out of another program when they have plenty of qualified applicants who have not proven that they don't finish what they begin?

If there was a genuine issue with the school, like it burned down or was destroyed in an earthquake, that is certainly understandable and should be addressed in your personal statement and everywhere you can freakin write it! I mean margins of secondaries and everything! But if you dropped out on your own accord, you are out of luck. Personally I'm surprised that you have had dental interviews.

OP, I'm sorry but I think you are pretty much out of luck.

 

[FIREitUP]

If the misspelling in the title was intentional, it was very clever. If not, well, it wasn't.

To the matter at hand. I believe med schools ask if you have matriculated. And you have, at another med school. They want to see that if you enrolled somewhere, you didn't just up and leave them. Which you did, unless the "headache" that you mentioned explains this in a way that admissions committees can sympathize with.

They are not going to like that you applied, got accepted, attended, and then dropped out. After all, if you did it there why wouldn't you do it at your next school? especially since you are doing the same thing for dental! Medical schools have a serious obligation to graduate their students, and why would they choose to accept someone who dropped out of another program when they have plenty of qualified applicants who have not proven that they don't finish what they begin?

If there was a genuine issue with the school, like it burned down or was destroyed in an earthquake, that is certainly understandable and should be addressed in your personal statement and everywhere you can freakin write it! I mean margins of secondaries and everything! But if you dropped out on your own accord, you are out of luck. Personally I'm surprised that you have had dental interviews.

OP, I'm sorry but I think you are pretty much out of luck.

I don't know that that applies to overseas medical schools.

 

[organdonor]

I don't know that that applies to overseas medical schools.

Have you ever matriculated at or attended any medical school as a candidate for an M.D. degree?

You have "matriculated" as a medical school student if you accepted an offer of admission and did not withdraw, or you registered for classes, whether or not you actually attended classes.

Straight from my AMCAS application. It does not specify domestic or foreign. ANY M.D. school.

 

[FIREitUP]

Straight from my AMCAS application. It does not specify domestic or foreign. ANY M.D. school.

well the med schools would never know since oversees don't participate in AMCAS i think. but they would be curious about what you've done in those years...

 

[Morsetlis]

Hopefully not terrorism.

 

[organdonor]

well the med schools would never know since oversees don't participate in AMCAS i think. but they would be curious about what you've done in those years...

OP, do not, I repeat, do not lie to medical schools. About anything. Lets say you were able to convince them you were working during those two years and you get an acceptance. Great right? WRONG. They can/will expel you for dishonesty if they EVER find out that you lied to them. And since this is a question on AMCAS, you will have lied to every single school you apply to through AMCAS. All it takes is a couple questions to find out you aren't who you say you are. As bad as it would be not to have an acceptance, getting an acceptance and getting expelled 4 years later is much, much worse.

 

[Perrotfish]

1) Med schools do not care that you applied to dental school, they only care about other graduate programs if you actually maticulated.

2) med schools DO care about the fact that you have been an MD candidate in the past, but I'm not sure how much they care if its a foreign MD school. I would call up a couple of ADCOMs and ask about your situation. It could be that, if you dropped out of the first two years of a foreign MD program, which is equivalent to undergraduate for us, they would consider it the same as dropping out of premedicine (i.e., they wouldn't care) rather than a medical school. On the other hand if a couple of ADCOM members say 'no way' I'd say go to dental school.

3) Your command of English seems pretty bad. If you're interested in med school, and have already finished the prereqs, you should go ahead and take the MCAT see if it a passable exam for you. If you get a 6 on the verbal, again, dental might be a good option.

 

[plauto]

your plan to score a 33 does not mean anything until you actually score it.
Anything else, is only speculation at this point. Take the MCAT and then you can get some good advice

 

[LizzyM]

Going into a medical program abroad right out of college is somewhat akin to dropping out of a 7 year BS/MD program after 2 years.... I'd say that you should answer yes, submit your transcript to AMCAS (don't tell me that there is no way to get an offical transcript - that's bull - I deal with FMGs and international students all the time and they all provide transcripts) and explain your situation on your application. If you were a foreign national who had the opportunity to immigrate 2006, it is pretty obvious why you left school and decided on getting a bachelor's degree in the US rather than continue your education abroad. I would not look on it the same way as someone who dropped out of med school, puttered around for a few years and then decided to come back. I think that an adcom would also take into consideration that you were a teenager at the time, not 21-24 years of age as is more typical of M1/M2 students in the US.

Checking the "yes" is not the kiss of death but does require an explanation.