MD PhD for a foreign student

[stopcancer.jr]

Any foreign accepted for MD or MD-PhD here?

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[PreMedMissteps]

When you contacted these schools, did you mention that you're not a US citizen or resident?

Which med schools did you contact?

If you're talking about MSTP for MD/PhD, I think you have to be a US citizen/resident since the funding is from the US gov't, but others here may know some SOMs that will provide the funding.

As of now, I wouldn't say that a 505 MCAT is competitive for MD/PhD, particularly for an int'l. It's not really competitive for straight MD programs.

I don't know exactly what a competitive MCAT is for MD/PhD programs these days, but I'm guessing about 517+.

Many med schools won't accept any int'l students, and the ones that do, usually only enroll 1-3 per year....and those students often have to pay all costs themselves. As you can guess, with so few seats available, the competition would be fierce.\

 

[PreMedMissteps]

And I have to organize my time to work to save money to be here in Rochester and Miami in the future, the MCAT, my last engineering courses, and my sister (O

For you to get a visa to go to school here, you will have to show that you have the full amount for tuition and living expenses.

Being able to work here could also pose some problems. Have you worked that out?

 

[stopcancer.jr]

When you contacted these schools, did you mention that you're not a US citizen or resident?

Which med schools did you contact?

If you're talking about MSTP for MD/PhD, I think you have to be a US citizen/resident since the funding is from the US gov't, but others here may know some SOMs that will provide the funding.

As of now, I wouldn't say that a 505 MCAT is competitive for MD/PhD, particularly for an int'l. It's not really competitive for straight MD programs.

I don't know exactly what a competitive MCAT is for MD/PhD programs these days, but I'm guessing about 517+.

Many med schools won't accept any int'l students, and the ones that do, usually only enroll 1-3 per year....and those students often have to pay all costs themselves. As you can guess, with so few seats available, the competition would be fierce.\

Yes, I told them that I am a foreign student. Stanford, Harvard, Columbia, Baylor and Mount Sinai answered me. I know 505 is pretty bad. It was just a test without previous preparation. I will study hard during the next months.

 

[stopcancer.jr]

For you to get a visa to go to school here, you will have to show that you have the full amount for tuition and living expenses.

Being able to work here could also pose some problems. Have you worked that out?

No, I work in my country. Not in the US.

 

[PreMedMissteps]

No, I work in my country. Not in the US.

What I was referring to is below:

*I will move to the US in December to keep conducting research but this time in genome editing techniques to block some paths involved in metastasis and invasion. I am working to develop the protocol.

Do you have funding to move here, get a visa, and conduct research?

 

[Med Ed]

Do you believe possible for me as a foreign student?

There is no realistic chance of getting into an MD/PhD program as a foreign citizen. You have two options, neither of which involves taking the MCAT again in the near future.

1. Move to the US, secure a green card, and then apply. This will likely take quite awhile, and you will probably have to take or retake prerequisite courses in the US for them to count.
2. Attend medical school in Colombia and apply to match in the US as an MD. Pathology would be a good choice. After that you could do a post-doc and establish yourself as a researcher. You won't get a PhD but you can accrue comparable experience.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but this is the cold, hard truth.

Also, breast self-exam has never been demonstrated to reduce mortality.

 

[gyngyn]

*I have been volunteer in the US of the American Cancer Society, and in my country of the AVON breast Cancer Crusade (traveling to war areas to teach women to perform breast exam) and in a rural oncology clinic helping patients from undeserved backgrounds.

Even the ACS has conceded that BSE is harmful, confers no benefits and is not recommended.
Now, if I could only convince ACOG...

 

[gyngyn]

Any foreign accepted for MD or MD-PhD here?

Around 300 internationals matriculate every year.
51 US MD schools consider internationals, but most matriculate 3 or less.
Applying to Medical School as an International Applicant

 

[Terror Billy]

I know of an international student from a Top 3 public university with extensive research, near perfect GPAs and a 521 who could not find a medical school. I think Med Ed nailed it on the advice, do your schooling in your country and kill it there. Then try matching into the US...

 

[Jaigantic]

I know of an international student from a Top 3 public university with extensive research, near perfect GPAs and a 521 who could not find a medical school. I think Med Ed nailed it on the advice, do your schooling in your country and kill it there. Then try matching into the US...

I feel like the person in your example is an outlier and had some other sort of deficiency in their app. One of the main reasons why it is so hard for international students to get accepted is because their choices are so limited and the schools that do accept are mostly private/top-tier schools. Thus, you need to have much higher stats than the average applicant simply because the schools that will consider you are top schools. Given that these schools are private, however, they usually don't have biases based on citizenship or residency status. This doesn't go for every school and @gyngyn's mention of the schools that matriculate less than 3 international students gives a good idea of which schools might prefer domestic applicants, private school or not.

An international applicant with a stellar application such as the one you described should have as much trouble, in general, as a domestic applicant with the same application given that their list is likely to be top heavy as well (and justifiably so).

That's how I understand the process after extensive research into this topic. Happy to hear from others with more experience on this matter.

EDIT: what I wrote is in relation to regular MD admissions. MD/PhD is extra hard, as @Med Ed said, since even fewer schools accept internationals. The reason for this is that these programs are usually funded by federal organizations, i.e. NIH, and international students are ineligible for federal financial support.

 

[Med Ed]

EDIT: what I wrote is in relation to regular MD admissions. MD/PhD is extra hard, as @Med Ed said, since even fewer schools accept internationals. The reason for this is that these programs are usually funded by federal organizations, i.e. NIH, and international students are ineligible for federal financial support.

There actually are some programs that will fund international MD/PhD students all the way through. The catch is that they exist to mop up rockstar-grade talent that is already in the US on visas.

 

[Jaigantic]

There actually are some programs that will fund international MD/PhD students all the way through. The catch is that they exist to mop up rockstar-grade talent that is already in the US on visas.

Yep, gotta be the best of the best.

As far as just normal MD admissions goes though, do you think it's a big advantage for an international student to complete their entire undergrad (or even earlier) in the US?

 

[Med Ed]

Yep, gotta be the best of the best.

As far as just normal MD admissions goes though, do you think it's a big advantage for an international student to complete their entire undergrad (or even earlier) in the US?

Yes. The most difficult aspect of judging international applicants is the quality of their undergraduate preparation if it was done in another country. Secondary to that are language skills. Both can be mitigated by completing a significant amount of coursework in the US.

 

[PreMedMissteps]

Around 300 internationals matriculate every year.
51 US MD schools consider internationals, but most matriculate 3 or less.
Applying to Medical School as an International Applicant

How many of those approx 300 int'ls are non-Canadian? And, w/o an undergrad degree from US or Canada?

How many non-Canadian int'ls matriculate as funded MD/PhD? I suspect that it's few or zero.

 

[gyngyn]

How many of those approx 300 int'ls are non-Canadian? And, w/o an undergrad degree from US or Canada?

How many non-Canadian int'ls matriculate as funded MD/PhD? I suspect that it's few or zero.

Last year there were 112 matriculants whose residence was not in the US.
There were 73 matriculants whose residence was unknown. I'm assuming the DACA students are in there somewhere.
The AAMC doesn't distinguish Canadians from other internationals in any data I can find, nor do they indicate where their undergraduate degree was conferred.
Only 51 MD schools consider non-Canadian internationals.
71 schools consider Canadians.

Looking through the MSAR (on other matters), I can recall at least a dozen international matriculants were MD/PhD's. I've seen no data on the funding source.
The number is small, but not zero.

 

[UBLI-EINSTEIN]

In fact, this year there are less than 51 schools. At least Rutger schools are not going to accept any international students as I remember, although on MSAR they say yes.

 

[PreMedMissteps]

Last year there were 112 matriculants whose residence was not in the US.
There were 73 matriculants whose residence was unknown. I'm assuming the DACA students are in there somewhere.
The AAMC doesn't distinguish Canadians from other internationals in any data I can find, nor do they indicate where their undergraduate degree was conferred.
Only 51 MD schools consider non-Canadian internationals.
71 schools consider Canadians.

Looking through the MSAR (on other matters), I can recall at least a dozen international matriculants were MD/PhD's. I've seen no data on the funding source.
The number is small, but not zero.

This seems to be one of those, "the devil is in the details."

It appears that of those 300 int'ls, most of them (227) were already living in the US. Would that mean that they were here on non-US education visas?

The 73 unknown sound like a possible mix of Canadians, DACA and other int'ls who do not reside in the US.

Does this sound plausible

 

[gyngyn]

This seems to be one of those, "the devil is in the details."

It appears that of those 300 int'ls, most of them (227) were already living in the US. Would that mean that they were here on non-US education visas?

The 73 unknown sound like a possible mix of Canadians, DACA and other int'ls who do not reside in the US.

Does this sound plausible

Yes, in my experience the majority of international MD applicants are already here on an F1 visa. Most of the rest are here applying for asylum or are DACA.

 

[PreMedMissteps]

Yes, in my experience the majority of international MD applicants are already here on an F1 visa. Most of the rest are here applying for asylum or are DACA.

It's important for the random int'l applicant to know this. Some have expressed the belief that their chances are the same as any other int'l.