{}{}{}***{}{}{}| Official Premed Application Thread for INTERNATIONAL Students |{}{}{}**{}{}{}

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I'm so glad I found this thread :)
Non-canadian international student graduating with a 3.6 this June and going to a 1-year M.S. program right after. Applying for the 2016 intake.
Anyone can advise on how early I should be submitting my AMCAS apps?
I got my MCAT scheduled for end of August, and I was hoping I could ask my instructors in the M.S. program to write me a letter too.
Also, does anyone know whether enrolling in the same school for masters will help my chances for enrolling in the institution's med school in any mild way? (i.e. applying to Columbia P&S for 2016 intake and doing M.S. in Columbia starting Fall 2015).

Thank you!!!
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biol101 said:
Reapplicant stopping by to say hi! I applied in the Fall 14 cycle, got into a couple places and got waitlisted at like 5. Couldn't attend because both schools asked for 4 years' worth of tuition in an escrow account. One of them was St. Louis SLU (WHY ST LOUIS WHY I THOUGHT WE HAD A CONNECTION). Applying again while I complete a 2 year MS. I think I have a much stronger application now. Good luck everyone!
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Man that sucks. Have you tried to loan from the bank in your own country?
 
biol101 said:
Reapplicant stopping by to say hi! I applied in the Fall 14 cycle, got into a couple places and got waitlisted at like 5. Couldn't attend because both schools asked for 4 years' worth of tuition in an escrow account. One of them was St. Louis SLU (WHY ST LOUIS WHY I THOUGHT WE HAD A CONNECTION). Applying again while I complete a 2 year MS. I think I have a much stronger application now. Good luck everyone!
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:( i'm sorry about that! Couldn't you take a loan from a bank in the US? I know the interests would suck but it's an option.
 
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biol101 said:
Reapplicant stopping by to say hi! I applied in the Fall 14 cycle, got into a couple places and got waitlisted at like 5. Couldn't attend because both schools asked for 4 years' worth of tuition in an escrow account. One of them was St. Louis SLU (WHY ST LOUIS WHY I THOUGHT WE HAD A CONNECTION). Applying again while I complete a 2 year MS. I think I have a much stronger application now. Good luck everyone!
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just a note.

having to pay all four years up front is standard for non US students. Only some schools will waive this with a letter from your bank noting that you have the funds to pay all four years (assuming no student loans).

Many students have to get private loans for this.
 
magicm said:
just a note.

having to pay all four years up front is standard for non US students. Only some schools will waive this with a letter from your bank noting that you have the funds to pay all four years (assuming no student loans).

Many students have to get private loans for this.
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Jefferson does not does not ask for this, only 1 yr of tuition + coa.

In addition, they do not require a letter from a bank stating u have funds for all 4 years, though of course you should have that sorted out before you matriculate.
Its different in different schools. There is no "standard"
 
University of Kentucky requires 2 years of deposit upfront.
Stony Brook University requires proof of financial ability to pay for 4 years of tuition ( e.g. bank statement, employment certification). They don't require you to deposit anything.



It's hard to get loans from U.S banks because you need a co-signer who is a US citizen to sponsor you.
Most intl students get loans from banks in their own country, which is completely doable.
 
throwaway77 said:
Hello fellow AOS applicants (the few that might be here),

Are you guys planning to email/contact the schools and further explain your situation as AOS, particularly given that you did your high school + undergraduate studies in the US?

I mean while we don't technically have a green card, we're essentially just waiting in line to get one. I wonder how medical schools view this and whether explaining to them my situation would help.

advice?
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So glad I found this thread! I'm in a similar situation as you were with an adjustment of status for permanent residence. Could you speak to your experience in how med schools received it? I'm assuming you applied last year.

Some background info: I applied for a 'fast track' for the green card and hoping to receive it in the next month or two based on feedback from our lawyer. I'm also applying to some schools that only accept domestic applicants because of this. I'll explain the situation in AMCAS, but I'm wondering if those schools might reject my application based on their policies rather than wait for my information. Does anyone have any advice on how I could approach this?
 
Narrowing my final school list down, I was wondering if there are any Canadians around who have had success in the past willing to share school experiences, either interviews, acceptances waitlists or don't even bothers.
 
Hey all, I'm a canadian, also taking the dive as an international applicant this year. Anyone trying for MD-PhD by any chance? Also, for previous applicants, any idea if it would look bad if we apply to MD-PhD to the schools that allow international students into the program but only MD to those that don't?
 
biol101 said:
Reapplicant stopping by to say hi! I applied in the Fall 14 cycle, got into a couple places and got waitlisted at like 5. Couldn't attend because both schools asked for 4 years' worth of tuition in an escrow account. One of them was St. Louis SLU (WHY ST LOUIS WHY I THOUGHT WE HAD A CONNECTION). Applying again while I complete a 2 year MS. I think I have a much stronger application now. Good luck everyone!
Click to expand...

This is a trap I don't want to fall into, getting in and not being able to go would be awful.

And so the myth of meritocracy in med remains.
 
biol101 said:
It's common only at a handful of schools to ask for 4 years of tuition at once. No bank in their right mind is going to give you 224k up front. I was aware of the fact that these two schools would ask for the money upfront when i applied.
Most of the other schools I applied to don't have this policy. I contacted the committes the first time around to make sure.

Edit: I've also applied for a green card. My family is in the US too, so idk if that makes me a 'different' international student. Didn't help the first time around though. I'm still on an f1 visa.
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Sorry to hear about what happened during your 2014/2015 application cycle.

Applying for a green card won't necessarily change your status for the purposes of your medical application unless your GC application is very close to being approved (ie. interview stage/post interview stage). If either of these applies, you may be able to apply as a permanent resident which will open all the doors for you.

We've helped many, many, many international and US applicants get into Canadian and US schools. Good luck!
 
Does anyone know the likelihood of waiving secondaries fees if you're an international student? As internationals we can't apply for FAP status which most schools will use to automatically waive secondary fees... but some schools do say that emailing admissions may allow for a waiver (e.g. Dartmouth).

Anyone with any success in past cycles. I might have to cut my list down a fair bit (again) because of immediate finances blah.
 
International student (Non Canadian) admitted in the 2014-2015 cycle. Top 20 school. Let me know if you have any questions
 
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Mcat 35 - 39
GPA 3.9+, sgpa 4.0
Bunch of leadership
Very sparse research
 
I applied to about 20 schools. All in the top 25.

Two II s
One acceptance
One waitlist acceptance
 
(reposted)
 
Last edited:
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Hi,
Just want to get some feedback on my chances of getting into any MD program this cycle (2015-2016). I am non-Canadian international student, and on top of that I'm non-trad. Currently in grad school (grad GPA 3.7). I have 4 publications as of now (one 1st author in a journal with 24.9 impact factor, one co-1st author in another journal with 5.6, and two 4-5th author papers in journals with 10.7 and 10.4). I have also written commentary for other papers. I'm working on submitting another manuscript right now and hopefully it will get accepted before I graduate in 2016.

I did undergrad in the states. My GPA started pretty bad but had an up-going trend. In both junior and senior years, 3 out of 4 classes I took were grad-level and I did pretty well in those classes. I had only 10 hours of shadowing experience in undergrad. In graduate school, the vast majority of time went into research. However, I did manage to shadow occasionally (but about 8 hours total). I attended clinical and academic seminars very often (at least once a week). I also took human pathology focus courses, which provided nice introduction to problems encountered in translational and clinical research. I had very little clinical volunteering experience. However, I played solo recitals every two year (which were quite some effort and preparation for concerts was extremely time-consuming) and all my performances were open to the community, and well appreciated by the audience. I also provided music at senior centers.

My current strategy is to apply to all MD schools that accept international students. Sorry for the lengthy post. But I really want to get some feedback on what to do. Any advice is very appreciated!
 
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Hi,
I was accepted to a top Ivy League College this year (HYP). I am non-Canadian international student and would like to know my chances of getting into any MD program in 2019 if I have very good GPA, MCAT and EC activities.
Instead going to this top Ivy League College, my cousin (who is MD in USA) advises me to go to medical school in my country (I was also accepted to a very good/free medical school in my country) and apply to a Residency Program in USA in 2020.
Can anyone help me and advise what I should do?
 
Anyone has access to the AAMC official 2015 Medical School Admissions Requirements and are willing to share?
 
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My entire app talks about how poor my immediate family and I are. Do you think adcoms will perceive this as me not being able to pay for studying abroad?

I am extremely lucky and an extended family member has offered to pay for my schooling, I'm guessing it would be tacky to mention this?
 
mmcoffee said:
My entire app talks about how poor my immediate family and I are. Do you think adcoms will perceive this as me not being able to pay for studying abroad?

I am extremely lucky and an extended family member has offered to pay for my schooling, I'm guessing it would be tacky to mention this?[/QUOTE

I wouldn't mention how you're going to pay tuition in your application, but this is something they might ask you about in your interview. At that point I don't think there's anything wrong with saying that a relative is willing to help you out. They won't assume that you were lying about how you grew up just because of that.
Click to expand...
 
Quick question.

I did my undergrad in a non-Canadian foreign school. Since the AMCAS won't even verify for courses taken there, should I list only science relevant courses and their respective grades or for all the courses (including acting, or French)? I definitely don't wanna leave the list of courses at the foreign institution blank (yes, I also took courses in the US during my PhD).

thanks!
 
CWLDF said:
Hi,
I was accepted to a top Ivy League College this year (HYP). I am non-Canadian international student and would like to know my chances of getting into any MD program in 2019 if I have very good GPA, MCAT and EC activities.
Instead going to this top Ivy League College, my cousin (who is MD in USA) advises me to go to medical school in my country (I was also accepted to a very good/free medical school in my country) and apply to a Residency Program in USA in 2020.
Can anyone help me and advise what I should do?
Click to expand...

Getting into a residency program is hard as it is, but apparently doing it as an international MD is even harder (because of step 1 and 2, and because you don't have priority when matching).
In my home country, I would have graduated from medical school with zero debt. Here, I'll have quite a lot of debt.
The MAJOR difference to me is that here, med schools train you to do more than just treat patients.
I didn't realize that until I started researching US med schools in detail.

so basically
home country = no debt, but not much besides direct medical training, and lower chances of matching where you want in the US
US = lots of debt, but so many amazing extracurricular possibilities during med school

Also, I have a green card so I don't know anything about getting into US med schools without citizenship/permanent residency.
 
tjy2015 said:
Anyone has access to the AAMC official 2015 Medical School Admissions Requirements and are willing to share?
Click to expand...
No one will share. The AMCAS ID and login is required which is very personal.
 
Hi,

I just finished my 12th grade schooling from India and I'm looking forward to getting into Medical school in the US but unfortunately, I have absolutely no idea about what to do. I need information on the pre-requisites for med school, how to apply and information on financial aid for non-immigrant international students. I need all the information I can get! I need help, it would be really appreciated.

Thank you.
 
CWLDF said:
Hi,
I was accepted to a top Ivy League College this year (HYP). I am non-Canadian international student and would like to know my chances of getting into any MD program in 2019 if I have very good GPA, MCAT and EC activities.
Instead going to this top Ivy League College, my cousin (who is MD in USA) advises me to go to medical school in my country (I was also accepted to a very good/free medical school in my country) and apply to a Residency Program in USA in 2020.
Can anyone help me and advise what I should do?
Click to expand...
Where do you want to practice? Your home country or the U.S? Go to medical school where you want to practice.
 
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Hey everyone, SDN newbie here.

I was just perusing SDN in one of my fits of anxiety this summer since I haven't accomplished anything all summer (family was moving countries so I just helped out, was supposed to be studying for the MCAT but oh well.)

I'm posting on here cuz I'm really worried I'm not going to make it.

I'm a third year undergrad at a state university, international, non-Canadian. Indian, to be specific. GPA 3.93, SGPA 4.0 so far, starting prep for the MCAT this year. ECs are average I guess, shadowed US MDs for a couple weeks, shadowed an MD in my home country for a month, joined an ambulance corp last semester and I'm on my way to being EMT certified, so there's two years of clinical experience. For leadership I've been sort of active in the international student community as Student Ambassador. Did some teaching in India in underprivileged areas in high school.
Future ECs include more volunteer work in India, TAing organic chemistry and bio courses, and hopefully some research.

And there's my problem. Already entering junior year and haven't done a shred of research. And that's cuz I'm physically averse to labs, I can't bear to be in a lab for hours and hours looking at slides and testing samples. I know research is a silent necessity for med school, not strictly said to be, but I'm scared I'll only have a year of research on my resume at max (not planning on taking a gap year unless all schools end up rejecting me.)
The research I'm planning to do (which I found out about way after the deadline this year) is something called Academic Associates in the ER, where they survey doctors and patients and get to peruse patients' files and observe in the ER, while conducting research, which I think is the only kind of research I would possibly enjoy.

Please help, any kind of feedback, positive or negative, is welcome. Let me know what you think of my EC's, what more I could do to boost my application and make it stronger.
I'm honestly so disheartened and scared I'm not going to make it. :( Need some encouragement and honest feedback here.

Thank you for creating this thread, SDN is a lifesaver :)
 
Good grades, shadowing, clinical experience, potentially a year of research... all you need is a decent MCAT and you're golden. You're just feeling anxious like every other pre-med.
 
Another MED2016er checking in...
Anyone got any interviews so far? It's zilch from this end :(
 
Anyone know if Canadian citizens accepted to US med schools still require a visa or other paperwork? When I google it, I read no.
 
dallasnights said:
Anyone know if Canadian citizens accepted to US med schools still require a visa or other paperwork? When I google it, I read no.
Click to expand...

Just some paper work your school will intimate for you. I-20 I believe. You will be on the f1 student visa, also they will take care of it, meaning email you about it and file.
 
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Hi all

Just checking in. I applied 2012/2013 cycle. Rewrote mcat2015 and now applying this cycle.

Brief stats: Canadian. PhD. Postdoc in the states, GPA ~3.5 MCAT 522: 132/130/132/128. Hoping it will go well for me. Applying to many schools including top tier.

Worried about financials too. Especially with the Canadian dollar down. Anyone have advice?
 
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bearintraining said:
Hi all

Just checking in. I applied 2012/2013 cycle. Rewrote mcat2015 and now applying this cycle.

Brief stats: Canadian. PhD. Postdoc in the states, GPA ~3.5 MCAT 522: 132/130/132/128. Hoping it will go well for me. Applying to many schools including top tier.

Worried about financials too. Especially with the Canadian dollar down. Anyone have advice?
Click to expand...

Find a relative to be a solvent guarantor for a bigger LoC?
 
bearintraining said:
I thought that the maximum LoC is exactly that - a maximum? I could find such a guarantor if that is not the case.
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No the 150k "max" is what you get as an international student entering med school. The guarantor allows you to increase it.
 
NotASerialKiller said:
No the 150k "max" is what you get as an international student entering med school. The guarantor allows you to increase it.
Click to expand...

OK. Just to make sure we are on the same page. Take CIBC for example. their website says max CAD$275k for MD. You're saying with a guarantor you may be able to go above that, correct?
 
bearintraining said:
OK. Just to make sure we are on the same page. Take CIBC for example. their website says max CAD$275k for MD. You're saying with a guarantor you may be able to go above that, correct?
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Are you sure you're looking at LoCs to study medicine internationally? The chart of what every bank gives as a max for Canadians studying internationally was linked on premed101.com, and the best one was 150-170k. 275k sounds like what they give Canadians studying medicine in Canada.
 
NotASerialKiller said:
Are you sure you're looking at LoCs to study medicine internationally? The chart of what every bank gives as a max for Canadians studying internationally was linked on premed101.com, and the best one was 150-170k. 275k sounds like what they give Canadians studying medicine in Canada.
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Hmm. I could be wrong but the bank website doesn't indicate it has to be in Canada. Could you provide the link to the specific thread on premed101? I didn't find it
 
bearintraining said:
Hmm. I could be wrong but the bank website doesn't indicate it has to be in Canada. Could you provide the link to the specific thread on premed101? I didn't find it
Click to expand...

Nope, it was a while ago. Just because it didn't specifically have those conditions though doesn't mean they don't exist. Do some more digging and make sure you find something on any bank site that specifically says for international study, not just something that doesn't not say international. Or just call them.
 
Just finished all my secondaries with a list of about 20 schools. LizzyM 65-69. Applied broadly with significant research and extracurricular activities. Tried my best to write a unique and tailored essay for each medical school, although I feel as if the fluidity of my writing suffered as a result. Made it clear that I want to pursue IM/Family, which is the truth. Still applying to the OMSAS medical schools, although my chances are slim. In reality, I would feel honored to attend any med school.
 
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I did my undergrad at a foreign institution (Not Canada) and my current university has agreed to transfer 90 credits towards my degree. I have started working towards my pre-reqs as a minor. I only need 30 more credits to get a US bachelors.,
My question is, will my approximately 30 US credits be enough to apply for medical school if I also have a Bachelors from a US university or will this fall short? Most school websites state students must have 90 Undergraduate credits before applying and have a Bachelors. Few state that the 90 credits need to all have been taken at a US institution. Has anyone done this before, or heard of anyone who has? If so, which schools will accept the 30 US credits as long as I am awarded a Bachelors??
 
DeterminedIrony said:
I did my undergrad at a foreign institution (Not Canada) and my current university has agreed to transfer 90 credits towards my degree. I have started working towards my pre-reqs as a minor. I only need 30 more credits to get a US bachelors.,
My question is, will my approximately 30 US credits be enough to apply for medical school if I also have a Bachelors from a US university or will this fall short? Most school websites state students must have 90 Undergraduate credits before applying and have a Bachelors. Few state that the 90 credits need to all have been taken at a US institution. Has anyone done this before, or heard of anyone who has? If so, which schools will accept the 30 US credits as long as I am awarded a Bachelors??
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Your situation is unusual enough that schools may choose to interpret your standing in many ways.
Your perceived eligibility may be influenced by the strength of the rest of your application, so a strong MCAT could sway schools where your credits fall into a grey zone.
 
gyngyn said:
Your situation is unusual enough that schools may choose to interpret your standing in many ways.
Your perceived eligibility may be influenced by the strength of the rest of your application, so a strong MCAT could sway schools where your credits fall into a grey zone.
Click to expand...
Thank you, I certainly appreciate your input. I am a decent test taker so I will do my darnedest to get a great score. MY ECs are decent (volunteering for more than 6 years across 3 continents. I never counted the hours since at the time I did not do it for medical school purposes).
 
DeterminedIrony said:
Thank you, I certainly appreciate your input. I am a decent test taker so I will do my darnedest to get a great score. MY ECs are decent (volunteering for more than 6 years across 3 continents. I never counted the hours since at the time I did not do it for medical school purposes).
Click to expand...

Don't need exact numbers just an estimate that someone else can verify
 
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