MD & DO Re-applicant, Non-Canadian International, Average GPA, Unbalanced MCAT

[Camou_Cat]

Hi friends,

I just got my MCAT yesterday with an unbalanced 511 (130/124/128/129). It was a retake from 509 (131/122/129/127). English is my third language. I have never been good at (interested in) reading. I don’t know if I should apply with this score, or retake the MCAT, or give up on med school and pursue a PhD or do something else. I applied with the above 509 in summer 2015 to about 20 schools (not very seriously) and didn’t get interview invites from any U.S. medical schools. I got an interview from Duke-NUS and never heard back. I didn’t like that program either.

I am an NON-CANADIAN INTERNATIONAL, NO GREEN CARD. I came to the U.S. 4.5 years ago for college. (I do want to stay in the U.S. for the rest of my life.) I graduated last June from a top 25 university in CA, with a double major in biological science and economics. My undergrad GPA is not impressive, 3.75 cGPA and 3.83 sGPA. But I had an upward trend since I became more determined about med school in my junior year.


Volunteer/Community Service
1. Hospital volunteer for 2.5 years (switched department after 1 year) ~300 hours *ongoing* probable LOR
2. Volunteer at a free clinic for 6 months ~60 hours *ongoing*

Other Clinical Experience
1. Clinical research associate in ICU for 2 years ~150 hours *ongoing* strong LOR
2. Shadowing (Ophthalmology + surgery, ER, Neurology, hospital rounds) ~100 hours
3. Currently working part-time in Peds Neurology as a clinical research coordinator (clinic/office = 50/50) *ongoing* strong LOR

Research: (Oh, I love research too)
1. I started early with a biochem lab but didn’t like protein work. ( ~250 hours for 8 months)
2. I switched to a molecular bio lab for a summer (~100 hours) but they ditched me after I took a quarter off due to heavy school workload.
3. I finally joined a neuro-ophthalmology lab, which I really enjoyed, and stayed for 1.5 years. (~1000 hours) I have 1 publication (co-author) and 1 poster from this lab. Not involved anymore, unfortunately, due to funding issue. strong LOR

Leadership and EC
-I was a board member for two student-run clubs on campus

Teaching/Language/Others
1. Been an undergrad TA for a biology lab class (~50 hours)
2. Working as a tutor for 6 months (~150 hours) *ongoing*
3. Native speaker in Chinese and Japanese; English pretty OK (no problem communicating with patients) but not native


My OPT will expire in June 2018, meaning that I CANNOT wait for one more year if I don't apply this coming cycle. Otherwise, I would be illegal staying here. I do want to go to med school. I prefer MD over DO because I want to get involved in academic medicine as a specialty doctor. Please correct me if there are research-oriented DO programs.

Can someone give me advice on what I should do? Retake the MCAT before June with the risk of not improving much on CARS? Apply to DO? Pursue PhD? Go back to Asia?

PLZ

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[Goro]

As internationals need to be Harvard/Stanford caliber to get accepted, I can't recommend MD schools.

 

[nonamesleft]

Hi friends,

I just got my MCAT yesterday with an unbalanced 511 (130/124/128/129). It was a retake from 509 (131/122/129/127). English is my third language. I have never been good at (interested in) reading. I don’t know if I should apply with this score, or retake the MCAT, or give up on med school and pursue a PhD or do something else. I applied with the above 509 in summer 2015 to about 20 schools (not very seriously) and didn’t get interview invites from any U.S. medical schools. I got an interview from Duke-NUS and never heard back. I didn’t like that program either.

Which 20 schools? What do you mean by "not very seriously"?

I prefer MD over DO because I want to get involved in academic medicine as a specialty doctor. Please correct me if there are research-oriented DO programs.

Depending on how you define "academic medicine" - do you mean you want to be a clinician at a medical center affiliated with a medical school, or someone that does mostly research, or something else? There are DO/PhD programs, as well as DOs in traditional allopathic subspecialties. You could do some research on both.

3. Native speaker in Chinese and Japanese; English pretty OK (no problem communicating with patients) but not nativeCan someone give me advice on what I should do?

Retake the MCAT before June with the risk of not improving much on CARS? Apply to DO? Pursue PhD? Go back to Asia?

I would say that applying is not impossible. However, as @Goro already pointed out, applying as an international is an uphill battle. That CARS score isn't going to improve much without serious work. Also, not every school will just take your highest or most recent MCAT score. Some average all the tests you've taken.
There are several reasons your current CARS score is a problem. First, it's below most average MD matriculant CARS scores (You applied with a VR equivalent of 5, and have only raised it to ~7). Second, there is some thought/evidence that the VR score correlated with Step 1 scores. If you're applying with a 5-7, schools will wonder if you'll actually manage to pass Step 1. Third, you mention that your English is ok for communicating with patients. As you may know, the ability to hold a conversation does not necessarily mean you have clarity in your communication. As one of my mentors said "you will never be as close to the patient as when you start medical school". What he meant is that as you learn more medicine, you learn more technical jargon. A majority of your patients will not comprehend such jargon, and you must have strong communication skills at the outset to distill the technical language into a form that your patients will understand.

I do not want to provide false hope. However, the tone of your post suggests that you're set on applying, regardless of the outcomes. Therefore, my suggestion is to do the following:
1) Really practice for the CARS. I took the old MCAT eons ago, and I worked through the entire examcrackers VR 101 book several times. (I started working on the book as a freshman in college, and took my MCAT summer after sophomore year). For a reference point, I'd scored 600-650 (don't remember exactly) on the critical reading for the SAT, and improved to a 11 on the VR for the MCAT. There may be better resources for CARS preparation, but as I never took it, I don't have a suggestion here.
2) Research which schools that have accepted non-Canadian internationals. The MSAR is a good starting point, as is this website: https://www.aamc.org/download/321478/data/factstablea11.pdf
3) For any component of the AMCAS application that requires writing (EC descriptions, Personal statement), make sure that you demonstrate your ability to communicate well.

 

[Goro]

Beggars can't be choosy.

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I prefer MD over DO because I want to get involved in academic medicine as a specialty doctor. Please correct me if there are research-oriented DO programs.

Can someone give me advice on what I should do? Retake the MCAT before June with the risk of not improving much on CARS? Apply to DO? Pursue PhD? Go back to Asia?

PLZ

 

[mwsapphire]

I would say your MCAT is holding you back, your gpa looks very good, especially if you had an upwards trend.

 

[Camou_Cat]

Which 20 schools? What do you mean by "not very seriously

I applied to mid to low tiers that accepted internationals based on MSAR. I applied because I wanted to go through the process to see how everything worked, so that the next time around I'd be better prepared for it. Also, it might sound ridiculous, but I wanted to take this step to be more determined about my goal. I've been interested in med school since freshman year. Unfortunately, no one really encouraged me to take this route. I ended up exploring other fields, (I even got a degree in econ), but nothing compared to my huge interest in medicine.

There are several reasons your current CARS score is a problem. First, it's below most average MD matriculant CARS scores (You applied with a VR equivalent of 5, and have only raised it to ~7). Second, there is some thought/evidence that the VR score correlated with Step 1 scores. If you're applying with a 5-7, schools will wonder if you'll actually manage to pass Step 1. Third, you mention that your English is ok for communicating with patients. As you may know, the ability to hold a conversation does not necessarily mean you have clarity in your communication. As one of my mentors said "you will never be as close to the patient as when you start medical school". What he meant is that as you learn more medicine, you learn more technical jargon. A majority of your patients will not comprehend such jargon, and you must have strong communication skills at the outset to distill the technical language into a form that your patients will understand.

When I got 122, I didn't understand the passages. I also had school work, research, and other stuff when studying for the MCAT. The second time around, I put enough time in reading dense passages and improved my reading comprehension, but I still didn't get comfortable with doing questions. I did feel unprepared before the exam but I scored it anyways.
Thanks for the suggestions. I will try to figure out how to properly practice and review the passages.

Depending on how you define "academic medicine" - do you mean you want to be a clinician at a medical center affiliated with a medical school, or someone that does mostly research, or something else?

I meant the first. I'm a little concerned because an attending physician that I'm working with has told me that MDs still have more opportunities than DOs. I'm not sure how it works.

 

[Camou_Cat]

I would say your MCAT is holding you back, your gpa looks very good, especially if you had an upwards trend.

1000% agreed. I need to figure out what's wrong with my CARS study/

 

[Camou_Cat]

Beggars can't be choosy.

Yeah, very sad but it's so true. I've been begging during my undergrad for friends, clinical experience, LOR, and etc. Would it be considered as a good skill for med students?

 

[victorias]

Did you get an acceptance from any MD schools? How was your experience with MD school applications and interviews?

 

[JibsGuy52]

Did you get an acceptance from any MD schools? How was your experience with MD school applications and interviews?

^. Update?

 

[summergirl]

Your MCAT is the bigger limiting factor in your application. I got 4 MD interviews as an international with a *significantly* lower GPA than your's, coupled with a significantly higher MCAT. Your GPA is not perfect for an international applicant but your MCAT was the deal breaker.