Should I apply for MD-only for a better chance? International student, borderline MD-PHD applicant

[CrayonShinChan]

I'm applying next cycle and begin to worry if I should apply for MD only programs to have a better chance of getting in. My application has been focused mainly on research and that's why I am worried if applying to MD only will REALLY further or hurt my chances. (I want to go to Upenn VERY VERY much!)

Stats: GPA: 3.93, sGPA: 3.91 (a B in biochemistry), triple majors in chemistry, molecular biology and psychology (although I doubt if it matters)
MCAT: 523
Top public school in CA

Research:
1.5 yr in one lab that resulted in no pubs (the prof was very unprofessional and we ended on a relatively bad term..but the postdoc loved me and wrote a letter)
2 summers on summer fellowships at two different labs resulting in 2 pubs (one third author, the other one in the middle somewhere)
1.5yrs in another lab resulting in 1 pub (third author) and also my honor thesis.
Other than my honor thesis poster session (received the best poster award), no other poster sessions experience (I legit dont know where to find those opportunities, if you know some resources, i'd much appreciate if you can share them!)
And also 1yr in M.S. program resulting in 1 pub (second author), the first author one will not be out in time for application next year.
I am also the principal investigator for a self-started cancer genomic project using computational method, it is going smoothly and we have generated data, but I am not sure if it'll be worthy/ready for publishing.

Clinical/Volunteering: Hospital ER volunteering in 3 hospitals total up to 800hrs spanning 3 yrs
Fish doctor (I'm volunteering at an aquarium doctor's office for 1yr now, we treat sick pet fish, sometimes with small surgeries)
Shadowing: cardiothoracic surgeon (80hrs), neurosurgeon (~80hrs)
Scribing for an orthopedic surgeon for 8months.

Leadership: 1. started my own course teaching social medicine to undergraduates
2. co-president of a student organization that focuses on getting people with no research experience into labs
3. committee chair in another public health student organization

Tutoring: I was a head-TA for 3 different biology classes in the science center for 2yrs
2. Peer advisor for my major

Caveats:

1. international student on F-1 visa, so I was never eligible for any awards/fundings in my undergraduates, so my award/honor part looks very sad and empty. I am also first-generation college student, but not qualified for low-income since I cannot prove my low-income status given i was not eligible for FAFSA due to my F-1 status.
2. I think my application overall is also very boring, every applicant for a top 20 MD-PHD program will probably have done similar things, I have many experience in lab but are not crazy excellent, that's why I consider myself as a borderline MD-PHD applicant.
3. I am aiming for a top 15 program. Specifically penn and Yale, plus schools in NYC and boston area or Cali, I'm aiming for those cities because my significant other needs a big city where there's enough fencing resources for him to work.

My Question:
1. Should I apply MD only to increase my chances or should I stick with MD-PHD next year? Especially for top 15 programs, and especially especially for penn, which does not consider me for MD-PHD and MD simultaneously.
2. I dont understand how so many people on SDN have conference talk/poster sessions for their research, Could someone please kindly refer to some places where I can find those opportunities.

Sorry for the long post. Thank you so much in advance. Good luck to everyone applying this cycle!

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[mdphdNYC]

Your application is not "borderline" but quite solid for MD-PhD even as an international applicant. If you were a domestic student, your profile would be excellent and practically a guaranteed spot for at least one of the top 15 (assuming essays and interviews at the same level as GPA and MCAT), but unfortunately in this country we penalize rather than reward those who might wish to bring their skills here (but that's another story...).

This may come as a surprise to you but as an objectively competitive applicant, you probably have a better chance in the MD-PhD pool than in the MD-only pool. Many/most of the top 15 MD-PhDs programs consider international applicants who graduated from a US college on the same level as domestic applicants. I know for a fact that this is true at Penn as they said it on the interview day, and indeed there were a much larger proportion of international students I met there than at most other schools. Many of the same schools do not extend the same guarantee of equal consideration to their MD-only applicants. Based on recent AAMC admissions stats, non-citizen/green card MD-PhD applicants who graduated from a US undergraduate institution have about the same success rate as citizen applicants. However, non-citizen/green card MD-only applicants have a much higher failure rate (90% fail to get admission anywhere, compared to "only" 60% of domestic applicants).

Make sure you apply broadly and strategically to large programs that have stated they consider international applicants.

 

[CrayonShinChan]

Your application is not "borderline" but quite solid for MD-PhD even as an international applicant. If you were a domestic student, your profile would be excellent and practically a guaranteed spot for at least one of the top 15 (assuming essays and interviews at the same level as GPA and MCAT), but unfortunately in this country we penalize rather than reward those who might wish to bring their skills here (but that's another story...).

This may come as a surprise to you but as an objectively competitive applicant, you probably have a better chance in the MD-PhD pool than in the MD-only pool. Many/most of the top 15 MD-PhDs programs consider international applicants who graduated from a US college on the same level as domestic applicants. I know for a fact that this is true at Penn as they said it on the interview day, and indeed there were a much larger proportion of international students I met there than at most other schools. Many of the same schools Based on recent AAMC admissions stats, non-citizen/green card MD-PhD applicants who graduated from a US undergraduate institution have about the same success rate as citizen applicants. However, non-citizen/green card MD-only applicants have a much higher failure rate (90% fail to get admission anywhere, compared to "only" 60% of domestic applicants).

Make sure you apply broadly and strategically to large programs that have stated they consider international applicants.

Thank you so much, that's very helpful!

 

[loveforsciencemed]

I'm applying next cycle and begin to worry if I should apply for MD only programs to have a better chance of getting in. My application has been focused mainly on research and that's why I am worried if applying to MD only will REALLY further or hurt my chances. (I want to go to Upenn VERY VERY much!)

Stats: GPA: 3.93, sGPA: 3.91 (a B in biochemistry), triple majors in chemistry, molecular biology and psychology (although I doubt if it matters)
MCAT: 523
Top public school in CA

Research:
1.5 yr in one lab that resulted in no pubs (the prof was very unprofessional and we ended on a relatively bad term..but the postdoc loved me and wrote a letter)
2 summers on summer fellowships at two different labs resulting in 2 pubs (one third author, the other one in the middle somewhere)
1.5yrs in another lab resulting in 1 pub (third author) and also my honor thesis.
Other than my honor thesis poster session (received the best poster award), no other poster sessions experience (I legit dont know where to find those opportunities, if you know some resources, i'd much appreciate if you can share them!)
And also 1yr in M.S. program resulting in 1 pub (second author), the first author one will not be out in time for application next year.
I am also the principal investigator for a self-started cancer genomic project using computational method, it is going smoothly and we have generated data, but I am not sure if it'll be worthy/ready for publishing.

Clinical/Volunteering: Hospital ER volunteering in 3 hospitals total up to 800hrs spanning 3 yrs
Fish doctor (I'm volunteering at an aquarium doctor's office for 1yr now, we treat sick pet fish, sometimes with small surgeries)
Shadowing: cardiothoracic surgeon (80hrs), neurosurgeon (~80hrs)
Scribing for an orthopedic surgeon for 8months.

Leadership: 1. started my own course teaching social medicine to undergraduates
2. co-president of a student organization that focuses on getting people with no research experience into labs
3. committee chair in another public health student organization

Tutoring: I was a head-TA for 3 different biology classes in the science center for 2yrs
2. Peer advisor for my major

Caveats:

1. international student on F-1 visa, so I was never eligible for any awards/fundings in my undergraduates, so my award/honor part looks very sad and empty. I am also first-generation college student, but not qualified for low-income since I cannot prove my low-income status given i was not eligible for FAFSA due to my F-1 status.
2. I think my application overall is also very boring, every applicant for a top 20 MD-PHD program will probably have done similar things, I have many experience in lab but are not crazy excellent, that's why I consider myself as a borderline MD-PHD applicant.
3. I am aiming for a top 15 program. Specifically penn and Yale, plus schools in NYC and boston area or Cali, I'm aiming for those cities because my significant other needs a big city where there's enough fencing resources for him to work.

My Question:
1. Should I apply MD only to increase my chances or should I stick with MD-PHD next year? Especially for top 15 programs, and especially especially for penn, which does not consider me for MD-PHD and MD simultaneously.
2. I dont understand how so many people on SDN have conference talk/poster sessions for their research, Could someone please kindly refer to some places where I can find those opportunities.

Sorry for the long post. Thank you so much in advance. Good luck to everyone applying this cycle!

I agree with most points made my mdphdNYC.
I’d make a suggestion to be very careful how you talk about the experience with the first PI if you choose to go down that route.

 

[CrayonShinChan]

I agree with most points made my mdphdNYC.
I’d make a suggestion to be very careful how you talk about the experience with the first PI if you choose to go down that route.

Thank you for the advice!