Should I consider transferring??? - International aiming for MD

[korean05]

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Hi SDN Community members! I am an international student studying in Canada.
I’m a incoming second-year undergraduate student in Canada, and I’m considering transferring to a U.S. university to improve my chances of acceptance into a U.S. medical school (MD program).
Do you think transferring to a U.S. undergraduate program would be a strategic move, or would it be better to complete my undergraduate degree in Canada before applying to U.S. medical schools?


**Demographics:**
Male, South Korean

No hooks, but lived in Lebanon, Korea, Canada, USA, and Kuwait

**Undergraduate Academics:**

• GPA: 3.95/4.0

Research (1000 hours):

1. Clinical Research Assistant @ UHN - Summer Internship (Paid; $8000) (incoming 2 or 3 1st auth pubs); Full time
2. Visiting Summer Researcher @ Yale Medical School (Hybrid); Part time; no pubs but im in her lab website and got yale email & id.
3. Clinical Research Assistant @ Yale University (online); Part time; assisting post-doc with his research after contacting the prof
4. Clinical Research Assistant @ Queen’s University (1 co-auth Pub); Part time
5. Phytotron Laboratory Technician @ Queen’s University (Paid) *Finished

Clinical Volunteering:

1. Blood Drive

Non-Clinical Volunteering:

1. Programming/AI Tutor @ Code Initiative - started this from first year and I was required to teach students almost every week for 7 hours and still doing it. (Not Paid)
2. Going to rural communities in Nepal this winter for deploying a product I made with my team and going to help mothers and babies.

Clubs/Leadership:

6 Executive Positions @ School club

Awards:

1. $60000 scholarship from my school
2. Foresight Longevity Award ($7,000)
3. Ingenious Ontario Award ($1,000)

Business:

1. Co-Founder of startup business(biotech app); 2M valuation and raised 13.5k.
2. Founder of Non-profit Organization supported by MIT-D Lab, GTN, UofT (Nepal)
3. Co-Founder of healthcare startup (currently developing MVP)

 

[chilly_md]

It does not really help unless the undergrad has a medical school known for accepting their own Canadian students.

Your time is best spent gaining significant clinical experience and helping directly in your local community. Blood drive does not really count as they are not patients. You have enough research already.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

It is not clear to me whether the OP is a US citizen. That alone will affect chances of getting accepted to a US program.

Getting an excellent MCAT will help with Canadian med school admissions, which don't tend to be as "holistic" as US programs. They also are in desperate need of family medicine/primary care physicians.

I do think the OP should consider following through on the entrepreneurship angle before going to medical school. The OP likely has targets of places where they could leverage their startup and NPO experience outside of medicine in the US to gain a bit more credibility and more clinical experience in US healthcare (which is desirable for US med school applicants). The question is whether immigration policies will allow it.