WAMC International Reapplicant: 4.0/518 ORM

[NellieMelba]

Hello! I am looking for advice regarding my app and school list. I am an international student who completed undergrad in the US. I applied for the 2024-2025 cycle during my senior year, received 1 interview which turned into a rejection. I am looking to reapply this cycle. I did receive feedback from a couple of schools. They said that there were no red flags, my stats and writing were good, but my application "did not rise to the top of the applicant pool".

1. cGPA and sGPA as calculated by AMCAS or AACOMAS:

• cGPA: 4.0
• sGPA: 4.0

2. MCAT score(s) and breakdown. Include all (non-voided) attempts: 518 (127 CARS)

3. Ethnicity and/or race: South Asian

4. Undergraduate institution or category: Large R1 state school in the United States

5. Clinical experience (volunteer and non-volunteer):

• Hospital volunteering: ~1000 hours in 2 departments
• Shadowing: 150 hours, 1 specialty

6. Research experience and productivity:

• 2000+ hours as undergraduate researcher and lab tech under same PI (strong LOR)
• 1 poster at school conference (first author)
• 1 oral presentation at regional conference (first author)
• 1 published abstract (first author)
• 1 published review article (first author; is it worth anything?)
• 2 research manuscripts in progress (1 first author, 1 second author; both mentioned by PI in LOR; submission planned around secondary season)

7. Non-clinical volunteering: ~300 hours at homeless shelter

8. Other extracurricular activities (including athletics, military service, gap year activities, leadership, teaching, etc):

• Tutor and TA for multiple classes
• Interesting hobbies but nothing noteworthy

9. Relevant honors or awards:

• Dean's list
• Merit scholarship for international students

10. Anything else not listed you think might be important: unique story related to my background and identity

MD School list: BU, Case Western (and Lerner), Columbia, Duke, Emory, Dartmouth, Harvard (maybe not given recent news?), Icahn, JHU, Meharry, Northwestern, Stony Brook, Rutgers, Saint Louis University, Sidney Kimmel, Stanford, SUNY Upstate, Brown, Tulane, Pritzker, Colorado, UConn, Hawaii, University of Illinois, UNC, UVA, Vanderbilt, VCU, WashU, West Virginia, Yale

These are all of the schools that at least interview international students according to MSAR, apart from NYU and UPenn (MCAT is probably too low). I will also be applying DO, but haven't looked into it too much yet.

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[Mr.Smile12]

They said that there were no red flags, my stats and writing were good, but my application "did not rise to the top of the applicant pool".

How do you respond to this in your reapplication? What did you say was your purpose as a physician, and how did this connect to each school on your list? Why did you spend so much time in the homeless shelter?

You should consider international-friendly DO schools.

 

[NellieMelba]

How do you respond to this in your reapplication? What did you say was your purpose as a physician, and how did this connect to each school on your list? Why did you spend so much time in the homeless shelter?

You should consider international-friendly DO schools.

When I applied last year, I only had 100 hours of nonclinical volunteering. I've since increased that to 300 at the homeless shelter. I also only had ~500 hours of research with no productivity, which I have worked on over the past year. Last year, I would say that I didn't have any specific purpose as a physician. I was just using anecdotes to align myself with the missions of each school. This coming cycle, my application is much more research focused in a niche and emerging field. I am approaching my purpose as wanting to translate the basic research in this field into potential therapies as a physician investigator. I thought this would be a good angle to take given that most of the schools on my list are research heavy. As for the homeless shelter, a large chunk of the residents are there directly because of a major illness or disability. I learned how illness and socioeconomic status influence each other and want to do something to help these people outside of a clinical setting.

I am planning to apply to DO schools. Do you have any recommendations for schools I could apply to?

Thank you!

 

[Faha]

Apply broadly to DO schools and these schools accept applications from internationals:
AZCOM
CCOM
WESTERN
KCU-COM
NSU-KPCOM
MSUCOM
LUCOM
WCU-COM
Touro-NY
UNECOM
LECOM

 

[NellieMelba]

Apply broadly to DO schools and these schools accept applications from internationals:
AZCOM
CCOM
WESTERN
KCU-COM
NSU-KPCOM
MSUCOM
LUCOM
WCU-COM
Touro-NY
UNECOM
LECOM

Thank you!

Do you think I have a decent chance at any of the MD schools on my list? I am a bit hesitant about DO schools. Ideally, I want to stay and practice in the United States, but with everything going on here with immigration, it's uncertain. If I do have to move back to my home country, I wouldn't be able to practice there because it doesn't recognize DO.

 

[Faha]

Thank you!

Do you think I have a decent chance at any of the MD schools on my list? I am a bit hesitant about DO schools. Ideally, I want to stay and practice in the United States, but with everything going on here with immigration, it's uncertain. If I do have to move back to my home country, I wouldn't be able to practice there because it doesn't recognize DO.

Some of your MD schools are unlikely. Meharry mainly admits applicants from the Black community and UNC, Rutgers, West Virginia, UConn and Hawaii admit few non residents with no connection to the state. The current US president will be retired in 4 years, at which time you would only be a 3rd year DO medical student.

 

[NellieMelba]

Some of your MD schools are unlikely. Meharry mainly admits applicants from the Black community and UNC, Rutgers, West Virginia, UConn and Hawaii admit few non residents with no connection to the state. The current US president will be retired in 4 years, at which time you would only be a 3rd year DO medical student.

What about the other MDs on my list, especially since most are T30s? I can stay in the country for another 2 years on my current visa, so I might consider another gap year and apply after my manuscripts are published if that would put me in a better position. Whenever I do apply, I will definitely also be applying DO, but MD would be preferable in case I need to move back. The current President may not be in office then, but nobody knows the permanent damage he will do to the immigration system and nobody knows who will succeed him. Ideally, I want to apply this cycle, but the additional gap year might be worth it if it dramatically improves my chances for MD.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

What about the other MDs on my list, especially since most are T30s? I can stay in the country for another 2 years on my current visa, so I might consider another gap year and apply after my manuscripts are published if that would put me in a better position. Whenever I do apply, I will definitely also be applying DO, but MD would be preferable in case I need to move back. The current President may not be in office then, but nobody knows the permanent damage he will do to the immigration system and nobody knows who will succeed him. Ideally, I want to apply this cycle, but the additional gap year might be worth it if it dramatically improves my chances for MD.

Hopefully the additional hours with non-clinical volunteering will help you out. But not rising to to the top means you lack mission fit, which could mean being international or it could mean you didn't list why the schools you applied to but didn't get interviewed were being seriously considered other than just being a T30.

 

[Faha]

What about the other MDs on my list, especially since most are T30s? I can stay in the country for another 2 years on my current visa, so I might consider another gap year and apply after my manuscripts are published if that would put me in a better position. Whenever I do apply, I will definitely also be applying DO, but MD would be preferable in case I need to move back. The current President may not be in office then, but nobody knows the permanent damage he will do to the immigration system and nobody knows who will succeed him. Ideally, I want to apply this cycle, but the additional gap year might be worth it if it dramatically improves my chances for MD.

The other MD schools on your list are fine. You should also check and see if any of the new schools accept applications from internationals (Belmont, Alice Walton, Roseman, Methodist). You could add TCU, Michigan Stat, Wayne State and also Loma Linda (if you fit their mission)