<p>Do you guys (Norcal, BDM, etc) know how UK MDs are looked at in the US? I know so many kids from Canada who go to the UK and do a 6 year programme that results in an MD; it is a very sought after goal amongst some of the best and brightest there. </p>
<p>Is that because the whole commonwealth thing allows freedom of movement between the various places? Would a US citizen who does a UK MD suffer in matching into residency? Is the UK MD respected or not in the US?</p>
<p>I can’t speak for any generalized understanding, but my assumption viewing such a candidate would be that he was attempting to short-circuit the American requirement for a bachelor’s degree. In accordance with other young candidates, he would be at a disadvantage.</p>
<p>Of the schools/residencies I’ve been affiliated with, it’s been unusual to see a US student taken for residency training who went anywhere outside the US other than St Georges. I can think of one US resident who went to med school in Ireland and another who went to school in France. I would guess that its quite unusual for these students to get residency slots at big academic medical centers.</p>
<p>On the other hand there are plenty of community programs just trying to fill slots so if one were not choosy, I’m sure a place could be found, if a US student had the board scores, etc as pointed out by the other posters.</p>
<p>If using DO as a backup option, how important is the particular school if the goal was to gain a residency slot? Any specific suggestions?</p>
<p>^ Just to get a residency slot, the school itself isn’t very important at all. Going to an american medical school (MD or DO), you are practically guaranteed to get into a residency (there are many more slots than there are US graduates, which is why a fair number of foreign graduates can get spots every year), even if its just a transitional year. But if you are a DO wanting an allopathic residency or a specific specialty and want to use both matches to increase your chances, then the school can matter a bit more. Schools like PCOM in Philly which are older and well established tend to have good match lists, even into allopathic residencies. Not sure if it’s because they prepare their students just as well for the USMLE as for the COMLEX or because they are established and known to the various residency directors or what.</p>
<p>Sharonohio</p>
<p>Is the DO program at Ohio U part of your plan? If not, it should be a far better option than going out of country.</p>
<p>So glad to see a thread started for this year’s group of applicants. It was so informative to hear the stories of the group that just finished up with their admissions and I look forward to hearing the stories of this year’s group. One more year and I’ll have a kid in the game.</p>
<p>Many thanks for all the comments about out of country vs DO. Will pass on the information and we’ll have to discuss DO as an option. If son is willing to do that, Ohio University would definitely be in the applicant pile.</p>
<p>A positive development. Case is definitely going to support DS’ application with the standard premed reference. Since he took 3 courses with one of the advisors it should not be too much of a struggle (he did NOT get this the first time around). My husband and I are learning an awful lot through this process including the many things our son didn’t do the first time with his application. Hopefully we can avoid duplicating the pitfalls a second time. Sigh, must be nice to have perfect kids.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I’m pretty sure if that species ever existed they are extinct now!</p>
<p>And I’m pretty sure the kids feel the same way about the parents. ;)</p>
<p>Speaking only for myself, I can usually screw up perfect before breakfast.</p>
<p>Nobel goal, why not?</p>
<p>D is applying. Has good GPA, letters of rec, the school composite rec but is having a hard time with here personal statement. Wants to have it all ready for 6/1. She is so focused on not being cliche in any way that she is second guessing herself. Any advice?</p>
<p>Make sure the PS shows why she wants to be a doctor. Get people to read it.</p>
<p>I think there is a lot more to the personal statement than just showing why one wants to be a doctor. The writing style and the "flow’ of the essay is what will make it stand out among the same tedious and boring thousands of -“helping others, appreciating life, blah, blah, blah…”</p>
<p>There should be something very personal; an anecdote, an experience. Something unique.</p>
<p>I always tell my D. to trust herself and preserve her original writing as much as possible, because it tends to loose freshness after they monkey around with it a lot. At the end the most important are GPA, MCAT, secondarily EC’s. I am sure that GPA=4.0 and MCAT = 34+ will get interview at few places despite of weak personal statement.</p>
<p>I agree with the above posts, you might find it helpful to determine your 2-3-4 word adjective description and make sure your PS reflects that; allow the reader to be interested in whatever is special and unique about you and to come away with some sort of mental tag phase- small town/big city, goat herder, athlete, politically involved, musical, etc., etc. Your PS should reflect your personality above and beyond the usual stuff that every one else has done, too.</p>
<p>Well June 1 is upon us and as expected references are not completed. DS informed us last night that process online has changed and that while before you could go forward from initial submission without references now they are required for application to be complete. Whether this is a change or even accurate I don’t know. Regardless, he’s completed the online portion and is expecting to submit late today. He’s also meeting with one of the faculty members about recommendations today (the non-science one which is complete) and sending followup emails to the premed advisory committee. He also was going to ask them to review his list which was completed yesterday. We shall see whether this happens or not.</p>
<p>Regarding the PS. We’ve now read DS’ and his girlfriends. The general narrative of my life leading up to the desire to go to med school can be very dull and I totally agree with those earlier who said it is critical to stand out. There needs to be something memorable. As an example, the last time DS applied his opening line was “I hate applesauce”. It was directly related to why he wants to be a doctor and was extremely memorable (recalled by several at the only interview he had). Furthermore, if you use something like that it needs to tie back at the end. If you don’t do something like this you just are another one of the same old same old.</p>
<p>Sharon, is he saying that the AAMCAS process won’t let him submit without references or his school’s process won’t move ahead (I know some schools want prof letters before they will do a committee letter?</p>
<p>I cannot see how a person could have their references submitted to AAMCAS at the same time as the applications as the letters are usually not coming from the student, but separately, either from a university collection area or from each professor individually.</p>
<p>If the college uses the credit unit system (e.g., orgo I lecture = 1 unit, orgo I lab = 0.5 unit), it is well known that we do not need to translate credit units to semester hours on AMCAS.</p>
<p>A question: On TMDSAS, do we need to translate credit units to semester hours? The TMDSAS online instructions seem to indicate that we need to do the translation. But how? 1 credit unit = 3 semester hours? 0.5 credit (for each lab) = 1.5 semester hours? If this is the case, DS will have too many semester hours for the labs (for example, he would have 0.5 unit for the orgo I lab, and another 0.5 unit for the orgo II lab. So he would have 3 semester hours of orgo labs.)</p>
<p>Thanks in advance.</p>