<p>I am student who just went to the US. I am very (VERY) interested into being a doctor (I wanted this since I was 7) and I learnt that in the US, college and medical school are two separate institution. I learnt that you can have assurance to a place in med school with a BA/MD program but also that they are very competitive. Because all my classes I took in France are counted as "academic" instead of "Pre-AP" or "AP'' or "Honors" my GPA SUCKS (even though I got straight A's:lowest average is 97) In fact, I thought my French classes to be a lot harder than Pre-AP or AP classes here.
Therefore, I am not a competitive applicant because of my bad GPA. Do you know any way for me to get into a BA/MD program? Can anyone inform me about the easiest BA/MD program to enter? (Is it as hard as getting into Harvard?)
I apologize for the long post.</p>
<p>Straight A's are bad?!?!? Will you be considered as an international applicant? What's your SAT scores? Those 2 are very big factors.</p>
<p>I haven't taken the SAT yet but I have taken the PSATas a sophomore (Perfect math, but messed up on writing and reading part). composite is 183</p>
<p>I don't know if they will consider me as an international applicant because I will be having my junior and sophomore grades in the US. By the way, when I mentioned GPA, I meant the weighted GPA. Do colleges consider only the unweighted GPA (no extra points for APs and honors)? Because if so, I would have 4.0 unweighted GPA.</p>
<p>The PSAT is not really an indicator of anything so don't be discouraged. Just study and do well on the SAT. I got a 187 in my sophomore year and 184 in junior year but got a 2230.</p>
<p>Colleges look at your unweighted GPA, but then they look at your course rigor. That's not to say you will get into the best programs with a 4.0 and normal classes, but that you will get into the best programs with a high GPA with hard courses (especially AP sciences).</p>
<p>That's why I'll try to take as many APs as possible. The problem is that I had to retake courses that were not preAPs here (Bio) so I can't take as many APs as I wanted.
Next year (junior):
AP english language
Stats AP
AP us History
AP Bio (LOVE IT)
Chem Pre AP (so unfair, I took it already but they don't let me take Chem AP)
Physics Pre AP (SO UNFAIR!!!)
BCIS (to graduate)</p>
<p>Does it look bad if I had to retake courses I took in France? (People at my school messed up my transcript)
How can I make the college know that I'm a special case (and that my counselor and registrar is very racist toward french<em>and asia</em> people)</p>
<p>How much do colleges weigh the freshman course rigor (if it was in a foreign country) versus Junior and Sophomore year courses?</p>
<p>Is it a problem for combined BA/MD if I don't have formal extracurriculars? That's because it is hard to have good extracurriculars if you are in a racist school and are foreign</p>
<p>^^i think they look at "medical related" extracurriculars alot</p>
<p>Ky-anh, you might want to concentrate on studying hard, getting good grades, go to college and then apply to medical school after you get your BS/BA degree. BA/MD type of programs are very hard to get in simply because there are not that many out there. Also you might change in a few years and your interest might not be in medicine. Putting too much pressure at this level might not be good. As you are new to this country you might also need some time to adjust to. If you are good enough to get in a BA/MD program now, you shall have no problem getting into a MD program later when you graduate from college.</p>
<p>Ky-anh Tran:</p>
<p>I believe your priorities are in the wrong place. Are you an American citizen? If not, do you have permanent resident status in the US?</p>
<p>If you do not have permanent residency or citizenship in the US, you cannot be considered for admission at a US medical school. Given this fact, it is HIGHLY unlikely that without permanent residency or citizenship, you would be permitted to attend a BA/MD program.</p>
<p>In short, without permanent residency or citizenship in the US, forget about attending any kind of MD program in the US.</p>
<p>I am permanent resident.</p>
<p>I am a permanent resident. By the way, I wanted to ask if getting involved in a foreign research project (in Vietnam) is considered positively by adcoms?
If so, how much? (it will probably be about plant secondary metabolites and extraction of medecines...)</p>
<p>Yeah, I think that will looked upon positively.</p>
<p>I think SC is sort of wrong about this, as several of my classmates have neither citizenship nor greencards.</p>
<p>However, it is certainly much harder to gain admission, and most schools will offer zero financial aid.</p>
<p>There definitely are international students who have neither citizenship or green cards. However, given the challenges of applying to medical school for American citizens these days, I'd argue that the number of people who can surmount the additional challenges of applying as an international student is pretty small.</p>
<p>This</a> website lists the general challenges international candidates face, and this</a> page lists all the schools with their specific policies. It seems pretty accurate.</p>