Making the most of undergraduate to better chances of medical school admission

Pre-Med & Medical School Pre-Med Topics
1

I’ll be starting college in the upcoming fall studying Bio-medical engineering with a pre-med concentration. I’m an international student. Medical school admissions is a difficult thing to achieve for anyone, for me it’ll be so much more harder for the simple fact that I’m international; therefore I’d like to make the most of my Undergraduate study to better my chances.

So far this is what I know. I’m throwing everything out there.

Sports
I’m proficient in track and field.
8 years track (specialty middle distance races 1500m/ 800m)
5 years field events (Javelin and Discuss)
2 years table tennis
3 years swimming (middle distance 200s)
I can also play soccer and cricket but I have no professional experience

Academics/ school based
Great public speaker, was on my high school’s debate team for 3 years.
I’m great with research papers and reports, they’re my fav.
I have a knack for leadership. I was a Prefect also in high school.
I’m a great comedic actor, lots of high school and community plays and shows. I did numerous events in high school to raise money and other reasons.

Musically
I can play the piano, recorder and steel pan (single tenor).

Socially
I’m a great cook, I’m addicted to reading (unfortunately I don’t always read good stuff). I write romance novels in my spare time, to date I’ve written 7 full novels.

Financially/Family
Technically I’m not an Orphan, but I might as well be. I’ve been on my own for as long as I can remember. I have no where near the money needed to pay for medical school at the moment but I have a great business ethic, and I have 4 years, and when it’s time I’ll have those funds or at least the assistance needed.

…I think that’s about it… worth talking about anyways

I figured I’d pick one sport and join the college team, go through the NCAA and all that and do it for the entire four years. Volunteer at a hospital or nursing home. Shadow a doctor (I’m unsure how both works in the USA). The only time I’ve ever heard of Prefects in the USA was pertaining to Harry Potter so I’ll try to become an RA or orientation leader. Internships seem like a complicated mess so I’m unsure about that. Use my comedic talents and organize and host a few fund-raisers, participate in a play maybe. Do a few events at the uni.
Get on a research project and hopefully get published. At the very least get one of my own stories published.

That’s what I’m thinking. What do you guys think. What is the process of Volunteering and Shadowing in the US? I’d love your opinions.

Also I plan to write the MCAT at the end of my Sophomore year in July and/or August so I can submit my applications at the start of my Junior year, that same year. How many times should I take the MCAT? What are the best MCAT preparation materials?

Lastly what other things do you think I should know about?

Thanks in advance.

2

You have many great challenges ahead of you. I wish you luck with your plan.

I can’t answer all of your questions, but I can answer a few–

  1. Don’t take the MCAT until you’ve completed all the necessary pre-reqs and have thoroughly prepared. Biochemistry is huge part of the MCAT so do not plan to take the MCAT until you’ve finished the course. Most pre-meds take the MCAT in the spring of their junior year or later.

  2. Med schools strongly prefer a single very strong MCAT score over multiple scores. Plan on taking it only once, giving it your best effort & preparation. Multiple scores are not ideal and may been seen as reflecting negatively on an applicant.

  3. There is no one “best” set of MCAT prep materials. What works for Person A won’t work for Person B. Find materials that offer you the opportunity to take full length practice exams. AMCAS offers retired MCATs as practice exams–for a price.

  4. In addition to the the things you’ve outlined above, med schools also expect long-term community service (not just fund-raising, but actual hands-on volunteering) with those less fortunate than you.

  5. Applying to medical school is expensive. You will need several thousand $$ saved to pay for application and secondary fees, and for interview expenses. International applicants are not eligible for AMCAS’s fee assistance program (FAP) so you will need to have ready cash on hand for all your expenses.

  6. International students are not eligible for US-based loan programs. You will need to prove that you have sufficient funds to pay for the cost of attendance at any medical school where you may accepted. Most schools require 1 to 4 years of tuition, fees and often living expenses be placed in an escrow account prior to matriculation. Expect to offer proof that you have anywhere from $75K to $300K available.

Additionally, even if you are “almost an orphan”, you will be required to provide your parents’ financial information. (Medical schools require this of all students–not just international students.) Schools require this information even if you are married, or if you are older and have been self-supporting for many years. Harvard, for example, requires parental financial information for students who are as old as 45.

3

@WayOutWestMom Thanks.

I was unsure about when to take the MCAT because the application period for some schools range as early as May/June to the end of December. I’m afraid I’ll miss some deadlines.

I’ll definitely take the MCAT once then. I spoke to a few med students about this, and they all said they wrote the full exam about 3-5 times. I probably misinterpreted; they probably wrote several practice exams and one official.

My concern about college entry exams such as the SAT and I’m assuming the MCAT and LSAT respectively is not necessarily the content of the exams but the structure and the method in which it’s administered.
All throughout my time at school from Nursery to Sixth Form, I’ve been thought;

You read the question once, think about it, read it again, think about it, then answer

With the SAT that was throw out the window. When I first took the SAT I had the most difficult time and even now I still do, I’m so flustered with the short time limits and abrupt invigilators that it’s almost impossible for me to finish the sections. The sad part was every time I took the SAT un-timed (about 10 minutes extra per section) I got a perfect score. It can be really hard to get rid of habit. Hopefully with practice I’ll get better.

But again I’m making the assumption that the MCAT is similar to the SAT in it’s “heart attack” structure. Hopefully it’s not but if it is I’m looking for the best materials that’ll help with my weaknesses.

4

Would volunteer fire-fighting fulfill the requirement of “Giving back” “Volunteering”, or is it restricted to hospitals and clinics?

And I’ve noticed that while it’s not a requirement most medical schools “imply” that knowing another language would boost your application. What are your thoughts on that? Should I take a language in college? Are there many medical students being accepted without knowing another language?

5

The MCAT is an entirely different beast than the SAT and significantly longer (6.5 hours). Subsections are strictly timed.

Volunteer firefighting would be an interesting EC, but adcomms will want to see direct, hands-on volunteer service given to those less fortunate than yourself (think food pantry, hospice, nursing home, reading to the blind, tutoring inner city kids, working with the mentally ill or homeless, etc) Community service does not need to be medically related.

As for foreign languages–it can be helpful at some schools if their service catchment area includes a significant number of non-English speakers. For example–Spanish or Navajo in Arizona or Polish in downtown Chicago. However, fluency in second language is more of a grace note on a med school application, not a make-or-break item. (All hospitals have translation services available.)

6

Unless you’re talking about the utterly pointless “early decision” routes for medical schools, to my knowledge, absolutely no medical school has a deadline prior to September. Unlike undergrad, ED for medical school doesn’t actually involve finding out much, if at all earlier, than regular admission and you’ve restricted your ability to apply elsewhere. I genuinely have no idea why some schools have it or way anyone pursues that route.

What kinds of schools are you considering? Are you being recruited? At many schools, unless you’re being contacted by coaches as a high schooler, it’s almost a given that you aren’t making the team. I wouldn’t automatically assume you’ll be a varsity athlete in college just because you are one in high school.

Since you’re international, this is probably a language error. Professional experience would mean you were paid to play a sport (pointing out that you don’t have professional experience in soccer/cricket implies that you have professional experience in other sports). If you have professional experience, you actually can’t be an NCAA athlete in that sport because the NCAA forbids it (they require all athletes be amateurs). In the Ivy League, you can’t play a sport if you have professional experience in any other sport. For example, a professional track athlete cannot be on the Stanford track team, but could play soccer for Stanford if he were good enough. A professional track athlete would not be able to be on any varsity team at an ivy league school) I assume you meant “proficient” both times - as in you are very good at track and field, and have competed in organized meets, etc whereas soccer/cricket is more of a recreational activity for you?

Yeah, that would make a lot more sense. 3-5 full length practice exams before taking the actual exam is very realistic. 3-5 actual MCAT attempts is pretty much a guarantee that a person did not end up in medical school.

I feel pretty confident in saying the majority do not know a second language. I don’t feel confident in my estimation that it’s probably more like 2/3-3/4 of students who do not know a 2nd language well enough to use it in a clinical setting.

I know it sounds glib, but without a doubt the best thing you could do in college to improve your med school chances is to get a green card/become a US citizen. I don’t know how that works with student visas (it’s probably very difficult or impossible actually) but I would seriously start researching NOW and then use those 4 years to do what it would take and work towards it. That would lower the academic standards they hold you to also help with financial aid so you don’t need to be able to deposit $100k+ into an escrow account before you begin.

7

Unless you live in a rural area, firefighters are full-time paid professionals who are required to attend and graduate from a specialized training program.

Even in a rural area, it would be extremely rare for a college student to work as a volunteer firefighter due to the constraints of the job. (When the alarm goes off, you need to report to your station immediately-even if you’re in the middle of an exam or critical lab experiment. You’d also need a personal car at your disposal 24/7 so you could get to your station anytime the alarm goes off.)

It’s more common for college students to work as a volunteer EMT (Emergency Medical Technician) through the local fire department; however, even volunteer EMTs are required to have passed a specialized training course & be licensed by the state they volunteer/work in.

8

Are you in the US now? Do you have funding for all 12 months of the year, each year?

I’m not sure how you’ll get a green card unless you have a sponsor. Do you have one?

9

@iwannabe_Brown @mom2collegekids @WayOutWestMom First off I want to apologize for not responding. When I created this post, I signed up for email alerts but I never received any so I guess the function doesn’t work.

10

@iwannabe_Brown I wasn’t recruited from any of the universities I applied or was accepted to. I’m not sure how the process works but I planned to obtain recommendations from my Track coach and/or swim team coach and approach the coaches of either teams of that specific university I plan to attend. I hoped that my athletic record would at the very least give me the opportunity to try out and “walk on” to the team.

When I say I’m proficient in a sport, I mean that I’ve done it for years, I’ve participated in many competitions winning trophies, certificates and prizes. It wasn’t a job as I wasn’t gaining a salary but the opportunity to receive monetary prizes was there depending on how well I did. I hope because I won money it wouldn’t eliminate me joining a team.

11

@WayOutWestMom Okay. I really didn’t think through the firefighter thing I admit. I am certified in CPR and first aid so I figured firefighting would be an easy think to get into since they are always ads encouraging people to become volunteer fire fighters or to join the military.

12

@mom2collegekids My interests at the moment is truly not to become a US citizen or become a green card holder and as I plan to return home to share the knowledge and to improve the medical field in my country. My focus is on development.

I have 2 sisters (both US citizens) a brother (a green card holder) and if I’m not mistaken in a few years my parents should be green card holders too; so if it becomes absolutely necessary for me to become a green card holder then it shouldn’t be too difficult but I would like to do this process as an international student.

I really don’t have anyone sponsoring or providing for me, I don’t have a trust fund or anything like that. I go to school in the day,practice in the afternoons and work in the nights. That’s my routine pretty much and how I survive.

13

BTW. How do you reply directly to a quote or something that is said? That’s a cool useful action.

14

An update on my Journey.

Since I’ve written this post, I’ve started researching schools and been in contact with admissions for a select few. These are the schools that I’ve contacted so far, and probably the one’s I’ll focus on because of their location mostly but I’m not limiting myself

Yale Medical School
Weill Cornell Medical School
Brown Warren Alpert Medical school
UCONN medical school
U Pittsburgh medical school
Tufts University Medical School
StonyBrook University medical school
SUNY Upstate
Rutgers
Rutgers New Jersey
Thomas Jefferson
Pennstate
Perelman Medical School
NYU
John Hopkins
Mt. Sinai
Georgetown
George Washington
Harvard
Albert Einstein
Boston University
Columbia
Dartmouth

This is what I’ve learned so far, Academics, Clinical experience, Research opportunities, Community service, Leadership, Extracurricular activities, letters of Recommendation and MCAT scores are things admissions committees look for and can define an acceptance from a rejection. I know this now, the hard part is now getting them done. I think this is one of the main things I worry about, how do you get it all done. I think the first things I’ll do when I start college is meet with my pre-med adviser and join a support team.

I’ve also learned that an MCAT score of 125 or less on any section is noncompetitive.

I’ll probably apply to 8-12 schools total.

I heard something, not sure if it’s true. Do medical schools look at your SAT scores? In the application process do you need to submit them or even in the interview do they ask what were your SAT scores?

15

Are you going to university in the US this fall or in your own country?

16

Medical schools do not look at or even ask about your SAT scores.

Med school admissions is all about “What have done lately?” Generally speaking activities and achievements from high school are irrelevant in med school admissions.

17

Also take a look at this list from the NAAHP and revise your school list
[POLICY OF MEDICAL SCHOOLS REGARDING INTERNATIONAL APPLICANTS](http://studentaffairs.jhu.edu/preprofadvising/wp-content/uploads/sites/33/2015/06/International.Students.MS_.Policies.pdf)

And to quote the quote function, place [ quote ] and /quote around the material you want to quote.

18

I’m going to be attending a University in the US.

19

Thank you for that document, it’s really helpful. It would have saved me some time researching. The names of the schools that I’ve listed, they’ve all indicated that to me that they accept internationals.

Some of them require all four years tuition in an escrow account, some 1 year tuition in an account, and a very select few offer financial aid, and the only one that is need-blind to internationals is HMS (and this depends on certain factors).

TESTING

20

Luckily with things like track and swimming you can easily judge how good you are without having to account for the quality of your competition. Have you looked at the results of meets at the schools you’re looking at? Are your times anywhere close to theirs? Some schools will have open try outs, others won’t. If you contact a coach and your times are good enough they’ll certainly take a look but there’s never a guarantee that you’ll walk on to a team. I don’t think coach recommendations will really matter, particularly for an individual sport like track or swimming, but neither of those was my sport so maybe I’m wrong.

Luckily the NCAA directly addresses this question: “In all sports except tennis, a student-athlete or prospective student-athlete may accept prize money as long as the amount of the prize is less than or equal to his or her expenses for participating in the competition, such as meals or lodging. The prize money may not pay for expenses of parents or coaches.”
http://www.ncaa.org/about/frequently-asked-questions-about-ncaa
Was your prize money less than the cost of your participating? If so, you’re fine. If not, you might have issues with eligibility.