Chances at American Medical School?

[toastedpeanut]

Hey everyone,

I've recently looked into a few of the threads about American Medical schools and it seems as though clinical experience is very much emphasized. I was wondering whether it's still worth the application if I do not have any real clinical experience. Some insight would be greatly appreciated! I'll post some more information about myself below:

Completed B.Sc at UBC

Overall GPA: 3.86

MCAT: 512

Research Experience:

Research Assistant in the summer of 2015 (medical genetics)

Research Assistant 2015-2016 (diabetes)

Research Assistant 2016 (ophthalmology)

No publications, assisted in projects of supervisors and also self-directed projects

Non-Academics:

Hundreds of hours spent organizing student led organizations (information sessions, study sessions, networking with professors, etc.) at my home university

A lot of experience working with younger peers: tutoring younger students, helping them adjust to post-secondary life

100-200 hours volunteering at a hospital (visiting patient wards and delivering gifts)

Studied abroad in Korea for 4 months in 2017

Volunteered abroad in Guatemala for 2 weeks (helped teach English to local students and helped construct a rain-proof classroom)

EDIT: I was also diagnosed with a severe TMJD condition so I spent a lot of my time in my past two years seeing various specialists and practitioners - wondering if anybody has written about clinical experience from a patient perspective on their application?

 

Thanks again in advance!

 

 

 

[bearpuppy]

Your MCAT isn't super competitive, but the rest is decent. Clinical (i.e. your hospital volunteering) hours are OK but could do with more. I'd say aim for mid-tier. As to your TMJ, you could mention it in your personal statement. Work hard on showing why you're a unique applicant.

 

[UndecidedMD]

Just out of curiosity, why are you applying specifically to American schools?

It's all personal preference, but with those stats I feel like you'd have shot in Canada, especially IP.

[Med Eye]

Just make sure you get your primary application documents in as soon as possible, just to give yourself a decent chance!