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What Are My Chances/Any Feedback? 3.96/514


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Hello everyone,
Here I am applying for the third cycle!

Purpose of post: I really want this to be my last cycle. Not sure of any specific questions, but please inform me of your impressions/concerns.

What I learned from the first cycle: I made a poor list (MSAR showed internationals mostly got accepted to top 20 schools, so I mostly applied there instead of schools more in line with my stats that take less internationals)

What I learned from the second cycle: Did not apply to enough schools (applied to RFU, NYMC, Oakland, SLU, MCW, WVU, Kentucky, VCU). Honestly, felt like a waste of time and energy applying due to the low percentage of internationals accepted every year. Also, WVU and Kentucky said I didn't have strong ties to state and this was a strong reason for not giving me the interview. Interviewed at SLU, recently rejected. Also retook MCAT in attempt to improve CARS, which is important for Canadian med schools - turned out to be bad idea as new score was 510: 127/125/127/131. Initial MCAT was 514: 128/126/130/130

Changes since last application: retook the MCAT again in attempt to improve CARS for Canada, once again proved ineffective: now back at 514: 130/125/130/129. Done retaking MCAT, hedging pretty much everything on AMCAS.
Added 700 hours of clinical volunteering, which I did not have before.
Added 80 hours of non clinical volunteering

Current ECs:
700 hours of clinical volunteering
200 hours of shadowing
220 hours of non-clinical volunteering (suicide hotline, food bank, teaching)
400 hours of research (no publications)
110 hours as president of university club
120 hours of employment (manual labor, tutor, call center agent)
5K summer research scholarship award
award for highest average in program

New school list:
rosalind franklin
maryland
george washington
virginia /
georgetown
geisel /
mcw
tulane
loma linda*
west virginia*
kentucky *
case western /
suny
wayne
emory
stony brook
SLU
VCU
colorado
boston/
ucla/
hawaii
sidney kimmel
pittsburgh/
east tenesee
central michigan*
nymc
einstein
michigan state *
penn state

/ denotes reach schools
* denotes when I probably can't fit the school's mission (loma linda, maybe I can scrape by since I've spent quite a bit of time volunteering in Christian organizations, although I'm not actually Christian; other schools, just no connection to state since I never lived there/don't know anyone who lives there...I really want a way to get past this problem, can't think of how at the moment)

Some current concerns: I need to apply to many schools, hoping for 4 interviews and two acceptances. But on the other hand, many schools are reaches/can't meet their mission. But if I exclude these schools, I don't have enough schools who accept Canadians/internationals. Didn't apply as early as I could (submitted June 28) and will pre-write secondaries. Considering DO applications...really don't want to do a whole another round of apps and ask for more letters and write more essays, but maybe this is the smartest thing to do.

Again, no clear concerns or questions, but putting this out there to gather opinions/potential room for improvement.

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Doing the USDO apps wont add much work, and its still early. You should be gauranteed a few interviews at the solid schools. Strongly consider it, as the LORS etc will all be the same. 

Strongly consider adding USDO, if you want this to be your last application and be gauranteed a residency in the US.  3rd app to USMD is likely to turn out poorly again, unless things drastically changed or you solved the why behind not having any luck before.

Good luck!
 

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1 hour ago, JohnGrisham said:

Doing the USDO apps wont add much work, and its still early. You should be gauranteed a few interviews at the solid schools. Strongly consider it, as the LORS etc will all be the same. 

Strongly consider adding USDO, if you want this to be your last application and be gauranteed a residency in the US.  3rd app to USMD is likely to turn out poorly again, unless things drastically changed or you solved the why behind not having any luck before.

Good luck!
 

Thanks for your reply. Looking into DO schools now. 

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On 7/5/2018 at 8:53 PM, canadianeh95 said:

Could I get your thoughts? @Serendi @bearpuppy @Canadian_Med_Dream

Overall your app looks decent?.. obviously MCAT is a bit low for some places, but your new clinical volunteering should help a lot. I would personally never have done DO, because I want the flexibility an MD offers you, but i'll probably get a lot of fire from people about that. I'm hopeful for you. Make sure to review EVERYTHING in your app and improve everywhere you can (write about what you learned, not just what you did, for activities, etc.)

 

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On 7/7/2018 at 11:19 PM, bearpuppy said:

Overall your app looks decent?.. obviously MCAT is a bit low for some places, but your new clinical volunteering should help a lot. I would personally never have done DO, because I want the flexibility an MD offers you, but i'll probably get a lot of fire from people about that. I'm hopeful for you. Make sure to review EVERYTHING in your app and improve everywhere you can (write about what you learned, not just what you did, for activities, etc.)

 

Will do! Thanks very much.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Thanks for your tag, and sorry, I was abroad - didnt have much internet access till now. 

Am I write in that you wrote MCAT 3 times? First (score not given in this post), 510, then 514? What was that first one? 

Obviously your GPA's superb, and your ECs are solid now. Your new clinical volunteering hours should help a lot, especially with all the essays that can come out of those. Make sure you have great secondary responses, good LORs, etc...usual stuffs.

I recommend taking out Loma Linda (cmon man you know this), West Virginia (never int'l friendly), Colordao, East Tennessee. I understand you really wanting to apply to as many schools as possible, but these are just waste of money. Virginia (MCAT 519) and UCLA (MCAT 517) will be ultra reaches, too..also, absolutely try that DO route if you want this to be your last cycle. It's not too late for that. 

Good luck - routing for you. 

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On 7/19/2018 at 10:30 AM, Serendi said:

Thanks for your tag, and sorry, I was abroad - didnt have much internet access till now. 

Am I write in that you wrote MCAT 3 times? First (score not given in this post), 510, then 514? What was that first one? 

Obviously your GPA's superb, and your ECs are solid now. Your new clinical volunteering hours should help a lot, especially with all the essays that can come out of those. Make sure you have great secondary responses, good LORs, etc...usual stuffs.

I recommend taking out Loma Linda (cmon man you know this), West Virginia (never int'l friendly), Colordao, East Tennessee. I understand you really wanting to apply to as many schools as possible, but these are just waste of money. Virginia (MCAT 519) and UCLA (MCAT 517) will be ultra reaches, too..also, absolutely try that DO route if you want this to be your last cycle. It's not too late for that. 

Good luck - routing for you. 

8

Sorry about late reply as well - I somehow didn't get a notification. The first one was 514 as well, edited my post.

LOL you got me there with my mentality. Just wanted to shotgun all the schools I had potential at. 

I'm working on secondaries right now and right after that's all done, planning to follow up on DO. For LLU, East Tenessee I understand your advice. But why Colorado? They treat Canadians as Out of State (emailed personally to find out) and within the pool I have 1 percent chance at acceptance, which is similar to most USMD schools.

Thanks for the reply!

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On 7/12/2018 at 3:51 PM, Canadian_Med_Dream said:

Heyyy, 

Thanks for the tag. I really think your current school list is amazing and very inclusive of all tiers. I highly recommend applying to penn state and central michigan. For CMU, please emphasize your teamwork and problem solving skills since that school is big on these two skills. You MCAT is great in my opinion. A 514 should be no problem for mid to low tier schools. Of course, for high tiers, you'd need at least a 520. But, you're all set for mid to low tiers. 

Submit secondaries as soon as you get them - hopefully within a week. If you can submit everything by the end of July or beginning of August, you have a wonderful chance. 

If you're interested in DO and are okay with doing it, you should go for it. I applied to DO schools and interviewed at two. Your stats are extremely competitive for DO. 

 

GOOD LUCK, I have all the hopes for you this year! I think you have a brilliant chance in American MD schools. Lemme know if I can help with absolutely anything! 

Thanks for the response! I'll heed your advice on CMU and return secondaries quickly, and after that's done, DO is on the list. Really appreciate the support!

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18 minutes ago, canadianeh95 said:

Sorry about late reply as well - I somehow didn't get a notification. The first one was 514 as well, edited my post.

LOL you got me there with my mentality. Just wanted to shotgun all the schools I had potential at. 

I'm working on secondaries right now and right after that's all done, planning to follow up on DO. For LLU, East Tenessee I understand your advice. But why Colorado? They treat Canadians as Out of State (emailed personally to find out) and within the pool I have 1 percent chance at acceptance, which is similar to most USMD schools.

Thanks for the reply!

They do??? Thats surprising, I thought only Virginia schools do that. In any case, Colorado didn't admit internationals for like three years I think...I don't ever remember seeing any in MSAR, so that was my reasoning. Sure, schools can say whatever the heck they want, but without data to back them up I'd be reluctant to throw my hundred bucks in. 

 

Good luck! 

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5 hours ago, Serendi said:

They do??? Thats surprising, I thought only Virginia schools do that. In any case, Colorado didn't admit internationals for like three years I think...I don't ever remember seeing any in MSAR, so that was my reasoning. Sure, schools can say whatever the heck they want, but without data to back them up I'd be reluctant to throw my hundred bucks in. 

 

Good luck! 

2

I was more thinking along the lines of the international statistics wouldn't even matter for Canadians if we're out of state? I.e. Canadian chances would be reflected in the out of state pool. No internationals getting accepted would just mean no international outside Canada getting in.

But anyway, thanks for the good luck!

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On 7/21/2018 at 9:10 PM, canadianeh95 said:

I was more thinking along the lines of the international statistics wouldn't even matter for Canadians if we're out of state? I.e. Canadian chances would be reflected in the out of state pool. No internationals getting accepted would just mean no international outside Canada getting in.

But anyway, thanks for the good luck!

Thats the tricky part. We are, lawfully, internationals, so schools like VCU report us as international statistics at MSAR despite the fact that they consider us on par as the OOS Americans. But then there's school like Northwestern where they say 0 international on MSAR but their website says 7 Internationals. Ugh. 

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On 7/25/2018 at 10:03 PM, Serendi said:

Thats the tricky part. We are, lawfully, internationals, so schools like VCU report us as international statistics at MSAR despite the fact that they consider us on par as the OOS Americans. But then there's school like Northwestern where they say 0 international on MSAR but their website says 7 Internationals. Ugh. 

Wait a sec...Initially I read your response and thought you were agreeing with me about some schools reporting Canadians as the OOS statistic and some reporting us as the intl statistic. But were you trying to say that all schools legally need to report us as intl on the MSAR and Northwestern is just weird?

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Oh no, I meant that I totally agree with you. There's no legal requirements for schools to declare correct statistics, so schools just do whatever the heck they want to do. Bad thing for us is that we have no clue if really choose to display us as OOS Americans or not (did you ask Colorado if they publish their data like that?). I'd assume most schools would show the Canadians as internationals in MSAR, even if they really love us. 

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On 8/2/2018 at 11:59 AM, Serendi said:

Oh no, I meant that I totally agree with you. There's no legal requirements for schools to declare correct statistics, so schools just do whatever the heck they want to do. Bad thing for us is that we have no clue if really choose to display us as OOS Americans or not (did you ask Colorado if they publish their data like that?). I'd assume most schools would show the Canadians as internationals in MSAR, even if they really love us. 

Ohhh I see. Thanks for the clarification. That's a really good point though - I assumed if they treat us as OOS, they would report as within OOS stats, but that isn't necessarily correct. LOL! 

As per your question for Colorado, I asked:

Hello admissions officer,

I am a Canadian citizen hoping to matriculate at your medical school. Would you please let me know if I would be considered as equal to an out-of-state applicant from the United States, or as an international student?

They said:

Thank you for your interest in the University of Colorado School of Medicine! If you are admitted to the University of Colorado and you are not a US citizen, you would need to secure a student visa in order attend. Additionally, you would be considered an out of state student and would need to pay the accountable student tuition rate.

I.e. unfortunately I can't answer your exact question.

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On 8/4/2018 at 7:27 PM, canadianeh95 said:

Ohhh I see. Thanks for the clarification. That's a really good point though - I assumed if they treat us as OOS, they would report as within OOS stats, but that isn't necessarily correct. LOL! 

As per your question for Colorado, I asked:

Hello admissions officer,

I am a Canadian citizen hoping to matriculate at your medical school. Would you please let me know if I would be considered as equal to an out-of-state applicant from the United States, or as an international student?

They said:

Thank you for your interest in the University of Colorado School of Medicine! If you are admitted to the University of Colorado and you are not a US citizen, you would need to secure a student visa in order attend. Additionally, you would be considered an out of state student and would need to pay the accountable student tuition rate.

I.e. unfortunately I can't answer your exact question.

Yeahhh, that doesnt sound like Colorado is considering us like OOS US. AFAIK no schools in US have separate tuition for international students...

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On 8/9/2018 at 11:00 PM, Serendi said:

Yeahhh, that doesnt sound like Colorado is considering us like OOS US. AFAIK no schools in US have separate tuition for international students...

You''ve got a point. The email was ambiguously worded so I'll consider clarifying over the phone.

BTW, I think I've found you on SDN while browsing Canadians' profiles. If you are who I think you are - and I think this your username here sounds quite similar to the one over there - you're pretty darn impressive!

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