Applying to M.D. only programs.
No MSTP/MD/PhD for me.
AMCAS submitted on 24 July 2006. Verified 18 August 2006.
Didn't apply to TMDSAS.
Took the August 2006 MCAT.
Letters of recommendation sent out 19 October 2006.
BCPM GPA = Rice GPA
Overall GPA = NUS GPA
Long story short: I'm an American citizen who grew up in Northern California, did my high schooling in Pakistan, the first three years of undergrad at NUS (Singapore), and the last two years at Rice (Texas). My undergraduate degrees -- a B.S. in Biochemistry and B.A. in Chemistry, both with honors -- are both from Rice.
I applied to the Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School based in Singapore, in case I didn't get any love from the American medical schools listed above, what with my very non-traditional background. Submitted 10/29, complete 11/3, invited 11/12, they're using Duke (NC)'s interview results to make their admissions decision. Surprisingly rejected via e-mail 4/10. I must've screwed up my Duke interview because I had a sterling application for them otherwise. It would explain the Duke (NC) rejection as well.
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TIMELINE
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I updated all medical schools that haven't rejected me with Fall 2006 grades and extracurriculars on 1 January 2007, and with a restatement of intent and a summary of the strongest points of my application on 12 March 2007.
2 April: Met with my pre-med advisor. She believes my application is superb, but that I've been abroad too long and that's the application killer for me. It doesn't help that I speak so fondly of Singapore because they might question my commitment to a career in medicine *in the US*! What they fail to understand is how I'm screwed regardless of which country's medical schools I apply to. So much for the 'international experience' and 'diversity' being good things, eh?
20 April: Three waitlists aren't enough to keep me from re-applying next year, so come May 2nd, I will be re-applying for admissions. If I get off a waitlist, of course, my problems are solved :) Until then, I'll be doing clinical research at the Texas Medical Center -- time well-spent but not as well paid ;)
5 May: Spring GPA = 3.93. I graduate next week! I've now completed 90 credit-hours, including all pre-med requirements, within the United States, so I shouldn't be disadvantaged anywhere because I had so many credits from NUS and so few from Rice. My pre-med advisor is trying to hook me up with a neurologist to shadow in May. The next year seems to be re-applications while I hold a full-time job somewhere in the Texas Medical Center.
14 May: Miracles do happen -- got an unexpected e-mail from U Rochester (16 May: and a phone call!) saying I'll have my admissions packet within the week. I'm so relieved that I won't have to re-apply after all and that I'll be attending a medical school I really enjoyed interviewing at! Here I come, New York!
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LESSONS
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* Apply early. This means having your transcripts and applications ready so that as soon as you can submit your AMCAS, you do submit your AMCAS. I strongly believe I didn't interview widely because my app was verified so late and I took the August MCAT.
* Don't take the August MCAT! Get it done such that you can release your scores BEFORE you submit your AMCAS. Suck it up and take it the summer after your sophomore year, or during junior year if you've got the balls.
* Don't wait on getting letters of recommendation! I waited until late August to hand in everything to the pre-med advisor, and she had 250 other pre-med letters to write. Mine was at the bottom of the stack, meaning I got my letters sent out mid-October. That's a 6-week delay, folks. Get letters in BEFORE summer, not during and most certainly not after.
* Apply to state schools. They typically interview and accept earlier than other schools, which give you interview practice and *peace of mind* having an acceptance in hand. It doesn't matter if they aren't ranked; it's better to go SOMEWHERE than to go nowhere. Re-applicants are almost always disadvantaged.
* Do all prerequisites in the United States!!
* Clinical experience is very important! So important that I consider it equally important with GPA and MCAT. Numbers alone won't get you into medical school -- I'm proof of that. One of my rejections alluded to my intelligence but lack of commitment to a career in MEDICINE specifically. Don't make my mistake! Clinical experience isn't shadowing or volunteering, it's *working with patients*, so as a freshman, get your Hepatitis A/B vaccinations (this takes 6 months to complete!) and go to community college and get EMT-B certified, or a phlebotomy or nursing assistant certificate, and spend your sophomore and junior years (part-time, or full-time over summer) working in a hospital. I personally believe this is more important than research, even for Top 20 schools.
* Stay with student hosts, you can't beat free housing, and advice from current medical students about the school you're interviewing at. Plus, they'll drop you to your interview and might pick you up from the airport -- money saved!
* Don't send letters of intent or interest -- they don't read them.
* DO send your grades as soon as you get them, because updating your file with academic information gets it re-reviewed. My surprise call from Rochester was in response to my sending in my Spring 2007 grades!
* Don't apply to only top schools! It's important to be humble and realize that there are thousands of applicants with grades and experiences just as good (or better!) as yours, and accept that an MD is the same no matter where you get it from. Great numbers does not a great doctor make.
* Finding a job for the summer (or year if you take a year off, or have to reapply) between undergrad graduation and med school matriculation should start IN YOUR SENIOR YEAR! I applied for two jobs in early May and didn't hear back from either -- if it wasn't for Rochester I'd be unemployed and wasting my reapplicant year! Oh, and research/tech jobs pay peanuts. Do yourself a favour and take computer science courses to land bioinformatics jobs -- $55k/year!!
