Chance me please: Non-traditional, international, second bachelor

Chance Me / Match Me
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1

Hi!
I am a non-traditional, second-bachelor degree seeker, hoping to major in biology.
My initial major was computer science from non-US university
I am in the middle of green card processing, so I should currently apply as an international

I intend to apply to medical school after my second bachelor’s
and pursue an MD-PhD or MSTP.

I know that my situation may sound very unusual, but I desperately need your help

Could you chance me and recommend schools to apply for as a transfer student?

The below-disclosed information of mine is true and honest.

Demographics
*international student

  • State/Location of residency: N/A
  • Type of high school (current college for transfers):
    2nd a bachelor’s currently at SUNY State College, currently 2nd year

1st bachelor’s from one of Asian universities.
Master’s degree from one of the Asian universities.

Both completed degrees from universities ranked top 150th according to QS/THE ranking.

  • Gender/Race/Ethnicity (optional):
  • Other special factors (first generation to college, legacy, athlete, etc.):

Intended Major(s)
Biology / Human Biology

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

  • Unweighted HS GPA: 3.64
  • Weighted HS GPA (incl. weighting system): 3.64
  • College GPA (for transfers):

non-US undergrad: 3.29 (Computer science)
non-US master’s: 3.57(Artificial intelligence)
SUNY: 3.75 (Biology)

  • Class Rank: N/A
  • ACT/SAT Scores: 32 (Took in 2014)
    SAT 2 Math: 800
    SAT 2 Physics: 710

Coursework
AP (Took in 2013, 2014):
Calculus BC: 5
Microeconomics: 5
Macroeconomics: 5
Physics B: 5
Statistics: 4
Psychology: 4
TOEFL: 110

College Courses:
Biology 1: A
Chemistry 1: A
Human biolgy1 : A
Humanities: A

Awards
Best paper award in an international academic venue

Extracurriculars
1st authored on 4 academic papers on reputable journals and venues

  • Topics: AI on medicine, Augmented Reality, and AI

Co-authored 3 academic papers in reputable journals

  • Topics: AI in medicine, and AI in general

2 years as an AI researcher and engineer an industry

Currently university lecturer and visiting professor somewhere in Asia

  • Teaching coursework: Data science, artificial intelligence

Total paper citations: 20+

Essays/LORs/Other
Professor, and advisor while master’s degree (USC alumni)
Professor, advisor, and corresponding author of a recent medical-AI paper (Medical school professor)
Vice President, supervisor of the previous company (citation of more than 10,000)

Cost Constraints / Budget
(High school students: please get a budget from your parents and use the Net Price Calculators on the web sites of colleges of interest.)

Wishes to apply for financial aid.
Special consideration: Currently in the process of receiving a green card. I am hoping for financial aid as a domestic student for the 2025 academic year, but I should probably pay the full fee for the 2024 Fall.

Schools
(List of colleges by your initial chance estimate; designate if applying ED/EA/RD; if a scholarship is necessary for affordability, indicate that you are aiming for a scholarship and use the scholarship chance to estimate it into the appropriate group below)

  • Safety (certain admission and affordability)
    Georgia
    UIUC
    Stony Brook, SUNY
    Binghamton, SUNY
    Purdue
    Tufts
    Brandeis

  • Likely (would be possible, but very unlikely or surprising, for it not to admit or be affordable)
    NYU Tandon

  • Match
    Northwestern
    USC
    CMU
    WashU
    Notre Dame
    Vandy

  • Reach
    Columbia General Studies

Would my school list be out of reach because of too low GPA/ACT scores?
I invested extra attention to my essay on why I wish to pursue a second bachelor’s in biology by expressing my strong intention to become a physician-scientist and biomedical informatics researcher.

Thank you

2

You may be better served to look for a post baccalaureate program instead.

See
https://prehealth.wustl.edu/node/12473#anchor-group-9974

Which includes link to

Many colleges don’t accept a student for a second bachelors due to space constraints.

Example

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3

Hello

Thanks for the reply

I am well aware of second bachelor constraints.

The universities I mentioned are ones that welcomed second bachelor degree.

I believe there is too little information on second bachelor ay?

4

I think you will have significant difficulty getting financial aid for a second bachelors degree…and you already have a masters as well…

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5

Are you saying you are currently pursuing a second bachelors degree…already?

6

Yes I am…
And I am applying to listed universities as transfer student

7

Why are you transferring?

8

Current university is online-based.
I am eager to engage in offline activities, especially in lab courses

9

I think you need to rethink your plan. Transfer students are at the very bottom of the food chain for any kinds of financial aid.

Is your goal medical school in the United States? If so, you need a bachelors from a college in this country (and you are currently enrolled to get one…right?).

AND you will need to be a permanent resident here or getting accepted at a medical school here will be just about impossible. What makes you think you will have permanent resident status so quickly.

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10

I will let @WayOutWestMom tell you the acceptance rates for these programs.

11

Thank you very much for your concern and your reply.

I am currently waiting for my turn for permanent residency.

I am aware of the need of permanent residency so I am not willing to apply for medical school until I get one!

Thanks again!

12

And what is your Plan B. Anyone thinking about applying to medical school needs a Plan B because the majority of applicants do not get accepted…anywhere they apply.

So…make sure you have a Plan B.

13

Thank you.
My plan B is to just apply for PhD in CS or biomedical informatics.

14

Ok I am confused. Are you currently doing an online degree at a suny?

Why not get a post bacc? And I would get some info about med school and md-PhDs for international students.

15

The acceptance rates for the medical school options you have targeted are single digits. Please keep that in mind.

16

You already have a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree. It doesn’t matter that they’re from outside the US - you have them, and you would need to disclose all degrees, all transcripts, wherever you apply. Your test scores and APs don’t matter anymore. Finish taking the pre-reqs for medical school at your SUNY, and get A’s in them. You don’t need a bio degree - you just need the classwork, and bench research experience, and hopefully published papers, if you’re planning on applying for an MD-PhD.

If your goal is medical school (or anything else, pretty much), it is not worth transferring. You will not qualify for any financial aid currently, nor will you qualify for any financial aid for undergrad coursework, since you already have two degrees.

If you were to obtain a green card, you could apply to MD or DO programs, or MD-PhD programs, without obtaining any other degree. You already appear to have a strong research background, although it is in AI as it relates to medicine, not in a science field. I don’t think that there are yet MD-PhD programs where the PhD is in AI as it relates to medicine (although I do think that there will be, someday, but not soon enough for you). Since you already have the degrees, what you’d need for the MD-PhD route would be the coursework in the field in which you intend to do research, and actual bench research, with the goal of publishing in time for the application. Because you already have the degrees, there is no need to get a 3rd degree, and you won’t be eligible for fin aid for it, even if you were to get a green card.

To apply to medical school, you would need a very high MCAT score. If you have a very high MCAT score, med schools might overlook the fact that your basic sciences are from probably a decade ago - after all, the MCAT score would prove that you have current mastery of the material. Also, since it seems that you don’t have all the pre-reqs done, A’s in the more recent, higher level science courses, along with a high MCAT score, would prove your current ability. You wouldn’t have to go back and re-do the prior courses.

There are many other elements that med schools want to see, such as many hours of clinical work with patient contact, many hours of volunteer work, especially in a setting with people who need help (such as homeless shelters, addiction/rehab clinics), shadowing of doctors in multiple specialties so that you have demonstrated that you understand what doctors do.

Takeaway: don’t waste your time with transfer applications.

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17

I apologize for confusion.

Currently, I am awaiting for my turn on getting PR. (I HOPE to get PR before applying for med school). So, applying MD PhD as international student is off the table for me.

Currently, I am pursuing online degree.
But, I have been told that online degree is considered very red-flagged for med school applicant.
Thats why I wish to transfer to offline, on-site undergraduate degree.

18

I think it’s an even bigger issue for MD/PhD applicants and MSTP programs. These programs have VERY VERY low acceptance rates. I’m talking single digits.

WRT to the list you posted above, I don’t think you will be seeing significant financial aid from any of them.

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19

Thank you very much for your thoughtful advice.
I should keep in mind that financial aid or scholarshop is very unlikely to happen.

With regard to MSTP or MD-PhD, would transferring to “prestigeous undergraduate” significantly increase my chances?

I took a look at current MD-PhD students at top 20 med schools but I’ve barely seen anyone from non-top 30 undergrad.

My current undergraduate is not even close to top 500

20

Thank you very much for your reply.

I have been told that two things are huge red-flags to me:

  • online courseworks
  • very low (not even close to top 500) undergraduate prestige.

Would this be overlooked if I

  • complete lab work offline
  • achieve high MCAT?