You want my opinion on this? With single digit acceptance rates, the notion you can significantly increase your chances by attending a certain undergrad are…not likely.
Also, who is paying for all of this undergrad stuff you are doing now?
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Thank you for your advice.
Does that mean attending columbia and attending SUNY-online degree would not make any difference on my chances on MD-PhD?
I do have personal savings from experience as AI researcher which would cover expenses for 2 years of undergraduate tuition…
Please, I came here for honest opinion, not to cause any chaos.
Register for in-person pre-req classes for med school, with lab, at your local SUNY; at this point, beginning this summer, since it’s too late for in-person for this semester.
Your status is very unusual for someone who wants to go to med school, but certainly not impossible. The fact is that AI is so new and so important, could be as transformative for medicine as the internet age has been for our entire society. Forward-thinking medical schools may recognize the value of MD training for a person with an AI background. Transferring is not relevant in your case. You need to focus on building your application for med school - the prereqs, and the ECs they’re looking for, not on trying to transfer to a “prestigious” US college for a second BA, and your third degree.
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Thank you so much for your real and thoughtful opinion.
I should very well consider filling pre-req in offline courses or register for cross registration!
Certainly, in this way, I can keep up my career.
I was really anxious of my undergraduate prestige because I rarely saw MD-PhD students from low-prestige undergraduate like mine
Are you currently living in the U.S. or are you taking these course online from elsewhere.
@WayOutWestMom does this student need a bachelors degree from a U.S. college to be a successful MSTP or MD/PhD candidate…or actually for any medical school here?
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I am living in Asia, taking courses online
Thank you so much for your time!!!
You are in a unique position. You’re not a 22 yr old undergrad applying. You have a master’s degree in AI, you have significant publications, you have two years of research and engineering work, you are currently a U lecturer and visiting prof.
It sounds as if you are located outside the US currently. The problem is going to be that unless you come to the US in time to do some of your pre-reqs in the US, all your pre-reqs will have been done outside the US (and online pre-reqs are not going to be helpful to you, I think). You can take the MCAT outside the US. If you will have taken all your prereqs outside the US, then everything is going to be riding on an extremely high MCAT score, which would prove mastery of the material.
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I see! Thank you.
So given my situation, (currently, courses are taken online, outside US),
Would you recommend transferring to on-site, offline university? (If not, would require me to achive very high score on MCAT?)
I’m confused about your immigration status. You are overseas… you will need a student visa to come through in order to study in the US since your Green Card is likely on a longer timeframe. What does your immigration counsel say about this plan- and do you have the funds to show that you can afford a US degree before your student visa can be granted?
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Take a look at Columbia University School of General Studies (not Columbia College). They offer a 2nd bachelors degree for non-traditional students. You could transfer up to 2 years of credit.
The GS students take the same courses as the other undergrads at Columbia. You could get a bachelors degree in Biology. But note the financial aid is not the greatest, and NYC is very expensive.
I apologize for the confusion.
Currently, I have yet received green card.
My immigration counsel says I should get one before 2025 June, which is expected timeline of med school application.
So, as for my undergraduate transfer, which is happening now, for 2024 fall admission, I have to apply for international student.
However, I hope(sincerely…) to get green card by the rome of med school application because my I-140 is already approved (which only leaves me waiting for priority date for green card, which is generally, 6-12 months of waiting)
I see. Thank you.
Going back to my first question, given my current situation of taking coursed online, outside US,
Do you think transferring to on-site, offline undergraduate is a must?
Thanks!!
Do you have a plan in place in the event you do not get accepted to med school?
Yes.
Plan A: PhD in CS or biology, biomedical informatics field
Plan B: AI engineer in US
Most medical schools do not accept online coursework for pre-reqs classes. They especially will not accept online credits for courses that have a lab component (bio, gen chem, ochem, physics). They did during covid, but since all universities have returned t in-person instruction, med schools have returned to their former policies of limiting/refusing online credits. There are a few exceptions allowed for people who do not have access to in-person classes like US active duty military personnel.
For MD/PhD, there is a very strong expectation for significant in-person laboratory experience. You will need a very strong LOR from your research PI to support the PhD part of the application. MSTP applicants must be accepted independently by both the medical school AND the graduate department of their chosen research area. If not accepted by both, you are rejected,
A second bachelor’s degree is unnecessary for applying to medical school. While US medical schools do not accept degrees earned outside the US and Canada as fulfilling admission requirements, international grads with foreign degrees can be accepted as long as they complete 30-90 credit hours (varies by specific school) of US coursework that includes all the pre-reqs for med school.
If you are interested in a USMD, a post bacc for career changers would be your fastest and least expensive option.
Post baccs are not set up to for MD/PhD students. You would need to lean on your foreign degree and research for the PhD part of the application
MSTP program are restricted to US citizens/USPR since they are funded by federal monies. There are non-MSTP MD/PhD programs but not all of them are funded programs. (IOW, you would be expected to pay for your own medical education, though it’s likely you could get funding for a PhD from a research supervisor/thesis advisor)
I am unclear as to WHY you need a MD/PhD for your career goals. Those who seek an MD or MD/PhD must be interested in clinical medicine. They are patient-centered in their outlook. Even, MD/PhDs see patients all through their career. MD/PhD career trajectories include a split of duties between clinical duties and research.
I don’t see anywhere in your discussion an interest in seeing patients.
You also need to understand that gaining an acceptance to US med school requires more than just completing the expected coursework. Med school admissions also expect applicants to demonstrate they have all the necessary Premed Competencies for Entering Medical Students. The list includes interpersonal and professional competencies along with science and critical thinking competencies. For example, demonstrating the Service Orientation typically requires a significant amount of volunteer hours working with disparaged and disadvantaged groups in the US.
Besides academics, med school admission informally requires having enough experience within the US healthcare system to demonstrate an understanding of how the system works and what the physician lifestyle is like. A few hundred hours of clinical exposure in the US healthcare system is a soft requirement for med school admission–even for MD/PhD applicants. 50-100 hours of shadowing US physicians is another soft requirement. Shadowing must include several different specialties including at least one primary care physician. (Primary care includes family medicine, general internal medicine, geriatrics and pediatrics.)
Acceptance rates to US med school are quite low. Individual med schools frequently have acceptances rates in the single digits. Individual MSTP acceptance rates are typically under 5%, often in the 1-3% range…
If you really want to create a successfully application for MSTP or Md/PhD programs, you need to have US community service and US clinical experiences. If you are currently living overseas, you will need to postpone your application until you are able to move to the US and obtain the necessary experiences to support an med school application.
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Would this student be able to get these experiences if he or she is not a permanent resident or U.S. citizen.
Generally speaking hospitals/clinics will not accept internationals without citizenship or PR status as volunteers. They cannot pass the background security screening for those positions.
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MSTP is nearly impossible even for the brightest domestic students. “prestige” Schools like Harvard/MIT only have a handful a year out of a class of almost 400. Genius consider those people geniuses.
Being non-traditional, IMO your options are:
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apply to work in a research lab as a technician, get the foot in the door and work your way up. Take community college classes for pre-req, they are cheaper and easier and looks the same on paper as any expensive post bacc program would.
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Go to med school in your country. Many may only require you to take an exam and get a certain score. Then just come over to US and take/and pass the licensing exams. You can get a PhD separate. If you don’t match, then do post doc in a lab, again to get your foot in the door.
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Some on already mentioned: get a job at a US uni in your current field, and then apply as faculty – standards are lower because you are faculty. It is also about getting foot in the door.
Age doesn’t matter. Oldest guy in my class was 49. A prior (almost) doctor from Viet Nam who never graduated and spent over 10 years in labor camp because he got caught trying to escape back in 1979. At 49 decided he still wanted to be a doctor, applied and got in.
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Are you near an international branch of a US university? Perhaps if you took prereq lab sciences there, in person?
I don’t think it’s quite as easy as you are making it sound.
@WayOutWestMom could you clarify.