국내 유일한 미국 의대 합격 프로그램 > 팜메디랩

미국 의대 입학사정관 J.Lee 선생님과의 Q&A

• Q

  There are about 160 U.S. medical schools, of which about 49 international students can apply.
  How much better should the conditions of GPA or MCAT score for medical school application be for international students than U.S. citizens to be admitted?
  A

  I would say for applicants without U.S. Citizenship or a green card, getting into an American medical school is a huge uphill battle. You cannot afford to get a subpar GPA or MCAT score, as there are countless applicants who are already citizens who have stellar scores. I would recommend having over a 3.85 for GPA and 515 for MCAT, but higher would be better.
• Q

  What are the most important criteria for choosing medical schools to apply for as an international student? And why is that standard?
  A

  Some medical schools do not have a good track record of considering students who are non-U.S. Citizens.
  I would look at the makeup of the schools and choose institutions that have been amendable to accepting foreign university graduates. It is important, however, to differentiate whether the institutions that do accept foreign graduates lump Canadian citizens into that category, as getting into a U.S. medical school as a Canadian citizen is traditionally more feasible than from a citizen of a different country (i.e. Republic of Korea).
  Some American medical schools exclusively limit their international students to Canadian citizens.
• Q

  As an international students, when applying for medical school in the United States, how much should GPA and MCAT Score be at least, and how many hours should it take to combine the shadowing, clinical record, and volunteer to see the possibility of admission?
  A

  As stated above, the higher the better. A GPA of at least 3.85 and MCAT of 515 and above will set you up to have a good chance of acceptance. For the activities,
  i. Physician shadowing: 75+ hours (I suggest shadowing in two to three specialties and across two to three contexts in order to display a variety of experiences)
  ii. Volunteering: 200+ hours over the college career. If you cannot smell the patient, it is not considered clinical volunteering.
  iii. Research: variable, but research that amounts to tangible results such as poster presentations and abstracts will make you stand out more.
• Q

  After graduating from US Medical School, how much does the ranking or level of a student's medical school affect when he/she passes USMLE Step 3 and hospital matching for an internship program?
  A

  According to the National Residency Matching Program (NRMP) Program Director Survey, a large proportion of residency program directors do consider medical school reputation when deciding which students to interview. However, many medicals are deciding to opt out of the ranking system used by U.S. News World Report, so this may somewhat change in the future. Any medical school that grants an M.D. degree that is based in the U.S. will give you a great chance to pursue most residencies.
• Q

  Is it true that among American medical schools, ranked private medical schools or established medical schools place more importance on Score such as GPA or MCAT scores, and that long-established public or state medical schools place more importance on the personality of students such as interviews, essays, and activities?
  A

  I would say that regardless of the type of institution, most medical schools are moving in a direction where they are considering the components that demonstrate an applicant’s “soft skills” such as essays, activities, and interviews than they had before. Each school may have their own biases on what they find more important, but regardless of their preferences, getting the best scores as possible and casting a wide net will be important.
• Q

  What are the types of activities that can be best evaluated by admission officers in the U.S. medical school, and how many hours should each be made at least?
  A

  To be competitive, I would recommend the strategy of having at least 3 different leadership experiences, each lasting greater than 3 months, within the last 4 years. You cannot really differentiate yourself with the amount of shadowing, but it is important to show a breadth of different specialties- having primary care (family practice, internal medicine, or pediatrics) is a must.
  For research, the recommendation is to have greater than 1 year of research in the same lab that leads to a poster, abstract, or publication. Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) is a hot topic in medical schools and hospitals right now. It is defined as conditions in which people are born, live, learn, work, play, worship, and age that affect health. Having activities that show that you find these things important would be my recommendation. You can do so with activities such as Emergency medical technician (EMT), Certified medical assistant (CMA), Certified nursing assistant (CNA), Assisted living facility volunteer, Hospice care center volunteer, Home health Rehabilitation center volunteer, Crisis text line and suicide hotline volunteer.
• Q

  How would it be good to study CARS, the most difficult area to learn among MCAT areas?
  A

  CARS section is oftentimes the most section for the majority of pre-med students.
  This is especially true for those whose English is not their first language. I would recommend reading a lot of articles and books starting now. When practicing for CARS, I would exclusively use the official AAMC practice passages, as you need to get into the heads of the test writers and figure out the nuances of how they think.
  I have seen students who have used other practice passages from third party companies such as Princeton Review or Kaplan be oftentimes confused by having to switch between the different tones of the different test writers. If absolutely necessary, I would use the Exam Krackers or Jack Westin practice passages.
• Q

  If you look at the list of U.S. medical schools affiliated with AAMC, the "Also accepted" section has International (Case by case). In what case does Case by Case usually mean that you pass or fail?
  A

  Case by Case may mean that some years they may consider accepting international applicants and some years they may not, or that they accept only a particular type of international student.
  Each school has a different track record of accepting international students, so get information by school on how many they generally accept per year, and how consistently they do so. Certain medical schools, such as the University of Rochester, will only accept international students whose undergraduate degree is from the same institution.