Research all the necessary information
First step in your application process should be a thorough research of what you need to do in order to get to a medical school (which should actually include reconsideration of your future career path). In this phase, it is also necessary be in touch with a pre-medical advisor at your undergraduate institution, as this resource is indispensable and in many respects a necessary one. You're here, so that's good - and it should be enough for general info anyway. But for the more specific information about different schools or individual questions you probably will have, you might want to consult various forums that are out there by and for other people like you (plus their parents, of course, who are very often much more knowledgable about higher education in the US than their children, the students themselves). My favorite ones are the following ones:
- CollegeConfidential.org - a rich information database site for both undergraduate and graduate education in the US in general, but containing very specific topics for pre-meds as well
- StudentDoctor - a forum focused on medical education
Know your deadlines
Before you start studying for any exams or writing your application essays, you should know when and in which order it is best to do all these things so that you don't miss any deadlines or study for an exam so early that by the time you get to take it you forget everything you learned. The firmly set deadlines of the official AMCAS application are hardly negotiable, but the rest before that is pretty much up to you and the period afterwards is mainly directed by each individual medical school - for more information about what to do when, look here.
Where to apply?
One of the crucial questions in the entire application process is how one should choose a medical school to apply to. First of all, you should start with the list of schools that consider international applicants, which cuts down the number of available institutions by half for all foreigners. Other than that, there are many factors in play and there is no one good answer for everyone. (Have you heard this anywhere?) At the same time, several decision-making factors in this process should be considered, in order to create the best possible fit for themselves in the future institution of their healthcare education (by many admission officers, this perceived "fit" is actually the most important factor):
- Overall quality this information is best acquired from specific students who have gone to these schools (see the forums above) in combination with available rankings (many students think that "prestige" is synonymous to "quality," but that is not true).
- Academic match of the school with respect to the desired area of study, which is given by the facilities available or a specific faculty member you would like to work with in your academic future. You should also look into how your specific GPA and MCAT scores compare to the ones usually admitted to your desired schools.
- Location is another factor that contributes to the overall fit between you and your medical college - would you like to stay where you received your undergraduate instruction or would you rather change the climate? US applicants also consider in-state versus out-of-state schools, but that is not a relevant criterion for foreigners.
- Financial help is definitely an important criterion for foreign students, as not everyone can afford to pay the entire price of the medical school and taking private loans is often complicated and financially very burdening - therefore, look at the list of schools providing at least some financial help for international students.
Another common question is how many schools should one apply to? In General, most applicants apply for 10 up to 25 schools in one admission process, which is a relatively high number if you consider the cost of this entire process. Average is 15 applications per pre-medical student, but I have heard many stories about international students who sent out "only" around 10 applications and were still admitted to a couple of medical colleges. Applying for less than 7 or schools would be a hazard, applying for more than 20-22 might be a little unnecessary - and more importantly, you likely will not even have enough time to respond sufficiently to all the secondary applications you will later receive. (See more here about the suggested application process timeline.)
These are the basic questions that need to be covered for this topic, but if you would like to know more, please, let me know in the comments!
