Thank you, that makes a lot of sense. I think I’ve been worried about trying to make up for having no research by taking on too many things at once, so I appreciate the reminder that the quality of my involvement matters more than just having a long list of activities.

I’ll definitely prioritize keeping my GPA strong while gradually building research experience and continuing my clinical, service, and leadership activities. I appreciate the honest advice!

Given my current situation, would you recommend taking a gap year before applying? I’m wondering if having that extra year to build meaningful research experience while keeping my GPA strong and preparing for a high MCAT would be more beneficial than trying to fit everything into my undergraduate timeline.

I'm always supportive of gap years if they make financial sense! Even outside of application benefits, I've found that my gap years have allowed me to experience the world outside the confines of school and mature quite a bit. I'd also really encourage you to look into schools that are a bit less competitive than Stanford, Harvard, Yale, etc.; I'm not sure exactly which schools accept internationals and which don't, but a cursory Google search says that there are both MDs and DOs that do, so you have a range of options at a range of competitiveness levels. Stanford is really really hard for even the best applicants to get into, and I think the biggest mistake some applicants make is get too attached to the top schools and forget that you can get a great education at other schools too.

+1 MSTP Rejection

+1 OOS II

Does anyone know how Stanford MD-PSTP admissions works? Is PSTP basically an additional program you’re considered for on top of regular MD admission, or does applying PSTP put you in a separate admissions category? If you’re not selected for PSTP, can you still be admitted MD-only? TLDR how does appllying MD-PSTP vs standard MD affect ur acceptance chances

You are considered for PSTP first. If you do not get into PSTP, I believe you are considered for MD then.

I might just be confused, but how are mstp applicants answering the discovery curriculum/scholarly concentration question? I was under the impression that mstp was you discovery curriculum/scholarly concentration. I might also just be not reading it right.

You're right, I used it as a "why Stanford" and discussed a couple labs I'd be interested in working in

tysm! just had to make sure I wasn't tripping

+1 OOS PSTP II !!