I keep getting private messages asking for advice on how to transfer to the US so instead of answering each of you individually i figured i would post this for all to see.

First some background.
I started Ross in may of 2003. I left the island with a 4.0 took step 1 in december of 2004 and got my results back late january. I got a 260. I started my IM rotation in NJ in febuary and ended that in late may. I scheduled my next rotation for late july so i would have some time for all this. I was a TA for a few different classes, started a club, and was involved with some of the volunteer things at Ross. I sent out applications to 5 schools, SUNY upstate, Tulane, George Washington, Drexel, and NEOUCOM. The deadlines to get applications in were anywhere from april 1st to may 15th. I started receiving interview invites Mid-May. It seemed like schools sent out interview invites as they found out how many spots they were going to have. So the schools that ended up not having spots didn't send anything out till fairly late in the process. I received letters from SUNY upstate and Tulane saying they didn't have any spots open for transfer. I received a rejection letter from GW, but one of the other interviewees at NEOUCOM said that they had called GW and were told they didn't have any 3rd year spots. I ended up interview at Drexel and NEOUCOM. I was put on the waitlist for Drexel (4th on the list) and accepted to NEOUCOM. Drexel called me up the next week and told me I had been accepted. I ended up accepting a spot at Drexel but it was a hard choice between NEOUCOM and Drexel.

Ok, so now advice on how to go about the whole thing.

Starting at Ross in May will allow the most seamless transfer and will make getting all your information/applications to schools easy. If you start in september you will be quite rushed to take the Step in time and get them your scores. January will leave you with lots of time, so you might end up duplicating a lot of rotations.

Your Meidcal School GPA matters. From talking to people on the interview circuit everyone seemed to have a 3.8 or higher. If you are around a 3.8, i.e. 3.6, I would apply, it can't hurt.

Nobody mentioned my undergrad grads or mcat (3.03 and 27). I mentioned my grades in my interview (trying to point out that I had done progressively better)

USMLE scores ranged from 220 and up. You don't have to rock the usmle to be able to transfer.

Get good Letters of Recommendation (LORS). You will need LORS from your basic science professors and undergrad so be prepared to dredge up old contacts. Do your best to get quality LORS

If you get an interview don't bad talk your school or other students. Feel free to be honest why you want to transfer but do your best to not make your school look like shiat.

Both of my interviews talked about my activities and goals rather than my stats, so make sure you emphasize (in your application) that you are more than just good #s.

When you are looking for schools to transfer to make sure you call your instate schools because some of them will allow residents of that state to transfer into the school even if they are foreign grads.
Obviously you will want to check the following schools also
NEOUCOM
Drexel
SUNY upstate
Tulane
George Washington

When I transfered there were approximately 25 spots open to foreign med students (not included spots at schools that only take instate residents). I don't know how many people were able to transfer

I guess the basic message that i am trying to get across is some of the #s that are floating around on this website (i.e. >240 usmle, 4.0) are inflated. It seemed to me that all the schools were interested in what kind of physician you are going to be, not just how high you scored on the usmle.

If you have any questions please post them on this thread so other people can benefit from your question.

best of luck,
z

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Drexel (4th year)