Hi everyone!

I have a few concerns regarding the procedure for obtaining a license in US.

Just completed my Bachelor's at University of Toronto with a GPA at 2.0. I know horrible!! Also, mcat score is only 15.

But, i have great deal of extracurriculars. Student organization Executive, some big time fundraising initiatives, 100hr hospital volunteering, research experience at Toronto Western hospital. and great work experience. All this easily conveys my outgoing personality.

Essentially, i self-selected myself out of the race for Med School in my second year. Mostly because of excessive commuting and other social problems. But, soon after i completed my undergrad, my sense of purpose was realized.

I applied to a few caribbean med schools: Ross, Saba, MUA. I was turned down by Saba thus far. And, I have an Interview with MUA. Assuming, everything goes well, and i start med school, and even complete my residency in New York.

I was told the following .... At the time of obtaining license ..... :
"Not knowing the rules and regulations can stop a medical career dead in its tracks if you dont know the rules. The license application involves a review of EVERY month of your time since graduation from high school. They review your undergrad record, MCAT scores, med school record, hospital rotation, residency records, all of your job & extracurricular activities, and most importantly your USMLE score record."

In light of this above comment, would a bad academic record in Undergrad after successful completion of Med School and Residency still deny a license application.

Especially, if you are presently licensed and practising, please share your knowledge and experience. PLEASE!

Thanks very much

If that's the case, it's the first I've heard of it. Undergrad academic record? Month-by-month since high school? MCAT scores? Holy carp, in my case we would be talking about thousands of pages of information (that is a slight exaggeration, but let's just say I'm not in my early 20's). Also, I attend medical school in Europe, and half of my US/Canadian classmates never took the MCAT. I venture to say that a good chunk of the IMG/FMGs practicing in the States never took it. I don't know the source of that information, but IMHO it's probably inaccurate. (Also, if the Carib shoots you down, you can always look over here to E-Eu/C-Eu.) Good luck!

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MS-4/6 @ Medical University of Sofia, Bulgaria
M.S. (Health Sciences) - Brigham Young University @ Provo, UT
B.A. (German Language & Literature) - University of Oregon @ Eugene, OR
Navy Hospital Corpsman (Fleet Marine Force) - 2nd Marine Division / 4th Marine Division
"Pains nor toils nor trials heeding, and in heaven's own time succeeding..."
Wm. E. Hickson (1803-1870)

Ok first off... can you tell us where you wish to be licensed ? Different states have different licensing regulations. Pick the state where you wish to be licensed and then research the regulations there. Certain states make it harder for IMGs to be licensed. However the list of "hard states" currently total to around 11. The rest of them are fairly receptive to IMGs. You should visit www.fsmb.org and do some research. If required call the state boards and ask them specific questions.

From my experience, none of the medical boards are interested in your highschool grades, college grades, or MCAT scores. However, you'd need to have at least 90 units of college credits. You'd need to be accountable for all the time period post-college such as gaps in between work, medical school and residency, travel...etc. But again, this is State dependent.

Good luck.

I'm willing to bet one's complete academic record is reviewed when you first apply for a LICENSE, not Residency. Month by month? No, that would be too expensive and timely for any medical board to perform.

OP: Dont take this the wrong way, but you need to ask yourself with that 2.0 and that MCAT if your able to perform in a graduate setting. Perhaps, taking some time off to study for the MCAT again, and trying to get your GPA up could be beneficial for you in the long run. Even if you still end up in the Caribbean you would end up a better student. That, in the end, is what its all about. We are all lifelong students.

My first 2 years I was a commuter, and it KILLED my GPA. So I can relate to you. Since than I moved on campus, and have been on the Deans list since.

Good Luck.

PS. Reminder: Any D's arent recognized by medical boards.

None of the few medical boards that I applied to has asked for my college transcript. You do need to submit a certified medical school transcript though.

i have a temporary license in north carolina (residency license), and they wanted an accounting of every month of my life since high school. the process was very extensive to get my temporary license here. maybe that's because we get a DEA # even in residency and can prescribe everything a permanent licensed doc can prescribe.

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M.D., PGY-2 Internal Medicine

I have a 2.2 cGPA, a 28R on the MCAT and taking about 30 credits of post bacc this year and will probably pull off a 3.5 post bacc GPA. I have gotten into a mediocre caribbean school for May 09.

My question is should I retake my physics and orgo courses, because I got Ds in them. I would rather not and get started on med school right away but it would be better doing it now than after residency, when I'm in my 30s and due to licensing issues. Any advice would be appreciated, thank you all.

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"There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than the distant image of our tiny world."