F-1 Doctors help international students to U.S. med schools
Applying to medical school is an undeniably complicated process, but Azan Virji discovered that it’s even tougher when you’re an international student. The Tanzanian applicant’s options were slim, even though he already had a bachelor’s and a master’s in public health from Yale. Only 48 American institutions consider international applicants, and they accept them at about half the rate of U.S. citizens. And he had no idea about how to go about applying for financial aid. “When I was applying to medical school, I had no one to talk to as an international, as someone applying to medical school, as someone seeking financial aid,” said Virji, now in his second year at Harvard Medical School. “Always in the back of my mind, I thought, ‘If I get in, I’ll do something about this.’” Thus was born the idea for F-1 Doctors, a group of international med students who offer help to applicants...