MD 3.3 cGPA 3.5 sGPA 32S MCAT 2 Degrees & very research heavy

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3.3 cGPA
3.5 sGPA
32S MCAT (10 on my BS which I was averaging 14) I want to retake.

B.S. in Biochemistry
B.A. in Psychology

Graduated college with two degrees in 5 years. Essentially went to college twice, so many units that GPA repair is nearly impossible.

All As in upper division bio (Biochem 1, Biochem 2, Ochem 1 & 2, PCHEM, Molecular Bio, Cell Bio was a B)


Awesome non-clinical ECs
Mediocre clinical ECs
Author on 3 papers (all in manuscript, 1st author on one REALLY good paper that should be written up end of this year, 3rd author on two others, one is potentially huge [Nat. Neuroscience])

23 yo ORM from California.

Any other information I should include? My thoughts are I'm not going to get into MD, but I don't want the DO route because I still want to be involved in research in the future, just in a more clinical fashion. Any help please?

With a 32 MCAT score and a some what decent sGPA you have a chance. Make sure you have strong LORs, apply broadly and early. If you can apply to at least 25-30 low to mid tier schools as early as June you will be in a good position. Retaking a 32 is not wise especially if it pushes your application late or you don't improve substantially. It's not your MCAT that is holding you back it's the cGPA but you seem to have an upward trend. Whats your GPA year by year? I definitely think you have a shot at MD especially with those A's.

Originally Posted by shinbeats

With a 32 MCAT score and a some what decent sGPA you have a chance. Make sure you have strong LORs, apply broadly and early. If you can apply to at least 25-30 low to mid tier schools as early as June you will be in a good position. Retaking a 32 is not wise especially if it pushes your application late or you don't improve substantially. It's not your MCAT that is holding you back it's the cGPA but you seem to have an upward trend. Whats your GPA year by year? I definitely think you have a shot at MD especially with those A's.

Where can I find what people consider top tier/mid tier? Obviously Stanford, Hopkins, Yale, Harvard, UCSF, UCSD, Mayo, and all those are top... but where is there a line between mid and top and mid and low?

Originally Posted by encinitaslocal

Where can I find what people consider top tier/mid tier? Obviously Stanford, Hopkins, Yale, Harvard, UCSF, UCSD, Mayo, and all those are top... but where is there a line between mid and top and mid and low?

Based on USnews anything ranked > 40 would be mid-tier and anything beyond 80 would probably be low-tier that's just a rough estimate.

Gah there goes my dream school, UCI.

Originally Posted by encinitaslocal

Gah there goes my dream school, UCI.

UCI is ranked 44 it's more of a mid tier according to SDN standards but still very competitive.

Originally Posted by flodhi1

UCI is ranked 44 it's more of a mid tier according to SDN standards but still very competitive.

Well, here's to hoping!

Any other advice on what to do?

Write an amazing PS, apply as early as possible, return secondaries fast, getting your foot in the door with a 3.3/3.5 is going to be the hardest part. If a long time goes by without getting an interview to a certain school, send a letter of interest to try to push for it. For those schools that you do get interviews with, if you enjoy your interview and are impressed with the school, pull out all the stops post interview... thank you letters, update letters when you do new things, letters of interest, letter of intent (only if you have a definite #1), keep in touch with your interviewers via email. Show them you're passionate for attending their school and they will be willing to flex on the GPA a little. I was in a similar boat but reversed, my GPA was much higher than the national avg but my MCAT was more around avg.. just prepare yourself to work HARD this application and it'll work out for you. If you are nonchalant about the whole process and don't show any interest over completing the bare minimums they ask for, they will probably pass for someone else with better stats.

Originally Posted by MedBound1

Write an amazing PS, apply as early as possible, return secondaries fast, getting your foot in the door with a 3.3/3.5 is going to be the hardest part. If a long time goes by without getting an interview to a certain school, send a letter of interest to try to push for it. For those schools that you do get interviews with, if you enjoy your interview and are impressed with the school, pull out all the stops post interview... thank you letters, update letters when you do new things, letters of interest, letter of intent (only if you have a definite #1), keep in touch with your interviewers via email. Show them you're passionate for attending their school and they will be willing to flex on the GPA a little. I was in a similar boat but reversed, my GPA was much higher than the national avg but my MCAT was more around avg.. just prepare yourself to work HARD this application and it'll work out for you. If you are nonchalant about the whole process and don't show any interest over completing the bare minimums they ask for, they will probably pass for someone else with better stats.

Do you have any resources that show a generic update letter, or LOInterest, or LOI so that I can see what a formal one looks like? Thanks for your response... Anyone else?

Any other advice or opinions?

Bump