Chances: AMCAS / AACOMAS; Virginia

[DocMcStuffandThings]

Non-traditional Student

AMCAS - cGPA: 3.66, sGPA: 3.41
AACOMAS - cGPA: 3.83, sGPA: 3.97
MCAT - will take in April (estimate average score 29-35; *using old test scoring - this is just a guess at this point)

ECs
Clinical: Prior EMT, Military Combat Casualty Care, worked with docs/medics in Iraq, Internship in Orthopedic Surgery, Internship in ER, Health Science undergrad.

Volunteer: Save a life foundation (20 hrs.), Youth for Christ (20 hrs.), Tutor (20 hrs.), VA benefits rep (15 hrs.), Will be an ER hospital volunteer soon (100 hrs.)

Research: Senior research project in Kinesiology lab, Prof. asst. and Kinesiology Lab lead. (this may be a weak area)

Work/Experience: Military (Special Operations), Owned a fitness training company, Federal Agent, have travelled much of the world, etc.

*The reason for the disparity between AMCAS and AACOMAS GPAs is because of 3 grades from 13 yrs. ago (F, F, D+; One of the Fs was in BIO (ouch)). I cannot take them off my record but I have had near perfect grades since that time, and I have retaken the two F classes. Attended a private university in CA for Bachelors.

Schools
-I will consider any schools in the Virginia, Maryland, D.C., WV, NC area.
-Open to both MD and DO, not open to international/overseas.

Well, tell me what you think. Looking for specific school recommendations and just overall opinions.

Thanks to all who contribute.

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[WedgeDawg]

If your MCAT comes out to a 30+ equivalent, I think you have a good shot at EVMS and possibly VCU. If your MCAT is 27+ you're solid for any DO school. I don't know what other MD schools to apply to in the area that you might be competitive for without knowing your exact MCAT score. If you want a rough benchmark though, I can try to give you that.

MD Schools in the lower Mid-Atlantic that you might be competitive for with a 32+ MCAT (in addition to EVMS and VCU) include U Maryland, Georgetown, George Washington, VA Tech, and Wake Forest. Maryland has a heavy in-state bias, the DC schools get an extremely high volume of applications (15-20k) and are thus considered to be "low-yield" schools, VA Tech doesn't really have in-state preference, and your GPA may be a little low for Wake Forest. All in all, EVMS and VCU are your best bet for MD, and Edward Via COM (DO school) has campuses in both VA and the Carolinas. I see that you are likely Christian; if so, you could consider Liberty University's DO school, though be advised that they have very stringent behavioral standards based on religious doctrine.

 

[DocMcStuffandThings]

WedgeDawg: Thanks a ton for the quick response and honest opinion. It really sucks to be hampered by grades from 13 yrs ago, considering my GPA without those 3 grades would be 3.8/3.9. The one area that I can definitely "play up" is my work/life experience, which I did not elaborate on above due to privacy/security purposes. But, that is assuming I can actually get the ADCOMs to look past the initial glance at the GPA and read my personal statement.
Regardless, thanks again and best of luck with school.

 

[Grace184]

I don't know much about the GPAs etc of the Uniformed Service Med School, but even with your gpa, I think they would be highly interested in you

Also, your veteran status will be of help to you in your mission to med school, even at MDs. You just need to do well on your MCAT to really help yourself out
Thank you for your service!

 

[DocMcStuffandThings]

Grace184: Thank you for the response. I have definitely given some thought to USUHS, although I am not convinced at this point I want to sign away another 7 years. Although, they do make it nice while you are going through school with a full salary and all tuition paid.

I am studying hard for the MCAT. Hopefully the hard work will prove fruitful.

You are welcome, and thank you for the recognition. Very kind of you!
All the best.

 

[Doug Underhill]

29-35 is a huge range for MCAT scores. It could make you competitive for anything from the top 20 with a 35 to struggling with MD at the lower end.

Your military/federal law enforcement agent experience is unique and worthwhile.

 

[md-2020]

Non-traditional Student

AMCAS - cGPA: 3.66, sGPA: 3.41
AACOMAS - cGPA: 3.83, sGPA: 3.97
MCAT - will take in April (estimate average score 29-35; *using old test scoring - this is just a guess at this point)

ECs
Clinical: Prior EMT, Military Combat Casualty Care, worked with docs/medics in Iraq, Internship in Orthopedic Surgery, Internship in ER, Health Science undergrad.

Volunteer: Save a life foundation (20 hrs.), Youth for Christ (20 hrs.), Tutor (20 hrs.), VA benefits rep (15 hrs.), Will be an ER hospital volunteer soon (100 hrs.)

Research: Senior research project in Kinesiology lab, Prof. asst. and Kinesiology Lab lead. (this may be a weak area)

Work/Experience: Military (Special Operations), Owned a fitness training company, Federal Agent, have travelled much of the world, etc.

*The reason for the disparity between AMCAS and AACOMAS GPAs is because of 3 grades from 13 yrs. ago (F, F, D+; One of the Fs was in BIO (ouch)). I cannot take them off my record but I have had near perfect grades since that time, and I have retaken the two F classes. Attended a private university in CA for Bachelors.

Schools
-I will consider any schools in the Virginia, Maryland, D.C., WV, NC area.
-Open to both MD and DO, not open to international/overseas.

Well, tell me what you think. Looking for specific school recommendations and just overall opinions.

Thanks to all who contribute.

Why limit you options to just the Delmarva area?

 

[GrapesofRath]

29-35 is a huge range for MCAT scores. It could make you competitive for anything from the top 20 with a 35 to struggling with MD at the lower end.

Your military/federal law enforcement agent experience is unique and worthwhile.

This just to provide perspective there are top 20 schools with 35 MCAT averages. 29 is below average for all but a handful of med schools(many of which are for in-staters).

That said, working in the military is a major major boost for any med school application. There was a good discussion yesterday about this where gyngyn basically said these are the types of people who can add 4-5 points on their MCAT score and for whom 32's can be competitive for Harvard med school. Hence, while I almost never comment on these things without an MCAT score your in a situation where even a medicore MCAT score for MD standards and you can be in solid position. School lists though are still largely fruitless until you have that score.

Note your GPA math was a bit surprising. You said you re-took the F's. If you did and got A's those calculate out to a C. So is your science GPA a 3.97 vs a 3.43 just because of a couple C's vs a couple A's because you literally only took pre-reqs, because that's the only way I could see that out as being accurate?

 

[DocMcStuffandThings]

Doug Underhill:
Thanks for you comment. I understand the vast difference in MCAT score and consequences implied, but I have yet to take it and can only guess at this point based upon my current subject understanding. I hope to have my numbers narrowed down soon. I have heard before that military experience can help, and I hope this is the case. I will try to use this to my advantage where I can. Thanks for the heads up.

md-2020:
I am choosing schools in this area due to family circumstances. If things change by application time then I will definitely expand that area out as far as I can.

GrapesofRath:
Thanks for the perspective on the schools.
I will try to find the gyngyn discussion you are refering to and read up on it.
As for the GPA math, I am pulling these numbers stright from the AACOMAS/AMCAS GPA calculators that can be found on this website. However, maybe I am entering something incorrectly. As for entering them, do I put in both scores (F and A) or do I just put in one C? I took more science classes than the basic pre-reqs, but more of my science classes were taken through the Kinesiology department as opposed to the BIO/CHEM departments. Therefore, these do not count toward science GPA. It would be nice if that was the case since they are all As. All said, I may be caluclating incorrectly. I will check my math again or maybe if someone can answer the question above it may help a bit as well.
Also, remember that AACOMAS doesn't use Math in science GPA and it only uses the Retake class score. Therefore, with AMCAS it is 2 C's, with AACOMAS it is just one A and the other A falls under other GPA. Maybe that is the biggest difference.

Thanks to everyone for your advice and contributions. You all are great.

 

[GrapesofRath]

Doug Underhill:
Thanks for you comment. I understand the vast difference in MCAT score and consequences implied, but I have yet to take it and can only guess at this point based upon my current subject understanding. I hope to have my numbers narrowed down soon. I have heard before that military experience can help, and I hope this is the case. I will try to use this to my advantage where I can. Thanks for the heads up.

md-2020:
I am choosing schools in this area due to family circumstances. If things change by application time then I will definitely expand that area out as far as I can.

GrapesofRath:
Thanks for the perspective on the schools.
I will try to find the gyngyn discussion you are refering to and read up on it.
As for the GPA math, I am pulling these numbers stright from the AACOMAS/AMCAS GPA calculators that can be found on this website. However, maybe I am entering something incorrectly. As for entering them, do I put in both scores (F and A) or do I just put in one C? I took more science classes than the basic pre-reqs, but more of my science classes were taken through the Kinesiology department as opposed to the BIO/CHEM departments. Therefore, these do not count toward science GPA. It would be nice if that was the case since they are all As. All said, I may be caluclating incorrectly. I will check my math again or maybe if someone can answer the question above it may help a bit as well.
Also, remember that AACOMAS doesn't use Math in science GPA and it only uses the Retake class score. Therefore, with AMCAS it is 2 C's, with AACOMAS it is just one A and the other A falls under other GPA. Maybe that is the biggest difference.

Thanks to everyone for your advice and contributions. You all are great.

I think it sounds like you did it right if you only took kinesiology classes outside of pre reqs and if your math grades weren't As

 

[WedgeDawg]

Here is the gyngyn conversation:

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/thr...cat-d1-student-athlete.1150805/#post-16710134

Start at that post and read to the end