- Joined
- Jun 16, 2009
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Hey guys,
First, my academic history: My freshmen year I went to PSU and failed almost every class I took (I didn't even want to go to college, let alone know what I was going to do once I got there, so I just ended up not doing anything). Then, I dropped out and went to community college and then transferred to a top liberal arts university in the state on a full named-scholarship.
Since PSU, I've worked very hard to get my act together. I have very good EC's: I was the president of multiple clubs and organizations, involved in several intramural clubs (captain of one team), received many awards and was accepted into numerous honor societies, did 2+ years of research and completed an honors thesis. I even received an award for being top 2 in my major (neuroscience) during graduation. (this was mostly all after I transferred, btw).
I have volunteered about a total of 100hrs in a hospital setting and shadowed several doctors.
Currently, I am teaching physics for TPR & on a 10-month commitment with AmeriCorps.
Anyway, here's my trend:
Freshmen: .44 <--- PSU
Sophomore: 3.90 <-- COMMUNITY COLLEGE
Junior: 3.44 <-- JUST TRANSFERRED TO UNIVERSITY
Senior: 3.83 <-- UNIVERSITY
Overall: 3.12
Overall BCPM: 3.19
MCAT (take 1): 27O
MCAT (take 2): 33P
I've been applying to only MD schools the past 2 cycles (I have 2 MD's in the family, so have been pressured to apply to MD schools) and, it doesn't look like I'll be getting any acceptances, let alone any interviews. At first, I was obviously pretty upset with this, and then I realized there may be a silver lining. Honestly, with every day that goes by, I'm warming up to the idea of going to DO school.
I like the DO philosophy, especially with the types of students they accept. It seems very silly to me that, because of having a bit of a slower maturation almost 8 years ago at this point, my chances of getting into MD schools is all but nonexistent. Why would I want to try and make myself appealing for a program that is so numbers-driven, when numbers are not at all a good indicator of a good physician. I know I can be a good physician, which is why this bothers me the most. To prove myself the only thing I could really do is a masters program. 2 years of tuition and research just to MAYBE be more appealing to MD's? Forget it. I'm not playing their game anymore.
I won't go into it, but I've had some fairly traumatic experiences throughout my life (which may explain my late maturation), and I'm not playing the boo-hoo card here at all, but I think DO's might be a bit more down-to-earth about certain things, because of DO programs' emphasis on life experiences for compensation of maybe a not so-stellar GPA or MCAT. I honestly feel that I would just get along better and thrive in a DO environment. Am I totally off base for thinking this way?
Anyway, I sort of went on for a bit there. Could anyone tell me what my chances are at a top-tier DO schoool? I'm from philly, so I would really like to go to PCOM
First, my academic history: My freshmen year I went to PSU and failed almost every class I took (I didn't even want to go to college, let alone know what I was going to do once I got there, so I just ended up not doing anything). Then, I dropped out and went to community college and then transferred to a top liberal arts university in the state on a full named-scholarship.
Since PSU, I've worked very hard to get my act together. I have very good EC's: I was the president of multiple clubs and organizations, involved in several intramural clubs (captain of one team), received many awards and was accepted into numerous honor societies, did 2+ years of research and completed an honors thesis. I even received an award for being top 2 in my major (neuroscience) during graduation. (this was mostly all after I transferred, btw).
I have volunteered about a total of 100hrs in a hospital setting and shadowed several doctors.
Currently, I am teaching physics for TPR & on a 10-month commitment with AmeriCorps.
Anyway, here's my trend:
Freshmen: .44 <--- PSU
Sophomore: 3.90 <-- COMMUNITY COLLEGE
Junior: 3.44 <-- JUST TRANSFERRED TO UNIVERSITY
Senior: 3.83 <-- UNIVERSITY
Overall: 3.12
Overall BCPM: 3.19
MCAT (take 1): 27O
MCAT (take 2): 33P
I've been applying to only MD schools the past 2 cycles (I have 2 MD's in the family, so have been pressured to apply to MD schools) and, it doesn't look like I'll be getting any acceptances, let alone any interviews. At first, I was obviously pretty upset with this, and then I realized there may be a silver lining. Honestly, with every day that goes by, I'm warming up to the idea of going to DO school.
I like the DO philosophy, especially with the types of students they accept. It seems very silly to me that, because of having a bit of a slower maturation almost 8 years ago at this point, my chances of getting into MD schools is all but nonexistent. Why would I want to try and make myself appealing for a program that is so numbers-driven, when numbers are not at all a good indicator of a good physician. I know I can be a good physician, which is why this bothers me the most. To prove myself the only thing I could really do is a masters program. 2 years of tuition and research just to MAYBE be more appealing to MD's? Forget it. I'm not playing their game anymore.
I won't go into it, but I've had some fairly traumatic experiences throughout my life (which may explain my late maturation), and I'm not playing the boo-hoo card here at all, but I think DO's might be a bit more down-to-earth about certain things, because of DO programs' emphasis on life experiences for compensation of maybe a not so-stellar GPA or MCAT. I honestly feel that I would just get along better and thrive in a DO environment. Am I totally off base for thinking this way?
Anyway, I sort of went on for a bit there. Could anyone tell me what my chances are at a top-tier DO schoool? I'm from philly, so I would really like to go to PCOM
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