Decision making : Rejecting acceptances from Ross/AUC or wait for DO cycle

[Etre1]

Hello, everyone. I am looking for any advice from anyone who have considered Canadian MD (I am a Canadian citizen), US MD, US DO, and last but not least, Caribbean MD and have decided to go through Caribbean route. Any feedback or opinion from you would be greatly appreciated, but please keep it in a constructive frame..

I have been recently accepted into Ross and AUC.
One part of my brain tells me that I should go to Ross due to more established affiliations with US hospitals, but my other brain tells me that I should go to AUC for better living conditions! Maybe I am overestimating living conditions, but as far as I am concerned, I am a human being too and need all the support that I can get.

Both of them offered me seats in May, which seems far from now but it really is not.
Having said that, I am pretty intimidated as time is passing by.
I am not too worried about studying-wise on the island, but as everyone knows, this is a bit of a gamble when it comes to residency.
I heard so many horror stories to students who came out on top in terms of grades/tests but still were not able to secure a spot, even in the U.S.
The merger of DO and MD residency spots is also freaking me out a bit.

I know that my stats are not good enough for US MD let alone Canadian MD. I already applied to two cycles for Canadian MD and knew it was a longshot.
My numbers are : 30 MCAT (13 PS, 7 VR, 10 BS), 3.3 GPA (I started very strong during the early years and poor mental health and laziness got better of me).

It seems to be a general consensus here that Caribbean should be the very last resort when it comes to pursuing medicine.
I was initially looking everywhere, including US DO, back in June when the APPLICATION opened up.
I was halfway there applying to US DO, but as soon as I was accepted into Caribbean, I stopped looking into DOs.
Also, by the time I got interviews for Caribbean, I also landed a new job and I was very invested in it.
Hence, there was no time for me to really finish my application for DO.

Now that I have been accepted, I wonder if I am making the worst decision of my life.
I am known to make haste decisions and this time I cannot really afford to do so.
I am also 25 (I know, I am young) but really running out of patience as I see so many residents and med students around me, which are also precipitating factor for me to pursue medicine in Caribbean.

So my question, in a nutshell, to all of you is, should I wait a year to apply for the new DO cycle for 2016?
Or go for the Caribbean MD immediately in spring?
I could finish application now, but I am also aware that it is tad bit late.
Someone in the Osteopathic page suggested that I write my MCAT again (This will be my 4th time if I am to rewrite it), which is something I have considered doing but decided against it when I was accepted into AUC/ROSS.

What do you folks think? Any thoughts?
Thank you kindly.

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[bedevilled ben]

I fail to see what sitting the MCAT a 4th time would get you. A 30 is a pretty good score, and is not the limiting factor in your application. You would almost certainly get accepted into a DO program with your current stats, which would virtually guarantee you a residency spot. Given that you already seem to be second-guessing yourself about going to Ross or AUC, I think it would be foolish to go the Caribbean route. You need to wait and apply DO for 2016 or do a post-bacc program and apply USMD.

 

[Etre1]

I fail to see what sitting the MCAT a 4th time would get you. A 30 is a pretty good score, and is not the limiting factor in your application. You would almost certainly get accepted into a DO program with your current stats, which would virtually guarantee you a residency spot. Given that you already seem to be second-guessing yourself about going to Ross or AUC, I think it would be foolish to go the Caribbean route. You need to wait and apply DO for 2016 or do a post-bacc program and apply USMD.

Thank you for replying.

I really feel that I am just running out of patience, I suppose.

My other worry now is that if I refuse to accept the offers for both schools, they may not take me in the future in the case I do not have DO/MD admissions… This is something I obviously will have to check.
With regards to raising my GPA, there is a problem in that I cannot register for classes in my university this term for full time any longer as the deadline has just passed.

Yes, GPA is what concerns me the most, but there isn't too much that I can do in terms of classes. My science GPA is a bit low due to terrible couple of years. I could register for spring classes but I am not sure how drastically it will improve my GPA. They do offer a lot of psychology classes and arts in spring, but anything other than that, there are not many chances.

The only thing I can really think of doing is to write MCAT this year and take some spring classes.

I sincerely appreciate your feedback, but is there anyone else who can chime on this as well?
It would be really great.

Thank you.

 

[Skip Intro]

My other worry now is that if I refuse to accept the offers for both schools, they may not take me in the future in the case I do not have DO/MD admissions… This is something I obviously will have to check.

I don't think you have to worry about that.

-Skip

 

[Etre1]

I don't think you have to worry about that.

-Skip

Thank you Skip.
I have followed your posts quite a bit and I just wanted to say that I have nothing but admiration for how you got to where you are.

My next step will be contacting every single school in US DO to see if the international quota is filled or not.
I have to try at least at this point, right?

For Skip : I know this is ultimately my decision, and everyone I know has been telling me this now, but do you think I should wait until the next application cycle? Or head to ROSS/AUC?

 

[DoctorSynthesis]

Thank you Skip.
I have followed your posts quite a bit and I just wanted to say that I have nothing but admiration for how you got to where you are.

My next step will be contacting every single school in US DO to see if the international quota is filled or not.
I have to try at least at this point, right?

For Skip : I know this is ultimately my decision, and everyone I know has been telling me this now, but do you think I should wait until the next application cycle? Or head to ROSS/AUC?

Just apply first day next cycle for DO. Msucom wants Canadians. Find Canadian friendly DO schools apply to them you will most likely get in. Carribean schools are not a good option.

 

[Etre1]

Just apply first day next cycle for DO. Msucom wants Canadians. Find Canadian friendly DO schools apply to them you will most likely get in. Carribean schools are not a good option.

Thank you.
I actually have applied to all the DOs schools that accept Canadians (I know it is late, but I did it anyway)
I will apply the first day for the next cycle.

Etre1

 

[W19]

Thank you Skip.
I have followed your posts quite a bit and I just wanted to say that I have nothing but admiration for how you got to where you are.

My next step will be contacting every single school in US DO to see if the international quota is filled or not.
I have to try at least at this point, right?

For Skip : I know this is ultimately my decision, and everyone I know has been telling me this now, but do you think I should wait until the next application cycle? Or head to ROSS/AUC?

You should also check out NSU...