early decision programs

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CarolinaGirl

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So is it better to do edp if your mcat is below avg. or avg. to above avg. ? If you know what school is your top choice who benefits most from applying edp?

For example:
I will probably have a below avg. mcat, my gpa in ug is 3.6ish and Grad gpa is 4.0 I have great EC's and will have good LOR's. I will be applying to a stateschool and am looking for any and all advantages.

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It won't hurt you, but they're not going to take you via EDP. You might get an early interview either as an EDP interview or simply because you got your application in quickly, but applying with a subpar MCAT and a 3.6 is typically a longshot. Of course it would help if you would actually give us an mdapps or tell us what your MCAT was so that we could better advise you. A 32 at my house for instance, is great. For Ivy League, it would be subpar. My school did away with its EDP years ago, but they installed early interviews this year to compete with Texas.

BTW you can throw your graduate GPA out the window. It will barely impact your application. Better to focus on the contacts/LOR's/research that it might have generated for you. They don't care if you have a grad degree either--no correlation with med school success.
 
It won't hurt you, but they're not going to take you via EDP. You might get an early interview either as an EDP interview or simply because you got your application in quickly, but applying with a subpar MCAT and a 3.6 is typically a longshot. Of course it would help if you would actually give us an mdapps or tell us what your MCAT was so that we could better advise you. A 32 at my house for instance, is great. For Ivy League, it would be subpar. My school did away with its EDP years ago, but they installed early interviews this year to compete with Texas.

BTW you can throw your graduate GPA out the window. It will barely impact your application. Better to focus on the contacts/LOR's/research that it might have generated for you. They don't care if you have a grad degree either--no correlation with med school success.

I agree with all of this except for the first sentence. OP, applying EDP won't hurt you at your state school, but it will likely hurt you in the admissions process in general. This is because, if you don't get in EDP, you won't be considered by other schools until October- well after other candidates have already been considered.

Your best bet to get an "EDP-like advantage" without doing EDP is to (1) submit your AMCAS within the first week it's available, and (2) do a Search for the SDN thread listing all of this year's essay questions, find your school's essay questions and write your answers out now. Thus, when you get your secondary, you can have a 24-hour turn-around time.

If you do those things, it'll be almost as good as applying EDP, but without any risks to your applications to other schools. Good luck! :luck:
 
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I agree with all of this except for the first sentence. OP, applying EDP won't hurt you at your state school, but it will likely hurt you in the admissions process in general. This is because, if you don't get in EDP, you won't be considered by other schools until October- well after other candidates have already been considered.

Your best bet to get an "EDP-like advantage" without doing EDP is to (1) submit your AMCAS within the first week it's available, and (2) do a Search for the SDN thread listing all of this year's essay questions, find your school's essay questions and write your answers out now. Thus, when you get your secondary, you can have a 24-hour turn-around time.

If you do those things, it'll be almost as good as applying EDP, but without any risks to your applications to other schools. Good luck! :luck:

Even then, you'll still be 2-3 months behind some people. EDP is definitely risky.
 
I agree with all of this except for the first sentence. OP, applying EDP won't hurt you at your state school, but it will likely hurt you in the admissions process in general. This is because, if you don't get in EDP, you won't be considered by other schools until October- well after other candidates have already been considered.

Your best bet to get an "EDP-like advantage" without doing EDP is to (1) submit your AMCAS within the first week it's available, and (2) do a Search for the SDN thread listing all of this year's essay questions, find your school's essay questions and write your answers out now. Thus, when you get your secondary, you can have a 24-hour turn-around time.

If you do those things, it'll be almost as good as applying EDP, but without any risks to your applications to other schools. Good luck! :luck:

I agree with BDD 100%. I made the mistake of thinking that South Carolina only had one med school and that the OP was talking about only being able to get into her state school with her MCAT score.

OP, if you're not really an SC resident, then disregard what I have to say; but also know that states vary greatly with respect to what they constitute as resident status. If you are like me and moved to a different state for grad school, then I will advise you that it may cloud your likelihood to practice in your state someday even if you are legally still a resident there. In my case, it left me as a nonresident in the eyes of my interviewers at both of the state schools I was looking at. They are VERY big on keeping docs in-state here, so even if I was "officially" a resident, I was a gamble as far as practicing in-state was concerned. Of course they were right. I appealed to get in-state tuition, but I will almost certainly leave for good after med school.

I have a slightly aged MSAR on my lap now, so take this with a grain of salt. This is from the 2006-2007 MSAR for 2004 accepted applicants...

Charleston took 132 in-staters out of 142 total with 25 EDP, Columbia 67 out of 77 with only 5 EDP. So your best bet should you go through with EDP is Medical University of South Carolina. Both look affordable in-state, but probably not worth the oos investment. Both school MCAT medians are 10-9-10-O, slightly under the national average so that might work in your favor.

I can't give you further advice without knowing your MCAT, but my inclination is to stay out of EDP to get your apps out sooner per BDD.

:luck:
 
Hey guys thanks for your advice. I have not taken the mcat yet, that will be in April. I am just worried I won't do well since I have not had physics yet and I am studying and working full time. I am a state resident even though I did grad school in TX. Past three years as a resident but I work and live in India doing community dev. work.
 
Could be interesting as far as residency is concerned. If I were in your shoes, I'd move back to Texas. Good choices, low tuition, match system for admissions.

MCAT with no physics is a stretch. I would advise against taking it until you've had your pre-req's. Keep in mind that schools will have access to your previous MCAT scores too--best to rock it the first time.

You have plenty of time--put as much effort as possible into a good MCAT score. Then you won't need to worry about EDP, schools will want you.
 
I'm a new member here: Graduated 2 years ago with 3.25 GPA in engineering (not sure if that matters) 3.5 science GPA. I just took the mcat june 15, was hoping for 28-30, on my practices I was getting 10 ps, 11 vr, 7 bs. I'm a non trad, right now I'm an engineer officer in the Air Force in Florida. I'm trying to get into med school asap cause my job sucks. I have been volunteering at the SICU after work for a couple months, and am taking my prereqs at night school (I've finished bio 1 and have orgo 1 in progress, still require bio and orgo 2.)

MUSC is def my top choice. I have maintained SC residency while in the military with the sole hope of going to MUSC. The reason for my post is that I'm wondering if I should try for early decision at MUSC. If I don't I will apply to all florida schools and SC schools and various others. I will begin applying now and have my apps in about the same time I get my mcat scores back. The advantage I'm hoping for by early decision is that they will take a closer look at my app and see past the crappy stats.

I also feel pretty bad about my effort on the MCAT, and feel there's a real chance I bombed it. I'm considering taking it again in late august. How would this affect my application process? Taking it at that time would allow me to have finished orgo and allow me 2 more months to study bio on my own.

Lastly, one of the reasons I like MUSC is they do not require prereqs. Is it even worth my time applying to Florida schools with prereqs before I have them finished?

Does anyone have any tips for me as a newcomer in this process. Any advice would be much appreciated.
 
I'm a new member here: Graduated 2 years ago with 3.25 GPA in engineering (not sure if that matters) 3.5 science GPA. I just took the mcat june 15, was hoping for 28-30, on my practices I was getting 10 ps, 11 vr, 7 bs. I'm a non trad, right now I'm an engineer officer in the Air Force in Florida. I'm trying to get into med school asap cause my job sucks. I have been volunteering at the SICU after work for a couple months, and am taking my prereqs at night school (I've finished bio 1 and have orgo 1 in progress, still require bio and orgo 2.)

MUSC is def my top choice. I have maintained SC residency while in the military with the sole hope of going to MUSC. The reason for my post is that I'm wondering if I should try for early decision at MUSC. If I don't I will apply to all florida schools and SC schools and various others. I will begin applying now and have my apps in about the same time I get my mcat scores back. The advantage I'm hoping for by early decision is that they will take a closer look at my app and see past the crappy stats.

I also feel pretty bad about my effort on the MCAT, and feel there's a real chance I bombed it. I'm considering taking it again in late august. How would this affect my application process? Taking it at that time would allow me to have finished orgo and allow me 2 more months to study bio on my own.

Lastly, one of the reasons I like MUSC is they do not require prereqs. Is it even worth my time applying to Florida schools with prereqs before I have them finished?

Does anyone have any tips for me as a newcomer in this process. Any advice would be much appreciated.

When I talked to them about this they said that to be competitive as EDP you should have a 3.6 and 29. They said you could apply otherwise but that it was not the wisest choice. I would call them and see what they say for your sitituation. I was hoping they would look past my mcat...

I will do the secondary tomorrow :hardy:
 
How would applying EDP effect your financial aid?
 
How would applying EDP effect your financial aid?

No effect compared to people who get in the first round.

The thing is that people that apply EDP would almost certainly get into that particular school anyway, it's not as if early is always better, because if you call a school and tell them your stats, they'll let you know if you'd be competitive or not.

I dislike the idea of EDPs for several reasons:

1) Gambles away your chances at other schools
2) During interview season, might like other schools more. Won't be able to do school searching
3) Disadvantage compared to other applicants if not accepted
4) Most competitive applicants for EDPs probably could get in through normal admissions
5) No safety net.

The idea of knowing by October 1st where you're going sounds tempting, but for me, cons heavily outweigh the risks. But, do what you really want to do, I just want to give you facts, not opinions (there are plenty of those posted already).
 
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