MD Forensic Master's with Low-ish uGPA

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TheForensicGraduate

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Fresh Graduate here! I graduated in early December from Undergrad, and with some meager savings, I'm backpacking through Europe for the next 5 months. Upon my return in May, I plan to take my seat at a MFS (Masters of Forensic Science) Program at my alma mater, while also serving as a Chemistry TA (teaching 1 section of introductory Chemistry), as well as teaching in the Lower School at a local Parochial School where I'll be a Team Science Teacher (this is my main job 9-5, and helps pay the bills). I am a Virginia resident, and attended a State School, where Education concentrations are highly emphasized.

I have a low-ish sGPA, and thought of enrolling in an SMP, but ended up taking 6 Graduate credits in the MFS program and fell in love with it. The subjects, like Autopsy Science, and Advanced A&P, are all really interesting to me, so I decided to go with my MFS. Anyways, I know I won't have any Graduate grades to show before I apply, but I really like the MFS program, and personally just want to pursue it.

I'll be applying this upcoming cycle in June.

#'s
  • cGPA: 3.67
  • sGPA: 3.50
  • MCAT: 36 (12/12/12)
EC's
  • 400+ Hours Volunteering
  • Shadowed 2 Docs, ~150 Hours
  • Write for the Newspaper at our School
  • President of the Science Society
  • Volunteered at Girls' Science Camps
  • Research: 2 years working at Neuro Lab, 1 Publication as a TA (first author), been to 4-5 conferences, and did a 3-month study on plant chemicals in Bhutan through a State Department funded Scholarship, Summer program at Wake Forest (1 Chem Pub)
  • Senior Judge on Honor Council
  • Student Representative for my Class
  • Teaching Assistant for 3+ Yrs
  • Volunteered in Maternity Clinics in Bhutan
  • Wrote a book last year about my travels through Bhutan, published through Kindle Direct Publishing on Amazon, and it sold fairly well (~1500 copies)...which is what is paying for Europe also!

School List

Dream Schools
  1. UVA
  2. Emory
  3. Columbia
  4. Duke
  5. Einstein
  6. University of South Carolina
  7. Georgetown
  8. Tulane
  9. Tufts
  10. Boston U
  11. Wake Forest
  12. Dartmouth
  13. Oregon
  14. Washington
  15. WUSTL
Other Schools I'd be just elated to attend as well
  1. EVMS
  2. VCU
  3. VT Carillion
  4. Oakland Beaumont
  5. UVM
  6. Medical College of Wisconsin
  7. University of Illinois
  8. Rush
  9. Loyola
  10. Loma Linda
  11. Howard
  12. Rosalind Franklin
  13. Cooper
  14. Hofstra
  15. George Washington
  16. Temple
  17. NYMC
  18. Penn State
  19. Saint Louis
  20. U Miami
  21. Albany
  22. Drexel
  23. Jefferson
  24. University of South Florida
  25. Florida Atlantic
  26. UT Galveston (Is there a separate app for TX Schools?)
  27. Case Western
  28. USC


I understand 43 schools is excessive, if you all could tell me of schools I have ZERO chance at, I'd appreciate it. Additionally, I seem to be flirting with the idea of MD/PhD these days...perhaps a PhD in Epidemiology or Cancer Immunobiology, that'd just be a delight. I'd always envisioned myself doing an MSTP, but my numbers don't really support that unfortunately!
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gyngyn said:
You seem like a good candidate. Your list, however is both long and has little discernible pattern. Howard? Loma Linda? U of WA?, OHSU? a TX public school?
Click to expand...

Haha, I know. I want to just apply to 20 schools. But then I have a nagging fear that if I don't apply to 40 schools, my mediocre stats won't get me a spot.

I think I'm going to drop Texas for sure. I live in DC, so Howard still seems a good idea.

I'd like to settle in Washington, so Washington and OHSU seem convenient but total reaches as I'm an OOS applicant.
 
TheForensicGraduate said:
Fresh Graduate here! I graduated in early December from Undergrad, and with some meager savings, I'm backpacking through Europe for the next 5 months. Upon my return in May, I plan to take my seat at a MFS (Masters of Forensic Science) Program at my alma mater, while also serving as a Chemistry TA (teaching 1 section of introductory Chemistry), as well as teaching in the Lower School at a local Parochial School where I'll be a Team Science Teacher (this is my main job 9-5, and helps pay the bills). I am a Virginia resident, and attended a State School, where Education concentrations are highly emphasized.

I have a low-ish sGPA, and thought of enrolling in an SMP, but ended up taking 6 Graduate credits in the MFS program and fell in love with it. The subjects, like Autopsy Science, and Advanced A&P, are all really interesting to me, so I decided to go with my MFS. Anyways, I know I won't have any Graduate grades to show before I apply, but I really like the MFS program, and personally just want to pursue it.

I'll be applying this upcoming cycle in June.

#'s
  • cGPA: 3.67
  • sGPA: 3.50
  • MCAT: 36 (12/12/12)
EC's
  • 400+ Hours Volunteering
  • Shadowed 2 Docs, ~150 Hours
  • Write for the Newspaper at our School
  • President of the Science Society
  • Volunteered at Girls' Science Camps
  • Research: 2 years working at Neuro Lab, 1 Publication as a TA (first author), been to 4-5 conferences, and did a 3-month study on plant chemicals in Bhutan through a State Department funded Scholarship, Summer program at Wake Forest (1 Chem Pub)
  • Senior Judge on Honor Council
  • Student Representative for my Class
  • Teaching Assistant for 3+ Yrs
  • Volunteered in Maternity Clinics in Bhutan
  • Wrote a book last year about my travels through Bhutan, published through Kindle Direct Publishing on Amazon, and it sold fairly well (~1500 copies)...which is what is paying for Europe also!

School List

Dream Schools
  1. UVA
  2. Emory
  3. Columbia
  4. Duke
  5. Einstein
  6. University of South Carolina
  7. Georgetown
  8. Tulane
  9. Tufts
  10. Boston U
  11. Wake Forest
  12. Dartmouth
  13. Oregon
  14. Washington
  15. WUSTL
Other Schools I'd be just elated to attend as well
  1. EVMS
  2. VCU
  3. VT Carillion
  4. Oakland Beaumont
  5. UVM
  6. Medical College of Wisconsin
  7. University of Illinois
  8. Rush
  9. Loyola
  10. Loma Linda
  11. Howard
  12. Rosalind Franklin
  13. Cooper
  14. Hofstra
  15. George Washington
  16. Temple
  17. NYMC
  18. Penn State
  19. Saint Louis
  20. U Miami
  21. Albany
  22. Drexel
  23. Jefferson
  24. University of South Florida
  25. Florida Atlantic
  26. UT Galveston (Is there a separate app for TX Schools?)
  27. Case Western
  28. USC


I understand 43 schools is excessive, if you all could tell me of schools I have ZERO chance at, I'd appreciate it. Additionally, I seem to be flirting with the idea of MD/PhD these days...perhaps a PhD in Epidemiology or Cancer Immunobiology, that'd just be a delight. I'd always envisioned myself doing an MSTP, but my numbers don't really support that unfortunately!
Click to expand...

Your stats and ECs look great, I wouldn't worry too much. They are a bit on the low side for MD/PhD. Unless you know without a doubt you want MD/PhD I'd just apply MD for now. If you change your mind after your M2 year, its usually fairly easy to transfer into the program.


As for the school list:

Take off South Carolina, Penn State, USF, FAU, and UT-galveston (huge in state bias)

Also Illinois (high cost and preference for in state) and Howard (URM preference)

The rest of the list looks fine. Good Luck!
 
@Goro , I've seen you provide awesome target school lists, wondering if you wouldn't mind taking a look at my profile?

Thanks!
 
That uGPA is kind of low for the top tier programs on the list. I see 5 programs on the dream school list where you could get an interview, however.
 
Goro thinks that you're quite competitive.
  1. UVA
  2. Emory
  3. Duke
  4. Einstein
  5. Georgetown
  6. Tulane
  7. Tufts
  8. Boston U
  9. Wake Forest
  10. Dartmouth
  11. EVMS
  12. VCU
  13. VT Carillion
  14. Oakland Beaumont
  15. UVM
  16. Medical College of Wisconsin
  17. Rush
  18. Loyola
  19. Loma Linda (but read their list of don'ts)
  20. Rosalind Franklin
  21. Cooper
  22. Hofstra
  23. George Washington
  24. Temple
  25. NYMC
  26. Saint Louis
  27. U Miami
  28. Albany
  29. Drexel
  30. Jefferson
  31. University of South Florida
  32. Florida Atlantic
  33. USC
  34. Creighton
  35. All other new MD schools.
  36. Pitt
  37. Vanderbilt
  38. Baylor (maybe)
  39. Northwestern
 
This is a huge list of schools. First of all, I'd mark off the schools that take all MCAT scores into consideration. Basically, I'd focus on the schools that say on their websites that they only consider the best, highest, or most recent scores.

I know for a fact that UVM considers all and so does Loyola.

I'm just dreading for you all of those secondaries. With all the other life stuff you have going on, keeping up with those secondaries, and continuing to keep them of quality will be a difficult task indeed....
 
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