MD & DO Help with Chances and School List

[IamtheW]

25 year old, Male, AZ Resident
BS Biochemistry, summa cum laude
Currently in my 3rd year of pharmacy school (May 2016 graduation)
Applying to 2016 AMCAS cycle

If calculated correctly:
Overall GPA (incl Pharm): 3.87
BCPM GPA: 3.72
Pharmacy GPA: (3.95)
(I didn't add the Pharmacy science coursework into BCPM because the course prefix classifies it as pharm)

MCAT: 8/14 28 (12/4/12)
1/15 28 (9/7/12)
Reading speed is a weakness, but overall score was lower than practice tests.

Good ECs: Multiple leadership positions in pharmacy organizations (fundraising, patient care chair, VP of leadership society)
Organized about 15 health fairs for my college of pharmacy serving underserved areas w/ 1 interprofessional health fair (included direct patient contact)
Trip to Dominican Republic in undergrad working at an orphanage and teaching in elementary schools for 1 week
Habitat for Humanity x 4-5 builds senior year in undergrad and 1 build in pharm school
Clinical: Pharmacy intern at community hospital for 2.5 years (direct patient contact with med rec/med histories) work avg 15 hrs/week
Research: Quality Improvement project presented at a national pharmacy meeting
Currently in IRB review for another clinical research project
~250 hours of scientific cancer research culturing cells and other bench work in undergrad (not thesis driven)
Shadowing (still in progress): Anesthesiologist 25 hours (observed gen surg/GI), Hospitalist 8 hours

I will update this if I realize I forgot something.

I haven't explored the DO route as of yet and have briefly skimmed through the MSAR.

Obvious list:
UA-Phoenix
UA-Tucson

I know my MCAT score is weighing be down so any help with a school list would be greatly appreciated!

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[IamtheW]

@Goro @gyngyn

Any general suggestions? You both seem to be the most knowledgable in terms of advice you offer

 

[Omppu27]

You'd be competitive at most DO schools except maybe the ones requiring higher MCATs (CCOM, touro, Western?, and maybe AZCOM?). For MD Only bother with state schools, new schools and the lower tiers.

 

[Goro]

I think I answered this in another forum, but I suggest all DO schools except PCOM and AZCOM.

 

[Doug Underhill]

Two sub-8 MCATs, including a 4 (a 4 in VR is in the bottom 10% of all test takers), is bad news. Dropping a whole standard deviation in PS is also kind of concerning.
Is English your second language? Is there a possibility you could have an undiagnosed learning difficulty like dyslexia?

 

[IamtheW]

@Goro Thanks for the response. I appreciate the input.

Two sub-8 MCATs, including a 4 (a 4 in VR is in the bottom 10% of all test takers), is bad news. Dropping a whole standard deviation in PS is also kind of concerning.
Is English your second language? Is there a possibility you could have an undiagnosed learning difficulty like dyslexia?

I realize the 4 is concerning and I'm well aware of the percentile rank that accompanies such a low score. English is not my second language, but it felt like it was after I got that score back. Truth is I freaked a little bit during that section of the exam on my first go around and it messed up my timing. As I stated earlier, I'm just naturally a slow reader so my timing doesn't allow for me to finish all 7 passages. Unfortunately during my second attempt, I had a few tough PS passages that really put me behind on time causing me to guess on 6-7 questions. Learning the material is not a concern of mine, I know I am more than capable of that or else I would not be pursuing a second doctorate.

I truly doubt I have some sort of undiagnosed learning difficulty seeing that I graduated summa cum laude from undergrad and I have only one B in top 10 pharmacy school. I don't know if you were being sincere with that questioning, but I'll give you the benefit of the doubt.

Overall, I know my MCAT woes are concerning. I'm just looking for advice on schools that have been more accepting of these lower scores, or that are more willing to look past lower scores to see potential in the candidate. I was hoping that a PharmD with good scholastic achievement and involvement would make me more of a unique candidate in the eyes of AdComs.

Any more feedback or input is appreciated...

 

[gyngyn]

You have a fighting chance at your state MD schools, but DO is a better bet.

 

[Vain Brother]

a handful of pharmDs apply each cycle (i am one). simply having a pharmD won't be a deciding factor in your favor unless your ECs and MCAT are great (which I think mine were). i decided on med school during 4th year, when i had serious exposure to medicine via the clinical rotations and knew i could handle all the difficulties that applying to med school would present.

remember not to include years 3/4 in your AMCAS GPA because that's considered grad school

PM me if you want

 

[SCooFS]

I think I answered this in another forum, but I suggest all DO schools except PCOM and AZCOM.

Why do you not recommend those schools generally?

 

[Goro]

PCOM requires a minimum of 8 in each category. AZCOM's minimum is 29. Noses in the air and all that.

Why do you not recommend those schools generally?