Honest thoughts pls! (ORM, 30 MCAT)

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Student272

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Hey all,

First some background: Female, ORM (Asian), graduated this spring from a top 1o university.

I took the MCAT last summer and received a 28 (10 PS, 8 V, 10 BS). Studied my butt off for another 6 months and retook the MCAT this May and received a 30 (11 PS, 8 V, 11 BS). I seriously thought I was doing better on verbal, but I guess not... (Verbal has never been a strength-struggled with it real hard on all standardized tests thus far) So for now let's rule out the possibility of retaking the MCAT, especially with it changing and all in 2015.

My cGPA is a 3.7 - I have not calculated my sGPA but I imagine it would be high 3.5-3.6 range. I struggled with my grades freshmen and sophomore year (mixed bag of A's and B's with mostly B's in science courses) but junior and senior year I received straight A's in all classes.

My ECs are pretty standard (lab, volunteering, shadowing, clubs) and I assume my recs are decent. I am currently taking a few years off and am working in the healthcare industry (business side) right now.

Why did I not directly apply to med school? Well honestly I wanted to explore other career paths before fully committing. Since I can remember, I've always wanted to be a doctor for who knows why-like it has been my dream since I was a little girl. Going into college, I was pre-med from day 1. After taking the MCAT for the first time, I reevaluated my strengths and weaknesses and started to doubt myself. Was I was made for med school or smart enough to excel (given my not so great MCAT and GPA)? So I basically had a crisis. I hadn't explored the possibility of other career paths at that point in my life so I thought maybe this was a sign and that after college, I should work in the corporate world and see what that's all about and if I liked that at all. So here I am, at work, and I think about med school all the time and am constantly evaluating if I like this life, or if I truly still do have a passion for becoming a physician. So far, I'm not sure if the corporate world is for me... and I would still like to apply to med school (maybe next year for 2016 matriculation).

So given all this, do you guys think I still have a shot at MD? I'm specifically going to be looking at schools in NY, MA, PA, and CA. (I am not a resident of any of these states.) If you guys know of any schools in those states that I would have a shot at, I'd appreciate if you could help me generate a list.

Thanks so much for taking the time to read this haha. I have been very honest with you guys about my thought process and would appreciate your honest feedback.

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If you are only looking at MD, you need to do a critical evaluation of the MSAR and find OOS schools that matriculate a significant number of people with your stats. Your best chance is almost always your state school.

I'll help you with CA. The only school that might interview you is mission-based. If you are dedicated to serving Christ as your primary goal in medicine (and you have no problem with the behavior restrictions), you can apply to Loma Linda.

You are a good candidate for DO schools.
 
Agreed that you've very competitive for DO schools. CA and MA are basically out of the question since you're OOS.

Get MSAR (link below if you don't know what it is) and hit it hard. Find out what schools are OOS friendly, have numbers within your range, in an area you like, etc.

Also, I think you taking time to check out other job fields shows some maturity. You can definitley spin that in a positive way.

MSAR: https://www.aamc.org/students/applying/requirements/msar/

Good luck!
 
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Right, I've purchased MSAR as a resource. Also, I am not considering DO.

Bump for more advice/thoughts for MD only. Thanks!
 
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