MD & DO non-traditional (age 33+), GPA: ~3.5, MCAT: 26, MA resident

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jennifer1585

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Thank you in advance for all your time and help!

I am a non-traditional applicant, age 33+. I am in MA state. U.S. Permanent resident.

Two master degrees: One in inorganic chemistry; another in organic chemistry

7+ years of working (and research) experience in pharmaceutical companies after I graduated from my second master. I am currently working as a biochemist, doing bench research in the stage of drug discovery.

13+ years of research experience: including 7 years of working (see above), and 6 years of research in the chemistry labs. I have two publications from my first master (one first author, another second author), which were about 10 years ago.

5+ years of teaching experience: teaching assistant in chemistry lab during my graduate studies, tutoring since I was in my college, my bachelor school is a normal school which trains the future teachers.

200 hours + volunteering in the hospital (patient discharge, escort, assisting in the ER, etc.)

100 hours + volunteering in communities service (including helping with homeless people, disadvantaged young children, educating kids, etc.)

50 hours + shadowing physicians (shadowing different specialties, including surgeon, oncologist, psychiatrist, D.O. specializing in OMM and etc.)

GPA:
bachelor GPA in a foreign country (calculated by WES): 3.49
master GPA in a foreign country (calculated by WES): 3.7
U.S. master GPA: 3.4
Post-bac (some premed courses) GPA: 3.58 (with one grade replacement)

MCAT: 1st time: 24 (11 PS/6 verbal/7 BS); 26 (12 PS/4 Verbal/10 BS)
(I know my MCAT score is low, especially for the verbal. I don't know what happened to my 2nd verbal score, which is even lower than my 1st MCAT. I am a non-native English speaker. I do believe I did try my best and this is the best I could do for now. MCAT is changing now, so even I retake it, the scores in the new version has no way of comparing with my old scores. Therefore I have decided not to retake it any more.)

Leadership experience: was the president in the study division at the student association of my undergraduate college.

Please let me know if you need more information from me. Please feel free to let me know what I can do to enhance my chance.

Thank you again!

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Do you have a school list in mind?
 
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Your low verbal score is definitely a concern but some schools may allow for the fact that English is not your native language. Your chances for an MD acceptance are low but it would be worth applying to some MD schools. Consider schools such as UMass, Tufts and BU (they give some MA resident preference), Quinnipiac, New York Medical, Albany, Commonwealth (PA), Drexel, Temple, Jefferson, Oakland Beaumont, Western Michigan, Rosalind Franklin, St. Louis, Creighton and any private MD schools that open in 2016. You should definitely be applying to DO schools where your chances are much better. Apply to at least 15 DO schools. For MD and DO submit your applications in June and all your secondaries by July.
 
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Oh I didn't see that 4 in VR. I am not entirely sure how a medical school views a non-native English speaker's 4 in VR for admissions. Because generally a 4 in VR is a death sentence in MD, and for some DO programs I'm sure. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.
 
Oh I didn't see that 4 in VR. I am not entirely sure how a medical school views a non-native English speaker's 4 in VR for admissions. Because generally a 4 in VR is a death sentence in MD, and for some DO programs I'm sure. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.

I did screw up my 2nd verbal. The first verbal is 6. I retook my exam six months later, but didn't expect my verbal performance ends up decreasing 2 points.
 
Your low verbal score is definitely a concern but some schools may allow for the fact that English is not your native language. Your chances for an MD acceptance are low but it would be worth applying to some MD schools. Consider schools such as UMass, Tufts and BU (they give some MA resident preference), Quinnipiac, New York Medical, Albany, Commonwealth (PA), Drexel, Temple, Jefferson, Oakland Beaumont, Western Michigan, Rosalind Franklin, St. Louis, Creighton and any private MD schools that open in 2016. You should definitely be applying to DO schools where your chances are much better. Apply to at least 15 DO schools. For MD and DO submit your applications in June and all your secondaries by July.

Thank you so much for your suggestions :)
 
4 VR may be lethal for DO schools. If you're scoring in the bottom 5% of test takers because of ESL, it's understandable and not reflective of your intelligence, but it raises the question of whether you understand the language well enough to handle the rigors of a medical school curriculum in English. Furthermore, would you be able to communicate with patients fluently in English?
 
Thanks all for your suggestions.

By the way, any suggestions for what I should be working on to improve myself? (other than re-taking the MCAT)
 
your ECs are OK, it really is the MCAT that's holding you back. i wouldn't suggest applying to MD schools without retaking it

where are you from? do you identify as URM?
 
You need to use the sticky on the first page of WAMC to calculate your undergraduate US gpa. The are links in the tab entitled: Please Read Before Posting. Master's grades are not used to stratify applicants since most don't have them and they are presumed to be inflated. With your MCAT situation, the Cgpa and Sgpa's will be even more important in your counseling.
 
your ECs are OK, it really is the MCAT that's holding you back. i wouldn't suggest applying to MD schools without retaking it

where are you from? do you identify as URM?

Thanks, Vain Brother. I am Asian (Not born here, come to U.S. after 25+ years, but I am a permanent resident). Not URM, unfortunately.
 
You need to use the sticky on the first page of WAMC to calculate your undergraduate US gpa. The are links in the tab entitled: Please Read Before Posting. Master's grades are not used to stratify applicants since most don't have them and they are presumed to be inflated. With your MCAT situation, the Cgpa and Sgpa's will be even more important in your counseling.

I am sorry. I didn't notice it and will read it later. But I am sending my foreign bachelor transcript to WES now and still waiting for its evaluation report.
By the way, I think AAMC does not calculate the GPA from the scores obtained in foreign country. Therefore, only the courses in my U.S. M.S. degree and some pre-med courses taken here will be counted, I think.

Sorry for all the troubles.
 
I updated the GPA in my post. Could someone help me with my school choice?

Below the D.O. school I plan to apply:

Alabama (ACOM)
ATSU-KCOM
AT Still Kirksville (ATSU-SOMA)
Campbell (CUSOM)
DMU-COM
LECOM
Lincoln (LMU-DCOM)
AZCOM
CCOM
New England
New York (NYIT)
Nova
West Virginia (WVSOM)
Touro NV and NY


Thanks. Any feedback is welcome! @Goro , @user3 I see you guys often gave out valuable suggestions, would you please offer me some advice? Thanks a lot!
 
I updated the GPA in my post. Could someone help me with my school choice?

Below the D.O. school I plan to apply:

Alabama (ACOM)
ATSU-KCOM
AT Still Kirksville (ATSU-SOMA)
Campbell (CUSOM)
DMU-COM
LECOM
Lincoln (LMU-DCOM)
AZCOM
CCOM
New England
New York (NYIT)
Nova
West Virginia (WVSOM)
Touro NV and NY


Thanks. Any feedback is welcome! @Goro , @user3 I see you guys often gave out valuable suggestions, would you please offer me some advice? Thanks a lot!
I would take off CCOM and AZCOM and add 1 VCOM, COMP, Marian, PNWU, and Burrell COM (new school).

Nearly 100% chance of at least 1 acceptance if you apply to all of these.
 
I am sorry. I didn't notice it and will read it later. But I am sending my foreign bachelor transcript to WES now and still waiting for its evaluation report.
By the way, I think AAMC does not calculate the GPA from the scores obtained in foreign country. Therefore, only the courses in my U.S. M.S. degree and some pre-med courses taken here will be counted, I think.

Sorry for all the troubles.
My error. There is no need to calculate your GPA from a non-Canadian foreign country.
 
.
 
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Thanks for all your fast reply! Your guys are really good at it!
 
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