[non-traditional] should I retake my exam in April

[erowe22]

Long story short, I was accepted to physical therapy school out of undergrad but soon found out that what I desired was outside the reach of PT and decided to pursue being an MD/DO.

My undergrad gpa is little above 3.2
Science gpa is around 3.45

All of my thousands of hours working and volunteering in physical therapy/orthopedic clinics carry over, I started shadowing derm+optho+ortho. I worked as an ER scribe. TONS of volunteering while I was a D-1 athlete. Decided to undergo a post bacc masters degree

masters gpa: 3.97.

Just took my first mcat and got the following:
510 (130/123/129/128)
cars cars cars cars man, screwed the pooch on that one. Basically considering applying with what I’ve got going for me right now to some mid tier schools and my normal reach schools (florida schools mostly for me). OR I can keep studying through feb and March and pray to god I get better in cars without going down in my other sections.
Let me know what you guys think, I’m tearing my hair out cause of the choice

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[GreenDuck12]

Apply broadly to DO and you’ll be competitive. MD may be out of reach less so for the MCAT and more so for the low ug GPAs. Masters GPA won’t offset undergrad. If I were in your shoes I would plan on applying MD and DO.

Edit: can you say more about this masters program? Was in an SMP or was it undergraduate classes coded as graduate courses?

 

[erowe22]

Apply broadly to DO and you’ll be competitive. MD may be out of reach less so for the MCAT and more so for the low ug GPAs. Masters GPA won’t offset undergrad. If I were in your shoes I would plan on applying MD and DO.

Edit: can you say more about this masters program? Was in an SMP or was it undergraduate classes coded as graduate courses?

It’s the USF masters in medical science (MSP3) program. Very intensive and more medically focused courses than undergrad (pathology, pharmacology, neuroscience, and a bunch more). Do you think a better mcat could make a committee overlook my uGPA?

 

[GreenDuck12]

It’s the USF masters in medical science (MSP3) program. Very intensive and more medically focused courses than undergrad (pathology, pharmacology, neuroscience, and a bunch more). Do you think a better mcat could make a committee overlook my uGPA?

Sounds like it may be an SMP which would change things. I’ll let others chime in regarding that part. If it is an SMP then you may have a stronger app for MD but I still think applying broadly to MD and DO is the best bet.

In general, a strong mcat will not completely compensate for a lower UG GPA as it conveys that the person is smart but may be lazy. This is why a postbac is the typical route to demonstrate that one can do well in science courses and hopefully raise their UG GPA a little.

 

[Lolaaa]

CARS is the worst thing ever. I got a 123 in CARS and ended up with a 508 128/123/128/129. I think you have a pretty high postbac gpa and remember that they don't solely look at MCAT and GPA. They're a big factor but your application as a whole is what matters the most. I think your post bac and extracurriculars should offset your UG GPA.

 

[JimKimSlim]

Do you think a better mcat could make a committee overlook my uGPA?

A better MCAT will never overlook your uGPA. I understand this is different by school, but they will likely combine your Master’s grades and UG grades into AMCAS grade, which will contribute to your academic stats equally if not more than MCAT grade.

Just to give a context, my friend had a 3.1 UG GPA, 4.0 SMP GPA, and 519 MCAT. He got only 1 MD interview and got rejected from his state school. However, he did manage two DO acceptances.

I agree with greenduck that you might need a stronger MCAT for MD but definitely sufficient for DO.