Potential for 2017/18 cycle

[KCintheOC]

Hi nontrads

I wanted to gauge my potential for admission to med school in the 2017/18 app cycle. I quit my old job in December and have been taking classes at SDSU (informal DIY post bacc) while working full time nights and weekends. By the end of Spring '17 I'll have all of my prerequisites taken and should be in good shape to take the MCAT in June/July and apply after that. At that point, I should have a cGPA of 3.15, sGPA of 3.6, and post bacc GPA of 3.9+ (1.5 years, 9 courses, 38 units, all science) as long as I keep getting As. I'm primarily interested in EM and would be perfectly content at a DO school.

My LORs should be decent... will have a couple sci profs or a committee letter, a former work manager, a couple coaches, and a DO, maybe a volunteer coordinator. I probably will not have the opportunity for research by the time of application. I start hospital volunteering soon and will continue until I apply. I need to find a DO to shadow but I'll get that scratched off my list. My sister is a physician in the area so I should be able to swing shadowing hours without too much hassle.

I graduated from an Ivy in '12 with a cGPA of 2.86 in History. Pretty poor, but I played football with all-ivy honors and had some other ECs in undergrad, never making academics my primary focus. Not what med schools want to see, but I wasn't a complete waste of space during those years and I feel like my upward trend/postbacc should show I'm capable of handling med school.

So, given all that, what kind of MCAT will I need to be competitive? 510+? Also, when there is such a disparity between cGPA and sGPA, how do you average the two for comparison to msar averages/LizzyM scores and such?

Thanks for reading! I'd appreciate advice on any holes you think I'm not addressing in the application process as well

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[Goro]

For MD schools, I suggest a 513+. For DO, 505+.

We generally look to see how you do in rigorous science coursework.

Hi nontrads

I wanted to gauge my potential for admission to med school in the 2017/18 app cycle. I quit my old job in December and have been taking classes at SDSU (informal DIY post bacc) while working full time nights and weekends. By the end of Spring '17 I'll have all of my prerequisites taken and should be in good shape to take the MCAT in June/July and apply after that. At that point, I should have a cGPA of 3.15, sGPA of 3.6, and post bacc GPA of 3.9+ (1.5 years, 9 courses, 38 units, all science) as long as I keep getting As. I'm primarily interested in EM and would be perfectly content at a DO school.

My LORs should be decent... will have a couple sci profs or a committee letter, a former work manager, a couple coaches, and a DO, maybe a volunteer coordinator. I probably will not have the opportunity for research by the time of application. I start hospital volunteering soon and will continue until I apply. I need to find a DO to shadow but I'll get that scratched off my list. My sister is a physician in the area so I should be able to swing shadowing hours without too much hassle.

I graduated from an Ivy in '12 with a cGPA of 2.86 in History. Pretty poor, but I played football with all-ivy honors and had some other ECs in undergrad, never making academics my primary focus. Not what med schools want to see, but I wasn't a complete waste of space during those years and I feel like my upward trend/postbacc should show I'm capable of handling med school.

So, given all that, what kind of MCAT will I need to be competitive? 510+? Also, when there is such a disparity between cGPA and sGPA, how do you average the two for comparison to msar averages/LizzyM scores and such?

Thanks for reading! I'd appreciate advice on any holes you think I'm not addressing in the application process as well

 

[KCintheOC]

For MD schools, I suggest a 513+. For DO, 505+.

We generally look to see how you do in rigorous science coursework.

Thanks for the feedback! So when I'm narrowing down my list of schools to apply to, would you recommend I use my sGPA as the one that should be lining up with the schools' averages?

 

[Goro]

Yes, and for MD schools, invest in MSAR ONLINE and aim for schools where your stats are above the 10th %ile.

And pay very careful attention to the Acceptance Information pages.

Thanks for the feedback! So when I'm narrowing down my list of schools to apply to, would you recommend I use my sGPA as the one that should be lining up with the schools' averages?