should i apply next cycle

[idleburra]

So, I just got my mcat score back and i got a 35 Q, which I was a little disappointed with ( I was averaging around 37 on practice). I am a 3rd year right now with a 3.5 gpa from UC Berkeley and I think I can bring it up to 3.6ish by the end of this year. My ECs are average/maybe below average (2 years tutoring, 2 years neuroscience research, service as a part of a frat, 2 years as a student mentor for high school kids, 1 semester of TA in an Oakland high school, and leadership in a couple of clubs, traning for half marathons and soon starting clinical volunteering.)
My main four questions are, first of all, would I stand a chance? Would i get in anywhere? I am a california resident, and we all know how difficulut it is to get into medical school from california.
My second question is whether my age would affect my chances. I am only 19 now and will be twenty when I (hopefully) get interviews. Would this be taken in a negative way?
would that fact that I went to a school like UC Berkeley that is known to destroy gpa-s make my gpa look better than it is?
lastly, should I apply next cycle... am i "gauranteed" of getting into atleast 1 med. school. Or should i apply two years from now?

Sorry for the extra long post.
Thanks in advance.

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[WurangBlang]

O my, get out of here.

Seriously, you have very good chance of getting in. Just apply broadly, not only to CA schools. Your MCAT is freaking awesome, and ppl usually do worse on mcat (for example, I was also averaging 37s on AAMC CBTs, but look at my real score now--i'm still freaking bitter about that) so don't even worry. Your EC is also excellent-- may be little bit more of clinical exp. would be better. GPA 3.5 is fine as well, also it's not awesome, good enough not to bring you down significantly.

Your age might affect the chance, there has been many threads about it. However, i know many ppl who are younger than you gotten into med school with no problem, so you shouldn't even be worried. Also I highly doubt that the fact that you went to berkeley makes your relatively low gpa look better--there are also many threads about that. Go to your school's website, search for the data for # of ppl who got into med school with your stats.

 

[167649]

So, I just got my mcat score back and i got a 35 Q, which I was a little disappointed with ( I was averaging around 37 on practice).

Dont worry too much about that. A 35 is awesome. As scores top 35 the difference becomes rather negligible.

My second question is whether my age would affect my chances. I am only 19 now and will be twenty when I (hopefully) get interviews. Would this be taken in a negative way?

If your maturity is not up to par with all the 23-24 year old's applying, yes.

would that fact that I went to a school like UC Berkeley that is known to destroy gpa-s make my gpa look better than it is?

No. Your GPA is what it is. Undergraduate institution makes practically no difference. Everyone says their college was tougher on grading.

lastly, should I apply next cycle... am i "gauranteed" of getting into atleast 1 med. school. Or should i apply two years from now?

You are never guaranteed to get in. But your 35 mcat is very good so long as you are good at everything else so you should apply.

 

[brianmartin]

Dissapointed with your 35...wow. You need to chill out, I think.

 

[idleburra]

First off, thanks for the replies.

I didn't mean to sound like one of those "i only got a 40 on the mcat" kids, but I was hoping that an insanely high mcat score would make up for my mediocre gpa. And I understand that one is never gauranteed to get into medical school, but I really didn't want to go through the process twice. I only want to apply if I am fairly confident that I would get in somewhere.

Reading posts on this forum and MDapps makes me feel like my application would not competitive at all.

 

[167649]

Reading posts on this forum and MDapps makes me feel like my application would not competitive at all.

Don't let the pre-allo boards get to you. There is an unusually high concentration of overly stressed out people around here that think a gpa of 3.5 and an mcat of 30 means you should look forward to a career as a hospital janitor. And take MDapps with a very large grain of salt, people can put whatever they feel like and it is in not an accurate representative.

 

[starlight04]

i have a 35 and a 3.6 at similar caliber undergrad institution with similar EC's and have more than a handful of interviews, including a few top-tiers. stop worrying!

 

[drizzt3117]

I think you need to work on your clinical experience. Your GPA is ok especially if you move it up a little. You'll most likely get a little bit of leeway with it since Cal is in the most difficult category of schools, but not really that much, maybe 0.1-0.2 pts at the most. With a 35 MCAT you should be competitive even at UCs but I would definitely apply early and broadly.

 

[idleburra]

ahh, "you'll be competitive" and "apply broadly". Two statements that I really hate.

 

[drizzt3117]

ahh, "you'll be competitive" and "apply broadly". Two statements that I really hate.

Fine, you only need to apply to the UCs and you're guaranteed to get in. Better?

 

[ufgrad00]

You have good stats, but you should know that you are never guaranteed an admission, ever, except for High school entrance programs.

There is no such thing as a safety school either. Some schools with averages of < 30 might look at your stats and say you probably wouldn't attend their school anyways. And at top schools (> 33 avg), there is only a negligible difference of a candidate between a 34 and 38. At that point it depends on subjective aspects of your application and your interview.

 

[WiscDoc]

35 is really good.... good enough to get you in some of the better schools in the country. I also know that med school DO care what undergrad you went to, and they realize that a 3.5 from UCB if probably equivlant to a 3.8 in some low calibar undergrad. Your MCAT show that your smart. Just to blow the interview, and your age really should not matter. DO NOT RE_TAKE THE MCAT. You are more likely to ruin your chances than help them by retaking it.

and I won't say you'll be competitve, I say you ARE competitve, and pretty sure that schools like U of M, MCW.... and others would jump at your 35 (as long as it is balanced and not a 15, 15, 5 kinda thing).

 

[KublaiKhan]

jesus, another student's outlook on the medical school application process ruined by these damn forums.

quit yer braggin. you'll get in.

 

[idleburra]

Fine, you only need to apply to the UCs and you're guaranteed to get in. Better?

haha, I didn't mean it like that. I just meant that it's what I tell people when I have no idea. "apply early and broad".

When I got to college, I told myself that I would work really hard for a 4.0 and 40 so I won't have to worry at all about the application process. I didnt do that. I have some good memories from my first two years, but whenever I look at my numbers, I feel like I could have done better.

And I only whine because I have been hanging out with this kid who is applying with a 3.97 and 41 mcat. He actually complained about his 3.97 ("i cant believe I got A- in English!!").

Yeah, thanks for all the advice. I'll probably annoy you guys with my questions next semester when I have a school list going.

 

[sky81]

I'd give anything to have the OP's GPA and MCAT =(.... then I realize my reality that I have to face.

 

[Nataliemay24]

So, I just got my mcat score back and i got a 35 Q, which I was a little disappointed with.

Anyway: your GPA's fine as long as your BCPM GPA is good. That said, my GPA's about the same as yours, but it's skewed so that I have a lower BCPM GPA and a near-perfect non-BCPM GPA, which is the way you don't want to have it, but I got an interview and no rejections so far, so I'd say I'm doing pretty well. And I "only" got a 34...which I was thrilled about, by the way. So yeah, you'll do fine as long as you come across as mature. Maybe you could hint to your LOR writers that if they think you're mature, you'd appreciate it if they mentioned it in the LOR.