Should i take ACOM or try again?

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TheWhiteSpark

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Guys, i need some advice, perhaps some common sense knocked into me.

I got accepted to ACOM but i have to tell them if i am going by Monday. I have not gotten any other acceptances.

I have already re-submitted my application to AMCAS and AACOMAS and have gotten 2 secondaries. My application is MUCH stronger this year. Before, i did not have any LORs from a clinical experience but i do now, i didnt have ANY patient exposure, but i do now, and i have been working in a genetics lab full-time for 6 months.

Should i just go to ACOM or should i try again? ACOM is nice, but it is far away from my family and not what i imagined.

From what i can tell, my biggest black mark is a C- in one of my Organic chemistry classes (I do have a biochem class that could take its place for some schools but its a C+). my GPA is 3.3 and my science GPA is 3.07(ouch, i know), i got a 32 on the MCAT. I have 100 hours of research from a few semesters of research under a professor at my school. I have about 60 hours shadowing 2 different doctors (a general surgeon and a pediatrician). 30 hours of patient exposure, and 60 hours of volunteer work at a local library.

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MD is most probably out of the question. Your GPAs are well below average for MD. Actually your GPAs are really low for DO. So The C- in Ochem is not your only issue. 30 hours of patient exposure is not enough. and 60 hours of community service is low too. You caught a huge break with your acceptance to ACOM. Take it if you want to be a doc. Oh and you shouldn't have applied to ACOM if you didn't want to go there.
 
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You really dont think an MCAT score 6-8 points above the DO average counters the lower GPA?

Oh, and its not that i dont want ACOM, its more that it happens in less than a week. Not a lot of time to get financing, housing, pack my house, move across the country, and start.
 
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If you turn down an acceptance, from what I understand schools across the nation would know about it. Your chances are toast with that fact. Take the acceptance. Your MCAT is good but not amazing...don't let your inflated ego makes the wrong decision for you. You won't get into an MD school and D.O will blacklist you if you choose to reject ACOM offer.
 
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Did it help last cycle? How many interviews did you have last cycle? It's probably the MCAT that got you into ACOM. You obviously don't want to go to ACOM so don't go. Just remember your app hasn't improved that much and now you'll be a reapplicant which isn't a positive. Oh I don't really think your MCAT is 6-8 points higher than the average DO scores. Where did you get that info?
 
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If by not what you imagined you mean less 'prestigious' than you had hoped, you really do need some common sense knocked into you.

You have to think, is a CHANCE at a better school, maybe an MD acceptance, worth the monetary cost and stress of going through another application cycle, as well as a year of potential earnings as a physician? There are a couple of specialties and residency programs that are very difficult for DO's to match into, and not wanting to close those doors early on could be an acceptable reason for not wanting to accept ACOM. But the likelihood of you getting an MD acceptance is very low; your GPA is below the 10% for many schools and your MCAT is OK, not spectacular. I don't know how much clinical experience you could've gotten in a year, but I doubt it'll be enough to offset the rest of the application, especially since most adcoms like to see multiple years of activity. Yours just looks like box checking.

I would really, really recommend taking the acceptance to ACOM. Look ahead to the future instead of trying to grasp at what could've happened if you were better prepared to apply last cycle.
 
In that case, take the acceptance and run. You are not going to get into MD schools as a reapplicant with only 30 hours of clinical volunteering added in the last year, not with that GPA and your EC's.
 
Don't be foolish. Take the acceptance.
 
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Take ACOM. A 3.0 sGPA is not competitive for MD.
 
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You would be a fool to turn them down.
 
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Lol, you will have no chance of getting into even the lowest tier MD school with that gpa. Take the ACOM acceptance.

A strong MCAT does not make up for a low gpa and vice versa.

I would like to reiterate what candy said... you caught a huge break with that gpa, volunteering and little patient exposure you have to get into ACOM. Your strong MCAT got you in, and if you turn it down now, I believe DO schools will black list you.

Then you will be totally screwed most likely. UNLESS, you wanted to do a MD SMP and spend a year or two doing that, and then you might have a chance. But then your MCAT might expire as well. I dont know... I say take the ACOM acceptance though.
 
If by not what you imagined you mean less 'prestigious' than you had hoped, you really do need some common sense knocked into you.

You have to think, is a CHANCE at a better school, maybe an MD acceptance, worth the monetary cost and stress of going through another application cycle, as well as a year of potential earnings as a physician? There are a couple of specialties and residency programs that are very difficult for DO's to match into, and not wanting to close those doors early on could be an acceptable reason for not wanting to accept ACOM. But the likelihood of you getting an MD acceptance is very low; your GPA is below the 10% for many schools and your MCAT is OK, not spectacular. I don't know how much clinical experience you could've gotten in a year, but I doubt it'll be enough to offset the rest of the application, especially since most adcoms like to see multiple years of activity. Yours just looks like box checking.

I would really, really recommend taking the acceptance to ACOM. Look ahead to the future instead of trying to grasp at what could've happened if you were better prepared to apply last cycle.
You're giving solid advice but the bolded is the crazy mentality that being pushed on SDN. A 32 MCAT/88th percentile is not just OK...it is a good score (thousands of pre med every year would kill for that score) Try not to perpetuate the ridiculous standard on SDN buddy
 
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You're giving solid advice but the bolded is the crazy mentality that being pushed on SDN. A 32 MCAT/88th percentile is not just OK...it is a good score (thousands of pre med every year would kill for that score) Try not to perpetuate the ridiculous standard on SDN buddy

Truth.
 
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You're giving solid advice but the bolded is the crazy mentality that being pushed on SDN. A 32 MCAT/88th percentile is not just OK...it is a good score (thousands of pre med every year would kill for that score) Try not to perpetuate the ridiculous standard on SDN buddy

I was saying it in relation to the rest of his application, so that he wouldn't be persuaded to re-apply just on the basis of "my MCAT is good so I might as well try"

I have no qualms with saying that a 32 MCAT is a great score in and of itself, and it's certainly enough to get you into many good medical schools provided the rest of your application isn't shot.
 
You're giving solid advice but the bolded is the crazy mentality that being pushed on SDN. A 32 MCAT/88th percentile is not just OK...it is a good score (thousands of pre med every year would kill for that score) Try not to perpetuate the ridiculous standard on SDN buddy

Everything you said is true but OP thinks the 32=38 and it doesn't. OP thinks the MCAT score will make up for very subpar GPAs and it won't. OP thinks 30 hours of clinical experience is fabulous and it isn't. I think Akech is just trying to let the OP know the 32 isn't going to open doors based on the rest of the OPs application.
 
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Everything you said is true but OP thinks the 32=38 and it doesn't. OP thinks the MCAT score will make up for very subpar GPAs and it won't. OP thinks 30 hours of clinical experience is fabulous and it isn't. I think Akech is just trying to let the OP know the 32 isn't going to open doors based on the rest of the OPs application.

If thats the case his wording is off. Something to the effect of "Your MCAT score is great, but it will not make up for your otherwise poor application" would be a more accurate and less wordy instance of portraying his point with clarity.
 
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Everything you said is true but OP thinks the 32=38 and it doesn't. OP thinks the MCAT score will make up for very subpar GPAs and it won't. OP thinks 30 hours of clinical experience is fabulous and it isn't. I think Akech is just trying to let the OP know the 32 isn't going to open doors based on the rest of the OPs application.
He did not elaborate in that manner. I see the words and sentences he write for what they are. Speculation and assumption is not what I do..I read, listen and understand. I am glad, however, that he gave a further explanation to his wording.
 
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With that GPA, OP is auto-reject at KCUMB and CCOM. That GPA is lethal for all MD schools, too.

Take the accept and run with it, OP.



You really dont think an MCAT score 6-8 points above the DO average counters the lower GPA?

Oh, and its not that i dont want ACOM, its more that it happens in less than a week. Not a lot of time to get financing, housing, pack my house, move across the country, and start.
 
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What on earth. Take the acceptance. Like people have said, this is your best (probably only) shot.
Best of luck
 
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Lol, you will have no chance of getting into even the lowest tier MD school with that gpa.

ORLY?

Anyway, yeah, take the acceptance. Turning down an acceptance at a chance for a "better" school is madness. What incredible things have you accomplished in the past year that'll make you a shoe-in at an MD school?
 
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You will simply be known as Mr. Turdface in 4 years if you don't take the acceptance.

Edit: that's a joke, not an attack!
 
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