Thanks in Advance!

[physio84]

Recent lurker, first-time poster, but you'll probably be seeing me over in some of the school-specific threads soon as I am a current applicant. I wanted to post here because a lot of posted credentials over in the school-specific app threads are, well, a bit intimidating.

My undergrad stats are not particularly impressive: 3.5 cGPA, science about 3.2 (Physiology 2006), but I did log a lot of clinical work at that time. I applied my senior year of college in 05-06, received two interviews, waitlisted at one and didn't clear waitlist. I received a solid job offer with a professional firm unrelated to medicine. I decided to take that job so I didn't apply again - good job, and I have worked my way up to a senior partner, I'm still there today.

Problem is, I have no passion for this career, and in Jan 2009 I decided to start an MS in Physiology (on top of working full time, no life at all lol). I'm set to graduate in May and I will have a first-author publication submitted by Feb; I'm presenting at EB this April. My grad GPA is 3.7 with a 3.5 in the core science/physiology courses. All course work is complete, I am a full candidate and graduation in May is basically a guaranteed formality at this point. Current MCAT score is a 31Q (10P/11V/10B). Also, as part of the program I have two semesters teaching undergrad physiology labs.

But here it is, almost November, and only one interview offer out of 13 schools applied, and one rejection already as well. On hold at most places. Average-ish schools, I'm not shooting for the stars here. Give it to me straight - am I really that non-competitive of an applicant, or do I have a good enough shot I should apply next year if I don't make it this year? I'm no spring chicken anymore and don't have the time or desire to retake a couple undergrad science courses just to upgrade a few B's to A's. Thanks for reading!

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[torshi]

Maybe your EC's compared to other applicants were extremely weak and maybe you need to focus more on clinical experience and maybe try shadowing physicians etc.

 

[physio84]

Maybe your EC's compared to other applicants were extremely weak and maybe you need to focus more on clinical experience and maybe try shadowing physicians etc.

Thanks for the quick response torshi. Can you elaborate a bit? I'm not sure what more I can do present-day on top of a full-time job, working as a co-PI on original research, and teaching two undergrad physio labs. Please do not interpret me as complaining, but I guess I'm confused - would those not count as EC's? As far as clinical experience goes, nothing too recent but my research is in human subjects if that means anything. I logged two full years working directly with quadriplegics in 04-06 and one year volunteering at a cancer center on 05-06.

 

[torshi]

Have you ever tried applying to DO medical schools, they tend to not emphasize on scores etc But, it doesn't seem like you have any problems regarding your GPA,or scores They are "average" but your MCAT score is relatively good. The job and etc should be categorized as an EC but i don't understand how your having trouble getting into certain medical schools. Maybe because most other applicants are so competitive and they have higher clinical exposure and research opportunities that they participated in. Try to apply to wider ranges of medical schools to below average to average etc. Ultimately at the end you get the same degree anyways so the prestigious school is always good but isn't everything.
Sorry if i can't thoroughly explain and answer the question it's really difficult to understand the medical admissions committee, We as premed only know so much, mainly the broad details and requirements to get in, but many individuals underestimate the competitiveness with medical schools.
Good luck!

 

[fizzgig]

i'm a premed, grain of salt.

you have life experience, you apparently have clinical research. do you have shadowing? do you have volunteering, med and nonmed? (i ask bc even though your rsch is clinical you may still need to jump thru the hoops and show that you are into the service based focus that medicine is, even when tasks are not exciting). things you do that are your own, hobbies you actively pursue that you had in your app? a good personals statement?

basically with average stats (it's so hard to gauge here on sdn because everyone has a 46mcat right?) you need to make sure you fill out their checkboxes + have some interesting things that draw the eye. because with stats like a large number of other people, even though you are great, so are a LOT of other people and it's easy to get lost in the pack. i don't know where you applied, but they should match your stats AND not have a terrible out of state bias towards you. if you are applying to OOS schools that match your stats keep in mind their lower stats may be bc they let in lots of in staters with those stats, while OOSers may get screened. i'm not saying apply to 50 schools, but if you do next cycle i might apply to a fairly large number to cast a wide net, and since you'll have to mark you applied before make sure you have neato stuff to talk about in terms of what you did with your app in the meantime to make it super awesome. take the time (even a year off if necessary) to make it super awesome, too. i graduated five years ago too, won't apply til next year at least, so you're not that old

all that said, you have 13 schools and so far 1 int and only 1 reject. you've got a while, but i don't see why you shouldn't be able to get in. obviously a lot of people do because otherwise those wouldn't be the average numbers, right?