what are my chances at big four?

[medimp]

I have a 3.28 GPA from the community college (60 credits ) 2.7 from 4 year college (83 credits). I got a 21 on mcat (5P, 8V, 8B). I have lots of volunteer experiences (shadowing, volunteering) both abroad and in the states. I have a semester of undergraduate cancer research. I worked part-time throughout college. I have a few extracurricular activities (student clubs that I was a member of etc.) and one scholarship award. I graduated in 2012. I have 2 years of work experience as a Biochemist in R&D at a diagnostic company.

I'm retaking the mcat in November and I applied to Ross for their spring admission. What do you think are my chances?

Also is it smarter to do a postbacc and try to get into a DO school in the US instead of going to Caribbean? What are you thoughts on this?

Thank you so much in advance!

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[bedevilled ben]

I have a 3.28 GPA from the community college (60 credits ) 2.7 from 4 year college (83 credits). I got a 21 on mcat (5P, 8V, 8B). I have lots of volunteer experiences (shadowing, volunteering) both abroad and in the states. I have a semester of undergraduate cancer research. I worked part-time throughout college. I have a few extracurricular activities (student clubs that I was a member of etc.) and one scholarship award. I graduated in 2012. I have 2 years of work experience as a Biochemist in R&D at a diagnostic company.

I'm retaking the mcat in November and I applied to Ross for their spring admission. What do you think are my chances?

Not great. You need to bump your MCAT up into the upper 20's to offset your low GPA. I don't know if Ross has a similar program, but SGU has the Foundations program that is basically like intro to medical school. It lasts for 1 academic term and upon your successful completion they will let you into the actual med program.

Before you do any of that though, you need to stop and figure out why you underperformed on the MCAT. Whether you go US MD/DO or Caribbean MD, you're going to be spending the next 4 years taking exams very similar to the MCAT on a consistent basis, and those test scores are really the only metric that residency programs have to evaluate your performance. If you're a poor test taker, med school is not the place to discover that. The tests only get harder.

Also is it smarter to do a postbacc and try to get into a DO school in the US instead of going to Caribbean? What are you thoughts on this?

Thank you so much in advance!

Yes, it absolutely is. The problem is that it's becoming difficult to get into the post-bacc programs too. If you can get into one, it's definitely better than the Caribbean route. Also, I don't really know how it works, but you should consider grade replacement with a DO program, I think they will allow you to retake classes and "replace" your low grade with a higher grade for GPA calculations. Maybe somebody else can give you more info on that.

 

[BestDoctorEver]

With a GPA less than 3.0 and a 21 MCAT, your chances at the big 4 are very slim, and even their foundation of medicine programs... Most of the good post-bacc associated with DO require a 3.0 GPA and MCAT higher than 21 (usually 22+). Retake classes you got C or lower so you can take advantage of the DO grade replacement policy. Once you get your GPA to 3.2+, retake the MCAT and aim for 26+, then you will have a good chance at DO...