Don't Give Up Hope

NOsaintsfan said:

I've lurked on these boards for a while and almost never post however I wanted to send a word of encouragement to all those people who may feel a little discouraged about the whole application process.

If you are a marginal applicant there is hope, not everyone who applies will have awesome stats like people seem to imply on these boards. If you are willing to work hard and do what you can to make your application shine then you have a chance. My story is proof.

My degree is in business so you don't have to be a science major, my cumulative GPA was a 3.08 and my MCAT 26.

I was offered 8 interviews, went on 4 and was accepted by 3 and waitlisted by 1.

I share this only to show that it is possible to get into med school if you are truly passionate. Don't lose hope or get discouraged. If you have enough drive you will get in. Good luck to everyone.

If anyone has questions about I’ll be happy to help.

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Congrats. Where do you think you will attend?

Not to interject but DMU >>>> Rocky Vista.

Congratz on all the acceptances. It just shows that great interviewing skills and other things can make up for stats.

Yea I bet the dean at RVUCOM was the nicest.....your tuition goes directly into his pocket.

My opinion about RVUCOM comes strictly from the for-profit designation of the school. It is the only medical school (allopathic or osteopathic) that is a for-profit entity. I think it is degrading to the osteopathic profession...which I will be joining...and makes it seem like University of Phoenix could be handing out our DO degrees.

I appreciate this post COMPLETELY. I can't begin to describe how much this means to me as a marginal/average applicant. I can't even describe how bad I want to become an Osteopathic physician and am completely sure it's all I could ever want to do in this world.

kyvaro01 said:

I appreciate this post COMPLETELY. I can't begin to describe how much this means to me as a marginal/average applicant. I can't even describe how bad I want to become an Osteopathic physician and am completely sure it's all I could ever want to do in this world.

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I agree with you also. It's nice to hear someone offering support when you feel that your chances are slim. Hopefully, we all get a chance to show our desire to go into the profession. I am praying for some invites soon! Good luck to you!

HOPINGTOBE said:

I agree with you also. It's nice to hear someone offering support when you feel that your chances are slim. Hopefully, we all get a chance to show our desire to go into the profession. I am praying for some invites soon! Good luck to you!

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I'm hoping for some invites as well. Best of luck to you as well!

Not that my opinion is necessarily worth much, as I am still looking, not being accepted... but... If all other things were equal (as in location, cost, etc), I would go to DMU. They are very well respected, the school is top-notch, etc... RVU is for profit, but that doesn't mean they aren't worth a crap... All schools want to make a profit, it is whether they are forced to put the money into the school or not... from what I saw at RVU, they are going to put that money into the school because they want the school to be the best around... For me, all things are not equal, and in your situation I would pick RVU, but that's because my husband's job took him to CO, and his apartment is 2.5 miles from RVU...

Oh, and thanks for the encouragement... I'm in a similar situation, but I haven't taken the MCATs, my post-bacc GPA is 3.85, with a 3.9 sGPA PB... Soooo, here's to hoping I get in!

thank you for the encouragement and for sharing. and for the record, i loved the environment/feel of RVU. i know there's a lot of drama around the school, but the students and faculty were amazing when I interviewed there. i met a ton of students that day, so i was really surprised by how nice everyone was. i find out my results tomorrow though ... so nervous!

When I toured the RVU campus I loved it. I would go in a heartbeat... even outside of the other mitigating factors... I thought it was beautiful, the students were happy, the format was awesome, I love that they get you into doing clinical practice environments ASAP, and that you have a non-competitive environment...

NOsaintsfan said:

No problem, I remember reading stuff like if you don't have a 30+ MCAT and a 3.5+ GPA then you basically have no chance, and being really depressed. I just want people to know that it is possible.

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Thanks for posting this. Often I feel like the only people posting their stats on SDN are those with excellent numbers. I stopped reading the "underdog" thread after I kept seeing people whine about their >3.8 GPAs. Its nice to hear that there is a population of people like you out there who, frankly, are much more in line with my experience. Best of luck to you in your decisions!

Thanks so much for your post!!! Thank you for the encouragement and I wish you well!

If you don't mind me asking, what type of background did you have? ECs? etc? I'm just curious.

fiznat said:

Thanks for posting this. Often I feel like the only people posting their stats on SDN are those with excellent numbers. I stopped reading the "underdog" thread after I kept seeing people whine about their >3.8 GPAs. Its nice to hear that there is a population of people like you out there who, frankly, are much more in line with my experience. Best of luck to you in your decisions!

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>80% of people on the front page are under a 3.4 and 100% are under a 3.8 .

Congrats to the OP, my stats are very very similar to yours, glad to hear everything worked out for you as well.

NOsaintsfan said:

I've lurked on these boards for a while and almost never post however I wanted to send a word of encouragement to all those people who may feel a little discouraged about the whole application process.

If you are a marginal applicant there is hope, not everyone who applies will have awesome stats like people seem to imply on these boards. If you are willing to work hard and do what you can to make your application shine then you have a chance. My story is proof.

My degree is in business so you don't have to be a science major, my cumulative GPA was a 3.08 and my MCAT 26.

I was offered 8 interviews, went on 4 and was accepted by 3 and waitlisted by 1.

I share this only to show that it is possible to get into med school if you are truly passionate. Don't lose hope or get discouraged. If you have enough drive you will get in. Good luck to everyone.

If anyone has questions about I’ll be happy to help.

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How many schools did you apply to?

Hi Saints:

i am a business major too. Right now going thru post bac classes and yet to take the MCAT. what is your recommendation on EC's. should i do research. I work full time for a large insurance company and have no time to do any type of part time research. I work full time during the day and take classes 3x week. therefore, this does leave me any room to fit research into my schedule.

stee1erfan said:

Hi Saints:

i am a business major too. Right now going thru post bac classes and yet to take the MCAT. what is your recommendation on EC's. should i do research. I work full time for a large insurance company and have no time to do any type of part time research. I work full time during the day and take classes 3x week. therefore, this does leave me any room to fit research into my schedule.

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imo for DO schools, volunteering > research. I had both and was never asked about research or could ever really tie it into any interview discussions. However I think my volunteer work tied in well to many interview discussions.

MLT2MT2DO said:

imo for DO schools, volunteering > research. I had both and was never asked about research or could ever really tie it into any interview discussions. However I think my volunteer work tied in well to many interview discussions.

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For me it was the opposite. I had minimal volunteer that never came up... But they seemed to love to talk about my research

fiznat said:

Thanks for posting this. Often I feel like the only people posting their stats on SDN are those with excellent numbers. I stopped reading the "underdog" thread after I kept seeing people whine about their >3.8 GPAs. Its nice to hear that there is a population of people like you out there who, frankly, are much more in line with my experience. Best of luck to you in your decisions!

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You must be thinking about the "What are my chances" threads.