2013-2014 Underdawgs Thread ( Lets get it)

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MIZ SEC said:
Underdog for MD but not even close to being an underdog DO. Those stats are stellar. If I was in your position, I would think about retaking the mcat and going for a cheap in state md school. If you don't want to do that, pick any do school and you will get an interview.
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I'm flattered that you guys think I'm not an underdog .. I posted previously here on SDN and many people told me that I would get rejected both in MD and DO due to the 6V.

I'm afraid that if I retake my science scores will go down and it would take me forever to improve on verbal (Spanish is first language).

Anyways, I applied to both MD and DO.. We will see how it goes...
 
Lexipi said:
I'm flattered that you guys think I'm not an underdog .. I posted previously here on SDN and many people told me that I would get rejected both in MD and DO due to the 6V.

I'm afraid that if I retake my science scores will go down and it would take me forever to improve on verbal (Spanish is first language).

Anyways, I applied to both MD and DO.. We will see how it goes...
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The whole VR6 thing is a mystery this round and it is quite common for some reason this cycle.

Previous posters have stated terrible results with a 6 in VR in the past, but only time can tell.
 
Lexipi said:
I'm flattered that you guys think I'm not an underdog .. I posted previously here on SDN and many people told me that I would get rejected both in MD and DO due to the 6V.

I'm afraid that if I retake my science scores will go down and it would take me forever to improve on verbal (Spanish is first language).

Anyways, I applied to both MD and DO.. We will see how it goes...
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Where are you from? Depending on your background, you might be considered a URM. Even then, I think schools will be forgiving of your 6 on verbal since English is your second language. No me puedo imaginar cómo me habría salido esa sección si tuviera que tomarla en español. Also, since you are a native Spanish speaker, you might want to look in to Puerto Rico's 4 med schools. All are LCME-accredited MD schools. For Universidad de Puerto Rico, you need close ties to Puerto Rico. For Ponce School of Medicine, San Juan Bautista, and Universidad Central del Caribe, I think they take a fair number of mainlanders. You're stats are very competitive for these schools.
 
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NurWollen said:
Where are you from? Depending on your background, you might be considered a URM. Even then, I think schools will be forgiving of your 6 on verbal since English is your second language. No puedo imaginar cómo me habría salido esa sección si tuviera que tomarla en español. Also, since you are a native Spanish speaker, you might want to look in to Puerto Rico's 4 med schools. All are LCME-accredited MD schools. For Universidad de Puerto Rico, you need close ties to Puerto Rico. For Ponce School of Medicine, San Juan Bautista, and Universidad Central del Caribe, I tho I thy game a fair number of mainlanders.
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Well I am first generation Mexican American (and California resident)
 
Lexipi said:
Well I am first generation Mexican American (and California resident)
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I'm pretty sure you'd qualify as a URM. Don't be surprised if you get a lot of attention from MD schools. Just be sure to apply to some MD schools besides the UC schools, they're so crazy competitive no one is a shoe-in there. I would definitely apply to Ponce, SJB, and UCC in Puerto Rico.
 
NurWollen said:
I'm pretty sure you'd qualify as a URM. Don't be surprised if you get a lot of attention from MD schools. Just be sure to apply to some MD schools besides the UC schools, they're so crazy competitive no one is a shoe-in there. I would definitely apply to Ponce, SJB, and UCC in Puerto Rico.
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Cool thanks for the suggestions.

I applied very broadly ...44 schools
We will see how things pan out
 
Anicetus said:
44?! how many secondaries have you finished so far?
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Well, I haven't been verified yet... But I have finished a few...

I should seriously start pre-writing...

But then I think about it, I probably won't get many secondaries; not with that 6 according to SNDers
 
Underdawg here
3.88 cGPA
3.73 sGPA
23 MCAT (8PS/6VR/9B)
Oklahoma Resident
 
Lexipi said:
Cool thanks for the suggestions.

I applied very broadly ...44 schools
We will see how things pan out
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What???

I applied to 12 schools and I can no longer tolerate more secondaries (10 completed, 2 more to go).

God be with you.
 
Lexipi said:
Well, I haven't been verified yet... But I have finished a few...

I should seriously start pre-writing...

But then I think about it, I probably won't get many secondaries; not with that 6 according to SNDers
Click to expand...

They will send you secondaries as long as you had like a 23-25 overall. They will only screen sub section scores POST-secondary if they will at all.
 
user3 said:
would recommend removing these people.
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I appreciate the thought, however those stats don't list the whole story, reapps are automatic adds and I believe a few of those bolded are canucks.
 
FutureDO22 said:
WVSOM will only send you a secondary if you get an interview. I wish all schools did this.
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Some of them are after the money... Imagine school like Nova that send out secondary to every applicant.... 5k applicants... If the secondary is $50... This is like 250k...
 
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MIZ SEC said:
I was wondering if I could get some advice about filling out secondaries to Midwestern Chicago and Des Moines. I've posted my stats a few times, 3.3 gpa 26 mcat and 3.65 grad gpa at Kcumb masters program. I received secondaries from CCOM and DMU this week but I am feeling pretty hesitant to fill them out. I don't feel competitive at all... Even with a masters degree. $60 isn't that much money but I've sent secondaries to both places two years in a row without an interview invite. These two schools are notoriously difficult to get in to. Is $120 worth it or am I just giving my money away?
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You're not super competitive, but I would say you have a shot. You're definitely below their averages, but you aren't that far. Really, you just have to think how likely it is that you would go there over somewhere else on your list. If they are up high on your list, I would just go for it.
 
MIZ SEC said:
I was wondering if I could get some advice about filling out secondaries to Midwestern Chicago and Des Moines. I've posted my stats a few times, 3.3 gpa 26 mcat and 3.65 grad gpa at Kcumb masters program. I received secondaries from CCOM and DMU this week but I am feeling pretty hesitant to fill them out. I don't feel competitive at all... Even with a masters degree. $60 isn't that much money but I've sent secondaries to both places two years in a row without an interview invite. These two schools are notoriously difficult to get in to. Is $120 worth it or am I just giving my money away?
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$120 to find out if you can get into your top DO choices (knowing you won't get auto-screened)? Yes, it's worth it.
 
coolingglasses said:
$120 to find out if you can get into your top DO choices (knowing you won't get auto-screened)? Yes, it's worth it.
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I think you are right. My top choice is KCUMB followed by KCOM, DMU, and CCOM. I'm really hoping my success in the masters program at kcumb will help me get in to school but only half of our class was accepted out of the bioscience program into the medical school. $120 is probably worth it to see what happens (already sent my secondary to KCOM).

I loved being in a fraternity and I loved all the opportunities and experiences that were available at a large university but dear lord my undergrad gpa is killing me. Doing all my med school pre reqs in classes with over 300 people was not fun. I'm kind of kicking myself for not doing the UMKC 6 year med program... I would be one year away from being a resident. I'm a firm believer that things have a tendency to work themselves out though. I hope I'm right.
 
FutureDO22 said:
I just found a thread from 2010 where someone said it was 70%, but I'm not sure how accurate that is.
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That sounds about right. I remember thinking it was somewhere between 60% and 70% when I applied last year. Its about 2/3 of those interviewed get accepted. That's in comparison to other places where its anywhere from 15% to 40% of those interviewed that get accepted.
 
hallowmann said:
That sounds about right. I remember thinking it was somewhere between 60% and 70% when I applied last year. Its about 2/3 of those interviewed get accepted. That's in comparison to other places where its anywhere from 15% to 40% of those interviewed that get accepted.
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Yeah, they always throw the numbers 600/400/200 out: 600 interviews, 400 acceptances, 200 matriculate.
 
Another underdog here, have a list of schools that I will be applying to, was wondering if some wouldn't be worth paying for a secondary application.
GPA: 3.36, sGPA: 3.31, MCAT: 26 on second try (first was 25)
E.Cs include 3 year volunteer experience at hospital and a pediatric clinic, currently volunteering to teach basic health at homeless shelters, and help minority/low income high school kids apply for college, have shadowed MD and DO, but letter of rec is written by MD (family doctor)

schools I'm applying to: PNWU (i'm a washington state resident), touro nevada and newyork, LMU, Marian, Rocky Vista, Pikeville, William Carey, AT Still arizona, ohio university
 
kaura said:
Another underdog here, have a list of schools that I will be applying to, was wondering if some wouldn't be worth paying for a secondary application.
GPA: 3.36, sGPA: 3.31, MCAT: 26 on second try (first was 25)
E.Cs include 3 year volunteer experience at hospital and a pediatric clinic, currently volunteering to teach basic health at homeless shelters, and help minority/low income high school kids apply for college, have shadowed MD and DO, but letter of rec is written by MD (family doctor)

schools I'm applying to: PNWU (i'm a washington state resident), touro nevada and newyork, LMU, Marian, Rocky Vista, Pikeville, William Carey, AT Still arizona, ohio university
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Any reason you aren't applying to COMP-NW? I would add that if I were you, since you are so close to there.

Pikeville and OU-HCOM (and I think WCU) have some pretty strong regional/in-state bias. I would not apply to them if I were trying to save money on secondaries. I would also add LECOM to the list, since I think you'll have a good shot there and they have like the easiest secondary in the world, and it isn't all that expensive ($50).
 
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kaura said:
Another underdog here, have a list of schools that I will be applying to, was wondering if some wouldn't be worth paying for a secondary application.
GPA: 3.36, sGPA: 3.31, MCAT: 26 on second try (first was 25)
E.Cs include 3 year volunteer experience at hospital and a pediatric clinic, currently volunteering to teach basic health at homeless shelters, and help minority/low income high school kids apply for college, have shadowed MD and DO, but letter of rec is written by MD (family doctor)

schools I'm applying to: PNWU (i'm a washington state resident), touro nevada and newyork, LMU, Marian, Rocky Vista, Pikeville, William Carey, AT Still arizona, ohio university
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not an underdog. chances are solid. agree that you should add COMP-NW, and maybe KCUMB, KCOM, and LECOM's. I would remove Pikeville, WCU, and OU.
 
Not an underdog.


superjock said:
I'm the newest underdog here. I haven't been in school for 6 years, but decided to take the MCAT on June 20, so I should have those results in another week...I only had time to study for this for about a week, so I am guessing anywhere between a 24 to a 28... I had lots of commitments, so I couldn't study more. I was the pharmacy manager at my hospital and had to close up the pharmacy because the hospital sold out, and then I had to open the pharmacy with the new company that bought our hospital, so I didn't have the time I thought I would to prepare.

Anyways, I have an undergraduate degree in Chemical Engineering, 3.92gpa, and a Doctor of Pharmacy degree, with about a 3.5 GPA. I am unsure what counts as science and doesn't...

I do have about 14,000 clinical hours worked as a pharmacist. I had the ER doctor who was a DO give me a LOR, and then I had to use old advisors to get LOR from my undergraduate degree since nobody returned my calls from my pharmacy school. I was unable to use my brother who was a DO to get a letter due to the rules. My other EC activities are scouts for many years, and a primary teacher for my church. I have hundreds of hours of this volunteer work.

I think getting my MCAT score in late as well as not having attended school for 6 years is going to make me an underdog. I have applied to 11 DO schools and 1 MD school. What are my chances here, and please add me to the underdog list.
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superjock said:
I'll let you know the MCAT results next week, the website is telling tests taken on 6-20 will be available 7-23. I think it would need to be on the higher side though, to be competetive, since my GPA dropped from undergrad to graduate. Thanks
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3.9 to 3.5. Regardless, 3.5 is still competitive.
 
Just wanted to drop in late and tell everyone good luck!! I still love these underdog threads. 👍

superjock said:
]
Anyways, I have an undergraduate degree in Chemical Engineering, 3.92gpa, and a Doctor of Pharmacy degree, with about a 3.5 GPA. I am unsure what counts as science and doesn't...
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Man, what I would've given for a PharmD in pharmacology 🙄... But I really don't think you have much to worry about, my friend.
 
FutureDO22 said:
I just found a thread from 2010 where someone said it was 70%, but I'm not sure how accurate that is.
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I think it's close to that.

MIZ SEC said:
I think you are right. My top choice is KCUMB followed by KCOM, DMU, and CCOM. I'm really hoping my success in the masters program at kcumb will help me get in to school but only half of our class was accepted out of the bioscience program into the medical school. $120 is probably worth it to see what happens (already sent my secondary to KCOM).

I loved being in a fraternity and I loved all the opportunities and experiences that were available at a large university but dear lord my undergrad gpa is killing me. Doing all my med school pre reqs in classes with over 300 people was not fun. I'm kind of kicking myself for not doing the UMKC 6 year med program... I would be one year away from being a resident. I'm a firm believer that things have a tendency to work themselves out though. I hope I'm right.
Click to expand...

Hearsay obv, but I've heard mixed things about UMKC's program.

I enjoyed going to a huge undergrad like MU, but yeah it sapped out my GPA. Had a lot of awesome friends, but ended up surrounding myself with people who had different goals and had a hard time focusing on my academics. Fortunately I was lucky enough to get multiple acceptances and now I'm completely surrounded by like-minded people.

Not that I really regret the company I kept... it's good to have connections outside of your field.
 
Anicetus said:
They will send you secondaries as long as you had like a 23-25 overall. They will only screen sub section scores POST-secondary if they will at all.
Click to expand...

I hope so... I'm not sure if I should try to explain my bad verbal score on my secondaries (if given a chance) or if I should just not draw any attention to it..

What do you think?
 
Lexipi said:
I hope so... I'm not sure if I should try to explain my bad verbal score on my secondaries (if given a chance) or if I should just not draw any attention to it..

What do you think?
Click to expand...

The advice I have been given is just not to address it until asked and just make your application as golden as possible and talk about all the GOOD things about you in your secondaries.

In fact, I actually have a few interviews at DO's coming up so I will PM you what they say about my VR.
 
superjock said:
I'm the newest underdog here. I haven't been in school for 6 years, but decided to take the MCAT on June 20, so I should have those results in another week...I only had time to study for this for about a week, so I am guessing anywhere between a 24 to a 28... I had lots of commitments, so I couldn't study more. I was the pharmacy manager at my hospital and had to close up the pharmacy because the hospital sold out, and then I had to open the pharmacy with the new company that bought our hospital, so I didn't have the time I thought I would to prepare.

Anyways, I have an undergraduate degree in Chemical Engineering, 3.92gpa, and a Doctor of Pharmacy degree, with about a 3.5 GPA. I am unsure what counts as science and doesn't...

I do have about 14,000 clinical hours worked as a pharmacist. I had the ER doctor who was a DO give me a LOR, and then I had to use old advisors to get LOR from my undergraduate degree since nobody returned my calls from my pharmacy school. I was unable to use my brother who was a DO to get a letter due to the rules. My other EC activities are scouts for many years, and a primary teacher for my church. I have hundreds of hours of this volunteer work.

I think getting my MCAT score in late as well as not having attended school for 6 years is going to make me an underdog. I have applied to 11 DO schools and 1 MD school. What are my chances here, and please add me to the underdog list.
Click to expand...

If you don't mind me asking, what is your reason for changing careers? Pharmacists have the opportunity to have a lot of clinical involvement and the industry side of pharmacy has unlimited possibilities. Your gpa is great and I'm sure your mcat will be very competitive as well. However, I think your biggest obstacle will be explaining in interviews why you want to go to medical school. I've never been the person to ever tell anyone med school wasn't for them, but considering you are already a doctor....what gives? I would give my left kidney to have dr in fron of my name right now...not to mention skipping out on $300,000 of debt.
 
Anicetus said:
The advice I have been given is just not to address it until asked and just make your application as golden as possible and talk about all the GOOD things about you in your secondaries.

In fact, I actually have a few interviews at DO's coming up so I will PM you what they say about my VR.
Click to expand...

I'd say that's true about dating, too. Nobody should open with "by the way, I have a hairy mole on my arm." Even if it's in plain sight.
 
user3 said:
not an underdog. chances are solid. agree that you should add COMP-NW, and maybe KCUMB, KCOM, and LECOM's. I would remove Pikeville, WCU, and OU.
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I wanted to apply to COMP-NW but i think my gpa and mcat are too low. LECOMs were also on my list, but I don't have a DO letter of rec, and don't know how long it will be until I am able to get one.
 
Lexipi said:
Not joking... The 6 in very verbal is bad - people on SDN have said it will screen me out
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with that overall score and gpa, the 6 on the verbal does not matter. I got a 6 on my verbal and haven't been screened out by anyone so far.
 
kaura said:
I wanted to apply to COMP-NW but i think my gpa and mcat are too low. LECOMs were also on my list, but I don't have a DO letter of rec, and don't know how long it will be until I am able to get one.
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1. they are slightly below average but still worth applying with
2. you can interview at LECOM before getting your DO letter
 
buctuong said:
with that overall score and gpa, the 6 on the verbal does not matter. I got a 6 on my verbal and haven't been screened out by anyone so far.
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When we talk about getting screened out by a subsection score, we refer to adcoms using a system to cut out people below certain scores automatically POST-secondary. A lot of MDs that get 10k+ applicants do this.
 
Anicetus said:
The advice I have been given is just not to address it until asked and just make your application as golden as possible and talk about all the GOOD things about you in your secondaries.

In fact, I actually have a few interviews at DO's coming up so I will PM you what they say about my VR.
Click to expand...

Ok! Thanks!! 🙂
 
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