SRY
@teeayejay one more one more
@azolesoul I sent you a PM like months ago telling you that I didn't think it'd be all that useful to do a postbac. Retaking undergrad courses is helpful if you graduated years and years ago and your transcript doesn't seem relevant. If you just graduated, all the ad com is going to see is that you took biology and chemistry twice in 5 years and they'll just average the scores together. I've always been in the camp that you needed to find a way to take 3-6 months out of your life to study for the MCAT and
only study for the MCAT. Like I'm talking studying is your full time job for a concentrated 3-6 months. Then I can begin to imagine a future where you would actually score above the 90th percentile.
I've said it before and I'll say it one more time. (But fr fr this is the last time so I really hope you read this, internalize it, and go reflect)
As an underrepresented minority in medicine, med schools really want you in their classes. There is a finite number of underrepresented minorities that apply and an even smaller number that are actually qualified to go to med school. There are 3 categories in your app (gpa/mcat, ECs, personal statement/letters of rec) and if you are deficient in 1 you have to make up for it with the other areas.
@PrayForMe0533 has a ridiculously high MCAT. This is going to stop med schools from throwing their app into the trash due to GPA cutoffs (actually some med schools will still throw it into the trash because they have overall GPA cut offs of 3.2) The MCAT is the foot in the door to get them looked at as a human being but they better have some solid ECs and a compelling personal statement/paragraph
somewhere explaining why their GPA is so low when they clearly understand the principles of basic sciences and can apply them to a rigorous exam.
Bottom line, no one on the ad com is going to think they can't pass exams and STEP 1/don't have a good foundation in the sciences because a 517 is really ****ing hard to do. In fact its so high and so different from their gpa that it makes me think they went to a school that did grade deflation or they were an engineering major or something like that. (congrats and kudos to you
@PrayForMe0533 btw)
@azolesoul you scored a 500. That means you are in the 50th percentile. So when I look at your ~3.1gpa and 500 mcat I think you have deficiencies somewhere. Were your score breakdowns 125 across the board or did you get like a 120 in bio and a 127 in psych/soc etc. If you got below 125 in any of the 4 categories that makes things even
worse. When screeners look at your app, even if you have the most compelling story in the world (and being born without money is not it, I promise you. There are a lot of people out here that don't have money) you don't have anything to warrant them bringing you in for an interview over another person. That is why you didn't get any interview invites this cycle.
Here is my advice again: if you don't want to do the postbac don't do it. If you don't want to do the SMP don't do it. There are people all over this site, all over this thread that have said they got interviews and accepted with GPAs similar to yours.
BUT you better hunker down and get an mcat study schedule that is at least 3 months long and realistically more like 6 months long. You better work your ass off at a job or 2 jobs or whatever it takes to save up 3-6 months of rent/utilities/food so you can study for the mcat 6-8 hours every day. because I promise you if you retake that mcat and you score a 503 or some **** like that you're going to be in the same position. Or really a worse position because you'll be a reapplicant with two low MCAT attempts.
TLDR: targeted 3-6 months of MCAT prep. Score above a 510. When you apply again in June of 2019 (don't you dare apply this cycle) add at lease 5 DO schools to the pile. If you can't get to 510 and/or don't want to wait or consider DO schools...... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ i don't think you'll have a viable application.
literally there is nothing else I or anyone on this thread can say.
now back to regularly scheduled programming. I'm still waiting on Post-I decisions and it's killing me! I want to know at least 1 week before traffic day so I can think about my options. come on adcommmmmmm
