3.2 GPA, Expected 27 MCAT...but I have a story

[nikhillah]

My Stats+Experience:

3.2 GPA, Expected 27 on MCAT

Majors: Biochemistry, Biological Sciences.

CSC 200 Lab Instructor- 1 year

Medical Mission Trip to Reynosa, Mexico - (school sponsored, went once as student volunteer and once as a selected trip leader) 1 week each. Each trip was basically a mix of shadowing, volunteering, and leadership.

New Student Orientation/Orientation Counselor/Leader - 1 month

Shadowed Pediatrician, Gastroenterologist, Endocrinologist , Observed C-Sections, etc - 2 weeks.

Volunteer for Om Service Organization at NCSU- 3 years

*I'm sure I'm going to get a VERY STRONG recommendation letter from my OChem 2 teacher. Leading NMR specialist and consultant for pharma's and companies.

My Story:
Messed up really bad freshman year. 2.9 and 2.5 GPA the first year. I DO have an academic violation on reccord. Aiding and Abetting. My project partner screwed me over by copying my term paper in anthro - I didn't even know till the teacher cited me to the Office of Student Conduct. I've only gone up since then and I've made semester's dean's list every semester after my freshman year. I withdrew my fall semester Junior year because I was going through a rough patch (depression, parents divorce, etc). My Spring semester Junior year ended with a 3.5. I know this is far from the list of qualifications of what a prospective med-student should have, but I've been trying my best to get my grades up along with my activities. Also, I'm not trying to BS my qualifications and want to get a practical and real response from people on SDN.

My Questions:
Which American med schools should I consider? I know I'm not competitive but I'm hoping my personal statement and experience will at least get me an interview at a low-tier med school.

Can I get into St. George's University in the Caribbean?

Will doing a post-bacc, and getting a good GPA in combination with my current scores improve my apps?

Where can I find schools that have low number of applicants and a higher acceptance of out-of-state? (for free )

Should I put the duration of each activity I was involved in? (Ex: mentioning 2 weeks instead of just the month and the year)

How should I go over describing the "rough patch". Should I bring it up in my personal statement?




If you read through all that, THANK YOU. Lots of questions and I figured this would be the best topic/thread to post on.

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[Stratego]

If you don't want to take the time and money to improve your stats, if I were you, I'd apply to DO medical schools, as I think that your chances at US allopathic med schools are very low. MD schools may overlook your bad semesters, but you will not be excused from redeeming your poor GPA. DO is a better option than Caribbean.

Some options if you want to improve your chances at MD med schools, 1) repeat the MCAT and get a 35+, or 2) get straight As for a year to improve your cGPA and get an MCAT of 34, or 3) get an MCAT of 30+ and complete a Special Masters Program (see SDN's Postbaccalaureate Forum for more information).

All the information you need about allo schools can be found in the School Selection spreadsheet stickied to the top of this forum. Plug in your numbers and it will assess your chances at every US med school. Alternatively, all the info on DO schools that you need can be found at: http://www.aacom.org/resources/bookstore/cib/Documents/cib2010/2010-CIB-complete.pdf

 

[RogueUnicorn]

everyone has a story...

 

[nikhillah]

If you don't want to take the time and money to improve your stats, if I were you, I'd apply to DO medical schools, as I think that your chances at US allopathic med schools are very low. MD schools may overlook your bad semesters, but you will not be excused from redeeming your poor GPA. DO is a better option than Caribbean.

Some options if you want to improve your chances at MD med schools, 1) repeat the MCAT and get a 35+, or 2) get straight As for a year to improve your cGPA and get an MCAT of 34, or 3) get an MCAT of 30+ and complete a Special Masters Program (see SDN's Postbaccalaureate Forum for more information).

All the information you need about allo schools can be found in the School Selection spreadsheet stickied to the top of this forum. Plug in your numbers and it will assess your chances at every US med school. Alternatively, all the info on DO schools that you need can be found at: http://www.aacom.org/resources/bookstore/cib/Documents/cib2010/2010-CIB-complete.pdf

WOW, that was exactly all the info I was looking for. Thanks! I'm leaning towards a post-bacc instead of Carribean but my parents are giving me an absolute hard time about it. They think that even going to a low-tier medical school is a better option if all else fails. I can't come up with enough evidence to prove that post-bacc is a better route to go. I'm a rising senior so even when my GPA goes up, it's not in time for this application cycle.

Also, why is DO a better option than the Caribbean?

 

[Stratego]

Caribbean schools have very large classes with very high attrition rates. If you flunk a class, you get no second chances. Even if you successfully complete the program, only about 50% are able to get a residency in the US, and very, very few are in competitive residencies. If you aim to go into Family Practice, this would not be an issue. Of those starting at US MD or DO schools, I believe 87-95% ultimately graduate and successfully match into a US residency. The above is my recall from browsing through SDN's International Medicine>Caribbean Forum a while back, which you should look at yourself for the most recent information and statistics.

See: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?p=7716044&highlight=aibissues#post7716044

 

[slick27]

everyone has a story...

agree with this. its the mcat and gpa that separates us.

 

[DaTruMD]

Spend more time getting that GPA and MCAT up. I must say, though, that academic violation is a killer...

DO is better than Carib. because they have a better match rate.

 

[ChemEngSoonMD]

My Stats+Experience:

3.2 GPA, Expected 27 on MCAT

Majors: Biochemistry, Biological Sciences.

CSC 200 Lab Instructor- 1 year

Medical Mission Trip to Reynosa, Mexico - (school sponsored, went once as student volunteer and once as a selected trip leader) 1 week each. Each trip was basically a mix of shadowing, volunteering, and leadership.

New Student Orientation/Orientation Counselor/Leader - 1 month

Shadowed Pediatrician, Gastroenterologist, Endocrinologist , Observed C-Sections, etc - 2 weeks.

Volunteer for Om Service Organization at NCSU- 3 years

*I'm sure I'm going to get a VERY STRONG recommendation letter from my OChem 2 teacher. Leading NMR specialist and consultant for pharma's and companies.

My Story:
Messed up really bad freshman year. 2.9 and 2.5 GPA the first year. I DO have an academic violation on reccord. Aiding and Abetting. My project partner screwed me over by copying my term paper in anthro - I didn't even know till the teacher cited me to the Office of Student Conduct. I've only gone up since then and I've made semester's dean's list every semester after my freshman year. I withdrew my fall semester Junior year because I was going through a rough patch (depression, parents divorce, etc). My Spring semester Junior year ended with a 3.5. I know this is far from the list of qualifications of what a prospective med-student should have, but I've been trying my best to get my grades up along with my activities. Also, I'm not trying to BS my qualifications and want to get a practical and real response from people on SDN.

My Questions:
Which American med schools should I consider? I know I'm not competitive but I'm hoping my personal statement and experience will at least get me an interview at a low-tier med school.

Can I get into St. George's University in the Caribbean?

Will doing a post-bacc, and getting a good GPA in combination with my current scores improve my apps?

Where can I find schools that have low number of applicants and a higher acceptance of out-of-state? (for free )

Should I put the duration of each activity I was involved in? (Ex: mentioning 2 weeks instead of just the month and the year)

How should I go over describing the "rough patch". Should I bring it up in my personal statement?




If you read through all that, THANK YOU. Lots of questions and I figured this would be the best topic/thread to post on.

Dont worry, the school's applicant reader will definitely read this and let you in.

 

[Longshanks]

agree with this. its the mcat and gpa that separates us.

Actually, everyone has a gpa and mcat. Its the individual story which most lack.

 

[ChemEngSoonMD]

Actually, everyone has a gpa and mcat. Its the individual story which most lack.

i think the other guy was referring to the "magnitude of the score" and not the fact that everyone has one.

 

[nikhillah]

I know a story does not make too much of a difference. I just wanted my LONG story read in the first place, so I could get some real responses. I'm not applying to DO, because I'm quite hung up becoming an M.D. Since match rates are better for grads from LCME schools, I'll either be going post-bacc +reapply or Caribbean followed by transfer back to US allo (have to determine how plausible this is). Let's see how the second MCAT goes and GPA is going up anyway in a year by graduation.

 

[MossPoh]

Not impossible but not likely either. I have a 3.3 ish and a 27 MCAT and am at a US allopathic. That being said, I pretty much sold out to this school and did everything within my power to be here. I applied to over 30 schools (MD/DO) and had 9 interview offers, 2 of which were MD. I had a list of volunteering, jobs, experiences that were well above the norm and a fairly strong upward trend. I wasn't even directly accepted into this school post-interview. I was waitlisted till a few days before orientation. A post-bacc is a good option if you do well. MCAT is always easier to improve than GPA. GPA takes a long long time. I had over 200 credit hours when all was said and done. That is nearly impossible to budge unless you take YEARS of classes and get A's in everything.

 

[apumic]

My Stats+Experience:

3.2 GPA, Expected 27 on MCAT

Majors: Biochemistry, Biological Sciences.

CSC 200 Lab Instructor- 1 year

Medical Mission Trip to Reynosa, Mexico - (school sponsored, went once as student volunteer and once as a selected trip leader) 1 week each. Each trip was basically a mix of shadowing, volunteering, and leadership.

New Student Orientation/Orientation Counselor/Leader - 1 month

Shadowed Pediatrician, Gastroenterologist, Endocrinologist , Observed C-Sections, etc - 2 weeks.

Volunteer for Om Service Organization at NCSU- 3 years

*I'm sure I'm going to get a VERY STRONG recommendation letter from my OChem 2 teacher. Leading NMR specialist and consultant for pharma's and companies.

My Story:
Messed up really bad freshman year. 2.9 and 2.5 GPA the first year. I DO have an academic violation on reccord. Aiding and Abetting. My project partner screwed me over by copying my term paper in anthro - I didn't even know till the teacher cited me to the Office of Student Conduct. I've only gone up since then and I've made semester's dean's list every semester after my freshman year. I withdrew my fall semester Junior year because I was going through a rough patch (depression, parents divorce, etc). My Spring semester Junior year ended with a 3.5. I know this is far from the list of qualifications of what a prospective med-student should have, but I've been trying my best to get my grades up along with my activities. Also, I'm not trying to BS my qualifications and want to get a practical and real response from people on SDN.

My Questions:
Which American med schools should I consider? I know I'm not competitive but I'm hoping my personal statement and experience will at least get me an interview at a low-tier med school.

Can I get into St. George's University in the Caribbean?

Will doing a post-bacc, and getting a good GPA in combination with my current scores improve my apps?

Where can I find schools that have low number of applicants and a higher acceptance of out-of-state? (for free )

Should I put the duration of each activity I was involved in? (Ex: mentioning 2 weeks instead of just the month and the year)

How should I go over describing the "rough patch". Should I bring it up in my personal statement?




If you read through all that, THANK YOU. Lots of questions and I figured this would be the best topic/thread to post on.

Frankly, that's a lot of red flags. Even without the violation on your record, your chances at any of the Carribean schools admitting you would still be just a few percent (yes, they do reject people -- the base acceptance rate at those schools is still <10%). Theoretically, your best bets for a US Allopathic school, given your grades and hopeful MCAT score, would be Marshall in West Virginia and USUHS in Maryland. You'd have less than a 1 in 100 chance at an interview at either one and about a 1 in 250 chance at being accepted at one of them.
However, I'm not entirely sure you should count your eggs this long before they hatch if you haven't taken the MCAT yet. Have you taken AAMC Tests 8-10? If your 27 was on something else (i.e., Kaplan, AAMC #3, PR, GS, etc.), I wouldn't assume anything yet. Your GPA track record indicates you probably will score closer to a 23, which would hurt you even more and simply validate your low GPA (as would a 27, frankly). I don't know if the correlation between GPA and MCAT score is any better than, for instance, Kaplan FL #9 and the MCAT, but I doubt Kaplan's is much closer (GPA correlates at about r=0.4 on each subsection with sGPA being somewhat stronger for PS & BS than is cGPA, while they both strongly correlate with Verbal).
Your clinical experience seems to me to be almost nonexistent. In total, you have less than a month of anything and much of that is shadowing, which doesn't really count as clinical experience so much as hospital exposure. Clinical experience generally implies actually doing something and interacting w/ patients in some way (that comes from several adcoms). Additionally, your exposure is extremely brief in each case. There is an apparent lack of commitment to any one thing and/or an inability to find long-term involvement somewhere. Your only saving grace here is the fact that you have 3 years of volunteer service, so it's obviously not that you simply cannot commit or cannot hold down a job or position for more than a few weeks.
Finally, your academic violation is going to cause concern. If you had a high GPA and high MCAT, it might be assumed that you'd learned from it and gone on and probably aren't having to cheat to get good grades, but if you turn it around now, people might ask whether you cheated, etc., since the academic violation came up. A high MCAT might help to calm those worries, but neither a 23 nor a 27 is going to cut it to show them you can succeed in medical school w/o further academic dishonesty.

You can get a lot more data on actual chances by taking a look at the med school spreadsheet at the top of this forum. It contains data on most of the US Allopathic schools as well as some internat'l schools. However, I will tell you now that with your scores, it's a pretty bleak picture. Even for those with excellent scores, the numbers are a little intimidating (i.e., for my top choice, an in-state school that is in the top 25, I only have ~40% chance at admission and for out-of-state schools it's generally less than 20% with the rest of the top all less than 10%).

Hopefully, though, you can pull this up and make a turn-around. I would definitely suggest reconsidering on the DO. DOs and MDs are equivalent in the US and even in many other countries now. DO schools also let you retake classes for grade forgiveness, something you should strongly consider doing. Anyway, best of luck with all of this!

 

[not so calm now]

Theoretically, your best bets for a US Allopathic school, given your grades and hopeful MCAT score, would be Marshall in West Virginia and USUHS in Maryland.

Marshall has a very specific mission statement and does not even give secondaries to people living in states not bordering West Virginia. Even so, they only have ~20 out of state spots. If you go to USUHS you have to commit to being in the military. Does the OP fit either of those criteria?

To the OP, I say go Caribbean. If you are hung up on not being a D.O., that's your best chance. I hear Spartan's pretty good.

 

[nikhillah]

Update (in case my academic profile matches another individual):

1. MCAT turned out to be 23 (as perfectly predicted by apumic...a true oracle of the streets)
2. MERP'd to Ross @ Bahamas
3. Leaving Aug
4. Wish me luck. I'm beginning to become serious about my desire to be a Physician and this is my last chance. I'll post an update in December regarding how MERP goes.

 

[Catalystik]

Thanks for the followup post. I look forward to hearing about your progress.