MD & DO 3.35 GPA, looking for school list input

[polylux]

---

Members don't see this ad.

cGPA: 3.35 (3.4 freshman, dipped into 2.7 during soph year, was 3.2 junior and 3.8 this past semester)
sGPA: 3.3
MCAT: 29, retaking on 4/5/2014
Research:

• 2 summers w/ different people
• 1 yr w/ red blood cells (bench)
• 1 semester of autism research (clinical)
• 1 semester in rad onc (abstracts pending for ASCO/ASTRO)

Shadowing: 80 hrs in rad onc
Community Service: >800 hrs w/ various projects over 4 yrs of college
Extracurricular activities: community service organization for 4 years (was president); dance; piano
Employment history: scribe for 2 yrs (in ED, hospitalist, crit care, ob/gyn); admin asst w/ dept on campus

My list of schools right now is a bit haphazard and includes the following:

• DO (9): TouroCOM-CA, CCOM, West U/COMP, CUSOM, NYCOM, OU-HCOM, PCOM, MSUCOM, MUCOM
• MD (19): UMass, Tulane, MCG@GRU, GWU, Drexel, Howard, Hofstra, SUNY Upstate/Downstate/Stony Brook, NY Med College, Temple, Thomas Jeff, Rush, U Toledo, BU, U Roch, Albany, Quinnipac

Looking for some input as to what other schools I should consider applying to? Are Texas schools worth it for OOS? I'm an MA resident, undergrad in NY. I'm not super interested in going to Florida or most of the west outside of California, but otherwise, I'm game for going anywhere. I really like UMass, Hofstra, Tulane... I also really like TouroCOM-CA, PCOM, and West U/COMP.

Any words are appreciated. 🙂

 

[SpartanWolverine]

Your GPA/MCAT are both a bit low for MD (though not impossibly so), but should be totally fine for DO. Your ECs looks great.

Good luck with UMass -- that would be a great catch (other than having to live in Worcester ). I would suggest adding Albany to your MD school list. Also -- why no Tufts? It's no more of a stretch than BU.

 

[polylux]

Fair point, I'll add it. I'm going the "apply broadly" route in hopes that some adcoms will take interest in my ECs and personal statement enough to invite me out to interview in spite of my below average grades, hence asking for school suggestions. Thanks!

 

[SpartanWolverine]

Fair point, I'll add it. I'm going the "apply broadly" route in hopes that some adcoms will take interest in my ECs and personal statement enough to invite me out to interview in spite of my below average grades, hence asking for school suggestions. Thanks!

Definitely possible.

Good luck on that looming MCAT -- hopefully you can get it up to 32+! UVM also might be a decent one to add... though they have a high GPA, I'm under the impression they're friendly to people with good ECs. Would you consider SUNY Buffalo? I think it's a bit less competitive than SB. I'm no expert, though, so maybe someone like Goro can swoop in and give you his $0.02.

Regardless, you'll do well with DO. Your MD season could be a long one without much luck, but it doesn't hurt to try if you have the time and money.

 

[polylux]

I do have the time, and I have several thousand in the bank I have been saving up throughout college just for this. I'm also very lucky to have parents who have agreed to pay for travel expenses as necessary. Thanks though, this actually makes me feel a lot better. I was starting to freak out and get super anxious.

I have looked at U Buffalo (I don't think it's a state school), but my interest in the city itself is incredibly low. I think I will still add it though. It probably isn't as bad as my couple of visits have made it seem.

 

[Goro]

Unless you're a URM, you're not competitive for MD schools, but are fine for any DO program.

cGPA: 3.35 (3.4 freshman, dipped into 2.7 during soph year, was 3.2 junior and 3.8 this past semester)
sGPA: 3.3
MCAT: 29, retaking on 4/5/2014
Research:

• 2 summers w/ different people
• 1 yr w/ red blood cells (bench)
• 1 semester of autism research (clinical)
• 1 semester in rad onc (abstracts pending for ASCO/ASTRO)

Shadowing: 80 hrs in rad onc
Community Service: >800 hrs w/ various projects over 4 yrs of college
Extracurricular activities: community service organization for 4 years (was president); dance; piano
Employment history: scribe for 2 yrs (in ED, hospitalist, crit care, ob/gyn); admin asst w/ dept on campus

My list of schools right now is a bit haphazard and includes the following:

• DO: TouroCOM-CA, CCOM, West U/COMP, CUSOM, NYCOM, OU-HCOM
• MD: UMass, Tulane, MCG@GRU, GWU, Drexel, Howard, Hofstra, SUNY Upstate/Downstate/Stony Brook, NY Med College, Temple, Thomas Jeff, Wake Forest, Rush, U Toledo, BU, U Roch, Albany

Looking for some input as to what other schools I should consider applying to? Are Texas schools worth it for OOS? I'm an MA resident, undergrad in NY. I'm not super interested in going to Florida or most of the west outside of California, but otherwise, I'm game for going anywhere. I really like UMass, Hofstra, SUNY SB, Tulane... I also really like TouroCOM and OU-HCOM.

Any words are appreciated. 🙂

 

[polylux]

Ouch, although I can't say I didn't see that coming. Thank you for responding! Would you be able to answer a few questions for me?

1. If I raise my MCAT to a 33-34, will I have a chance at an MD school?
2. Are there any other DO schools I should look at that you think are particularly awesome? My primary interest right now is in emergency medicine and Ob/Gyn.

Unless you're a URM, you're not competitive for MD schools, but are fine for any DO program.

 

[Goro]

Not really. It's a sellers market for MD schools, and so they like and can get applicants with both high MCATs and high GPAs. Tufts might be worth a shot. Contactt he dean of Admissions to ask if you're competitive there. For most MD schools, the effective floor for GPA is 3.4.

1. If I raise my MCAT to a 33-34, will I have a chance at an MD school?

UNE, PCOM, PCOM-GA, MUCOM, AT Still, all the west coast schools, DMU and CCOM would top out my list. The only one I'd rule out is LUCOM, since I find the politics of thier parent body abhorrent.

2. Are there any other DO schools I should look at that you think are particularly awesome? My primary interest right now is in emergency medicine and Ob/Gyn.[/quote]

 

[SpartanWolverine]

I think for EM or OB/GYN you would be just fine at a DO school. As Goro said... you're not competitive for MD schools, but I wouldn't take that to mean you have no chance (should be above 10th %ile at many). Just make sure you submit your AMCAS knowing that it's all too probable you may have a long, expensive, and distressing season with nothing good coming out of it. In the same vein, make sure you apply to plenty of DO schools. UNE-COM is actually really quite nice and a great suggestion for staying in the Boston-ish area (though pricey).

 

[Beth_W737]

Rowan SOM (formerly UMDNJ), had a lot of us match into EM this year

 

[Critical Mass REACHED]

Don't listen to some of these people in here. Your application looks well rounded, despite having low scores, as long as you have something to compensate you'll be okay. Your EC's look good. Apply broadly, and I am confident you'll land a spot. If you didn't have any meaningful EC's I'd say probably retake MCAT. Since your EC's stand out, it may be enough to compensate for your grades and scores.

 

[Awesome Sauceome]

Don't listen to some of these people in here. Your application looks well rounded, despite having low scores, as long as you have something to compensate you'll be okay. Your EC's look good. Apply broadly, and I am confident you'll land a spot. If you didn't have any meaningful EC's I'd say probably retake MCAT. Since your EC's stand out, it may be enough to compensate for your grades and scores.

Goro is an adcom..... I wouldnt so quickly dismiss his advice

 

[Critical Mass REACHED]

Goro is an adcom..... I wouldnt so quickly dismiss his advice

Does he sit on the national adcom for every LCME? Clearly I wouldn't say apply to Harvard or Stanford. I know people who are NOT URM's with similar stats who are in med school. The main factor that got them in was their EC's.

 

[Awesome Sauceome]

So your experience with friends... n=what 10?


Sent from my RM-917_nam_usa_100 using Tapatalk

 

[polylux]

Don't listen to some of these people in here. Your application looks well rounded, despite having low scores, as long as you have something to compensate you'll be okay. Your EC's look good. Apply broadly, and I am confident you'll land a spot. If you didn't have any meaningful EC's I'd say probably retake MCAT. Since your EC's stand out, it may be enough to compensate for your grades and scores.

Thank you! I know my chances are lower than others, but at least if I don't get in, it won't be because I didn't try.

 

[SpartanWolverine]

Thank you! I know my chances are lower than others, but at least if I don't get in, it won't be because I didn't try.

Good attitude. Goro is quite good at assessing applications (he got my situation right on) but, even if your season doesn't work out for MD... sometimes it's better to try your best anyways so you know you did all you could.

 

[AlbinoHawk DO]

That's a bad list, IMO. Too many MD and too few DO. At least one more safety DO should be added. This cycle has been crazy.

 

[polylux]

That's a bad list, IMO. Too many MD and too few DO. At least one more safety DO should be added. This cycle has been crazy.

Thank you for the response - I've added another 3 DO schools to my list, but to be honest, I'm not sure what qualifies as "safety" vs "reach" - it seems to me that most of the DO schools have about the same numbers, +/- 0.1 on the GPA and 1-2 pts on the MCAT.

For the MD, I do recognize I'm an underdog in terms of MD applications, but my limit on the number of schools I'm willing to apply to is up in the 30s, so I don't see the harm in having a bunch of MDs. At worst, it's a few thousand dollars, which I've been saving up for just this moment anyways. I'd rather be rejected after trying a lot than not try at all.

 

[polylux]

Good attitude. Goro is quite good at assessing applications (he got my situation right on) but, even if your season doesn't work out for MD... sometimes it's better to try your best anyways so you know you did all you could.

Thank you. 🙂 I'm saying that a lot this thread, lol.

For your previous suggestion of UNECOM, I really really want to stay relatively sub/urban, which UNECOM really isn't. But I will look into them more!

I wonder if there are schools for which ECs are particularly heavily weighted?

 

[Awesome Sauceome]

Thank you for the response - I've added another 3 DO schools to my list, but to be honest, I'm not sure what qualifies as "safety" vs "reach" - it seems to me that most of the DO schools have about the same numbers, +/- 0.1 on the GPA and 1-2 pts on the MCAT.

For the MD, I do recognize I'm an underdog in terms of MD applications, but my limit on the number of schools I'm willing to apply to is up in the 30s, so I don't see the harm in having a bunch of MDs. At worst, it's a few thousand dollars, which I've been saving up for just this moment anyways. I'd rather be rejected after trying a lot than not try at all.

The newer DO schools usually have significantly lower numbers. The original 5 DO schools on the other hand have reasonably high scores. CCOM for instance consistently has scores right around for low tier MD schools.

If you have the money absolutely just cast a wide net. If you have little money then focus DO. My scores are slightly higher than yours and that is all that I am doing.... Straight DO, because I have little faith in getting noticed through the sheer number of qualified applicants at some MD schools, and I would rather not give free money to MD schools. Not to mention some schools (while having an official cutoff at like 3.0 or whatever) unofficially dont accept applicants with <3.4-3.5 gpa, unless you have an OUTSTANDING MCAT and typically some other amazing EC< but that certainly depends on the school. Also something to think about.... they will take people with low gpa, and they will take people with low MCAT. But how often do you think they will take someone with both? I live in Wisconsin and UW is SUPER in-state friendly and even still, the combo of lower gpa and MCAT is dissuading me from applying. But again if you have the cash, definitely go for it. Food for thought.

 

[polylux]

I actually just calculated my GPA according to both AMCAS and AACOMAS... My AMCAS dropped to 3.2 and my AACOMAS rose to 3.4, I assume due to the fact that AMCAS counts Ws against you and AACOMAS has grade forgiveness. This significantly lowers my MD chances, I know, so I'm very much so thinking that I should save the money and apply DO only now. I figured I could work a 3.35 and take my chances, but if AMCAS is going to calculate it down to 3.2, my chances decrease even more. Maybe I'll just build myself a nice desktop instead.

I'm disappointed at these new numbers, but I'm also kind of relieved. Money in the bank for me, and now I only really have to worry about one application verification instead of two.

Are there any other DO schools to seriously consider? Now my current list is as follows, with the blue being my favored.

Touro COM-CA
West U/COMP
DMU COM
CCOM
MUCOM
MSU COM
Campbell SOM
NY COM
OU-HCOM
PCOM
VCOM-VC

 

[Critical Mass REACHED]

There are plenty of sites that give you medical school's avg MCAT GPA. You can easily use that to determine where not to waste your money. But don't be discouraged. Every medical school obviously likes to recruit high GPA, and high MCAT numbers to boast there average overall and brag about it. You can have some in the class with MCATs in the 35+ range, and some in the 25+ range which will bring the average to about 30. I know someone personally who got into Harvard Med with a 29 MCAT! Yes, a 29. But, the rest of the application was stellar, but it wasn't like they put down "recipient of a noble price prize."

The way SDN bloggers make it sound is that if you don't have a 4.0GPA, you're not in an IVY league school, and your MCAT isn't a 35+ then you're out of luck.
Medical schools are trending into recruiting more complete well rounded applicants who will make good empathetic clinicians who are also intelligent. Not just some walking objective student who can only take test, but has poor communication skills, or lacks empathy.

Good luck.