3.6 cGPA, 43S MCAT....

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exparrot said:
Current cGPA: 3.6
MCAT score: 43S
Extracurriculars:
  • worked 5+ years in an OB/GYN clinic (I'm a non-trad applicant)
  • published 2 case reports with the OB/GYN physician I work with
  • fluent in Arabic and Urdu (but I'm a diehard wannabe polyglot so I'm learning Hindi and Farsi as well)

Okay, so perhaps someone will say, "Well, you've got a pretty sweet MCAT score so nothing to worry about..." but as a non-traditional med applicant (I'm 27) applying this upcoming cycle, I want to get an honest assessment and try to do whatever I can to improve for the next 6 months. Especially with my GPA, as I don't feel like it's competitive enough. Would doing a SMP at Georgetown or Tufts improve my chances with respect to my GPA?

As a corollary, my sister too is applying to medical school. Her GPA is also a 3.6, MCAT score 41R, she has also worked at an OB/GYN clinic (same as me) and co-authored case reports with me and the OB we work with. She doesn't have any other extracurriculars as she spends a lot of her free time studying higher-level mathematics (I'm not kidding). The only problem is she has 5 Ws on her record. She doesn't really have any good reason except that the first 3 were because she had a math intensive courseload for the first 2 and the the third was because she was taking 2 summer classes and again the courseload was too much. This semester she dropped 2 classes due to some emotional stress. I'm really worried if these Ws are going to hurt her prospects of getting into medical school. Should she do an SMP in order to demonstrate her ability to handle an intensive workload expected of a medical student? I'd really appreciate the advice for both of us!
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both you and your sister should be able to get into some very good medical schools, perhaps even top ones.

SMPs are an ABSOLUTELY waste for you - DO NOT go anywhere near it.

3.6 is a perfectly golden GPA, and your MCAT is stellar.

fyi, i dont know if you heard about the LizzyM score. bascially, you multiply your GPA by 10, and add that number to your MCAT. so your lizzym score is 36 (3.6x10) + 43, which is a 79.

to give you some perspective, a lizzym score of a 74+ is competitive at places like harvard and johns hopkins. your score is a 79... does anyone needs to say more?
 
aspiring20 said:
both you and your sister should be able to get into some very good medical schools, perhaps even top ones.

SMPs are an ABSOLUTELY waste for you - DO NOT go anywhere near it.

3.6 is a perfectly golden GPA, and your MCAT is stellar.

fyi, i dont know if you heard about the LizzyM score. bascially, you multiply your GPA by 10, and add that number to your MCAT. so your lizzym score is 36 (3.6x10) + 43, which is a 79.

to give you some perspective, a lizzym score of a 74+ is competitive at places like harvard and johns hopkins. your score is a 79... does anyone needs to say more?
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Nope. You pretty much summed it up. Grab your ticket and see you in 4 years.
 
I had a similar worry to you when I applied as I had pretty much your GPA, but a good MCAT score. You have an even higher MCAT score than I did, so I wouldn't worry as the MCAT will carry you a very long way as far as adcoms are concerned.
 
exparrot said:
Current cGPA: 3.6
MCAT score: 43S
Extracurriculars:
  • worked 5+ years in an OB/GYN clinic (I'm a non-trad applicant)
  • published 2 case reports with the OB/GYN physician I work with
  • fluent in Arabic and Urdu (but I'm a diehard wannabe polyglot so I'm learning Hindi and Farsi as well)

Okay, so perhaps someone will say, "Well, you've got a pretty sweet MCAT score so nothing to worry about..." but as a non-traditional med applicant (I'm 27) applying this upcoming cycle, I want to get an honest assessment and try to do whatever I can to improve for the next 6 months. Especially with my GPA, as I don't feel like it's competitive enough. Would doing a SMP at Georgetown or Tufts improve my chances with respect to my GPA?

As a corollary, my sister too is applying to medical school. Her GPA is also a 3.6, MCAT score 41R, she has also worked at an OB/GYN clinic (same as me) and co-authored case reports with me and the OB we work with. She doesn't have any other extracurriculars as she spends a lot of her free time studying higher-level mathematics (I'm not kidding). The only problem is she has 5 Ws on her record. She doesn't really have any good reason except that the first 3 were because she had a math intensive courseload for the first 2 and the the third was because she was taking 2 summer classes and again the courseload was too much. This semester she dropped 2 classes due to some emotional stress. I'm really worried if these Ws are going to hurt her prospects of getting into medical school. Should she do an SMP in order to demonstrate her ability to handle an intensive workload expected of a medical student? I'd really appreciate the advice for both of us!
Click to expand...

Dude your MCAT score is far from sweet. It's astonishing. Very very very few people get a score that high.. I wouldn't be surprised if you got into harvard
 
Hemorrage said:
Dude your MCAT score is far from sweet. It's astonishing. Very very very few people get a score that high.. I wouldn't be surprised if you got into harvard
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To put this in perspective, I'll add some numbers from the 2011 MCAT percentile data. In that year, 86,181 people took the MCAT. The 99.9th percentile was a 41, meaning that only about 86 (1 in 1000) people scored a 41+ in that entire year. A 43 would probably put you comfortably within the top 50 scores in the country.

not%20bad.jpg
 
exparrot said:
Current cGPA: 3.6
MCAT score: 43S
Extracurriculars:
  • worked 5+ years in an OB/GYN clinic (I'm a non-trad applicant)
  • published 2 case reports with the OB/GYN physician I work with
  • fluent in Arabic and Urdu (but I'm a diehard wannabe polyglot so I'm learning Hindi and Farsi as well)

Okay, so perhaps someone will say, "Well, you've got a pretty sweet MCAT score so nothing to worry about..." but as a non-traditional med applicant (I'm 27) applying this upcoming cycle, I want to get an honest assessment and try to do whatever I can to improve for the next 6 months. Especially with my GPA, as I don't feel like it's competitive enough. Would doing a SMP at Georgetown or Tufts improve my chances with respect to my GPA?
Click to expand...
You haven't mentioned your BCPM GPA. Or your community service activities. Or leadership and teaching/mentoring. Or hobbies/artistic endeavers. Why not stretch all the way back to the college years and see what you can come up with. I am presuming you have no research activity, which would be highly important to most of the top-ranked institutions. (A case report is not in the same category.)
 
Catalystik said:
You haven't mentioned your BCPM GPA. Or your community service activities. Or leadership and teaching/mentoring. Or hobbies/artistic endeavers. Why not stretch all the way back to the college years and see what you can come up with. I am presuming you have no research activity, which would be highly important to most of the top-ranked institutions. (A case report is not in the same category.)
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You're right, I didn't mention my BCPM GPA---I actually had to look that up because I didn't know what it was. I'd have to calculate that because I honestly don't know. As far as the other extracurriculars you mentioned, I had to work part-time so it's not like I had time to do community service, leadership, teaching/mentoring. I did mention a hobby---language learning. And yes, I have no research activity and I appreciate you mentioning that. I guess I have to look around for such opportunities!

Doctor Strange said:
I'm willing to marry my sister to you so that we can have some of these smart genes in our family. Good job to both you and your sister. No need for an SMP.
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LOL. I would gladly do so, though I don't think I'm any smarter than anyone else here on SDN (especially not where I go to school), but I don't think there'd be any offspring since I'm a female myself...
 
exparrot said:
LOL. I would gladly do so, though I don't think I'm any smarter than anyone else here on SDN (especially not where I go to school), but I don't think there'd be any offspring since I'm a female myself...
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I have a brother. In any case, don't sell yourself short. A 43S on the MCAT is a huge accomplishment and puts you in a very exclusive club.
 
Catalystik, I'm wondering since I noticed you're a physician, I'll be graduating in May, although I'm taking a summer language class, and by August I'll be free from academic obligations for my gap year. During that year, I plan to volunteer at an ER on the side to work. I should have one month of experience under my belt before applying in October, do you think that experience would strengthen my application? Would that be preferable or research experience? Thanks in advance for your input!
 
exparrot said:
You're not Asian by any chance, are you?
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Ignore him.

I'm Asian. I'm single and ready to mingle. I'd be willing to fight him to the death for you.

In seriousness, congrats on the stellar 43 MCAT. You've opened up lots of doors. Your skill at testing will come in handy in the future.
 
exparrot said:
Catalystik, I'm wondering since I noticed you're a physician, I'll be graduating in May, although I'm taking a summer language class, and by August I'll be free from academic obligations for my gap year. During that year, I plan to volunteer at an ER on the side to work. I should have one month of experience under my belt before applying in October, do you think that experience would strengthen my application? Would that be preferable or research experience? Thanks in advance for your input!
Click to expand...
Assuming you interact with the patients in the OB office, I expect you have enough clinical experience with sick people. I'd rather see you volunteering to provide a community service to those in need, examples being: soup kitchen, homeless shelter, womens shelter, crisis hotline, Big Brothers; Big Sisters, Meals on Wheels, etc., and I'd want to see those hours acculmulating starting now. Surely you can spare an hour or three a week to help those less fortunate than yourself. IMO, this activity will be more helpful to your application than research or additional active clinical experience..

And applying in October is a terrible idea. Far fewer interview seats remain by that late in the season.
 
Hemorrage said:
Dude your MCAT score is far from sweet. It's astonishing. Very very very few people get a score that high.. I wouldn't be surprised if you got into harvard
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🙄
 
Catalystick,

Yes, I do interact with patients, my position is as a medical assistant/sort-of PA/medical billing. I interpret lab results, check vitals, take histories, write notes, put OB patients on NSTs and interpret, do other small lab measurements like glucose, Hgb, urine dipstick, adminster injectables, and lots of other things. The volunteering part sounds good to me. But I'm confused by what you mean "And applying in October is a terrible idea. Far fewer interview seats remain by that late in the season." Isn't the AMCAS primary application deadline for most schools October 15? I'm sorry if I come across a dullard, but why would it be a bad idea and what would you advise? Again, thank you so much for taking time to answer my questions!
 
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exparrot said:
I'm confused by what you mean "And applying in October is a terrible idea. Far fewer interview seats remain by that late in the season." Isn't the AMCAS primary application deadline for most schools by October 15? I'm sorry if I come across a dullard, but why would it be a bad idea and what would you advise?
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If you apply about October 15, it will take about 6 weeks for your transcripts to be verified. So now you're in late November. Then you get Secondary applications which may take a few more weeks to complete. But then it's winter break time at med schools when admissions staff take their vacations, so your application review will be further delayed. Considering that interviews have been taking place for several months at most schools and that the number of spots that are offered are finite, you have a smaller chance of getting one of the interviews that are left. I'm not saying that you may not get any interviews, but the ones you get are more likely to be at schools you would be less thrilled about attending.

The best time to apply is early in June when it takes days to 2 weeks for verification and you have the best possible chance at an interview spot.
 
exparrot said:
Catalystick,

Yes, I do interact with patients, my position is as a medical assistant/sort-of PA/medical billing. I interpret lab results, check vitals, take histories, write notes, put OB patients on NSTs and interpret, do other small lab measurements like glucose, Hgb, urine dipstick, adminster injectables, and lots of other things. The volunteering part sounds good to me. But I'm confused by what you mean "And applying in October is a terrible idea. Far fewer interview seats remain by that late in the season." Isn't the AMCAS primary application deadline for most schools October 15? I'm sorry if I come across a dullard, but why would it be a bad idea and what would you advise? Again, thank you so much for taking time to answer my questions!
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He's a gentleman and a scholar!
 
43 on the MCAT?!?! :wtf: (in a good 'wtf' way)
you will definitely get in, to an ivy MD school!
 
All hail to the 43S. Dude, seriously awesome job. I'm sure you'll get in to a lot of places.
 
AFLATPEG said:
43 on the MCAT?!?! :wtf: (in a good 'wtf' way)
you will definitely get in, to an ivy MD school!
Click to expand...

You're no doubt basing this on your extensive experience applying to ivy MD schools...
 
The most shocking part of this whole story is that the OP and her sister both scored in the 99.9 percentile :wow:

The odds (regardless of how much work was put in) of that has just got to be basically zero. A 43 and a 37 or something I can see, but a 43 and a 41 is just amazing!

And since there already seems to be a dibs on the OP, I guess I'll settle for the OP's sister 😛
 
Reviving a not-so-old thread here but one helpful forum member mentioned that a BCPM GPA contributes to the medical application. I had no idea what a BCPM GPA was at that time and after calculating, my BCPM GPA is a 3.2. 😱 Yeah, it's pretty bad. The only reason why my GPA is a 3.6 now is because when I transferred schools, I got my act together and started taking a whole lot of biology courses, getting A's/A-'s. Considering again that I have a high MCAT score, does that ameliorate my awful BCPM GPA? I really appreciate the feedback!
 
exparrot said:
Reviving a not-so-old thread here but one helpful forum member mentioned that a BCPM GPA contributes to the medical application. I had no idea what a BCPM GPA was at that time and after calculating, my BCPM GPA is a 3.2. 😱 Yeah, it's pretty bad. The only reason why my GPA is a 3.6 now is because when I transferred schools, I got my act together and started taking a whole lot of biology courses, getting A's/A-'s. Considering again that I have a high MCAT score, does that ameliorate my awful BCPM GPA? I really appreciate the feedback!
Click to expand...

I don't think it changes the fact that you need to follow the advice already given regarding EC's. you probably have so many BCPM hours that you aren't really going to move the needle much without taking years of classes. Just go with that GPA and know that the MCAT will of course get attention. You'll get screened at some top programs with that GPA, such is life. Apply broadly, as is always the advice.
 
Your parents should be ashamed of themselves!

🙂 good luck
 
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