3.88 GPA, 30N mcat - chances?

[ellm1205]

Hi! I did not consider going to medical school until fairly recently (past 2 years), so my knowledge of medical schools and their preferences are a little lacking. I was hoping to get some thoughts on my chances of getting into a med school.

Here are my stats:
-Biochemistry major (was previously a chemical engineering major, took a lot of engineering courses)
-cGPA: 3.88
-sGPA: 3.89
-MCAT: P11, V9, B10, writing N --> 30N (took it again 7/29)
-1+ year research at university (500 hours) with publication; received undergraduate research fellowship
-100+ hospital volunteer hours
-50 shadowing hours total (including OB/GYN and pediatric oncologist)
-various non-healthcare related volunteering (100+ hours)
-grader for engineering weed-out class
-member of various Engineering organizations
-University Honors 6 semesters
-received various scholarships consistently throughout college
-may be graduating a semester early
- should have pretty strong LORs
-TX resident

Some extra information:
- I received a C for Organic Chemistry II for engineers (major mess-up in my entire academic career), but retook the class and got an A.
- My hospital volunteer hours are all from the summer of 2011, as are my shadowing experiences. To my understanding, this may not look so good since medical schools look for committed EC's. It's because I joined the pre-med party pretty late in my college career, but I know that's no excuse. I am planning to continue volunteering during this school year though.
- no significant leadership experience except for taking part in planning a regional conference for a national engineering organization.
- I have applied to all the TX schools, and a few OOS as of now.

Honestly, the more I look at my stats right now, the more I think they are not very competitive. Was it a mistake for me to apply this cycle? Do yall think I have a chance at all??

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[aSagacious]

You seem to have taken care of the typical ECs, have a stellar GPA (especially considering your major), and a respectable MCAT.

Here are the schools that I'm applying to OOS, all of which have relatively modest admission statistics and are OOS friendly:
Medical College of Wisconsin
SUNY Buffalo
University of Louisville
Medical University of South Carolina
Virginia Commonwealth University
Wake Forest University
Virginia Tech Carilion
University of Kentucky
SUNY Upstate
Eastern Virginia Medical School

... out of curiosity, have you obtained US citizenship yet? If not you will have a much more difficult application cycle. Otherwise, you're in a very convenient state and should be in good shape for a couple interviews.

 

[ellm1205]

You seem to have taken care of the typical ECs, have a stellar GPA (especially considering your major), and a respectable MCAT.

Here are the schools that I'm applying to OOS, all of which have relatively modest admission statistics and are OOS friendly:
Medical College of Wisconsin
SUNY Buffalo
University of Louisville
Medical University of South Carolina
Virginia Commonwealth University
Wake Forest University
Virginia Tech Carilion
University of Kentucky
SUNY Upstate
Eastern Virginia Medical School

... out of curiosity, have you obtained US citizenship yet? If not you will have a much more difficult application cycle. Otherwise, you're in a very convenient state and should be in good shape for a couple interviews.

thanks for the input!
actually, I have not obtained US citizenship... However, I am qualified to apply and should be able to obtain citizenship before 2012 academic year. Will this be detrimental in my case?

 

[aSagacious]

actually, I have not obtained US citizenship... However, I am qualified to apply and should be able to obtain citizenship before 2012 academic year. Will this be detrimental in my case?

Unfortunately, the AMCAS asks you for your residency status at the time of application (which, in your case, will precede your citizenship). While this won't make applying impossible, it will just mean that you need to do your homework before throwing money around. I suggest purchasing an online copy of the MSAR and visit the websites of your schools of interest to catch up on residency requirements, as they will vary by school.

 

[Catalystik]

If you are a permanent resident, your chances should be about equal to those of a citizen.

 

[StephBee]

I've got almost identical stats, minus a .03/.04 on a GPA here and there but you can see my completed schools list on my MDApps. All the schools I applied to have at least a 15% (if not 20% I don't remember now) OOS acceptence (except maybe CO since that's my state school but if I remember correctly, they're fairly OOS friendly). Maybe my schools list will help! GL!

 

[ellm1205]

updated my post today because I feel like I didn't adequately describe my situation the first time around. Any help is appreciated!

 

[cyanide12345678]

Hi! I did not consider going to medical school until fairly recently (past 2 years), so my knowledge of medical schools and their preferences are a little lacking. I was hoping to get some thoughts on my chances of getting into a med school.

Here are my stats:
-Biochemistry major (was previously a chemical engineering major, took a lot of engineering courses)
-cGPA: 3.88
-sGPA: 3.89
-MCAT: P11, V9, B10, writing N --> 30N (took it again 7/29)
-1+ year research at university (500 hours) with publication; received undergraduate research fellowship
-100+ hospital volunteer hours
-50 shadowing hours total (including OB/GYN and pediatric oncologist)
-various non-healthcare related volunteering (100+ hours)
-grader for engineering weed-out class
-member of various Engineering organizations
-University Honors 6 semesters
-received various scholarships consistently throughout college
-may be graduating a semester early
- should have pretty strong LORs
-TX resident

Some extra information:
- I received a C for Organic Chemistry II for engineers (major mess-up in my entire academic career), but retook the class and got an A.
- My hospital volunteer hours are all from the summer of 2011, as are my shadowing experiences. To my understanding, this may not look so good since medical schools look for committed EC's. It's because I joined the pre-med party pretty late in my college career, but I know that's no excuse. I am planning to continue volunteering during this school year though.
- no significant leadership experience except for taking part in planning a regional conference for a national engineering organization.
- I have applied to all the TX schools, and a few OOS as of now.

Honestly, the more I look at my stats right now, the more I think they are not very competitive. Was it a mistake for me to apply this cycle? Do yall think I have a chance at all??

It actually surprises me why you would even think that you don't have a chance. I have almost the same numbers as you (3.95 cgpa and 31R...funny thing is that I was in chemical engineering myself and went into Biochem lolz). I think you have a 20% shot at southwestern (The fact that you have a publication will help you a lot there because its a research oriented place). More like a 50% shot at UT houston and UTMB. And probably around a 70 - 80% shot at San antonio (And SA is better than Houston and UTMB in my opinion. They don't go by the numbers that much so their 50th percentile scores are 3.75 and 31). Your definitely getting interviews at most texas schools you've applied to. So, yea I'd say your definitely going to medical school this cycle. Your Texas residency is going to do the magic for you

Though, when did you complete your TMDSAS? Has your application been transmitted yet? Which undergrad institute are you from?

Good luck!

 

[Catalystik]

I was hoping to get some thoughts on my chances of getting into a med school.

Here are my stats:
-Biochemistry major (was previously a chemical engineering major, took a lot of engineering courses)
-cGPA: 3.88
-sGPA: 3.89
-MCAT: P11, V9, B10, writing N --> 30N (took it again 7/29)
-1+ year research at university (500 hours) with publication; received undergraduate research fellowship
-100+ hospital volunteer hours
-50 shadowing hours total (including OB/GYN and pediatric oncologist)
-various non-healthcare related volunteering (100+ hours)
-grader for engineering weed-out class
-member of various Engineering organizations
-University Honors 6 semesters
-received various scholarships consistently throughout college
-may be graduating a semester early
- should have pretty strong LORs
-TX resident

Some extra information:
- I received a C for Organic Chemistry II for engineers (major mess-up in my entire academic career), but retook the class and got an A.
- My hospital volunteer hours are all from the summer of 2011, as are my shadowing experiences. To my understanding, this may not look so good since medical schools look for committed EC's. It's because I joined the pre-med party pretty late in my college career, but I know that's no excuse. I am planning to continue volunteering during this school year though.
- no significant leadership experience except for taking part in planning a regional conference for a national engineering organization.
- I have applied to all the TX schools, and a few OOS as of now.

Honestly, the more I look at my stats right now, the more I think they are not very competitive. Was it a mistake for me to apply this cycle? Do yall think I have a chance at all??

Assuming you are a permanent resident with a green card, I think your stats are fine for getting an acceptance (so long as your second MCAT score isn't worse). The main weakness that keeps me from being reassuring about your application success is the relative recency of the clinical experience. All you can do is continue to gain more as you have planned and let schools know about it via update letters where allowed, on Secondaries, and during interview conversations. If you end up reapplying, your application will be much stronger by next May/June. I'd suggest that you also continue to improve on the nonmedical community service. And since Texas schools love shadowing, maybe broaden your experience to another specialty or two if you can. All this and any other activities you feel are pertinent, besides new fall grades, should be communicated to schools as above.

 

[ellm1205]

It actually surprises me why you would even think that you don't have a chance. I have almost the same numbers as you (3.95 cgpa and 31R...funny thing is that I was in chemical engineering myself and went into Biochem lolz). I think you have a 20% shot at southwestern (The fact that you have a publication will help you a lot there because its a research oriented place). More like a 50% shot at UT houston and UTMB. And probably around a 70 - 80% shot at San antonio (And SA is better than Houston and UTMB in my opinion. They don't go by the numbers that much so their 50th percentile scores are 3.75 and 31). Your definitely getting interviews at most texas schools you've applied to. So, yea I'd say your definitely going to medical school this cycle. Your Texas residency is going to do the magic for you

Though, when did you complete your TMDSAS? Has your application been transmitted yet? Which undergrad institute are you from?

Good luck!

haha our situations do sound similar indeed. I donno, maybe I'm just getting a little bit paranoid with all the waiting. My TMDSAS was transmitted in the beginning of August (a bit late), and I think I have received confirmation emails from all the TX schools. I go to UT Austin.
thanks for the reassurance! here's to hoping

 

[cyanide12345678]

haha our situations do sound similar indeed. I donno, maybe I'm just getting a little bit paranoid with all the waiting. My TMDSAS was transmitted in the beginning of August (a bit late), and I think I have received confirmation emails from all the TX schools. I go to UT Austin.
thanks for the reassurance! here's to hoping

Your definitely getting a bit paranoid. My TMDSAS got transmitted on the 16th and I'm not much worried about things. Once you get an interview (which you most probably will), you will be on a level playing field with everyone who applied early. And your stats are sufficient atleast for getting interviews. So relax and enjoy the few days of summer you have before college starts. oh and I believe 70% of UT premed kids get admitted to med school each cycle i think. Based on those stats I'd say your atleast top 25% as far as GPA goes and about 50% with your mcat score. And you might think your ECs aren't all that fancy, but a lot of people can feel that way after reading SDN forums. Your ECs sound fine.

 

[Stumpyman]

Your definitely getting a bit paranoid. My TMDSAS got transmitted on the 16th and I'm not much worried about things. Once you get an interview (which you most probably will), you will be on a level playing field with everyone who applied early. And your stats are sufficient atleast for getting interviews. So relax and enjoy the few days of summer you have before college starts. oh and I believe 70% of UT premed kids get admitted to med school each cycle i think. Based on those stats I'd say your atleast top 25% as far as GPA goes and about 50% with your mcat score. And you might think your ECs aren't all that fancy, but a lot of people can feel that way after reading SDN forums. Your ECs sound fine.

No- it's more like nearly 40%. Your probably thinking of Baylor. However OP has good chances