32L, 3.45 GPA...yet another "What are My Chances"

[WillburCobb]

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[WillburCobb]

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[gmcguitar4]

If you apply broadly I can see you getting a few interviews. There are just a ton of applicants each year so being a mid-tier applicant makes the whole process very unpredictable. Apply to 30 schools just to be cautious. Trust me, you only want to go through this process once.

 

[BenzylAcetate]

I applied this year with the same MCAT and cGPA (lower sGPA though, around a 3.2) and did not receive any interviews. I was told the biggest problem with my application was a lack of longevity in my ECs.

You seem to have a well rounded application, but have only a 55% chance of acceptance based on GPA and MCAT alone. Apply early and apply broadly, but be prepared to reapply if it comes to that. Good luck!

 

[Catalystik]

cGPA - 3.45

sGPA - I haven't calculated it in a while but I do know that it is between 3.5 - 3.65

MCAT - 32L (BS: 12, PS: 10, VR: 10, WS: L) The low WR was likely a result of me not finishing either sample, as I am generally a very strong writer; I was on the last paragraph for both samples.

ECs - 2 years as an aid in a psychiatric hospital (administered psychological tests, led group activities, worked with psychiatrists and therapists in developing behavior plans individualized for patients as necessary), 1+ years as an aid on a med/surge unit (do EKGs, blood glucose, lab draws, other aid stuff), 1 semester as a research assistant in a cognitive neuroscience lab using ERPs to study spatial and bimodal attention, 2 years as a research assistant in a social psych lab investigating self-related motives in finding and establishing meaning in life, 40 hours shadowing three physicians in a local ER, 30 hours volunteering at a local high school running brass sectionals and small brass ensemble rehearsals, about 10 hours sandbagging during a local flood.

School Stuff - I was an instrumental music education major for 4 years (just had to student teach and do my senior recital to graduate) then switched to Psychology and began to work on pre-med reqs. I will graduate with a B.S. in Music, a B.S. in Psychology, and minors in Neuroscience and Chemistry. My GPA started out at a 3.467, dipped down to a 3.28 (while still a music ed major), and is currently at a 3.45. I feel I have relatively decent upward trend in my GPA - my past three semester have consisted solely of upper level (cross listed as undergrad and graduate level) course in Biology, Biochem, and Psych with a 4.0 each semester.

Schools to Which I'm Applying - UND, U of M - Twin Cities, U of M - Duluth, and probably several DO schools (e.g., Iowa, Kansas City).

If you are a NDakota resident, you might be in luck. From past research I did:

Originally Posted by Catalystik
I found some additional excellent information in the UND thread from the year before the above at: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=550792&highlight=Dakota

From Crevac: bolding is mine

"One of the other members sent me a private message about some of the information I had provided earlier in this thread and wanted me to add some more to the topic. So I will try to add a little bit about what I know about the interview process at UND.

The point system is used for granting interviews and is not overly influential on admission, other than you can't get in if you don't interview obviously. I had said earlier that there are 300 points max given for the interview and this total is broken down into 100 for state residency, 100 for MCAT, 50 for overall GPA and 50 for science GPA. About the only other thing that the pre-interview points do is kind of affect when you are scheduled for an interview, but like the school says in the application materials that if you need to have a specific date for interviewing they will try to work with the student to best fit their schedule.

I don't know what the cutoff is for what level of pre-interview points will get someone an interview but last year they had a total of 140 interviewed applicants. It appears that the lowest pre-interview point total was 147. Compared to other schools UND has a much more condensed interview since everyone is interviewed over a 3 week period or so. And by this I mean that instead of taking an entire day or half day for the interview, all of the activities are completed in around 1.5 to 2 hours. When you first arrive you have your picture taken and get to meet several current students and the associate dean of admissions. You also watch a video about the school at this time. There are 4 students scheduled for each interview time slot.

Once all of this is done you have your interview in front of a 3 person group. I think that the groups consist of a current faculty member, a current student and then one more person associated with the school. This interview usually lasts around 45 minutes to an hour and the 3 people then write their own comments about you to take back to the full admissions committee. This complete committee is all 4 groups that conducted the interviews of the students, so there are 12 total committee members. At this point each student is presented to the committee and voted into one of 4 categories by each member. The higher you are rated the more points you receive from that vote and you can receive a total of 36 points. From these totals the process is basically complete as the students with the highest point totals are offered a spot in the class, with a larger number of spots given for ND residents and then the rest for MN/WICHE state residents.

This is about all I can think of right now for this process but I also might have missed something. If you have any other questions I will try to answer it as best I can. And good luck to everyone in this process! "

"no you do not get any points for having great ECs or LORs."

 

[WillburCobb]

Yeah I am a ND resident and UND is my first choice. I feel my MCAT score is okay (with the exception of the WS: L) I'm just nervous about my GPA. I'm not opposed to DO programs either, however in that case there is the caveat of most schools requiring a LOR from a physician (preferably a DO). There are relatively few DOs in ND, and despite working in a hospital I don't feel I have enough interaction with any of the physicians to comfortably ask for a LOR. The hospital in which I work doesn't allow shadowing either, so trying to get to know one of the physicians that way is out of the question. Ultimately I'm wondering if being a ND resident will give me a better chance at getting accepted to UND compared to my 55-60% chance based on the national average for my stats. Or should I be more actively pursing a LOR from a physician to apply to DO programs, or look into SMPs to boost my GPA?

 

[Catalystik]

I'm wondering if being a ND resident will give me a better chance at getting accepted to UND compared to my 55-60% chance based on the national average for my stats.

You might consider looking through the ND School Specific threads from the last two application years to see if you can find some reassurance from stats of past acceptees. Or even call the school and ask if you can make a phone appointment to discuss your application with a dean. That might help you to make a better decision about what course to take. The ND process is so completely different from that of most AMCAS schools, that I won't venture to offer an intuitive "guess."