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I could use some advice. I appreciate the blunt and direct nature of this forum because friends and family do nothing but sugar coat or simply can't piece together all the factors involved.
I applied to 6 DO schools late last year (some secondaries in as late as December, I know, so naive).
I had: 3.15 sGPA, 3.38 cGPA, 25N (9 VR, 7 PS, 9 BS)
Obviously I didn't get interviews anywhere.
I took a Kaplan course this past spring once I realized last cycle was dry for me and took the MCAT again in July. During this MCAT the proctors of the exam were very disruptive. They were audibly laughing in the surveillance room and repeatedly entering the exam room to clean the work-station of each computer after a test-taker finished. If you've ever wiped down a keyboard, the old-school stand-alone kind with the tall keys, you know how loud this is. It took me a day to come to terms with the fact that I was indeed distracted, despite my best efforts to maintain focus. It was too late to void my scores. I filed an official complaint with the AAMC, but before I heard back from them I went ahead and took it again 12 days later. After the second MCAT, I heard back from the AAMC. They investigated and confirmed through their audio and video surveillance this was going on. They provided me with an official letter explaining this disturbance, for me to "send to med schools with my July 14 scores" in attempt to restore fairness. Here's what I got:
Distracted: 27N ( 9 VR, 8 PS, 10 BS)
10 days later: 29M (9 VR, 9 PS, 11 BS)
DO schools:
I submitted my primary AACOMAS, paid for 10 school releases ($400) earlier this month and am still waiting to be verified, even though my transcript is not new. I am currently pre-writing all the secondaries for the schools am applying to, so those can go out immediately upon invite. I feels like it's getting late, reminiscent of last cycle, starting to panic.
Post-Baccs:
I know my sGPA (3.15) is the biggest blunder on my app. I have applied to U-Penn and Duquesne Post-Bacc Pre-Med programs to take upper level science/med school level courses for the Spring semester starting this winter. If accepted, I will likely go for these reasons: I have SO much yet to learn to even think about being successful on a Step 1 exam so I want to start my exposure to that content (histology, immunology etc.), I need to prove to med schools and myself that I can handle the content, I need to move out of my parents house and get back into the academic world, albeit through more loans. I want to be in school this next year, and getting into a med school for next fall through this app cycle would be really awesome, but I'm aware of the chance of having another gap year afterwards if not.
Am I being ridiculous applying to a post bacc for next winter + summer AND med school for next fall when my grades in the post-bacc won't be seen by med schools this cycle?
The biggest change in my app is two more LOR's, 15 months full time work as scribe for a retinal specialist Ophthalmologist, and a 4 point increase on my MCAT.
What do you think? Call me crazy?
I applied to 6 DO schools late last year (some secondaries in as late as December, I know, so naive).
I had: 3.15 sGPA, 3.38 cGPA, 25N (9 VR, 7 PS, 9 BS)
Obviously I didn't get interviews anywhere.
I took a Kaplan course this past spring once I realized last cycle was dry for me and took the MCAT again in July. During this MCAT the proctors of the exam were very disruptive. They were audibly laughing in the surveillance room and repeatedly entering the exam room to clean the work-station of each computer after a test-taker finished. If you've ever wiped down a keyboard, the old-school stand-alone kind with the tall keys, you know how loud this is. It took me a day to come to terms with the fact that I was indeed distracted, despite my best efforts to maintain focus. It was too late to void my scores. I filed an official complaint with the AAMC, but before I heard back from them I went ahead and took it again 12 days later. After the second MCAT, I heard back from the AAMC. They investigated and confirmed through their audio and video surveillance this was going on. They provided me with an official letter explaining this disturbance, for me to "send to med schools with my July 14 scores" in attempt to restore fairness. Here's what I got:
Distracted: 27N ( 9 VR, 8 PS, 10 BS)
10 days later: 29M (9 VR, 9 PS, 11 BS)
DO schools:
I submitted my primary AACOMAS, paid for 10 school releases ($400) earlier this month and am still waiting to be verified, even though my transcript is not new. I am currently pre-writing all the secondaries for the schools am applying to, so those can go out immediately upon invite. I feels like it's getting late, reminiscent of last cycle, starting to panic.
Post-Baccs:
I know my sGPA (3.15) is the biggest blunder on my app. I have applied to U-Penn and Duquesne Post-Bacc Pre-Med programs to take upper level science/med school level courses for the Spring semester starting this winter. If accepted, I will likely go for these reasons: I have SO much yet to learn to even think about being successful on a Step 1 exam so I want to start my exposure to that content (histology, immunology etc.), I need to prove to med schools and myself that I can handle the content, I need to move out of my parents house and get back into the academic world, albeit through more loans. I want to be in school this next year, and getting into a med school for next fall through this app cycle would be really awesome, but I'm aware of the chance of having another gap year afterwards if not.
Am I being ridiculous applying to a post bacc for next winter + summer AND med school for next fall when my grades in the post-bacc won't be seen by med schools this cycle?
The biggest change in my app is two more LOR's, 15 months full time work as scribe for a retinal specialist Ophthalmologist, and a 4 point increase on my MCAT.
What do you think? Call me crazy?
