activities before second application

[MCV]

I graduated May '99 from small liberal arts school in Indiana with psych major. My cum was 3.45 and my MCAT was 22 - didn't get in. I was waitlisted at one school in Ohio though. I had residential life experience in college and an interest in counseling so I purused a job working with gifted and talented 11th and 12th graders (The Indiana Academy, Muncie, IN). I'm from Ohio and my family still lives there. I applied from my Ohio address the first time. I would like to be considered a resident of Ohio when I apply again (more schools there, plus the one I almost got into). I plan on reapplying a year from this summer. I'm going to retake the MCAT this August and do the Kaplan course over the summer. My basic science courses back in my freshman and sophomore contain a couple Bs and B+s. I am currently taking an anatomy class and getting a very solid A. I'm also shadowing a doctor once a week and volunteering at the local hospital.

My questions - what is the best thing for me to be doing after this school year. Part of me wants to come back here and work at a job that requires a degree, but the other part wonders if it would be wiser to move back to Ohio with my family and get a job in a hospital. The two issues are (1) residency and (2) good job before reapplying. The jobs in a hospital I could get probably only require a GED which hurts my ego because I HAVE a degree, but I may have to face that if there aren't other options. Are there? I plan on taking classes also at the local community college or University of dayton. Would schools prefer non community college courses? Do I need to retake my basic sciences? I'm "proving" myself in anatomy and certainly did in some of my other science courses. I realize this is a large unorganized chunk of info. - Anything you guys could tell me would be great, including official residency status guidlines for Ohio (or all states if it's universal). Thanks!

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[alina]

I'd move to Ohio- there are 6 med school that give preference to residents. If you really love your job in Indiana, is it too far from the border to commute? As far as work, I would stay in something that actually used my degree. I also looked at a lot of hospital technician jobs and never even got an interview; I suspect that a degree actually works against you here because they know you're not going to stay. I volunteered in the ER instead and I think it was just as useful because people went out of their way to show me things. Besides, if the worst case scenario comes true and you don't get in to med school, you will have another year's experience in a field that you also enjoy.
If you're going to take more classes, my advisors told me that classes from a community college wouldn't be worth much. Have you looked for a research job at a university? Many school have tuition remission programs and if you can find a nice boss (I did), you can take classes and get research experience. Come to think of it, my boss is looking for people- if you're interested, check the University of Cincinnati jobs web page (www.uc.edu).
It sounds like you need to work on your MCAT scores the most- my GPA is about the same as yours, also in psychology, but I had a 30 on the MCAT and I was invited to all 4 Ohio schools I applied to and was accepted at the 3 where I interviewed (including Case). Good luck!