Admission Advice

[aspan1579]

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Hi I need some advice on what could improve my chances on getting accepted into podiatry school. I just graduated with a 2.95 gpa and a science gpa of ~2.8. I unfortunately didn't dedicate enough time my freshmen/sophmore year and got a couple Cs in organic chemistry and physics (huge regret, have an upward gpa trend though). I took the MCAT in January and got a 21M. I am retaking it in July and am hardcore studying for it, so I plan to hopefully improve my score to the higher 20's.

As of now, I am going to have to take a gap year, but don't know what I should do that would best increase my chances. I've been applying to a lot of research positions at different hospitals, but can't seem to find anything. Any suggestions on what I could do for the next year to really help my chances? Do I even have a probable chance in the first place with such a low gpa/mcat? I have shadowed two podiatrists already, and know this is what I want to do.

Thanks so much! Any feedback would be very much appreciated.

 

[MaxillofacialMN]

Can we assume you didn't try applying this cycle with your 21?

 

[frankcfromny]

I have similar stats, slightly higher, except I haven't taken the MCAT yet.

My pre-health advisor along with a few others have suggested the following, hopefully this can be of some help.

My prehealth advisor was pretty adamant of me applying to 2-3 schools no matter what, as long as my MCAT is 20 or above. His reasoning is that there is a good enough chance of being admitted to risk those application fees. He says that a lot of people think that just because they are slightly below avg., then they have no chance of being accepted which is not true at all for pod schools. My advisor told me to apply to ALL pod schools if my MCAT is 24 or above.

One pod school adcom (not naming which one for certain reasons) told me to make my application extremely competitive, then I should aim for at least a 24 on the MCAT on the first go around. Hmmm, here's this 24 number again...interesting.

My advisor suggested that if I don't get in the first time around, then I should take, as Ankle Breaker suggested, two to three upper level science classes per semester. He said it is absolutely imperative to get A's in these classes. He said that unless I get below a 20, then it is not worth taking the MCAT again. He also said that usually if one accomplishes the above task, then pod schools will 100% admit you even if you're cGPA does not increase very much. They just want to see you can get good grades in upper level classes.

Good luck. Contrary to what most believe, getting into pod school is pretty easy. Staying, however, is not. A lot of people still maintain that if your cGPA and sGPA is above 2.75 and you have an avg. MCAT score then you'll get interviews somewhere.

 

[MaxillofacialMN]

Contrary to what most believe, getting into pod school is pretty easy.

Lol, most people believe that, methinks.

 

[frankcfromny]

Lol, most people believe that, methinks.

Haha well strictly speaking of those on this particular forum, I would say a lot don't based on some of their posts.

 

[itsallgood19]

speaking of upper level classes, do they get factored into the pre req s GPA? in example if you were doing genetics or like geology in the physics department do all the bcpm courses get accounted for into an sGPA, or is it only the minimum requirements (1 year bio, gen chem, orgo, phys, and english)?

 

[MaxillofacialMN]

speaking of upper level classes, do they get factored into the pre req s GPA? in example if you were doing genetics or like geology in the physics department do all the bcpm courses get accounted for into an sGPA, or is it only the minimum requirements (1 year bio, gen chem, orgo, phys, and english)?

There is no such thing as pre-req GPA (okay, technically there is, but it's never formally calculated), only science and cumulative (some people might argue that there is also a non-science GPA).

 

[itsallgood19]

so your saying that pod schools will include all of your upper level science courses into the "science" gpa, or is does their science gpa only include the bare minimum science requirements to apply to their school?

 

[MaxillofacialMN]

so your saying that pod schools will include all of your upper level science courses into the "science" gpa, or is does their science gpa only include the bare minimum science requirements to apply to their school?

All sciences go into science GPA (sGPA) regardless of difficulty.