Advice for a DO reapplicant

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GHETTOFLOW21

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Hi All,

I am gearing up to reapply this cycle to DO schools. Not too much has changed from my last year, although now both my cum/sci GPA are about 3.0, where last year cum was right at 3.0 and my science was at 2.9 Also, my 31Q MCAT is considered expired for about half of the schools. I am currently continuing to take additional classes and have continued with my extracurriculars from last year. Last year I was able to get interviews early in the cycle for Touro-NY, Alabama-COM, and PNWU, and at all three I was rejected outright, no wait list. This year I am going to definitely get more interview practice and help, however my main question is how much should I change of my PS and secondary applications? As far as motivation it is still the same as it was previously, and I do not have many different experiences. Would writing about the difficulties of this past cycle be helpful and show my determination? I just spent a lot of time writing my previous one and do not know where I would go if I completely had to change it, or if ADCOMS would look down on me not changing it a lot from the previous cycle.

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3.0 is much better than 2.9, so you'll avoid auto-reject at many schools. An outright rejection is rather rare and for it to happen to you from 3/3 schools (one a new one) says to me that your interview skills are atrocious, or there is a huge red flag in your packet.


I am gearing up to reapply this cycle to DO schools. Not too much has changed from my last year, although now both my cum/sci GPA are about 3.0, where last year cum was right at 3.0 and my science was at 2.9 Also, my 31Q MCAT is considered expired for about half of the schools. I am currently continuing to take additional classes and have continued with my extracurriculars from last year. Last year I was able to get interviews early in the cycle for Touro-NY, Alabama-COM, and PNWU, and at all three I was rejected outright, no wait list.


Your PS should tell us how you've improved over the past year. We can see that you're determiend by just re-applying. We don't care if you recycle an essay.

This year I am going to definitely get more interview practice and help, however my main question is how much should I change of my PS and secondary applications? As far as motivation it is still the same as it was previously, and I do not have many different experiences. Would writing about the difficulties of this past cycle be helpful and show my determination? I just spent a lot of time writing my previous one and do not know where I would go if I completely had to change it, or if ADCOMS would look down on me not changing it a lot from the previous cycle.[/QUOTE]
 
Have you contacted these schools and asked them for how to make yourself a more competitive applicant? I'm guessing your gpa is holding you back the most in getting the initial interview but you must of had something that caught the adcoms attention in your application to get interviews...so ....

I would get some interview help...a lot of universities offer that service through their alumni office , etc

DO schools are just as competitive now as MD schools ...they are just a bit more willing to overlook some mistakes for a more well rounded candidate but because of that they also get more candidates with the application glitches..So that makes those few spots even harder to get if you do have a grade or other issue.
 
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Have you contacted these schools and asked them for how to make yourself a more competitive applicant? I'm guessing your gpa is holding you back the most in getting the initial interview but you must of had something that caught the adcoms attention in your application to get interviews...so ....

I would get some interview help...a lot of universities offer that service through their alumni office , etc

DO schools are just as competitive now as MD schools ...they are just a bit more willing to overlook some mistakes for a more well rounded candidate but because of that they also get more candidates with the application glitches..So that makes those few spots even harder to get if you do have a grade or other issue.

No, they aren't. You have to remember that DO schools perform grade replacement, which significantly inflates the average reported GPA. I believe that every MD program has an average MCAT at 30 or above. Do any DO schools have an average MCAT at 30 or above? I believe the vast majority are between 26-28. Couple that with an inflated GPA due to grade replacement.....

OP: You need to make sure that you apply early. Having a GPA above 3.0 will prevent auto-reject. Also, make sure that you apply to every DO school out there. One will eventually take you. Your MCAT is good.

god luck
 
I may sound like Bill Clinton with it depends on what the definition of "is" is. But, DO schools are as competitive when it comes to sheer volume of applicants vs number of seats.

But, DO applicants tend to be less MCAT/GPA focused so if you are talking about straight out GPA/MCAT comparison, there is indeed no comparison. If you are talking about applicants vs the number of seats then yes, it is as competitive.
 
Not to hijack this thread, but DO schools over the past year have had a 7% increase in applicants. True, the general stats are slightly lower than the MD schools. However, as the number of applicants increase the scores are going up and it is harder to get an interview. It is competitive in the fact that that last year they had 115,754 applications to 5327 approved first year seats, with an average of 2.8 applicants for each seat available. Of course certain schools had higher ratios than others.
I suspect that DO schools will continue to have slightly lower stats (but the difference will decrease) because they are usually looking for a different kind of applicant (school dependent of course). DO schools are traditionally looking for primary care physicians even though many of us eventually go on to specialize.

My point being that competitiveness is not all about the grades, mcat scores, etc. especially since the OP is specifically asking about DO schools. Had they been asking about MD schools than I would of responded differently since MD and DO schools are looking for similar but different types of applicants. just like the USMLE is geared towards ranking people's knowledge/competitiveness whereas the COMLEX is designed to show competency. Same end game just different approaches. :)

Again, with the upcoming proposal of combining the acgme/acgome residency systems this could all prove mute.

Anyways, that's my two cents.
OP- I am happy to help if you need anything...just pm me....I applied and interviewed both MD and DO, did the Georgetown SMP, etc happy to share my experiences and thoughts on what worked for me.
Marcia
GA-PCOM 2011
EM/IM resident
Www.oldpremeds.org
Conference June 6-9 Washington DC
 
No, they aren't. You have to remember that DO schools perform grade replacement, which significantly inflates the average reported GPA. I believe that every MD program has an average MCAT at 30 or above. Do any DO schools have an average MCAT at 30 or above? I believe the vast majority are between 26-28. Couple that with an inflated GPA due to grade replacement.....

OP: You need to make sure that you apply early. Having a GPA above 3.0 will prevent auto-reject. Also, make sure that you apply to every DO school out there. One will eventually take you. Your MCAT is good.

god luck

Guys please, I'm sure someone has some lovey dovey things they would like to share but straight up, pound for pound, Silent Cool is right, MD schools are still more competitive in just about every aspect. Let's not get derailed here.

To the OP, three step plan
You are now above a lot of the reported automatic cutoffs - apply broadly.
Have you identified any defects in your interview skills? Correct them.
Address your persistence and continued improvement in your PS.

Survivor DO
 
Ours does!

. Do any DO schools have an average MCAT at 30 or above?

You're getting pretty close to revealing your school there, Goro
 
No, they aren't. You have to remember that DO schools perform grade replacement, which significantly inflates the average reported GPA. I believe that every MD program has an average MCAT at 30 or above. Do any DO schools have an average MCAT at 30 or above? I believe the vast majority are between 26-28. Couple that with an inflated GPA due to grade replacement.....

I know some with less than 30 so it is not all. Keep in mind however that even if one school has a 30 average and another a 28 average, what matters more is the shape of the bell curve and the resulting overlap. I know a DO school with 28 average but with a few students in the class with 34s.

Secondly, grade replacement is not inflation. At least it should not be regarded as such. Your best effort is your best effort.
 
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