- Joined
- Oct 23, 2013
- Messages
- 11
- Reaction score
- 5
Hi everybody,
I've been following SDN for a while and recently became a member. For those of you who can spare a few minutes, here's the deal.
I graduated in 2011 from a decent state school with a B.S. in Biology and am in the middle of my second application cycle (first one was back in 2011 - didn't get any II's). My stats are as follows..
cGPA - 3.60
sGPA - 3.44
MCAT - 31R
During my first attempt, my school list was pretty bad (applied to A LOT of state schools that had very low OOS acceptance rates). I also applied with no research or non-clinical volunteer experience whatsoever, my LORs were average at best, and I did not put a lot of work into my PS or secondaries. AND I submitted late - I know, I know..
I decided to work on my shortcomings and have gained a significant amount of research experience (currently doing animal microsurgery for stroke studies as a full-time research assistant at Hopkins), have become involved in a great volunteer program (student-run clinic for the Baltimore homeless population), got great LORs from my PI/mentors, and really put a lot of work into my PS (thumbs-up from former Hopkins adcom member) and secondaries. And I submitted in early August!
Great, right?
Nope, still no interview invites and already sitting on a handful of rejections. The problem clearly lies in my stats (particularly the sGPA). My MCAT expires this year, and I have already registered for a May 2014 exam. I have a few questions.
a.) If I could manage a 35+, would that alone make up for my GPA? Given how much (or little) I prepared for my first MCAT, this is definitely a realistic goal for me. Not shooting for the high-tiers here, I will take any allopathic school at this point.
b.) Would an SMP make sense? I applied to the Georgetown one as a Plan B, but I'm still waiting to hear back.
I have my heart set on medicine, and I am willing to take the time/do the work to get myself up to snuff. I did consider DO, but my career goals include practicing medicine abroad (either volunteer/work) and the DO degree is still not widely recognized abroad. Also, DO match rates into specialties worry me a bit - I know many do match well, but it's definitely a significant obstacle.
Any input would be awesome. Thanks everybody!
I've been following SDN for a while and recently became a member. For those of you who can spare a few minutes, here's the deal.
I graduated in 2011 from a decent state school with a B.S. in Biology and am in the middle of my second application cycle (first one was back in 2011 - didn't get any II's). My stats are as follows..
cGPA - 3.60
sGPA - 3.44
MCAT - 31R
During my first attempt, my school list was pretty bad (applied to A LOT of state schools that had very low OOS acceptance rates). I also applied with no research or non-clinical volunteer experience whatsoever, my LORs were average at best, and I did not put a lot of work into my PS or secondaries. AND I submitted late - I know, I know..
I decided to work on my shortcomings and have gained a significant amount of research experience (currently doing animal microsurgery for stroke studies as a full-time research assistant at Hopkins), have become involved in a great volunteer program (student-run clinic for the Baltimore homeless population), got great LORs from my PI/mentors, and really put a lot of work into my PS (thumbs-up from former Hopkins adcom member) and secondaries. And I submitted in early August!
Great, right?
Nope, still no interview invites and already sitting on a handful of rejections. The problem clearly lies in my stats (particularly the sGPA). My MCAT expires this year, and I have already registered for a May 2014 exam. I have a few questions.
a.) If I could manage a 35+, would that alone make up for my GPA? Given how much (or little) I prepared for my first MCAT, this is definitely a realistic goal for me. Not shooting for the high-tiers here, I will take any allopathic school at this point.
b.) Would an SMP make sense? I applied to the Georgetown one as a Plan B, but I'm still waiting to hear back.
I have my heart set on medicine, and I am willing to take the time/do the work to get myself up to snuff. I did consider DO, but my career goals include practicing medicine abroad (either volunteer/work) and the DO degree is still not widely recognized abroad. Also, DO match rates into specialties worry me a bit - I know many do match well, but it's definitely a significant obstacle.
Any input would be awesome. Thanks everybody!