Advice needed

[breeniee]

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Hey so I'm in dire need of some advice right now. This might be long so thank you for those of you who read this.

Basically, I graduated undergrad a while ago and was in a BS/DO program but the requirement for the MCAT was a 26 which I didn't get and therefore I was unable to make it through to the medical school phase. After graduating, I decided to pursue a masters and got married but then at the turn of the new year, I decided to give medicine one more shot and studied for the MCAT and got my score back yesterday. It is a 26Q.

So my sGPA is 3.45, cGPA is 3.66, and masters GPA so far is a 4.0
I shadowed several primary care physicians but none of them are DO over the years and I have lots of research experience. I also took a course on Osteopathic principles and practices which was required for my undergrad program where I was an active participant and I might be able to get an LOR from the DO who taught that class. Would that count as a DO LOR or does it need to be from someone that I shadowed?

Unfortunately, I don't have any volunteer experience in the healthcare field because it was never really required for the program I was in during Undergrad and then I never thought about it afterward when I started my masters. I was going to start next week actually at a local hospital. Is it even that necessary?

I pretty much don't know if I should apply now at all or if I should apply in a month or two after I get some more volunteer experience in.

Or should I retake the MCAT, keep working on my EC's and apply for 2014? I'm going to be turning 23 soon and my family (parents and parents-in-law) have been on my case about starting med school especially since they talk about how so-and-so got into DO school with less EC's and a lower MCAT than mine so they keep telling me to try but my husband is telling me to apply when I feel like my application is strong enough in my own standards. Honestly I don't know what to do....

I could apply now late with the score I have and see where it goes or retake the MCAT in Sept and work on EC's and try for 2014. What do you guys think?

 

[Wolverines83]

Hey so I'm in dire need of some advice right now. This might be long so thank you for those of you who read this.

Basically, I graduated undergrad a while ago and was in a BS/DO program but the requirement for the MCAT was a 26 which I didn't get and therefore I was unable to make it through to the medical school phase. After graduating, I decided to pursue a masters and got married but then at the turn of the new year, I decided to give medicine one more shot and studied for the MCAT and got my score back yesterday. It is a 26Q.

So my sGPA is 3.45, cGPA is 3.66, and masters GPA so far is a 4.0
I shadowed several primary care physicians but none of them are DO over the years and I have lots of research experience. I also took a course on Osteopathic principles and practices which was required for my undergrad program where I was an active participant and I might be able to get an LOR from the DO who taught that class. Would that count as a DO LOR or does it need to be from someone that I shadowed?

Unfortunately, I don't have any volunteer experience in the healthcare field because it was never really required for the program I was in during Undergrad and then I never thought about it afterward when I started my masters. I was going to start next week actually at a local hospital. Is it even that necessary?

I pretty much don't know if I should apply now at all or if I should apply in a month or two after I get some more volunteer experience in.

Or should I retake the MCAT, keep working on my EC's and apply for 2014? I'm going to be turning 23 soon and my family (parents and parents-in-law) have been on my case about starting med school especially since they talk about how so-and-so got into DO school with less EC's and a lower MCAT than mine so they keep telling me to try but my husband is telling me to apply when I feel like my application is strong enough in my own standards. Honestly I don't know what to do....

I could apply now late with the score I have and see where it goes or retake the MCAT in Sept and work on EC's and try for 2014. What do you guys think?

First tell your family to shut up, they have nothing to do with this decision. They aren't involved. At all.

Probably half my class is over 26 and we even have a guy in his 50's! In fact I think the average DO student matriculant is 26 so you'll actually be ahead of the curve.

Back to your point. Your numbers look good to me. I think you're basically right at the average of DO matriculants with your gpa and mcat. The masters looks good and will allow you to use the "that was me then, this is me now" approach in your personal statement and interviews. This is especially true if it was a science masters. Oh and taking an Osteopathic course should look crazy awesome to them. You'll actually be able to talk intelligently about what a DO is (unlike all of us that had to bullsh*t our way through that question!).

Your main obstacle is the timing of your application but if you go balls (or ovaries) to the walls right now and knock out your application quickly you should be ok. Theoretically you could be complete mid august which should land you some interviews. I think I took the MCAT around now and I just had everything complete so as soon as my MCAT was available I was able to submit. I'd recommend you complete everything so that when your LOR comes in you can submit same day.

The DO letter does NOT need to be from someone you shadowed.

Yes you should start volunteering right away if possible. You can rack up crazy volunteer hours in a month if you really push it and you can always say "I still volunteer there, I really enjoy it." in your interview even if you don't have that many hours.

The key to the whole process is getting your application in as early as possible and making yourself stand out from the crowd in some way so that they say "huh...that's interesting, let's interview her." I can't imagine many students have already taken osteopathic principles and practice as an undergrad. That should immediately stick out to them.

I say go for it. Half the replies you get will probably say the opposite but my vote is do it.

 

[breeniee]

First tell your family to shut up, they have nothing to do with this decision. They aren't involved. At all.

Probably half my class is over 26 and we even have a guy in his 50's! In fact I think the average DO student matriculant is 26 so you'll actually be ahead of the curve.

Back to your point. Your numbers look good to me. I think you're basically right at the average of DO matriculants with your gpa and mcat. The masters looks good and will allow you to use the "that was me then, this is me now" approach in your personal statement and interviews. This is especially true if it was a science masters. Oh and taking an Osteopathic course should look crazy awesome to them. You'll actually be able to talk intelligently about what a DO is (unlike all of us that had to bullsh*t our way through that question!).

Your main obstacle is the timing of your application but if you go balls (or ovaries) to the walls right now and knock out your application quickly you should be ok. Theoretically you could be complete mid august which should land you some interviews. I think I took the MCAT around now and I just had everything complete so as soon as my MCAT was available I was able to submit. I'd recommend you complete everything so that when your LOR comes in you can submit same day.

The DO letter does NOT need to be from someone you shadowed.

Yes you should start volunteering right away if possible. You can rack up crazy volunteer hours in a month if you really push it and you can always say "I still volunteer there, I really enjoy it." in your interview even if you don't have that many hours.

The key to the whole process is getting your application in as early as possible and making yourself stand out from the crowd in some way so that they say "huh...that's interesting, let's interview her." I can't imagine many students have already taken osteopathic principles and practice as an undergrad. That should immediately stick out to them.

I say go for it. Half the replies you get will probably say the opposite but my vote is do it.

Thank you so much for your response! I was thinking that the first one I get is a negative one but yours isn't and you've actually really made a few points that I never thought about or considered to be a strong suit!

The class was amazing and we actually had to create a video informing the world about Osteopathic Principles and what it's about. I wrote the script, helped direct, and edited the film so it was blast (although it did take away time from Ochem and MCAT studying at the time, lol). Our professor was saying that I should bring it into interviews with me, haha. It's not the best or the most accurate but it was fun and we had a disclaimer in the front of it. He said it was the best one he had in all his years teaching the class so that was quite a nice compliment! I never really thought about it as something remotely important to talk about but I'm beginning to realize that it might be something special.

My masters is in clinical nutrition and so for my personal statement or a secondary (yeah i already started writing some secondaries) I included that such a background would be beneficial as a physician in advising or keeping tabs on patients' eating habits leading them to hopefully a healthier life overall - which is so key to the DO philosophy of preventative and holistic medicine. I really hope that sparks their interest. My masters program is actually a part of NYCOM and they even had a combined MS/DO program that I never knew about until last month so if NYCOM itself thought it was useful to combine then I guess it might be a legit background to have. I just hope other DO schools find it useful too not just nycom.

My PS is almost complete and my transcripts are in - all I need to do is proof-read everything and send it but before that I might add something about that class I took. I hope I get complete quickly and that LOR's don't take forever....

Thanks for your advice 🙂

 

[angldrps]

Since your stats are good for DO, i say you should apply. Yes, having little volunteer work will be a hindrance but by the time you get verified (takes 3-4 weeks), submit secondaries, send in all your LORs, and actually have to go for interviews, you should have increased the number of hours you have volunteered. You said that "don't have any volunteer experience in the healthcare". From this, I am assuming you have non-health care related ECs ?
Make sure you try to get everything in ASAP.
Having said that, I would advice you to continue working on your ECs during the current cycle in case you need to re-apply. This is actually what I am doing too.
Gotta prepare for the worst, right. Good Luck!

 

[Dirtyshadow]

Apply ASAP. While verifying, shadow as many DOs as you can. You will most likely get a few interviews. Worse case scenario, you get more shadowing, some clinical volunteering/experience, and apply early next year.

 

[breeniee]

Since your stats are good for DO, i say you should apply. Yes, having little volunteer work will be a hindrance but by the time you get verified (takes 3-4 weeks), submit secondaries, send in all your LORs, and actually have to go for interviews, you should have increased the number of hours you have volunteered. You said that "don't have any volunteer experience in the healthcare". From this, I am assuming you have non-health care related ECs ?
Make sure you try to get everything in ASAP.
Having said that, I would advice you to continue working on your ECs during the current cycle in case you need to re-apply. This is actually what I am doing too.
Gotta prepare for the worst, right. Good Luck!

That's true - hopefully by then I would have a bit of volunteer experience under my belt. I have different volunteer experiences - mostly for my religious community and another organization designed to help underprivileged students but I haven't been active since I moved to a different state after marriage so I'm unsure how that will be perceived. Is it good enough? Who knows...

I guess I'll apply to a few schools and see where luck takes me. Until then, I'm gonna keep working on building my EC's. If interview season comes and go and I have no luck, I'll retake the MCAT and try again but hopefully by then I'll have stronger EC's to boot like you said 🙂

 

[breeniee]

Apply ASAP. While verifying, shadow as many DOs as you can. You will most likely get a few interviews. Worse case scenario, you get more shadowing, some clinical volunteering/experience, and apply early next year.

Thank you!

Btw... I wish there was a "like" button for posts.

 

[angldrps]

That's true - hopefully by then I would have a bit of volunteer experience under my belt. I have different volunteer experiences - mostly for my religious community and another organization designed to help underprivileged students but I haven't been active since I moved to a different state after marriage so I'm unsure how that will be perceived. Is it good enough? Who knows...

I guess I'll apply to a few schools and see where luck takes me. Until then, I'm gonna keep working on building my EC's. If interview season comes and go and I have no luck, I'll retake the MCAT and try again but hopefully by then I'll have stronger EC's to boot like you said 🙂

Honestly, for DO schools, you really don't need to retake the MCAT especially with your GPA. Sure, it would help to score higher but its not absolutely necessary.

 

[cliquesh]

It's not too late. If you send some secondaries out by early sept you should be fine.

 

[breeniee]

Honestly, for DO schools, you really don't need to retake the MCAT especially with your GPA. Sure, it would help to score higher but its not absolutely necessary.

That's a first! I hope my gpa and other things take me far! Thanks for the positive feedback!

It's not too late. If you send some secondaries out by early sept you should be fine.

Hmm... I better get on it then! =)

 

[angldrps]

That's a first! I hope my gpa and other things take me far! Thanks for the positive feedback!



Hmm... I better get on it then! =)

another tip: take everything you read on SDN with a grain of salt. Contact schools and ask them for their GPA/MCAT averages.

 

[docmayer]

Apply now.

 

[HalfListic]

Apply now, but also start volunteering as well. You do have good enough stats for interviews, but, as you know, there are plenty of applicants with your stats that get in and plenty that get rejected.

So, a little worry is always good if it motivates you to find something you connect with to volunteer with and make sure you can express your motivation for medicine, along with a good, concise, reason why you dropped out of the BS/DO program.

As always, good luck. Put everything you have into this process, but don't be discouraged if it takes another round (or two!). Its worth it in the end

 

[Ravizzle]

Apply now! And start volunteering asap!

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