Advice Please! Lurking for some time...long post

[reidj]

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Hi all,

First off thanks in advance for reading/responding to this, I truly appreciate any help!

I am 29 years old and very interested in pursuing a career in osteopathic medicine.
After extensively researching this field of medicine, I believe it aligns with my morals and passion in terms of medicine.

About me:
I am a teacher currently in the state of Florida. I have been teaching life/physical science for two years and have had a successful track record/evaluations at my school. I coach several sports and volunteer for extracurricular activities at school and community events frequently.

I want to apply to a DO school in the near future and need to know what route i should take to have a favorable application. I included my undergraduate/graduate stats below. I have around 200 hours as a volunteer patient assistant at a local hospital. I haven't been in a college level science class in a long time and therefore only have solid recommendations from current supervisors at work.

B.S. Biomedical Science, GPAc= 3.23, GPAs= 3.11

M.S. in adolescent education, GPA= 3.96

MCAT= taking august '13

I am not sure how much weight the graduate gpa holds in a medical school application. I am thinking of applying to a master's program (M.S.M.S at USF) to enhance my relatively low undergrad GPA and work on obtaining stronger LOR's/experience. I know the absense of a MCAT makes the questions more difficult but...

Questions:
1. What is a minimum MCAT score I should aim for to be competitive?
2. Will a master's program like the one mentioned above truly help my application?
3. Does it sound like I have the potential to be a strong candidate? (I just need to feel reassured before I leave a career in which I currently have strong footing)

I know i asked very open ended questions, sorry 🙂
Thank you again for taking the time to look through this winded post!

 

[477552]

I didn't apply DO, but I'll tell you this: my uGPAs were lower than yours and I got into an MD program. Took some time and post-bacc classes, but it happened. With that said, I also have a MS and in my experience, you're better off doing post-baccalaureate coursework than getting another Master's. My graduate work got a proverbial pat on the head, while my post-bacc work was front and center. My undergrad/grad work was in chemistry and they wanted to see more upper-div biology. Did all of my post-bacc work at my undergrad institution and I didn't go through a formal program. Just paid for undergrad classes by the unit through "concurrent enrollment" via my school's extension program. The other issue is time... if you've been out of school for several years, then that might hurt more than the GPA. Schools want to know that you can hit the ground running with the workload, so proving that you are currently capable of being a good student is important.

To answer your questions:

1. It's hard to say, since the rest of your application can balance out an MCAT score, if it's a little low, or possibly dull a high one if you had weak extracurriculars/LORs. Very generally, aim for 30+ and I believe DO schools will be a little more forgiving with an overall strong application.

2. See above, but I'd put my money on taking post-baccalaureate courses, earning stellar grades, and asking for LORs through those professors. It's cheaper, too. At least, it was for me. The exception to this would be if the MS put your foot into the door for the MD program.

3. Yes! I will reassure you wholeheartedly that you absolutely have the potential. Get that MCAT score. Take some classes and kick ass. You already have a career and involvement in extracurriculars/volunteering. Don't forget to call the schools directly and find out what matters to them. Then, deliver on it.

 

[reidj]

Thank you so much for the encouraging reply!

As for the masters program, I found it on the AAMC post-bacc website (https://services.aamc.org/postbac/) as a program that looks to enhance substandard GPA's. While I don't believe it is a true SMP, it does contain upper level science classes taught by the medical school staff. (this is the pre-professional medical masters, not the IMS, which to my knowledge is a true SMP.)

Anyhow, it seems like a good alternative for students who have been out of the game for a little while. I never considered a post-bacc program before but I know LECOM offers a program and it isn't far from where I live now. Thanks again for your help, I will look further in to the program at LECOM

 

[477552]

Thank you so much for the encouraging reply!

As for the masters program, I found it on the AAMC post-bacc website (https://services.aamc.org/postbac/) as a program that looks to enhance substandard GPA's. While I don't believe it is a true SMP, it does contain upper level science classes taught by the medical school staff. (this is the pre-professional medical masters, not the IMS, which to my knowledge is a true SMP.)

Anyhow, it seems like a good alternative for students who have been out of the game for a little while. I never considered a post-bacc program before but I know LECOM offers a program and it isn't far from where I live now. Thanks again for your help, I will look further in to the program at LECOM

No worries! Oh, I should also mention this (can't believe I didn't in the first post)... post-baccalaureate work counts within your undergraduate GPA when they calculate it at AMCAS. Graduate work (any class towards a masters, even if it's techically an undergrad course) gets a separate GPA, so it behooves you to do the post-bacc work because it'll actually raise your GPA. 😉 I don't know, however, how an SMP gets counted, so definitely check before you enroll in anything.

Good luck! It's a looooong road, but so worth it.

 

[Goro]

For DO programs, 26-27


1. What is a minimum MCAT score I should aim for to be competitive?


Yes.

2. Will a master's program like the one mentioned above truly help my application?

Yes


3. Does it sound like I have the potential to be a strong candidate?

 

[reidj]

For DO programs, 26-27


1. What is a minimum MCAT score I should aim for to be competitive?


Yes.

2. Will a master's program like the one mentioned above truly help my application?

Yes


3. Does it sound like I have the potential to be a strong candidate?

Thank you for responding! I have been hitting just above that number on the practice tests.

 

[Pons Asinorum]

For DO programs, 26-27


1. What is a minimum MCAT score I should aim for to be competitive?


Yes.

2. Will a master's program like the one mentioned above truly help my application?

Yes


3. Does it sound like I have the potential to be a strong candidate?

Some mild disagreement here. Aim for MCAT score higher than that for DO; that number is rising as both MD and DO programs attract more applications. Second, that Master's won't help you nearly as much as taking undergraduate science classes to goose your sGPA. Not sure how much wiggle room you have since your ugrad degree might have depleted the useful biology classes that you could take to help out (anat/physio/biochem/genetics). Regardless, you have an interesting story and a strong MCAT can smooth over a lot of bumps in your app.