Advice would be appreciated

[silverpaw54]

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Hey guys,

I applied to a few MD and DO schools and so far got 6 rejections out of 8. I just have two MDs left.

I have a 3.4x GPA and got a 25R on the MCAT. I know the MCAT will be offered monthly next year. When do you guys think I should take it?

I plan on taking only 2 lecture classes, a one hour chem safety course, which gives me 8 hours and then 2-3 hrs of research. This puts me as a part time student so I can save about $3500. I plan on taking a 3 hour course at a local seminary so my total hours would be 13-14 hours. Is this a bad move?

I only did one semester of volunteering but lots of shadowing. Should I volunteer more or shadow more? Would a few days over Christmas break help while I am home?

Oh yeah, I'm thinking I will get rejected to those two MD schools so this is all keeping in mind that I will be reapplying. I plan on applying MUCH earlier this time too. Thanks for the advice.

 

[RxnMan]

Well, let's take another tack to the situation - you have one year to improve your application. How best to do this?

The MCAT is one item that can be easily (compared to other parts of your application) improved. Everything else you do should be built around that one thing. Will these classes help you get a better score on the MCAT? Also, how much will these help your GPA? Unless they'll boost your GPA to a 3.7 and help you study for the MCAT, then maybe you need to reconsider your plan.

Think about it this way. If in a year, you could have a 30 MCAT/3.4 GPA or a 26 MCAT/3.5 GPA, which would you pick?

 

[Catalystik]

Hey guys,

I plan on taking only 2 lecture classes, a one hour chem safety course, which gives me 8 hours and then 2-3 hrs of research. This puts me as a part time student so I can save about $3500. I plan on taking a 3 hour course at a local seminary so my total hours would be 13-14 hours. Is this a bad move?

I only did one semester of volunteering but lots of shadowing. Should I volunteer more or shadow more? Would a few days over Christmas break help while I am home?

Be sure you will still qualify for some form of health insurance if you are part-time. Many insurance companies require full-time status for students in order to continue coverage. Is the seminary course free? Can you take it pass/fail? Remember you would have to submit a transcript for this to AMCAS.

If you already have lots of shadowing, concentrate on increasing volunteer time, medically-related if possible. A few days of volunteering over winter break won't help much. It would be better to do 3-4+ hours a week for a semester or more, demonstrating an ongoing committment to volunteerism. The winter break can be used to set up a MCAT study schedule and get started on review.

 

[Tiagao]

Op, your stats may be a bit low, but they are not that far below the averages for DO schools across the board. I would be sure to call each school and find out what in paticular each school thinks you need to improve or what school X's reason for a rejection was.

Good luck!

 

[silverpaw54]

Well, let's take another tack to the situation - you have one year to improve your application. How best to do this?

The MCAT is one item that can be easily (compared to other parts of your application) improved. Everything else you do should be built around that one thing. Will these classes help you get a better score on the MCAT? Also, how much will these help your GPA? Unless they'll boost your GPA to a 3.7 and help you study for the MCAT, then maybe you need to reconsider your plan.

Think about it this way. If in a year, you could have a 30 MCAT/3.4 GPA or a 26 MCAT/3.5 GPA, which would you pick?

At best after this semester, I would be over a 3.5. These classes could help me on the MCAT (Immuno and Inorganic Chemistry). I just needed these two classes to graduate and get a minor in chemistry.

I guess I'm really wondering if this will look bad, that having only a 10-11hr classload my last semester with 3 hours at a local seminary. The local seminary has letter grades and I believe the letter grade would transfer over.

Yeah, I plan on taking a MCAT class next semester as well as volunteering 3hours a week again. What else would you guys recommend?

 

[RxnMan]

At best after this semester, I would be over a 3.5. These classes could help me on the MCAT (Immuno and Inorganic Chemistry). I just needed these two classes to graduate and get a minor in chemistry.

I guess I'm really wondering if this will look bad, that having only a 10-11hr classload my last semester with 3 hours at a local seminary. The local seminary has letter grades and I believe the letter grade would transfer over.

Yeah, I plan on taking a MCAT class next semester as well as volunteering 3hours a week again. What else would you guys recommend?

OK, graduating is the important thing, so it's good to get that done. Beyond that, you need to focus on that MCAT class. The seminary classes would go into your AMCAS, which can help the GPA, but how much time will that detract from your MCAT class? What I'm trying to say is, can you fit all of that stuff in? Make up a draft weekly schedule, including the MCAT class and studying, and ask yourself if you can do all of it. You don't want to be in a situation where you have a final in your seminary classes on Friday, volunteering Friday evening, and have to study for a practice MCAT on Saturday.

Don't worry about how you look to an ADCOM with taking only 10-11 hrs of classes. They'll notice the 25 much sooner. If you get yourself a 30 and an interview and they happen to notice you took fewer classes, you can point to where your scored jumped.