advice??

[dgrunvald]

Hello everybody, I am 28 yrs. old and am in the process of getting prepared to apply to med schools. I graduated from the University of Washington in 1995 and am a Medical Technologist. My grades were about 2.7. I am taking organic chem and physics with labs and have a 3.8 gpa. I have worked in labs, as a x-ray technician, phlebotomist, medical assistant, as well as other tasks in a community health center and primary care clinic. I know work at Oregon Health Sciences University working in cancer research. I also have some volunteer experience. Am I on the right track? Can somebody please give me any further advice as to what else I can do to strengthen my chances for admission? Does it matter that my most recent grades are from a school such as Portland State University as compared to University of Washington? Thanks for all your help. Bye.

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[baylor21]

You sound like you have a very good shot to me. I would just make sure that you do well on MCATs, but as long as you do OK on that, then you should have no problem at all.

As long as you are attending a 4 year university, then the institution wont matter that much, unless you try to apply to Harvard Med or something.

My main advice would be to study like crazy for the MCAT. Since you have so much health care experience, you can even ease off on that while you study for it, and if that would help then I strongly recommend you take a temporary hiatus from your health care experiences if possible. I am only saying this, because honestly you have WAY more experience than a normal premed does, and anything more than what you already have is overkill in a sense as far as what it will do to improve your chances.

Alot depends on what level of school you are applying. I would say you will have a very good chance at getting admitted to your state school, and you probalby even have a chance at some out of state private schools as well.

As far as I can tell, your last real hurdle is the MCAT. As long as you do decent on that and have some kind of personality, you should be fine.

If I were you I would seriously consider applying for some high caliber schools. Not sure if you can get in, but with your credentials its definitely worth a shot.

The only negative I can see is your previous undergrad GPA, but since you are going back to school and have an awesome GPA now, that shouldnt matter much.

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"There is nothing more powerful on this Earth as a man who has nothing to lose. It does not take ten such men to change the world--one will do." Elijah Mohammed

 

[Sheon]

Your undergraduate GPA is definately something to be concerned about. Particularly if it is comprised of many science courses. Some schools have screens that your undergraduate GPA will not pass.

However, if you can land decent MCAT scores (27+), with your background and the current trend in your grades you will stand out enough for many schools to interview you.

I seriously doubt you will have any problem getting in somewhere, but some schools will be unwilling to look past your undergraduate performance without some solid MCAT scores (in spite of the experiences).

You have to do your homework to find the schools that are highly receptive to prior medical experiences, AND aren't GPA snobs.

Ask for people for experiences in which they were rejected outright, early in the application process (before October 15), without interview in spite of good professional experiences. The schools that repeatedly come up are the screening schools.

Remember to apply early. Your credentials will be more impressive in July and August. They will have more time to look deeply into who you are when there are only hundreds of competing applications and many slots. In October, November and Decmeber when there are thousands of competing applications and few slots they may not have the time or energy to give your application as thorough a look.

Apply smart and you will get quite a few interviews and multiple acceptances.