Am I screwed?

[Nick J]

I wasn't the best student during the first part of my life. I didn't get to finish high school, but I got a GED and went to community college. I struggled there for a while (got some W's and F's) My gpa hit 2.23 for a bit until I realized that if I wanted to be a doctor, I had to change. I finished Community College with a 3.6 GPA and transferred to a 4 year institution for my junior and senior and made it out with a 3.7 in Bioengineering. I've done a lot of volunteering (in a hospital for 3 years) and have a fair bit of EC activities. I'm also fluent in French. I got a 35 on the MCAT.

I know that medical school is very competitive and I do have quite a good GPA and MCAT score, but I struggled. I didn't breeze through it as so many applicants did and I wouldn't consider my route to be conventional at all. (I've never met a doctor who didn't finish high school.) I'm worried that although my marks were good in the end, I do have some academic mistakes on my record.

I know I'm not going to Harvard or any school like that. Still, I'd like to get into a good program.

I'd like to go to med school in Canada, somewhere like University of Toronto or Western Ontario, but I'd settle for any good school in the US. Basically, if it comes down to it, I'd be glad to just be accepted. We all hope for the best, though, right?

What do you guys think? Where do I have a chance? I'm just worried that I chose too late to throw myself into this like I should have from the beginning and that all of this work'll be in vain because I'll have issues being accepted due to the discrepancies above.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[canjosh]

Are you a US citizen? Adcoms don't care about your high school background (mine was bad too). Is your cumulative GPA of 3.7 taking all college courses into account?

 

[bravofleet4]

yeah, are you a U.S. citizen? That's really important.

 

[Nick J]

Sorry, I forgot to mention. Yes, I am a dual US-Canada citizen. Yes, CGPA of 3.7 and 4.0 on all science courses (since the W's and F's were from History classes and things like that) I intentionally put off my science courses until I could commit to them.

 

[canjosh]

Actually, you could apply to Harvard if you wanted. Your app is competitive, although you didn't mention any research. The research makes a difference when applying to top-tier programs.

It looks like you could also use more shadowing experience. With a 3.7/35, you really have a lot of options. I'm not sure how difficult the Canadian schools are.

Which state are you a resident of?

 

[Nick J]

I'm a resident of GA and we only have Emory (private), Medical College of GA, Mercer, and Morehouse, if I recall.

 

[canjosh]

Well, I don't know why you titled the thread "Am I screwed?". You're competitive for the schools in your state, including Emory. You should also consider places like Miami, Wake Forest, Baylor, and the like. You should even apply to a 'dream school' or two.

 

[Nick J]

I just figured that if I came up against someone with equal qualifications (there seems to be many people just as qualified as me), they'd look at my first year and it'd be a losing battle.

 

[canjosh]

They care more about how you finish than how you started. It shouldn't be an issue at many places, if any at all.

 

[bannie22]

University of Toronto???

Art thou serious?

Hahahahahahahahahaha....

3.7????

 

[Catalystik]

Your numbers are fine for some US schools. But US schools expect some US-based clinical experience and physician shadowing besides the other usual and customary experiences.