Another Chances Post =D

[mikkey1818]

---

Members do not see this ad.

Hi Guys,

Please help me out. I applied to medical school last year and got waitlisted and bypassed by two schools. I am applying to medical schools this year and heard good prospects about Saint Georges and applied for Fall 2009. I have a 3.36 from the University of California, Los Angeles. Two years of undergraduate research experience 1 publication, 1 formal poster presentation at a conference, and another 2nd authorship genetics paper in preparation. I have worked at a surgical animal hospital for 1.5 years as a radiologist's assistant and emergency critical care technician. I have operated the CT machine and performed many studies for the radiologist I worked for, learned to draw blood and place IV cathaters as well participate in ultrasound guided surgical procedures. I also have 1 year experience as a social work volunteer at a Hospice. I have done research in the humanities with the vice provost of UCLA and she's included in my letter of recommendation portfolio. My mcat scores breakdown are 1st attempt (P9 V7 B12 W:Q), 2nd attempt (P13, V9, B10 W: S) I am interested in the global scholars program offered at SGU. Am I considered competitive? After being rejected so many times last year, I just don't have the confidence in my abilities. What are my chances. Any advice can help.

Thanks for the effort and energy guys. I really appreciate it. 😳

 

[dragonfly99]

Hello.
Good post.
I am an internal medicine physician (US MD school grad).
I think you should try again to get in to school in the US. Your MCAT score is competitive for US schools, as is your work and volunteer history, and your publications. Your undergrad GPA is low, and that plus your previous/old verbal reasoning score I am pretty sure is what kept you out last year. You need to get 6-7 interviews and then you would likely get an acceptance to a US school.

I think you will definitely get in to the Caribbean if you pursue that, but financially and long term career-wise, I don't think it's a very good decision to do that until you've tried at least twice to get in in the USA. That's because it will cost you more money to go down there, and you will likely be shut out of quite a few of the more competitive specialties for residency, and also some people will prejudge you because of the fact you graduated from a Caribbean school. Also, if you are from California and ever want to practice there, you should know that it's harder to get a medical license if you go to med school down there. You could overcome all that but again, I really think you are competitive for a US school so I would recommend either
a) reapply this year while at the same time take a couple of science/biology upper level undergraduate classes and ace them
OR
b) try to get in to one of those postbac or special master's degree programs affiliated with some particular med school, and then get in to the med school that way

I know it is frustrating to do all those applications and then not get in, and tempting to just bail and go to the Caribbean b/c I considered it myself, but knowing what I know now and having been through med school and residency, I know that med school is brutal and hard, and that it takes a tremendous amount of resources to educate a medical student well and a tremendous amount of effort on the student's part also. You sound like the type who could potentially make it down there, and I think St George is probably the better of the schools down there, but they'll take you ANY semester so don't rush in to a decision to go down there because you might regret it.

 

[dragonfly99]

Also, if you are a California resident, you should try applying to schools outside of California (such as St Louis U and Rosalind Franklin/Chicago med school, U of Vermont, etc.) since I know St Louis and Chicago have a lot of Californians, and Vermont used to take 1/2 out of state folks every year (would check and see if they still do).

 

[J ROD]

Try a SMP.

 

[nibiru6]

hi guys,

please help me out. I applied to medical school last year and got waitlisted and bypassed by two schools. I am applying to medical schools this year and heard good prospects about saint georges and applied for fall 2009. I have a 3.36 from the university of california, los angeles. Two years of undergraduate research experience 1 publication, 1 formal poster presentation at a conference, and another 2nd authorship genetics paper in preparation. I have worked at a surgical animal hospital for 1.5 years as a radiologist's assistant and emergency critical care technician. I have operated the ct machine and performed many studies for the radiologist i worked for, learned to draw blood and place iv cathaters as well participate in ultrasound guided surgical procedures. I also have 1 year experience as a social work volunteer at a hospice. I have done research in the humanities with the vice provost of ucla and she's included in my letter of recommendation portfolio. My mcat scores breakdown are 1st attempt (p9 v7 b12 w:q), 2nd attempt (p13, v9, b10 w: S) i am interested in the global scholars program offered at sgu. Am i considered competitive? After being rejected so many times last year, i just don't have the confidence in my abilities. What are my chances. Any advice can help.

Thanks for the effort and energy guys. I really appreciate it. 😳

you are an epic fail!


Lol!!


No md for you

 

[digitalising]

I second the SMP program. Some of them are even tied to their medical schools, so that can alleviate some of the stress (or exacerbate it, depending on the kind of person you are).

Another benefit is that depending on the program, you can get a feel for what actual med school classes are like. Georgetown's program has this feature, as you take five or six med classes, with the med students, over the course of a year.

Oh, and I would say you're competitive for SGU.