Any 27-29 MCAT with interviews????

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Hang in there everyone. I have some encouraging news, although it's still early.

I'm a non-URM, 28 MCAT, ~3.5 c/s GPAs, and I received interviews at Drexel, Howard, and George Washington (my permanent residence is New York, but I've lived in DC just over a year). I also haven't received any rejections yet. I inevitably will, but haven't yet.

I was complete at most schools in late August (waited awhile for the committee letter).

I've been pretty surprised to be honest that these schools and others have really looked past the numbers (Howard obviously does)...it's a really nice relief. I agree that you should apply to lots of schools with low numbers, but you never know!

Hope I instilled some hope!
 
NYYanks said:
Hang in there everyone. I have some encouraging news, although it's still early.

I'm a non-URM, 28 MCAT, ~3.5 c/s GPAs, and I received interviews at Drexel, Howard, and George Washington (my permanent residence is New York, but I've lived in DC just over a year). I also haven't received any rejections yet. I inevitably will, but haven't yet.

I was complete at most schools in late August (waited awhile for the committee letter).

I've been pretty surprised to be honest that these schools and others have really looked past the numbers (Howard obviously does)...it's a really nice relief. I agree that you should apply to lots of schools with low numbers, but you never know!

Hope I instilled some hope!
Click to expand...
Hmm I have pretty low numbers too, but I didn't apply to the historically black medical schools because I didn't think they would even interview me... I feel like I made a mistake....
 
I thought about it.. and then I decided I would feel very awkward being 1 white guy in a room full of black people. Didn't want to do that for 4 years.
 
von Matterhorn said:
I thought about it.. and then I decided I would feel very awkward being 1 white guy in a room full of black people. Didn't want to do that for 4 years.
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According to MSAR 13 white students matriculated at Howard last year..so kinda less awkward maybe?
 
NYYanks said:
Hang in there everyone. I have some encouraging news, although it's still early.

I'm a non-URM, 28 MCAT, ~3.5 c/s GPAs, and I received interviews at Drexel, Howard, and George Washington (my permanent residence is New York, but I've lived in DC just over a year). I also haven't received any rejections yet. I inevitably will, but haven't yet.

I was complete at most schools in late August (waited awhile for the committee letter).

I've been pretty surprised to be honest that these schools and others have really looked past the numbers (Howard obviously does)...it's a really nice relief. I agree that you should apply to lots of schools with low numbers, but you never know!

Hope I instilled some hope!
Click to expand...

Is there something about your application that you feel was a "stand out"?
 
27Q here. I was disappointed with my MCAT score but I know exactly what I did wrong so I'm prepared to apply next time with a better score and much much better activities. I was hoping for a 30 or 31 but I was just overworked with too many credits.

This time I applied to about 15 schools. I only received one primary app rejection from Eastern Virginia, but no rejections or interviews yet. This thread is really encouraging, and I wish I had time to read the entire thing. I'm sure many people have some great stories. Good luck to everyone with 27-29 scores!

My sister's friend started this year at Georgetown and received interviews at Harvard and elsewhere with a 29. Although she had some really great experiences (4 years of service, clinical, shadowing, and research EACH) and a good interview. Either way, it gives me some hope!
 
apiaristwannabe said:
27Q here. I was disappointed with my MCAT score but I know exactly what I did wrong so I'm prepared to apply next time with a better score and much much better activities. I was hoping for a 30 or 31 but I was just overworked with too many credits.

This time I applied to about 15 schools. I only received one primary app rejection from Eastern Virginia, but no rejections or interviews yet. This thread is really encouraging, and I wish I had time to read the entire thing. I'm sure many people have some great stories. Good luck to everyone with 27-29 scores!

My sister's friend started this year at Georgetown and received interviews at Harvard and elsewhere with a 29. Although she had some really great experiences (4 years of service, clinical, shadowing, and research EACH) and a good interview. Either way, it gives me some hope!
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You can get in with that score if you can demonstrate your intelligence in other ways. Part way through my first interview, my interviewer shook his head, started chuckling, and said "Man, you get it. You're wise beyond your years. You don't hear people speaking with this kind of experience at your age every day". Do you really think he went back and said "Eh, this guy seemed smart, but he only got a 27. NEXT!". I doubt it, personally.
 
von Matterhorn said:
You can get in with that score if you can demonstrate your intelligence in other ways. Part way through my first interview, my interviewer shook his head, started chuckling, and said "Man, you get it. You're wise beyond your years. You don't hear people speaking with this kind of experience at your age every day". Do you really think he went back and said "Eh, this guy seemed smart, but he only got a 27. NEXT!". I doubt it, personally.
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I was just curious. What experiences did you mention, if you don't mind? Are they mostly overseas where you learned something unique? Or is it mostly in "usual" medical setting where you learned something different?

I have not yet received any ii, but I am preparing what experiences or examples I should be ready to say confidently.
 
msj6403 said:
I was just curious. What experiences did you mention, if you don't mind? Are they mostly overseas where you learned something unique? Or is it mostly in "usual" medical setting where you learned something different?

I have not yet received any ii, but I am preparing what experiences or examples I should be ready to say confidently.
Click to expand...

It was mostly work experiences. We started talking about some work I did in college, why I switched career choices, etc., and the guy was impressed with it. In this particular case, my interviewer was very impressed that I seemed to understand the corporate world, understood how decisions I made in the work field would affect my future, etc. I have a low GPA and a low MCAT, so I need to sell myself on other things. I happen to have a good job, and I've worked a lot since high school, so I focus on that. Just find your strength and run with it.

Incidentally enough, my biggest selling point was something that LizzyM on here said was going to hurt me (my job as a pharmaceutical consultant). This is exactly why I say to take everything on SDN with a grain of salt (including what I say), because there is no formulaic road to medicine outside of the core, basic aspects you need. I suspected it [my job] would work well in my favor, LizzyM shot it down, and then it turned out to make a very interesting and favorable conversation during the interview.
 
von Matterhorn said:
It was mostly work experiences. We started talking about some work I did in college, why I switched career choices, etc., and the guy was impressed with it. In this particular case, my interviewer was very impressed that I seemed to understand the corporate world, understood how decisions I made in the work field would affect my future, etc. I have a low GPA and a low MCAT, so I need to sell myself on other things. I happen to have a good job, and I've worked a lot since high school, so I focus on that. Just find your strength and run with it.

Incidentally enough, my biggest selling point was something that LizzyM on here said was going to hurt me (my job as a pharmaceutical consultant). This is exactly why I say to take everything on SDN with a grain of salt (including what I say), because there is no formulaic road to medicine outside of the core, basic aspects you need. I suspected it [my job] would work well in my favor, LizzyM shot it down, and then it turned out to make a very interesting and favorable conversation during the interview.
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Forgive me but I feel you are leaving out 3 major factors in your success.
1)You have lived in a ruralish area ----> I give you props for wanting to live there and so do adcoms. There is major shortage. This is your biggest selling point. You are essentially a URM - a rural American.

2) you have work history after college. Schools like that.

3) You choose well when applying. UMN -Duluth, Drexel, Jefferson, Creighton( I don't think you interviewed here but they are another along with Vermont) are low MCAT friendly schools.
There are plenty more as well that people should look at.
 
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von Matterhorn said:
It was mostly work experiences. We started talking about some work I did in college, why I switched career choices, etc., and the guy was impressed with it. In this particular case, my interviewer was very impressed that I seemed to understand the corporate world, understood how decisions I made in the work field would affect my future, etc. I have a low GPA and a low MCAT, so I need to sell myself on other things. I happen to have a good job, and I've worked a lot since high school, so I focus on that. Just find your strength and run with it.

Incidentally enough, my biggest selling point was something that LizzyM on here said was going to hurt me (my job as a pharmaceutical consultant). This is exactly why I say to take everything on SDN with a grain of salt (including what I say), because there is no formulaic road to medicine outside of the core, basic aspects you need. I suspected it [my job] would work well in my favor, LizzyM shot it down, and then it turned out to make a very interesting and favorable conversation during the interview.
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I'm volunteering in a clinical research department, but I don't get to see the rationales behind these drugs (other than for profit) but just effects on patients. Can you share us briefly what you learned about "how companies make their decisions?"

I always thought that they are all heavily profit driven and how the companies run won't probably affect the motivation in medicine. I am genuinely interested in how you connected those dots if you don't mind, so thanks in advance!
 
I got accepted Tuesday via EDP at WVU. 4.0/28P OOS. I know a few in staters that had much better MCAT but didn't get in. I never realized how much this process is NOT all numbers as much as I did this week. You guys can do this! 🙂
 
Mountaineer12 said:
I got accepted Tuesday via EDP at WVU. 4.0/28P OOS. I know a few in staters that had much better MCAT but didn't get in. I never realized how much this process is NOT all numbers as much as I did this week. You guys can do this! 🙂
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Congrats! Great football team.
 
Mountaineer12 said:
I got accepted Tuesday via EDP at WVU. 4.0/28P OOS. I know a few in staters that had much better MCAT but didn't get in. I never realized how much this process is NOT all numbers as much as I did this week. You guys can do this! 🙂
Click to expand...

There is some randomness in the process.
 
msj6403 said:
I'm volunteering in a clinical research department, but I don't get to see the rationales behind these drugs (other than for profit) but just effects on patients. Can you share us briefly what you learned about "how companies make their decisions?"

I always thought that they are all heavily profit driven and how the companies run won't probably affect the motivation in medicine. I am genuinely interested in how you connected those dots if you don't mind, so thanks in advance!
Click to expand...

You can look at the pharma world any way you want. The reality of the system is that they aren't as awful as people make them out to be, but they certainly aren't saints, either. It's a segment of the corporate world that is mostly in it to make some money, but also does well to advance/better our lives as well. 50 years ago, these meds we have today didn't exist. If you had high blood pressure, you went to the hospital. If you had dangerously high cholesterol, you went to the hospital. Pharma corps. have really improved the world in that degree, and I've even had older folks thank me personally at work (always a bit strange for me since I"m so young and have contributed nothing to this area, hah).

Anyways, I'm rambling at this point about pharma. The take-home point here is that I do believe there is some good in the job I do, and I translated that into my motivations for applying to school. I've also learned some things on the job, unfortunate circumstances about medicine and the way some physicians practice, that I was able to talk about and explain how my current job would help me avoid those pitfalls in the future. A lot of these issues are ones that none of you guys will ever see, not until you're doctors. The fact that I'm able to witness them now and learn from them was a pretty big deal for me. I don't really want to spell out the connections I made between my job and medicine as I don't want someone reading it and then spouting it off at their own interview, but just glean whatever you can from your work situations now as I absolutely guarantee there are some connections there to be made.

All I can say is that this whole process seems to me to be a bit like making a resume and applying for a job. I used to work at Menards where I stocked shelves. Do I put "merchandise stocker" on my resume? Of course not. I build it up and say things like "Managed customer relations" and "Cultivated long-term customer relationships" and stuff like that. Of course, it helps that I really do believe in the work I've done, so I don't really need to fluff up my application into things that I don't believe myself.

pasiley said:
Forgive me but I feel you are leaving out 3 major factors in your success.
1)You have lived in a ruralish area ----> I give you props for wanting to live there and so do adcoms. There is major shortage. This is your biggest selling point. You are essentially a URM - a rural American.

2) you have work history after college. Schools like that.

3) You choose well when applying. UMN -Duluth, Drexel, Jefferson, Creighton( I don't think you interviewed here but they are another along with Vermont) are low MCAT friendly schools.
There are plenty more as well that people should look at.
Click to expand...

I'm going to have to disagree with you a little on your overall post of leaving stuff out. I don't live in an exceptionally rural area, so I think that's a pretty neutral point for me as I also don't live in a big city. In MN, there aren't many big cities in general, so I'm quite sure the vast majority of people applying to U of MN - Duluth are in equal or better positions than I am, yet ~90% don't receive an interview (likely more to do with misaligned goals and whatnot).

As for your second point, I agree. I mentioned that was probably one of my greatest strength, so I definitely didn't leave that out of my current "success factor" (if you can call getting 3 interviews much of a success, I probably wouldn't).

As for the third point, I think that goes without saying. Be realistic in the schools you apply to. I applied to one reach school (Mayo) as I spent several years working there. I was shot down almost immediately. The rest of my schools, by and large, are schools that I have/had some sort of a chance of at least landing an interview.
 
Got my fourth interview invite with a 29Q/3.65 GPA. Starting to feel a little bit better about this application cycle. 2 interviews down, 2 to go, and hopefully more to come.
 
Hello everyone! I'm glad this thread exists because it is one of the factors that convinced me to go ahead and apply this cycle instead of retaking my MCAT.

I have a 3.99GPA and 27N MCAT score. So far, I've been blessed with interviews at GWU, UF, FIU, UM, and UCLA Geffen.

I hope this encourages anyone else who was in the same rough patch of questioning whether to apply or not!
 
Africaaa said:
Hello everyone! I'm glad this thread exists because it is one of the factors that convinced me to go ahead and apply this cycle instead of retaking my MCAT.

I have a 3.99GPA and 27N MCAT score. So far, I've been blessed with interviews at GWU, UF, FIU, UM, and UCLA Geffen.

I hope this encourages anyone else who was in the same rough patch of questioning whether to apply or not!
Click to expand...

Congrats! Are you URM?
 
This is by far my favorite thread! I've been hiding since early this summer, but just made an account recently. I have a 29Q and 3.65GPA (non URM) with 5 interviews (Drexel, OHSU, Rush, Albert Einstein, and MCW). I was really skeptical about applying this year with my MCAT score, but I'm very happy with how it has turned out so far. Good luck to everyone!
 
bananapancake33 said:
This is by far my favorite thread! I've been hiding since early this summer, but just made an account recently. I have a 29Q and 3.65GPA (non URM) with 5 interviews (Drexel, OHSU, Rush, Albert Einstein, and MCW). I was really skeptical about applying this year with my MCAT score, but I'm very happy with how it has turned out so far. Good luck to everyone!
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Wow, gratz! Those are some awesome places to interview.
 
SixStringPsych said:
...
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Strong lack of embed skills...Come at me.

66QhZ.gif
 
bananapancake33 said:
This is by far my favorite thread! I've been hiding since early this summer, but just made an account recently. I have a 29Q and 3.65GPA (non URM) with 5 interviews (Drexel, OHSU, Rush, Albert Einstein, and MCW). I was really skeptical about applying this year with my MCAT score, but I'm very happy with how it has turned out so far. Good luck to everyone!
Click to expand...

Woohoo! Congrats! I have a very similar GPA and MCAT, 3.6, 29S, and I also have 4 interviews..and it's still early in the cycle! Take that all you people that said I couldn't get in with a below 30 MCAT and "average" GPA.
 
3.6/29 with 4 interviews here. 3 public (OOS for 2) and one private. Us 29ers are doing good. Keep up the good work guys!

Edit: ORM too
 
Wanted to give an update:

~3.7 cGPA, 29 MCAT 7 in VR. VA resident.

7 interviews: U Washington, Mayo, EVMS, GWU, VCU, Georgetown, Virginia Tech; I'm thinking one or two will trickle in late in the cycle, but I'm pretty content with where things stand, especially since based on what most people say on SDN I shouldn't have even gotten a single interview at any "prestigious" school(s). Also, this isn't n=1, I have several friends with ~30 (+/- 1-2) who have had multiple interviews both in VA and outside of it and had multiple acceptances at the end of the cycle. Also also, don't believe this whole notion on SDN that there are good and bad schools. There are just schools that fit you and others that don't. I've honestly LOVED some of the "lower" ranked schools like EVMS and VCU, and having worked with residents and medical students from those schools I can guarantee you that those peoples' clinical ability is as good as others' (to be honest I've found some of those guys' knowledge/ability to be far exceeding what residents from "top 10 programs" come in with, but for the sake of playing nice let's just say it's just as good 🙂 )

von Matterhorn said:
I suspected it [my job] would work well in my favor, LizzyM shot it down, and then it turned out to make a very interesting and favorable conversation during the interview.
Click to expand...

Frankly, I think LizzyM is a massive egotistical tool. Waaayyyy too much worshiping of him/her on these forums.
 
This thread gives me hope..3.67 with 28 (damn you PS!), but no invites yet. I've been complete at my state schools since mid-September so I'm a little nervous, but ah well.
There's just this low level of constant anxiety at all times...
 
Accepted with a 29. good luck everyone! such a relief I can stop beating myself up for not retaking it
 
1289 said:
Accepted with a 29. good luck everyone! such a relief I can stop beating myself up for not retaking it
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Major congrats! If only my angst could end so quickly! In your MD apps, you say "small pooled." What does this mean?
 
type12 said:
Major congrats! If only my angst could end so quickly! In your MD apps, you say "small pooled." What does this mean?
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For Medical College of Wisconsin, after you submit the secondary you either get rejected or put into a small pool (it's like an additional screening of applicants). Then some of those from the small pool receive an interview while others receive a rejection later on.

tldr; you have to get small pooled before you get interviewed.
 
Accepted into GWU, UF, and FIU with a 27N MCAT score. I'm waiting to hear back from UM, and I have UCLA Geffen and USF in the next two months.
 
Congratulations to those accepted! Do any of you want to comment on what you feel set you apart?

I applied earlyish (Complete most places late July, added some schools piecewise through mid-August because of finances), and no allopathic schools have given me interview invites yet. I feel like my ECs are decent and my GPA is decent. I'm wondering if I just don't "stand out" enough to make up for the low MCAT or something. :scared:
 
Yeah, I feel like most of the people here did something to stand out, like cure cancer. Or, more realistically, maybe some stellar secondary essays?
 
Procyon said:
Congratulations to those accepted! Do any of you want to comment on what you feel set you apart?

I applied earlyish (Complete most places late July, added some schools piecewise through mid-August because of finances), and no allopathic schools have given me interview invites yet. I feel like my ECs are decent and my GPA is decent. I'm wondering if I just don't "stand out" enough to make up for the low MCAT or something. :scared:
Click to expand...

Well, I can safely say that I was pretty involved on my college campus - which I think made people forgive slightly below average stats because they saw I was living a pretty productive life outside of class...

As far as what specifically I did, I will share them now that my anonymity isn't really important any more:

I was an RA at one of my college's dorms for 2 years and this year was promoted to the assistant hall director. I was also a congressman at my school's student council my junior year and this year I am actually the president. I went on a couple of those medical mission trips that people apparently loathe so badly around here (I will go ahead and say that I presented my trips as part of a long-term public health initiative for a minority group in a third-world country, so it was certainly very different from short term medical missions). I only did one summer of research, but it wasn't molecular bench research like most of my peers (I am a biology major), but rather research in a physics lab that focused on clinical applications.

Other than that, I had maybe a hundred hours of shadowing and another hundred of documented volunteer work. I also listed a leadership role I took in helping start a church in the city my college is located at, but I really only had time to accept a formal position for about 6 months or so.

I don't think any one EC is what set me apart (I guess besides the president thing which came up in most interviews) but rather my overall focus on community and humanitarian efforts were what made me a bit more attractive as an applicant. I guess the emphasis on Leadership went hand in hand with that too.

I did have one interviewer at a school I was accepted at comment on how my secondary essays should be published as an impassioned account as to why anybody should go into medicine, so I guess that meant they were pretty good although I certainly wouldn't say I am the strongest writer (I got an N on the writing section) but rather an honest writer.
 
VerynCE said:
Hey man, I'm in the same situation. Best of luck to you!
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Thanks, you too! That's sick that you play water polo, I've wanted to try it. Seems like quite the sport!

CS -- thanks for your insight. You do have a lot of cool ECs. My ECs are more "average Joe" ECs I guess. haha
 
It's all about how you present your experiences and how they speak to your overarching 'telos' or narrative. In the end, you're not a bunch of ECs and a few tests scores - you're an individual who has more to offer than a sheet of paper and a 30 minute interview can convey, but that's all you've got.

But I think any adcom has to respect a Cowboy Bebop fan!
 
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