application advice wanted

[superman75]

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I will try and make this short, but my situation is unique. I am 27 and I graduated last semester with my b.s. in microbiology from a large state school. Until very recently (literally the past few months) I was set on pursuing the grad school route and working toward a pHd in biomedical sciences. I actually took the GRE, applied to several phd research programs this fall, and had interview offers for a few places. I ultimately declined to follow up on them because I felt like at the end of the day I wouldn't have the chance to directly improve people's lives through the lab, and that was my initial interest with research to begin with.

I've long considered a career in medicine, and I ultimately know that my heart is in helping people, and so I've decided to pursue the MD/DO route. I don't have any volunteer or hospital experience whatsoever, so I just now set up a volunteering arrangement at a local hospital, and I will begin shadowing a doctor next week. I have already started studying for the MCAT, and I figure that I could be ready for it in a few months also.

My question is this: Is it worth applying to a few a DO schools and a lower-tier (it's very low lol) in state MD school this cycle if I do decent on the MCAT? I've pretty much come to terms with the fact that next year is a better choice due to the fact that I will have more EC experience, and I figure that an admissions committee wants to see that I'm really sure about my career choice this time. Here's a brief summary of my profile:

-Community College pre reqs: ~3.5 GPA (not great obviously, but I worked 60 hrs a week when I did this)
-University GPA: 3.42sci/3.54 cumul
-Research: 1.5 years total, 2 oral conference presentations, 1 research stipend, 1 travel stipend
-Obviously I have lots of real world experience as non-trad, I worked customer service full time for several years beforehand (I'm pretty good with people). I am also fluent in spanish, and hope to use this skill as a pcp.

**I figure that if I were to apply this year it would be late July before my app was fully prepared...Again, I know that **** was long. Thanks for reading, and I'm open to absolutely any advice.

 

[mujaman]

**I figure that if I were to apply this year it would be late July before my app was fully prepared...Again, I know that **** was long. Thanks for reading, and I'm open to absolutely any advice.

I think you could still have a viable application for this upcoming cycle. There's no reason you couldn't go ahead and submit your primary AMCAS application right when the cycle opens in June - even if you still have pending MCAT scores.

However, the MCAT does pose the big dilemma. You should start taking some practice exams to see where you're at. Ideally you would take the MCAT around the end of May or beginning of June. That way your scores would be available to schools about the time your application gets verified, which would be perfect. The risk you face is that your MCAT score sucks and you won't have time to re-study and re-take it and this cycle would thus be a waste of time and a waste of money.

Maybe start taking some practice MCATs in the coming weeks and gauge where you're at. If you're in the ballpark of 30 right now, you're sitting pretty and I'd go full steam ahead with application plans for this cycle. If you're in the low 20's (or lower), you might consider delaying in order to give yourself sufficient study time to bring your marks up.

 

[LPpostbacc]

I will try and make this short, but my situation is unique. I am 27 and I graduated last semester with my b.s. in microbiology from a large state school. Until very recently (literally the past few months) I was set on pursuing the grad school route and working toward a pHd in biomedical sciences. I actually took the GRE, applied to several phd research programs this fall, and had interview offers for a few places. I ultimately declined to follow up on them because I felt like at the end of the day I wouldn't have the chance to directly improve people's lives through the lab, and that was my initial interest with research to begin with.

I've long considered a career in medicine, and I ultimately know that my heart is in helping people, and so I've decided to pursue the MD/DO route. I don't have any volunteer or hospital experience whatsoever, so I just now set up a volunteering arrangement at a local hospital, and I will begin shadowing a doctor next week. I have already started studying for the MCAT, and I figure that I could be ready for it in a few months also.

My question is this: Is it worth applying to a few a DO schools and a lower-tier (it's very low lol) in state MD school this cycle if I do decent on the MCAT? I've pretty much come to terms with the fact that next year is a better choice due to the fact that I will have more EC experience, and I figure that an admissions committee wants to see that I'm really sure about my career choice this time. Here's a brief summary of my profile:

-Community College pre reqs: ~3.5 GPA (not great obviously, but I worked 60 hrs a week when I did this)
-University GPA: 3.42sci/3.54 cumul
-Research: 1.5 years total, 2 oral conference presentations, 1 research stipend, 1 travel stipend
-Obviously I have lots of real world experience as non-trad, I worked customer service full time for several years beforehand (I'm pretty good with people). I am also fluent in spanish, and hope to use this skill as a pcp.

**I figure that if I were to apply this year it would be late July before my app was fully prepared...Again, I know that **** was long. Thanks for reading, and I'm open to absolutely any advice.

If you can gain some solid clinical experience in the next 6 months (I realize there's only so much you can do in this time frame), and a 32+ on the MCAT, you might have an MD acceptance, IMO. I do think the volunteering/clinical gap in your app will be a weak link right now.

 

[Goro]

Sure!

My question is this: Is it worth applying to a few a DO schools and a lower-tier (it's very low lol) in state MD school this cycle if I do decent on the MCAT?

 

[superman75]

I think you could still have a viable application for this upcoming cycle. There's no reason you couldn't go ahead and submit your primary AMCAS application right when the cycle opens in June - even if you still have pending MCAT scores.

However, the MCAT does pose the big dilemma. You should start taking some practice exams to see where you're at. Ideally you would take the MCAT around the end of May or beginning of June. That way your scores would be available to schools about the time your application gets verified, which would be perfect. The risk you face is that your MCAT score sucks and you won't have time to re-study and re-take it and this cycle would thus be a waste of time and a waste of money.

Maybe start taking some practice MCATs in the coming weeks and gauge where you're at. If you're in the ballpark of 30 right now, you're sitting pretty and I'd go full steam ahead with application plans for this cycle. If you're in the low 20's (or lower), you might consider delaying in order to give yourself sufficient study time to bring your marks up.

Sounds reasonable, and that is what I'm going to shoot for...My main concern at this point is having enough time for the MCAT. The ECs are ugly at this point, and delaying them for another month or two won't make much difference. But obviously two months is a huge difference in terms of MCAT prep.