apply or not to apply

[EerieSophia]

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I just got my MCAT scores 34--P12 V11 B11. I am unsure what I should do. I know my score is decent. But I was still bummed by the scores. I was getting 38, 39 on practice....my actual score was really shocking.

Anyway, I am applying to MSTP programs. I wanted to know what were my chances of getting into any top school this late in the game. I have to still submit my primary. My GPA is around 3.3 or 3.4...I still have to calculate it. But it is def below average for medical students. I have been researching over the past year...I don't have any volunteer or clinical experience.

Any Advice?

 

[graduate2be]

I just got my MCAT scores 34--P12 V11 B11. I am unsure what I should do. I know my score is decent. But I was still bummed by the scores. I was getting 38, 39 on practice....my actual score was really shocking.

Anyway, I am applying to MSTP programs. I wanted to know what were my chances of getting into any top school this late in the game. I have to still submit my primary. My GPA is around 3.3 or 3.4...I still have to calculate it. But it is def below average for medical students. I have been researching over the past year...I don't have any volunteer or clinical experience.

Any Advice?

I'm in a similar position. My overall GPA is decent (3.57); however, my BPCM is only a 3.2. I haven't yet taken the MCAT but I anticipate scoring in the 30ish range. Despite that, I do have a lot of bench and clinical research background and have great LOR's but that may not be enough to get me into an MD/PhD so I am appling to post bac at SIU Carbondale to bring that BPCM up and when I apply to medical school, if I don't get any MSTP interviews, assuming that I get into a school, I'll apply to MSTP after I finish the MSI year. Many MD/PhD programs will let you apply after your first or second year if you do stellar grade wise and pick up some research during those years. Take a look at the University of Chicago; they have a two programs that are alternative routes to the MD/PhD (http://pritzker.uchicago.edu/jointdegrees/gdtp/index.shtml, http://pritzker.uchicago.edu/jointdegrees/mesh/index.shtml); there are other schools with alternative routes (UMDNJ-Stratford, UNT Health Science Center, and OSU-Tulsa all have the DO/PhD. You can only apply to the PhD after the completion of your second year of medical school) so you should cehck their web sites (Midwestern-Chicago and Midwestern-Glendale also come to mind; you would have to do your PhD at a different school, but they would grant you a leave of absence for up to three years). I would suggest that you contact the programs that you are interested in and ask them if they could give you some advice. With your scores and assuming that you have good LORs and some clinical and research background, I imagine that you will get into someones medical school but you may have to wait until the end of your first or second year as a med student before you can apply for the PhD. If you are cool with doing that, I'd say apply to medical school and after the first year or two, apply for the PhD.