Average MCAT & GPA --- Chances?

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sweetpea85

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Hi everyone! Longtime thread reader, first time poster. :) These are my stats:

cGPA: 3.60
sGPA: 3.43
nsGPA: 3.74
MCAT: 26M (ps: 7, bs: 9, vr: 10)

Applied to 12 D.O. schools (PCOM, LECOM-B, LECOM-E, VCOM, CCOM, ATSU-KCOM, WVSOM, PCSOM, to name a few)

40+ hours shadowing D.O. (over about 6 months)
55 hours volunteering at hospital escorting patients (over the course of about a year)
55 hours volunteering at local women & children's shelter (over about 2 years)
55 hours volunteering at local free clinic (over about one and a half years)

attended community college freshman and sophomore years --- transferred to a university (actually improved GPA after transferring)

non-traditional student
own and operate a restaurant since Dec. 2007
have worked full time since 2002

I took the MCAT in late July, so I did not submit secondaries until September and a couple in early October. I have received one rejection from CCOM. I haven't heard anything from any other schools, though. This seems to be yet another 'test' along the road to med school - learning to have patience. :)

Thank you in advance for any help you can offer. Best of luck in your endeavors, as well!

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Hi everyone! Longtime thread reader, first time poster. :) These are my stats:

cGPA: 3.60
sGPA: 3.43
nsGPA: 3.74
MCAT: 26M (ps: 7, bs: 9, vr: 10)

Applied to 12 D.O. schools (PCOM, LECOM-B, LECOM-E, VCOM, CCOM, ATSU-KCOM, WVSOM, PCSOM, to name a few)

40+ hours shadowing D.O. (over about 6 months)
55 hours volunteering at hospital escorting patients (over the course of about a year)
55 hours volunteering at local women & children's shelter (over about 2 years)
55 hours volunteering at local free clinic (over about one and a half years)

attended community college freshman and sophomore years --- transferred to a university (actually improved GPA after transferring)

non-traditional student
own and operate a restaurant since Dec. 2007
have worked full time since 2002

I took the MCAT in late July, so I did not submit secondaries until September and a couple in early October. I have received one rejection from CCOM. I haven't heard anything from any other schools, though. This seems to be yet another 'test' along the road to med school - learning to have patience. :)

Thank you in advance for any help you can offer. Best of luck in your endeavors, as well!

I hope you get some hits that lead to an acceptance. In the event that you don't get any hits this year, I'd start doing something that directly translates into a valuable experience for the application for next year. Volunteer abroad, get a job in healthcare, get a volunteer position at a local establishment that helpt disadvantaged people. in other words, add a 0 or two to your volunteer hours. Then I'd be sure to have your NEW personal statement ready to go by May 1st next cycle. Also, if you've been scoring higher on your practice Mcats, you may want to take a look at improving that score too.

For the short term though, hang in there, it will work out somehow if you stick to it! GOOD LUCK :thumbup:
 
Thank you for taking the time to respond. I am planning on traveling to Honduras this winter for a one week service trip (not medically related). I still volunteer at the homeless women/children's transitional facility, as well as the free clinic. I would like to avoid retaking the MCAT if at all possible. I think I will give admission committees another month or two and then apply for post-bacc programs in my area. I'm going to keep my fingers crossed, though, in the meantime. Thanks, again! :)
 
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You applied on the later side, but not too late to have a reasonable chance at an acceptance this season. Any idea why CCOM rejected you? Do they have hard cutoffs for subscores?

Your numbers look OK. If I were forced to express any criticism, I'd point out that your clinical experience and shadowing are on the light side. Since you are still involved in the free clinic, an update letter should be sent eventually (end of fall term) informing schools of your additional hours, and hopefully telling them about more shadowing hours as well, besides the other specified activities (which sound great).

I hope your application went into details about the leadership entailed in starting and running your own business and that you included hobbies and sports as well. When you're of nontraditional age, you have an advantage if you can properly express the influence of your rich life experience and mature decisions.
 
Thanks for the incite! I have not checked back with CCOM, but I plan on contacting their admissions office this week. I will post a comment regarding their reasoning. As far as noting my leadership qualities, most of the essays were very school specific, i.e. 'Why do you want to attend [insert school name] and how would [said school] help you achieve your goal of becoming an osteopathic physician?' So, I was unable to include much about owning a restaurant. Other than that, I'm still relatively young - I just turned 25 - so I have some life experience, but certainly not as much as some would think.

Thank you so much, once again, for taking the time to respond to my thread. I really appreciate it!
 
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