blk PA2MD applying nxt circle need advice

[BLKPA2MD]

---

Members don't see this ad.

stat:
1.Community College GPA 3.0 (A.S & Medical Assistant Degree)
-note: few "W", lowest GPA was 2.9. I enrolled for 3yrs as f/t student & worked f/t as well through out college. I have to work to support self/family back home.

2. Physician Assistant Program grad GPA 3.9 (cGPA 3.5)
-4yrs college program

3. Master Degree GPA 3.8

Job experience as a Physician Assistant (Emergency Medicine, Orthopedic surgery, Urgent care, Family medicine & currently Internal Medicine)

MCAT will register for the 1/29/11 date.

Age/Brief hx: 34-y.o m, an immigrant from W. Africa came to the U.S over 11yrs ago all alone w/no family support. I've work very hard to get where I am today. However, after 2.5yrs practicing as a PA still not satisfy. I need the autonomy & more personal satisfaction which I don't get as a PA.

Will appreciate your advice/comment most especially regarding my chances of getting accepted. I will be considering the "ROAD" specialty. I've not completely rule out MD/PhD tract.

Thanks in advance.

 

[njbmd]

stat:
1.Community College GPA 3.0 (A.S & Medical Assistant Degree)
-note: few "W", lowest GPA was 2.9. I enrolled for 3yrs as f/t student & worked f/t as well through out college. I have to work to support self/family back home.

2. Physician Assistant Program grad GPA 3.9 (cGPA 3.5)
-4yrs college program

3. Master Degree GPA 3.8

Job experience as a Physician Assistant (Emergency Medicine, Orthopedic surgery, Urgent care, Family medicine & currently Internal Medicine)

MCAT will register for the 1/29/11 date.

Age/Brief hx: 34-y.o m, an immigrant from W. Africa came to the U.S over 11yrs ago all alone w/no family support. I've work very hard to get where I am today. However, after 2.5yrs practicing as a PA still not satisfy. I need the autonomy & more personal satisfaction which I don't get as a PA.

Will appreciate your advice/comment most especially regarding my chances of getting accepted. I will be considering the "ROAD" specialty. I've not completely rule out MD/PhD tract.

Thanks in advance.

See the bold above: Don't "put the cart in front of the horse". Your specialty interest is meaningless until you have gained acceptance into a medical school and done well. Right now, your focus should be on admission period. Once you get in, you can see how you do and then think about a specialty. Plenty of people enter medical school with an idea of a specialty only to change their mind or have their mind changed by their medical school performance.

That being said, you need to get a spreadsheet (Excel or something else) and figure out your undergraduate GPA (the one that will be considered for medical school admission) and you need to do well on the Medical College Admissions Test (MCAT) which is easier said than done. Your community college work will be considered with your work at your 4 year college thus they need to be added together. In addition, you need to have all of the pre-med sciences done before you take the MCAT (one year of general chemistry with lab, one year of organic chemistry with lab, one year of physics with lab and one year of general biology with lab).

Your graduate work while nice will be weighted about the same as an extracurricular activity. It's your undergraduate grades that will be considered most heavily. (Keep in mind that the average uGPA for matriculants is around 3.7 and the average matriculant MCAT is around 31) These are your comparison points.

After you have the information above, you can figure out your competitiveness for medical school by looking at the averages for the schools that interest you. If you are looking at MD/Ph.D, you likely should have some significant research experience at the undergraduate level and meet the requirements for that admission process which may be more stringent than getting into an MD program alone.

Your starting point should be speaking with a few medical schools to see what their MD/Ph.D requirements are and what you need to get yourself competitive.

 

[Bernoull]

See the bold above: Don't "put the cart in front of the horse". Your specialty interest is meaningless until you have gained acceptance into a medical school and done well. Right now, your focus should be on admission period. Once you get in, you can see how you do and then think about a specialty. Plenty of people enter medical school with an idea of a specialty only to change their mind or have their mind changed by their medical school performance.

That being said, you need to get a spreadsheet (Excel or something else) and figure out your undergraduate GPA (the one that will be considered for medical school admission) and you need to do well on the Medical College Admissions Test (MCAT) which is easier said than done. Your community college work will be considered with your work at your 4 year college thus they need to be added together. In addition, you need to have all of the pre-med sciences done before you take the MCAT (one year of general chemistry with lab, one year of organic chemistry with lab, one year of physics with lab and one year of general biology with lab).

Your graduate work while nice will be weighted about the same as an extracurricular activity. It's your undergraduate grades that will be considered most heavily. (Keep in mind that the average uGPA for matriculants is around 3.7 and the average matriculant MCAT is around 31) These are your comparison points.

After you have the information above, you can figure out your competitiveness for medical school by looking at the averages for the schools that interest you. If you are looking at MD/Ph.D, you likely should have some significant research experience at the undergraduate level and meet the requirements for that admission process which may be more stringent than getting into an MD program alone.

Your starting point should be speaking with a few medical schools to see what their MD/Ph.D requirements are and what you need to get yourself competitive.

As usual great points by njbmd, i'll just clarify that as a URM ur stats need not be as high as the general avg. matriculant profile (3.7 ugpa/31 MCAT) you can be quite competitive with anything above (3.0/26) assuming the rest of ur file is compelling, u apply broadly AND u're greencard holder/US citizen..

Out of curiosity, is ur PA program Bachelor's level or Master's/Doctorate, from ur post it, u have grad gpa next to ur PA program and u also state it's a 4yr college program... it's somewhat confusing... Anyway, if it's undergrad level, then ur gpa uptake will put any doubts about ur CC gpa to rest..

Aim for a strong showing on ur MCAT and gdluck!

 

[BLKPA2MD]

As usual great points by njbmd, i'll just clarify that as a URM ur stats need not be as high as the general avg. matriculant profile (3.7 ugpa/31 MCAT) you can be quite competitive with anything above (3.0/26) assuming the rest of ur file is compelling, u apply broadly AND u're greencard holder/US citizen..

Out of curiosity, is ur PA program Bachelor's level or Master's/Doctorate, from ur post it, u have grad gpa next to ur PA program and u also state it's a 4yr college program... it's somewhat confusing... Anyway, if it's undergrad level, then ur gpa uptake will put any doubts about ur CC gpa to rest..

Aim for a strong showing on ur MCAT and gdluck!

@ njbmd I sincerely appreciate your response & advised.

@Bernoull...Yes, I completed a 4-years PA sch/program & did a master degree afterward. I know I shouldn't have had grad next to PA sch GPA. That was a typo. My status is a Naturalized U.S citizen. And yes, I'm approaching the MCAT very seriously.Thanks for your best wishes.