Chances at DO school? Advice, please!

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[Temperature101]

I plan on applying to medical school for Fall of 2013, but I'm concerned that my GPA, particularly my Science GPA, will keep me from getting accepted anywhere. I would like to attend an osteopathic medical school (Most interested in Campbell University's upcoming DO school, but there are no acceptance stats since it opens 2013), and I'm hoping that I can get a realistic opinion on whether or not I am likely to get accepted to this school, or any other DO school; so any advice would be tremendously appreciated! First of all, I live in North Carolina. I am a Chemistry major with a minor in Hispanic Studies, and I have a 3.67 non-science gpa, 3.18 science, and 3.4 overall, which it seems is on the low side. I have not taken the MCAT yet, but I just started taking a Kaplan prep course and received a 25 on the diagnostic before I had started taking my 2nd physics and Orgo II, so hopefully this will improve some. I have volunteered at the hospital for a year for a total of about 100 hours, but didn't get much direct patient contact for the first half of that. I have about 30 shadowing hours and know a DO that I also plan on shadowing. I have tutored Spanish for my university for about 7 months, have participated in various university organizations both health and non-health related, and am President of my university's Pre-SOMA organization (the undergraduate division of the Student Osteopathic Medical Association). I have put a lot of time into this officer position, so I am also wondering if this will make a significant difference on my application or not. I am almost fluent in Spanish, and am studying abroad in Costa Rica next semester where I hope to improve my Spanish even more- not sure that matters to medical school or not. But that means that I really only have the summer after spring semester to improve my EC's before I apply to medical school. I plan on getting some more patient contact experience (just received NA certification, so will probably work as a CNA) and doing research, but will that likely be enough to get me accepted to any DO school? Should I aim for a post bacc program instead? Thanks so much for any advice!

If you can get a 27+ mcat, you will have a shot at many DO schools. Though your sGPA is on the low side, but it will not hinder from getting multiple interviews that might lead to multiple acceptances.

 

[ksmajmudar]

If you can get a 27+ mcat, you will have a shot at many DO schools. Though your sGPA is on the low side, but it will not hinder from getting multiple interviews that might lead to multiple acceptances.

This. My sGPA and cGPA were both lower than yours, and I got acceptances to my top choice schools. I had a balanced 32Q on my MCAT (11bs, 10vr, 11ps). Get a balanced 30+ on your MCAT, and you will be fine. Your diagnostic is better than what mine was, so you can probably score higher than a 32!

I'm quite sure you'll be fine. Good luck!

 

[Goro]

Concur with this poster. Score in the high 20s and you'll get lots of interviews, not everywhere, as that sciGPA sill hurt for some schools.

Good luck!

If you can get a 27+ mcat, you will have a shot at many DO schools. Though your sGPA is on the low side, but it will not hinder from getting multiple interviews that might lead to multiple acceptances.

 

[shaggybill]

^^ All good advice.

Your sGPA might hurt a little bit, but not too much. Any chance you can bring that up to a 3.2 before next cycle? That will improve your chances significantly, but at the same time, if you get a 28+ on the MCAT, it shouldn't be too big of a deal.

Whether or not your officer position in the pre-SOMA org has any significant bearing on your application depends on what you accomplished there. Did you just show up, or did you make changes and do things that show leadership? Either way, it will at least show that you have an interest in osteopathy, but what you did will determine how much it helps your app.

Definitely do the CNA thing. The more experience you have in the medical field, the more seriously adcoms will take your application.

Start shadowing the DO asap, and do it as much as you can. Getting a stellar LOR from a DO can help your application tremendously.

Do you have any interest in medical mission? If so, check out VCOM-Blacksburg and VCOM-Carolinas. They are extremely missions-oriented, and being fluent in spanish will be a twinkling star on your application. They also heavily favor applicants from the VA, NC, and SC areas.