DO Chances for DO? Possible red flag?

[calbear0959]

Hello!

Just received my MCAT score and wanted to get an idea if I should retake or not. Currently have a retake scheduled for Dec 6.

GPA: CUM & SCI ~ 3.5
MCAT: 9,9,8 = 26

ECs: about a year as an MA at a private practice pediatrician's office, about 1 year as a food bank volunteer, ~ 500 hospital volunteering, other small stuff like helped volunteer at a free clinic giving free flu and hep b vaccinations for a year.

I have awhile until applications start so I will be beefing up my EC's and possibly boosting my GPA a little. I do have a red flag that I wanted some advice about. My freshman year in college (Fall 2009) I failed calculus. I never retook it and in order to retake it the local college near me is demanding I start at basic math and work my way back to calculus. Any advice on whether or not I absolutely need to retake it if it was so long ago?

Thanks in advance for your input!

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[YourMD]

Only retake the MCAT if: 1. You have a burning desire to go M.D and 2. You can see yourself making 30+ by Dec.6th. I think your fine for D.O as long as you apply early and broadly. A few members already have acceptances with your stats. Goodluck!

 

[fkt24]

Also only retake if you are confident you will improve your score significantly. I remember someone who took his mcat 3 times to achieve a nice solid score, but during his interview he was asked why he should be accepted over someone else who took the test once and scored similarly.

So my advice is if you're going to take it, be confident that it will be a huge jump to show that the first test was merely a "fluke" .

In terms of the F for calculus, I would try to retake it because AACOMAS has grade replacement so your gpa can be higher than it is right now.

 

[Stagg737]

Agree with the above. If you can't hit at least a 28 on your retake it will be seen as pointless. Even a 28 won't be much better, but it definitely won't hurt.

 

[yocharlie]

Hello!

Just received my MCAT score and wanted to get an idea if I should retake or not. Currently have a retake scheduled for Dec 6.

GPA: CUM & SCI ~ 3.5
MCAT: 9,9,8 = 26

ECs: about a year as an MA at a private practice pediatrician's office, about 1 year as a food bank volunteer, ~ 500 hospital volunteering, other small stuff like helped volunteer at a free clinic giving free flu and hep b vaccinations for a year.

I have awhile until applications start so I will be beefing up my EC's and possibly boosting my GPA a little. I do have a red flag that I wanted some advice about. My freshman year in college (Fall 2009) I failed calculus. I never retook it and in order to retake it the local college near me is demanding I start at basic math and work my way back to calculus. Any advice on whether or not I absolutely need to retake it if it was so long ago?

Thanks in advance for your input!

For MCATs, don't retake unless you know you can do better. I'm sure your already getting that advice. As far as calculus, I think you definitely need to retake cause having an F on your transcript with no effort on improving is definitely a red flag. Can you retake it at another college that won't require you to take basic math that perhaps has a similar curriculum and units? To see if another college will replace it, I think you would need to talk to AACOMAS. But yes, definitely retake calculus and worse comes to worse retake basic math again. Replacing the F will also boose your GPA which is definitely in your favor. good luck!

 

[calbear0959]

Unfortunately, the CC's I live near do not take any of my prerequisite work from high school or the fact that I qualified to take calculus at my 4 year institution. They will require me to start at basic math and work my way up to calculus, which will probably take 3 semesters of math. I wanted to apply this May so I will only have 1 semester until applications start. I was planning on taking statistics. Do you think that would suffice?

 

[Goro]

Concur, but a 26 will be weak for CCOM, Touro-NY and -CA, and lethal for AZCOM (right now, but I suspect that they'll be changing their tune soon).

Only retake the MCAT if: 1. You have a burning desire to go M.D and 2. You can see yourself making 30+ by Dec.6th. I think your fine for D.O as long as you apply early and broadly. A few members already have acceptances with your stats. Goodluck!

 

[ananasmed]

I don't think you should stress too much about retaking the calc if your 3.5 includes that F - that's still pretty darn good! If it were easier/possible for you to retake, then it might be a consideration, but it sounds like it isn't - so don't think twice about it.

 

[baxt1412]

I don't think you should stress too much about retaking the calc if your 3.5 includes that F - that's still pretty darn good! If it were easier/possible for you to retake, then it might be a consideration, but it sounds like it isn't - so don't think twice about it.

agreed. a 3.5 is more than sufficient in my opinion

if you apply appropriately and broadly, you should get more than a couple of interview invites

 

[calbear0959]

Thank you so much for your input everyone! @Goro, can you comment specifically on my D in calculus? I know it will work against me but do you think taking statistics can be a little redeeming? It was 5 years ago, my first semester in college, and I was very immature academically. All of my prereqs are A's with a few B's sprinkled in and have matured very much since then.

 

[calbear0959]

@ananasmed yes the 3.5 does include my D in calculus and I really wish I had retaken it before. Worked my butt off since then and hoping to get in some day . Thank you for your positivity!

 

[WalSlave]

Your GPA is great and Calculus is not a pre-req. Absolutely no reason to retake, IMO.