Chances of getting into MD schools? 3.1 Science and 2.7 sGPA

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If biological anthro I'm going to lmao.

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I think it's "sociocultural anthropology"
They're also very into gender studies and teach me all sorts of things like "trans*" and "demisexual"
I get lost very quickly in all the terminology sometimes trying to keep up with what is proper / PC
 
I think it's "sociocultural anthropology"
They're also very into gender studies and teach me all sorts of things like "trans*" and "demisexual"
I get lost very quickly in all the terminology sometimes trying to keep up with what is proper / PC
I had to google demisexual. They are a parody of themselves sometimes.
 
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I once had the same person tell me that we needed more minority race representation on our campus, and that race was a social construct with no actual biological meaning or legitimate ways to define. I have since learned not to question what racial Diversity is or means or how best to achieve It

To be fair, saying that race is social construct is not the same thing as saying it doesn't exist. Social constructs, however poorly defined, still have real world consequences.
 
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Your counselor is dumb. Afghans are not URM. They are not underrepresented in medicine. No need for philosophical debates about race or ethnicity. The analysis is: Are you Afghan? (Yes) Are there too few Afghani doctors proportional to patient population? (No) Are you thus URM? (No)

Done. Also apply DO only
 
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To be fair, saying that race is social construct is not the same thing as saying it doesn't exist. Social constructs, however poorly defined, still have real world consequences.
I just thought it was funny that within one conversation they said race is made up and can't be defined at all, and also they want more people of race XYZ to be accepted here.
They also got upset with me once for saying that there are race-based genetic distributions like Asians and acetaldehyde dehydrogenase insufficiency or African American and sickle cell, apparently in a class they had learned there was no way to correlate genetics to race (since race is made up) as one of the counterarguments to the idea of hereditary elements of IQ being distributed differently across races

No, we don't.
This is, however a perception expressed by applicants from various faiths.
Does answering the diversity secondary questions with their religion win points? Or is there not really any consideration given to religious beliefs in this process (other than places like Loma Linda etc)
 
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I once had the same person tell me that we needed more minority race representation on our campus, and that race was a social construct with no actual biological meaning or legitimate ways to define. I have since learned not to question what racial Diversity is or means or how best to achieve It

I facepalmed pretty hard.
 
haha I love how Asians, although very diverse, are lumped together. URM was something brought up by my counselor and I though I should mention it here. :) Thanks for the clarifications though

Just a warning, you should take what your pre-med advisor says with a grain of salt. While they are usually well-intentioned, oftentimes they know very little about what is needed to get into med school beyond average GPAs and MCAT scores and maybe what a few local schools that their students commonly matriculate at want. On a national scale, pre-med advisors are typically pretty worthless.
 
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Not just worthless! They often accidentally sabotage you if you take their advice. My sister had a premed adviser tell her she could take a prereq (physics) while abroad and mine told me you didn't need research to be competitive for top MD programs.

SDN>>nothing>>premed advisers
 
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My sister had a premed adviser tell her she could take a prereq (physics) while abroad
The advisors at my school encouraged it, saying that med schools often see international schools as more rigorous. Some of them have been "advising" for 20 years!
 
The advisors at my school encouraged it, saying that med schools often see international schools as more rigorous. Some of them have been "advising" for 20 years!
What??? Does your school transfer letter grades from abroad rather than just pass fail credit? Maybe its OK then
 
Not just worthless! They often accidentally sabotage you if you take their advice. My sister had a premed adviser tell her she could take a prereq (physics) while abroad and mine told me you didn't need research to be competitive for top MD programs.

SDN>>nothing>>premed advisers

One of the ER techs whom I've worked with in the past was given advice to study abroad in the Caribbeans because the advisor says his grades wasn't good enough for MD schools here. Neither were well aware of the DO route and with his stats he could've definitely landed multiple interviews at DO schools. Fast forward to present time, my old acquaintance is currently an MSIV student at Ross University. Last I heard from him is that he is busting his ass off trying to land a residency spot in our hometown. Probably won't be in EM, because last I heard he wanted to become an EM doc.
 
What??? Does your school transfer letter grades from abroad rather than just pass fail credit? Maybe its OK then
I have no idea. I immediately recognized the advice given as stupid and didn't enquire further. I know that many of our premeds take physics abroad though (they are trying to avoid getting their asses handed to them from our notoriously deflated physics classes.)
 
I have no idea. I immediately recognized the advice given as stupid and didn't enquire further. I know that many of our premeds take physics abroad though (they are trying to avoid getting their asses handed to them in our notoriously deflated physics classes.)
You know I have heard grading is deflated in the UK so maybe the edinborough program they transfer letter grade for physics...or maybe the advising is really THAT bad! Wouldn't surprise me haha
 
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I have no idea. I immediately recognized the advice given as stupid and didn't enquire further. I know that many of our premeds take physics abroad though (they are trying to avoid getting their asses handed to them from our notoriously deflated physics classes.)

My State University has average gpas of 2.0 to 2.4 for every science class I've taken. Is that inflated, deflated, or average?
 
My State University has average gpas of 2.0 to 2.4 for every science class I've taken. Is that inflated, deflated, or average?
Honestly? It depends on the reputation of your school.
 
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You know I have heard grading is deflated in the UK so maybe the edinborough program they transfer letter grade for physics...or maybe the advising is really THAT bad! Wouldn't surprise me haha
The grades probably do transfer, but I don't know why the students assume that AdCom's everywhere are going to be familiar with the rigor of schools in the UK or where ever else.
 
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Honestly? It depends on the reputation of your school.

I dont know what the reputation of my school is. The only thing I can say is its a very large public state school. Probably the biggest in my state actually. Its ranked in the top 100 Undergraduate Institutions on US News if that counts for anything. Probably doesnt count for anything though.
 
My State University has average gpas of 2.0 to 2.4 for every science class I've taken. Is that inflated, deflated, or average?
The C or C+ average is alive and well among typical state school programs but thatd be insanely deflated for most Top 50 and private schools
 
The C or C+ average is alive and well among typical state school programs but thatd be insanely deflated for most Top 50 and private schools

Yea so its probably about average then.
 
Yea so its probably about average then.
I think you'll be fine. If I remember right your GPA is 3.7+? I don't think anyone is going to give you too hard of a time with that GPA.
 
I think you'll be fine. If I remember right your GPA is 3.7+? I don't think anyone is going to give you too hard of a time with that GPA.

You have a good memory. I hope so.
 
Your counselor is dumb. Afghans are not URM. They are not underrepresented in medicine. No need for philosophical debates about race or ethnicity. The analysis is: Are you Afghan? (Yes) Are there too few Afghani doctors proportional to patient population? (No) Are you thus URM? (No)

Done. Also apply DO only

Out of curiosity, how do you know afghans are not underrepresented in medicine? As far as I know, there isn't any data that actually addresses this since most data are not collected on the bases of their national origin rather they are based than a few ethnicities that people have to check off. I remember reading somewhere that based on other national origins, Afghans in California have significantly fewer college graduates. I understand the population of Afghans in the United States is small to begin with and URM seems to be a very controversial topic and evidently people get very direct when it is brought up. I wasn't looking for any special treatment because of my background, but I do think it was nice seeing how little people actually know about other ethnic minorities in United States. I don't blame them, United States just happens to be very diverse and I can't imagine everyone knowing everything about other ethnicities.

Please don't take my point as a start for an argument, I just wanted to make a final statement and that is all. Like most of you, I am just trying to get into medical school and I understand it is my own achievements that gave to stand out. Thank you all for your suggestions and advices, I will definitely taken them into consideration. :)
 
It neither hurts nor helps, usually.
I don't want to drag this out too much, but what are the few scenarios where it does make a difference? I suppose coming across as a fanatic is probably usually a negative.
 
Out of curiosity, how do you know afghans are not underrepresented in medicine? As far as I know, there isn't any data that actually addresses this since most data are not collected on the bases of their national origin rather they are based than a few ethnicities that people have to check off. I remember reading somewhere that based on other national origins, Afghans in California have significantly fewer college graduates. I understand the population of Afghans in the United States is small to begin with and URM seems to be a very controversial topic and evidently people get very direct when it is brought up. I wasn't looking for any special treatment because of my background, but I do think it was nice seeing how little people actually know about other ethnic minorities in United States. I don't blame them, United States just happens to be very diverse and I can't imagine everyone knowing everything about other ethnicities.

Please don't take my point as a start for an argument, I just wanted to make a final statement and that is all. Like most of you, I am just trying to get into medical school and I understand it is my own achievements that gave to stand out. Thank you all for your suggestions and advices, I will definitely taken them into consideration. :)
Yeah um, good luck claiming URM status bro.

Being an ethnic minority is not the same as applying to MD schools as a URM. I'm East Asian, an ethnic minority in the US.

You're about as much of a URM as I am.
 
Out of curiosity, how do you know afghans are not underrepresented in medicine? As far as I know, there isn't any data that actually addresses this since most data are not collected on the bases of their national origin rather they are based than a few ethnicities that people have to check off. I remember reading somewhere that based on other national origins, Afghans in California have significantly fewer college graduates. I understand the population of Afghans in the United States is small to begin with and URM seems to be a very controversial topic and evidently people get very direct when it is brought up. I wasn't looking for any special treatment because of my background, but I do think it was nice seeing how little people actually know about other ethnic minorities in United States. I don't blame them, United States just happens to be very diverse and I can't imagine everyone knowing everything about other ethnicities.

Please don't take my point as a start for an argument, I just wanted to make a final statement and that is all. Like most of you, I am just trying to get into medical school and I understand it is my own achievements that gave to stand out. Thank you all for your suggestions and advices, I will definitely taken them into consideration. :)
We know they aren't URM because they count as white in the eyes of Diversity
 
I don't want to drag this out too much, but what are the few scenarios where it does make a difference? I suppose coming across as a fanatic is probably usually a negative.
It doesn't hurt to come from a Catholic school when applying to one of the Jesuits.
Loma Linda like missionaries.
 
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Really?? Hmong and Cambodians are considered URM? That makes me really happy. I'm not Hmong or Cambodian, but I understand that in those cases, it's better to have a doctor who understands the customs.

In my area, there is a heavy population of the Hmong, Cambodian and Laotian community. With that, there are also very few physicians of the listed ethnic background. I understand why certain exceptions such as these listed Asians fall under UIM category in some areas.
 
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Out of curiosity, how do you know afghans are not underrepresented in medicine? As far as I know, there isn't any data that actually addresses this since most data are not collected on the bases of their national origin rather they are based than a few ethnicities that people have to check off. I remember reading somewhere that based on other national origins, Afghans in California have significantly fewer college graduates. I understand the population of Afghans in the United States is small to begin with and URM seems to be a very controversial topic and evidently people get very direct when it is brought up. I wasn't looking for any special treatment because of my background, but I do think it was nice seeing how little people actually know about other ethnic minorities in United States. I don't blame them, United States just happens to be very diverse and I can't imagine everyone knowing everything about other ethnicities.

Please don't take my point as a start for an argument, I just wanted to make a final statement and that is all. Like most of you, I am just trying to get into medical school and I understand it is my own achievements that gave to stand out. Thank you all for your suggestions and advices, I will definitely taken them into consideration. :)
Because Afghans are basically seen as Middle Eastern, and we have no shortage of doctors from that region. Sorry this is how it works, but it is
 
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Out of curiosity, how do you know afghans are not underrepresented in medicine? As far as I know, there isn't any data that actually addresses this since most data are not collected on the bases of their national origin rather they are based than a few ethnicities that people have to check off. I remember reading somewhere that based on other national origins, Afghans in California have significantly fewer college graduates. I understand the population of Afghans in the United States is small to begin with and URM seems to be a very controversial topic and evidently people get very direct when it is brought up. I wasn't looking for any special treatment because of my background, but I do think it was nice seeing how little people actually know about other ethnic minorities in United States. I don't blame them, United States just happens to be very diverse and I can't imagine everyone knowing everything about other ethnicities.

Please don't take my point as a start for an argument, I just wanted to make a final statement and that is all. Like most of you, I am just trying to get into medical school and I understand it is my own achievements that gave to stand out. Thank you all for your suggestions and advices, I will definitely taken them into consideration. :)
It's my understanding that the various ethnicities in Afghanistan are also found in neighboring countries (Iran, Pakistan, India, etc). I think this makes it difficult to actually come up with solid UIM statistics for Afghans. Also, keep in mind that the more traditional URM groups (AA, Mexican, PR, and NA) have pretty sizable populations in the US.
 
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