Chances with Tons of P/F Classes?

[mrjbb]

Ok a little bit of background info: I'm 28, a minority with a family and ownership in several very stable businesses. I'm looking to apply for the next cycle and I am going to allow my father to run my businesses if I get accepted.

A few years ago I wanted to get several years of college under my belt pretty quickly, mainly due to extreme pressures of businesses I owned, a family and the fact that I normally learn better in an environment where I am forced to self-teach.

I am going for a BS in Natural Sciences:
cGPA is 3.6
sGPA is a 3.5

As of yet I am missing a few prereqs and the Mcat. I've volunteered in the ER, but am looking to shadow. I have various EC's.

My dilemma is I began to search for ways to gain college credit at a fast pace, so I have about 30 CLEP credits where I studied an entire semester for several classes and tested out. It normally took me about 3 days of study per entire semester of each class I tested out of.

I also have about 50 legitimate P/F college credits that I transferred to a regionally accredited university. Most of the 50 credits were in Emergency Management and disaster courses from FEMA. NONE of my prereqs are pass/fail. I actually took them and the labs.

With my prereqs and these p/f courses my college will give me my bachelors. My question is, has anyone else applied with massive amounts of P/F courses on their transcripts and given I perform average or above average on the Mcat, could that offset any of the possible stigma and allow me to be a formidable applicant?

Could this also make me a diverse applicant?

p.s. I'm going DO, and if I take advantage of grade replacement by retaking anatomy and physio, my science GPA should be 3.75, given I get an A on a few of the prereqs I'm missing. cGPA would be closer to 3.8

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[mrjbb]

3.6 for black or latino is great - I think median african admit is 3.4? You do still need to do quite well on the MCAT.

I don't know about the PF coursework.

Thanks I plan on studying for it early next year, I'm taking the test somewhere around summer or early fall of 2017 I hope that won't be too late of a score to apply with.

 

[Seattle Mariners Fan]

Thanks I plan on studying for it early next year, I'm taking the test somewhere around summer or early fall of 2017 I hope that won't be too late of a score to apply with.

You're also in FL, which is an easier state to get into MD programs than most.

 

[mrjbb]

You're also in FL, which is an easier state to get into MD programs than most.

Why's that? Excuse my ignorance, if this is a common know fact...

 

[Seattle Mariners Fan]

Why's that? Excuse my ignorance, if this is a common know fact...

Almost every state school prefers in-state applicants 10-1. Many private have regional or state preferences.

This drives significant differences by median GPA and especially by median MCAT - from memory CA, NY and MA have MCAT averages for matriculants around 33. Other states are sub-30.

This winds up dramatically impacting the admitees/applicants ratio, which are excess 50% for Texas, around 40% for easier states like Florida, and I believe some of the more challenging states are sub 25%

The lower tiered schools in FL are near the bottom of MD selectiveness; I believe FSU's med school is the easiest of household names to get into - 3.6/28 is median matriculant, from memory.

 

[mrjbb]

Almost every state school prefers in-state applicants 10-1. Many private have regional or state preferences.

This drives significant differences by median GPA and especially by median MCAT - from memory CA, NY and MA have MCAT averages for matriculants around 33. Other states are sub-30.

This winds up dramatically impacting the admitees/applicants ratio, which are excess 50% for Texas, around 40% for easier states like Florida, and I believe some of the more challenging states are sub 25%

The lower tiered schools in FL are near the bottom of MD selectiveness; I believe FSU's med school is the easiest of household names to get into - 3.6/28 is median matriculant, from memory.

Thank you. I was unaware that a good portion of FL schools preferred instate applicants. I knew some schools were biased of course, but I had not looked into it any further.

I'll probably be applying to a majority of FL programs both MD and DO. But I'm not opposed to going practically anywhere out of state lol

I'm Hispanic, 1st generation that would be attending Med school, I've always heard URM's have a slight advantage to gaining an acceptance with slightly lower stats..but that's never been anything I've factored in or dwelled on. Sadly, I've only visited the URM forum 3 times in the past 10 years that I've been on SDN lol

My main goal is to get the best GPA and MCAT score I can, regardless of URM status. DO would give me a higher GPA due to a WF in Anatomy and Physiology I from 7 years ago...but I plan on retaking it either way.

 

[QofQuimica]

FL schools are definitely accustomed to evaluating candidates w/ P/F coursework. I'm a New College alum, and so my entire UG record is P/F (including prereqs). Was not an issue for several reasons: 1) strong grad school grades; 2) excellent narrative evals (consider submitting those if you have them for your P/F coursework); 3) strong MCAT score. Your MCAT score will likewise be essential. Make sure you take prepping for it seriously.

 

[mrjbb]

FL schools are definitely accustomed to evaluating candidates w/ P/F coursework. I'm a New College alum, and so my entire UG record is P/F (including prereqs). Was not an issue for several reasons: 1) strong grad school grades; 2) excellent narrative evals (consider submitting those if you have them for your P/F coursework); 3) strong MCAT score. Your MCAT score will likewise be essential. Make sure you take prepping for it seriously.

Thank you! Very informative. I hadn't met someone else with a substantial amount of P/F courses that's applied and made it through. I've always been skeptical of applying with almost 80% of my credits being P/F. All of my prereqs are graded.

I know some Med schools accept P/F and AP credits for prereqs but they require a graded upper division course to prove sufficient mastery of the subject.

I've started reviewing some materials for the MCAT here and there but it's a bit intimidating to say the least. I just need to build momentum and confidence.

I have to work on shadowing some more and EC's. Would owning a business that requires a very demanding schedule count as an EC? Does having employees count towards any leadership experience that I can put on the app?

 

[QofQuimica]

Yes, employment/entrepreneurship is definitely an EC. You still need to have clinical ECs also, but not all ECs need to be clinical.

 

[mrjbb]

Yes, employment/entrepreneurship is definitely an EC. You still need to have clinical ECs also, but not all ECs need to be clinical.

Thank you!