Chances

[student5555]

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Hi, I am currently 31 and considering returning to school. My final stats will read around the following: Bachelors in Electrical Engineering from a top 10 school with a bad overall GPA(3.05) and BCPM of 3.75(Chemistry and biology in a different school taken over the last year) and MCAT's of 30. I will very limited experience in volunterring(6 months) and all my research would in engineering(no pure science).

First off do I have any chance in a US medical school or my only option a Caribean medical program? Would increasing my MCAT's help? If i do have a chance then what programs would one recommend.

Second I have to decide between living in California or Georgia for a year right now before applying. I am assuming all California schools are definately out of the list. Are there any easier to get in Georgia Medical Schools?

Third, One School I was looking at is Mercer University. Do they have a high/low acceptance rate for older students? Any info on the school is appreciated.

 

[Law2Doc]

Hi, I am currently 31 and considering returning to school. My final stats will read around the following: Bachelors in Electrical Engineering from a top 10 school with a bad overall GPA(3.05) and BCPM of 3.75(Chemistry and biology in a different school taken over the last year) and MCAT's of 30. I will very limited experience in volunterring(6 months) and all my research would in engineering(no pure science).

First off do I have any chance in a US medical school or my only option a Caribean medical program? Would increasing my MCAT's help? If i do have a chance then what programs would one recommend.

Second I have to decide between living in California or Georgia for a year right now before applying. I am assuming all California schools are definately out of the list. Are there any easier to get in Georgia Medical Schools?

Third, One School I was looking at is Mercer University. Do they have a high/low acceptance rate for older students? Any info on the school is appreciated.

I wouldn't worry about how schools look at older students. All schools will take qualified nontrads and there really isn't such a thing as nontrad friendly schools from an admissions point of view (there may be in terms of being family friendly once accepted, but that's different in my book). With a GPA over 3.0 and a 30 MCAT (assuming it's balanced -- you didn't say) I don't think you need to be looking at caribbean. You may need to increase your GPA, and will need to continue your volunteering experience, but you can fix your credentials for a US med school and thus shouldn't go offshore and limit your future options. In terms of state residency, Ga would be more beneficial than Ca as the Ca state schools are hardly safeties for even the best of students. But you have to make sure one year is enough to make you a resident (in some states you need to be living there several years for non-academic reasons to be in-state).

 

[student5555]

Thanks for the information. I have checked I can become a Georgia resident in a year(another option is New Jersey OR New York). Does anyone know which out of NJ, NY or GA is the best option?

Improving my overall GPA is difficult since I took close to 130 credits in college and taking 10-15 more credits is not going to change things.

I vagely recall reading somewhere the for course repeats only the second time grades are taken into account. Is this accurate for the overall GPA? I say this becuase my school policy is to include both in the GPA. There is a course - "freshman philosophy" for which I made an "F" and then an "A". If the "F" is excluded then my overall GPA jumps from 3.05 to 3.14. Hell if i can exclue 5 of my bad grades this way i would go considering going back to my school(in texas) for a semister and taking the worst 5 courses I took.

This is a rant. There are schools like Stanford (I have taken graduate level coursework in Computer Science there) which will remove your grade from the first time if you retake your course. Hoe can admissions omotee compare students from such schools to schools where all grades are preserved?

 

[TexasTriathlete]

Don't move to CA. Other than that, just find somewhere you like, and apply broadly. Throw in a few DO schools to be on the safe side. You should get some love.

 

[Law2Doc]

I vagely recall reading somewhere the for course repeats only the second time grades are taken into account. Is this accurate for the overall GPA? I say this becuase my school policy is to include both in the GPA. There is a course - "freshman philosophy" for which I made an "F" and then an "A". If the "F" is excluded then my overall GPA jumps from 3.05 to 3.14. Hell if i can exclue 5 of my bad grades this way i would go considering going back to my school(in texas) for a semister and taking the worst 5 courses I took.

This is true for DO schools but not MD. For MD applications, every grade and every retake is taken into account and you end up with one big average of the whole thing. DO's allow you to replace. For schools that eliminate prior grades on transcript, you still are supposed to indicate every grade received and every retake. The school transcript isn't what's governing of the GPA. The GPA is calculated separately by AMCAS and can differ from the school's transcript.

 

[sawood]

I agree that you should be able to attend a US MD school. I applied under semi-similar conditions, I had a 3.3 overall in undergrad in mechanical eng, I had two C's in gen chem because I took it when I was young and distracted. My BCPM was about 3.5/3.6, lower than yours, and my MCAT a 31. I also applied late, but was accepted to two MD schools.

Here's the thing: when you're applying/interviewing don't apologize for what you've done before now. Fine, your overall GPA might not be stellar, but your life experience and self-knowledge is far greater than the 22-year old who has never been out of school in their life. You have a lot to offer that others don't, learn what that is and how to capitalize (brag professionally) on it. Some schools will ignore you, but others will look for students exactly like you. SLU told me that they like non-trads, and they've got a great program, so consider applying there.

Do you have strong letters of rec lined up? Your engineering research is still research, don't totally discount that. The clinical volunteering is important so that they know that you know what you're getting yourself into. Also, be ready to answer Why Medicine (aka why did you take so long to realize its what you want)?