Desperately Needing Advice

[p0stman]

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I am a Canadian student intending to apply to schools in the US.

I have a 3.5 cGPA (3.4 science and 3.8 non-science) and a 31Q on the MCAT (12 BS, 10 PS, 9 VR). I have two questions:

1) For US schools, if I do a 5th year of undergraduate studies after I grade with my original 4-year degree, will this extra 5th year be counted in GPA calculations? If not, is it okay to do a 5th year within my degree (i.e. not graduate and spent 5 years to complete a 4-year degree).

2) If I apply with my current stats, is my MCAT sufficient? I currently have plans to travel to China this summer with an opportunity to shadow a doctor in a metropolitan hospital, as well as to teach English for a month in Beijing, but if I need to rewrite my MCAT I will be likely staying in Canada. Do I need to retake my MCAT, or is my score enough? I don't dream on going to any top-tier school and am just hoping for somewhere...

I am just afraid that my stats are a bottleneck despite my other qualities. Any advice is welcome... thank you!

 

[zenlike]

1) For US schools, if I do a 5th year of undergraduate studies after I grade with my original 4-year degree, will this extra 5th year be counted in GPA calculations? If not, is it okay to do a 5th year within my degree (i.e. not graduate and spent 5 years to complete a 4-year degree).

Yes.

2) If I apply with my current stats, is my MCAT sufficient? I currently have plans to travel to China this summer with an opportunity to shadow a doctor in a metropolitan hospital, as well as to teach English for a month in Beijing, but if I need to rewrite my MCAT I will be likely staying in Canada. Do I need to retake my MCAT, or is my score enough? I don't dream on going to any top-tier school and am just hoping for somewhere...

I am just afraid that my stats are a bottleneck despite my other qualities. Any advice is welcome... thank you!

You may have a struggle based on these numbers: http://www.aamc.org/data/facts/2008/mcatgpastatemat08.htm (scroll down the the Canada line)

 

[p0stman]

Thanks for the reply zen. It looks like I might have trouble with those stats.

In any case, I'm concerned about whether a higher MCAT would help or not if my current GPA is irreparably sub-par. Those stats are just averages and there's really no indication that a higher MCAT would compensate for a lower GPA other than speculation... right? What I'm afraid of is that even if I rewrite and get, say 34, my GPA is still 3.5 despite... if both categories have to be within average then how much better is it if only one of mine is?

Has any schools ever stated that a higher MCAT can compensate for a weak GPA (or vice versa)?

Thanks guys I appreciate any advice!

 

[zenlike]

Thanks for the reply zen. It looks like I might have trouble with those stats.

In any case, I'm concerned about whether a higher MCAT would help or not if my current GPA is irreparably sub-par. Those stats are just averages and there's really no indication that a higher MCAT would compensate for a lower GPA other than speculation... right? What I'm afraid of is that even if I rewrite and get, say 34, my GPA is still 3.5 despite... if both categories have to be within average then how much better is it if only one of mine is?

Has any schools ever stated that a higher MCAT can compensate for a weak GPA (or vice versa)?

Thanks guys I appreciate any advice!

Those stats are averages, but they do give a standard deviation as well, which tells you how wide the bell curve is and where you might sit on it.

As far as high MCAT/low GPA is concerned, I had a 3.5 GPA and a 37 MCAT and I managed not to get any rejections. Several interviewers said that my MCAT score proved that I had a solid grasp on the sciences.

 

[p0stman]

That's good to hear. Maybe there are MCAT testing locations in China while I'm there...

How many times had you written the MCAT if you don't mind me asking?

 

[zenlike]

I only took it once. I used the exam krackers audio osmosis and the 1001 books to study.

 

[p0stman]

I've used the AudioOsmosis but not the books... did you take the AAMC practice exams (what were the kind of scores you were getting on those prior to taking the real thing)?

Thanks again Zen.

 

[zenlike]

Yeah. I took most of the practice exams. I got between 31 and 37 on most of them. Although, I was pressed for time, so I usually just tried to get through them as fast as possible. It turned out that hurrying was good for me because I was able have 20 minutes at the end of each section to review my answers on the real thing.