Disadvantaged Student...needs supporttttt!!!

[willisca]

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So. I do not have any sort of decent MCAT. In fact, I got a 25 (PS 6, VR 10, BS 9). Although I could clearly improve on the sections other than PS...my PS score is clearly lacking (I just cannot grasp physics...my college professor had a heavy Romanian accent that no one could follow)! I did take a Kaplan course, and although I was scoring consistently around 27 range (my goal was at least a 30), my last full length before my MCAT was a 34. I'm relatively discouraged, but plan on retaking regardless. The point is, I have a 25 as an MCAT score. My GPA has an extremely upward trend, due to extenuating circumstances:

BCPM: Freshman: 2.36
Sophomore: 3.46
Junior: 3.21
Senior: 3.81
Overall: 3.26
AO: Freshman: 3.28
Sophomore: 3.14
Junior: 4.00
Senior: 3.75
Overall: 3.52
Cumulative: Freshman: 2.76
Sophomore: 3.33
Junior: 3.47
Senior: 3.79
Overall: 3.36

My main question...although I've read the overall consensus on other posts...is have you heard of anyone getting into an allopathic med school with excellent EC's (including volunteer mission trips abroad, internships dealing in the underserved communities, etc.) and an excellent personal statement? I am a caucasian female but claimed disadvantaged for good reasons. Finished applications to Cooper Medical School, Drexel, Toledo, Temple, Wright State, Drexel, and IU. Any advice as to SMP programs, previous experiences with these schools or other schools and my chances is welcome! I already know that I need to take the MCAT again, I am much more capable than a 25.

 

[Chip N Sawbones]

I'd say your chances for this cycle are approximately zero. You're applying very late, with a bad MCAT, and with a low GPA. If you're going to be applying anywhere with a 3.3/25 you should be looking at the least competitive DO schools around, and you can't afford to be fussy about location or school reputation. Lots of people applying have good personal statements and nice ECs. Sorry, but they don't count for much unless you've got the stats to back them up.

My advice is that you forget about applying this cycle. Spend the next few months studying for the MCAT, even if it means learning physics all over again. Use your physics textbook and free resources like MIT's online classes to learn all the concepts you didn't grasp the first time. Take the MCAT again next spring, be ready to apply at the beginning of next year's cycle, and I'm sure your chances of getting accepted somewhere will be much greater.

 

[DrMidlife]

I just cannot grasp physics

Assume you'll feel that way about half the subjects in med school. Maybe more than half.

...my college professor had a heavy Romanian accent that no one could follow

Assume that's what you'll get in med school too.

Still want to go to med school?

I did take a Kaplan course, and although I was scoring consistently around 27 range (my goal was at least a 30), my last full length before my MCAT was a 34.

Pro tip: practice MCATs tell you nothing about your mastery of test content, because you will never see a practice exam question on the real thing. So you have to independently master the content with the intent to know as much as possible. All you get from a practice test is an understanding of the test feel and duration, and some info about your endurance. If you know the content you can fine-tune an answer-choosing strategy that helps choose between 2 close answers. You will never find an answer-choosing strategy where you don't know the content but you can win by guessing.

There are lots and lots of exams of this kind in med school and beyond. They're just much longer and much more difficult and cover much more content.

Still want to go to med school?

Finished applications to Cooper Medical School, Drexel, Toledo, Temple, Wright State, Drexel, and IU.

It's October 16. Now that you have an MCAT score, your application will land in front of eyeballs towards the end of October. Your schools get well over 5000 applications, and have already issued interview invites into February and March.

Serious med school applicants apply early (June) and broadly (20+ schools is normal) with the best complete application they can possibly produce. You threw away this app year.

You don't seem to be taking your med school application process seriously. Definitely close your AMCAS app for this year and regroup.

An SMP would be reasonable because of your cumulative GPA, but you will have to get a decent MCAT score to get into a decent SMP. SMPs are also competitive, and you need to apply early to get in just like med school. Early for SMP apps is now through maybe February. So focus on the MCAT and apply to SMPs next year. You may find that you can't get a good MCAT score without revisiting the prereqs.

tl;dr: Buckle down and think long term if you really want this.

Best of luck to you.

 

[darklabel]

.....
My main question...although I've read the overall consensus on other posts...is have you heard of anyone getting into an allopathic med school with excellent EC's (including volunteer mission trips abroad, internships dealing in the underserved communities, etc.) and an excellent personal statement? I am a caucasian female but claimed disadvantaged for good reasons. Finished applications to Cooper Medical School, Drexel, Toledo, Temple, Wright State, Drexel, and IU. Any advice as to SMP programs, previous experiences with these schools or other schools and my chances is welcome! I already know that I need to take the MCAT again, I am much more capable than a 25.

I'm curious, if you know you need to take the MCAT again then why did you waste this cycle? If you didn't submit any secondaries I highly suggest you hold off on that and just wait until the next cycle. As long as you aren't complete at any schools, you won't be counted as a reapplicant which will help in future cycles.

Also, mission trips aren't really considered excellent since you're paying quite a bit to play doctor in an underserved area (at least thats what some people I spoke to on admissions thinks). I hope you have better ECs than what you listed because what you listed sounds run-of-the-mill.

I agree with DrMidLife, withdraw, retake MCAT and apply to an SMP.

 

[Amygdarya]

As long as you aren't complete at any schools, you won't be counted as a reapplicant which will help in future cycles.

Not true - well, maybe not quite true. Maybe this is school dependent, but I know that many schools count even primary applications as an application (i.e. if you only submitted your primary to a school this year, you'll be considered z reaplicant next year).

Otherwise, I second everything that's been said about forgetting about applying this year and working hard to improve application.

Willisca, read this forum and you'll find a lot of information on how to improve your application. A couple of advices from me:
1) do your best to improve your MCAT and GPA, then use MSAR (I don't know if there is a similar resource for DO schools) to determine which schools to apply to: as a rule of thumb, don't apply to school if your stars are below its 10 percentile, it's best to target 50 percentile;
2) apply to 20-30 lower ranked MD and DO schools;
3) sorry, but I agree that your ECs are not that special, which means you should keep improving your ECs as well.

Oh, and as for your Romanian Physics professor, yes, it sucks to have bad professors, but making sure you learn the material is *your*, not their responsibility. *You* have to use all the resources available to learn the stuff, your professor is only one of the resources. This will be even more true in med school. Be a responsible adult and learn to learn stuff.