Do adcoms look at the whole person?

[Ntran1986]

Looking to hear the opinions of everyone who have applied and got interview invites. Do you think that adcoms look beyond the numbers so learn more about the individual? I as because I had a semester where I left my primary undergraduate school to attend state school to save on tuition. During that time I worked full time assisting the building of a business. Needless to say I did terribly that semester! What do you guys think of adcoms looking past that to see the rest of my numbers and EC? my major was non science and I'm currently in the Harvard extension post-bacc program.

Stats:
3.1 sGPA and cGPA
taking mcat in may

Volunteering:
-1 year at children's hospital bosotn
-healthcare for the homeless
-kidney disease screening and awareness

Research:
1 yr neurology research for Harvard Medical School

Shadowing:
Shadowed a DPM in a solo practice
Getting ready to shadow DPM in a surgical environment

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[RATM2010]

DEpends on the mcat score. I think that if you score at least 20, you will be fine for admissions to at least 1 school. However, you may not have many scholarship opps. They do look at the whole applicant. In fact, my interview questions were 90 % Personal statement stuff and hobbies 10% academic.The 10% was just to see how I did in med biochemistry & med physiology over the summer. I had plenty of red flags in my academic report including getting a couple of Cs at a community college and it was never even brought up.

 

[Ntran1986]

Thanks for the replies!

I've been doing pretty well. Nothing below a B except a C+ in orgo. It was an accelerated course (two semesters in 7 weeks!!!) I'm just taking all the prereqs. I also took epidemiology and anatomy/physiology in which I did well in both.

I'm glad to hear that the adcoms look at the whole person. What do you think is an MCAT score I should shoot or to obtain scholarship potential? and also what do you guys think of my ECs? Just wondering if anything is missing.

Thanks all!!!

 

[hematosis]

Thanks for the replies!

I've been doing pretty well. Nothing below a B except a C+ in orgo. It was an accelerated course (two semesters in 7 weeks!!!) I'm just taking all the prereqs. I also took epidemiology and anatomy/physiology in which I did well in both.

I'm glad to hear that the adcoms look at the whole person. What do you think is an MCAT score I should shoot or to obtain scholarship potential? and also what do you guys think of my ECs? Just wondering if anything is missing.

Thanks all!!!

Aim for a 25 or higher. since your sGPA and overall GPA is below the average 3.2 and 3.3, you will need to do above average on the MCAT to get in. Therefore I would AIM for a 25 or higher.

Also note that some schools like Arizona, Temple, DMU (Scholl?) will send out automatic denial letters if your GPA is less than `2.8. So, no they will not look at your "complete" profile. I know this because i was in a similar situation and i did very well on the MCAT and did a masters program but my uGPA was holding me back. I got rejections from Arizona and Temple but once i called the school and told them my situation, they had me write a letter and then re-evaluated my application.

GOOD LUCK

 

[Ntran1986]

Thanks everyone and I'll try my best not to let you all down

 

[itswiggles]

- You are not letting anybody down except yourself, because you are doing this for yourself and not anybody else.
- I also know CSPM will deny you if you have less than 2.75 sGPA or 2.75 uGPA.
- I think I agree with the above post that you will need at least a 24+ to have a shot. Good luck!

 

[Ntran1986]

I actually forgot to calculate a whole semester into my gpa. So it's actually a 3.1 cgpa and 3.0 sgpa. Still VERY low. I know I'm not in the ideal situation, but I'm hoping just to get past the initial screening so that the adcoms will get to see that it was just a foolish semester I had when I was younger. You all are so helpful