DO chances

[roelleeugenio]

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I was just wondering what my chances are getting into DO school with these stats:
I went to an Ivy league university and majored in Violin Performance. Cum GPA: 3.5
I took 9 science courses with a science GPA of 3.5
I worked 8 years at a doctor;s clinic since high school with A LOT of ECC's
My first MCAT was a 20 5/8/7, and I got my score back today from the September 12 MCAT and only got a 21 8/7/6 .
What are my chances of getting into schools ? Thanks
Would taking masters help my situation?
I studied for the mcat while still in music school and retook it by studying for another 6 weeks.
Please help me with your inputs. I am feeling very discouraged.

 

[SpartanWolverine]

I was just wondering what my chances are getting into DO school with these stats:
I went to an Ivy league university and majored in Violin Performance. Cum GPA: 3.5
I took 9 science courses with a science GPA of 3.5
I worked 8 years at a doctor;s clinic since high school with A LOT of ECC's
My first MCAT was a 20 5/8/7, and I got my score back today from the September 12 MCAT and only got a 21 8/7/6 .
What are my chances of getting into schools ? Thanks
Would taking masters help my situation?
I studied for the mcat while still in music school and retook it by studying for another 6 weeks.
Please help me with your inputs. I am feeling very discouraged.

Hello --

I personally don't think a master's would help at all; your GPA is fine. You need to do better on the MCAT. Do those 9 sciences courses mean you completed all prerequisites?

Take more time than 6 weeks to study for the MCAT. Devote three months to it at least; make it your sole focus if possible. In my opinion, that 20/21 is the only thing really holding you back. Maybe taking a course with a prep company would do you some good. Why do you think you did poorly? You sound surprised by your score. What were your practice test averages?

Beyond that, it's hard to get a feeling for why you want to go into DO, and I'm not sure what else to tell you...

 

[roelleeugenio]

Thanks for the input.
I took Kaplan online course the first time. I did some of the Kaplan FL tests. My diagnostic was 17 but with the course I got an average of 26. I did almost all AAMC and averaged 25. What are your suggestions for studying for the retake?

 

[SpartanWolverine]

Thanks for the input.
I took Kaplan online course the first time. I did some of the Kaplan FL tests. My diagnostic was 17 but with the course I got an average of 26. I did almost all AAMC and averaged 25. What are your suggestions for studying for the retake?

I think Kaplan has pretty good online resources... and it seems like you improved markedly from the beginning to end of the course. So it sounds like you did learn a fair amount from the course.

I personally took an Examkrackers in-person course and had the Kaplan online resources/books available at my disposal. I found their FL tests and diagnostics to be helpful. It sounds like your averages are all much higher than you scored -- do you have any thought on why that might be?

I found that FL tests and the AAMC tests were really my best resource after a thorough basics review. I think that, personally, my biggest issue was overthinking a handful of problems which led to timing issues. Really learning the structure and timing of the test helped me go from a 27 --> 36. It sounds like, however, you've mostly burned through those tests. Again -- what do you think your major failings were? It will be hard for you to make a significant change to your score without understanding why you got a 20/21.

Do you have a pre-health counselor at your school that you can talk to? Is there a learning center you can utilize in order to help you with test-taking strategies?