Do I Have a Chance?

[sweet2th]

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I was hoping to get some opinions about my chances or what I should do as far as timeline goes:
2003 College grad - 3.31 overall GPA
MSPH - writing thesis now...3.80 GPA
MCAT Aug 2001 - 21 (7,7,7)
Tons of shadowing, volunteer activities, research internships, currently work as research coordinator at a major university, great recommendation letters. I am recently married and living in Philly and wish to pursue this dream. I have C's in all the core classes though, including orgo, calc, physics in undergrad 🙁 So do I have a any chance of getting in right now, if I apply now before MCATs expire? If I take MCATs again in August 2006, do I put in applications this summer? I feel so driven now that I realize what I want to do with my life but I'm unsure if I am academically prepared right now to apply or if I would be told to do a post-bacc to get my grades up.

 

[rack]

i think you should retake the Mcats and apply for the following class (2011). work the mcat up a little, and you should find more luck as it is iffy currently. also, it is already a _tad_ bit late in the season, and generally lower numbers can be somewhat compensated by a very early (august complete) file.

 

[FrkyBgStok]

you aren't getting in if you don't apply i can promise that, but i would recommend retaking the MCAT

 

[sweet2th]

what about those dreaded C's? what's sad is that I really enjoyed orgo. I don't even have a good reason for those grades, I mean, I always scored above the class average. Made no sense at the time until I realized that the goal of the undergrad program was to weed the weak out and get 100% acceptance to med school. They succeeded too.

 

[mx_599]

I was hoping to get some opinions about my chances or what I should do as far as timeline goes:
2003 College grad - 3.31 overall GPA
MSPH - writing thesis now...3.80 GPA
MCAT Aug 2001 - 21 (7,7,7)
Tons of shadowing, volunteer activities, research internships, currently work as research coordinator at a major university, great recommendation letters. I am recently married and living in Philly and wish to pursue this dream. I have C's in all the core classes though, including orgo, calc, physics in undergrad 🙁 So do I have a any chance of getting in right now, if I apply now before MCATs expire? If I take MCATs again in August 2006, do I put in applications this summer? I feel so driven now that I realize what I want to do with my life but I'm unsure if I am academically prepared right now to apply or if I would be told to do a post-bacc to get my grades up.

i think this comes down to money. do you have enough to spend with the understanding it will be slightly unfavorable odds? personally, i would. 1000 for primary/secondaries is worth a yr of my life to me.

you need to get on it ASAP. do the aacomas crap (i am assuming its not too late??) you had best apply broadly and be willing to move anywhere, or you might as well not bother this yr.

why are you still reading this...hurry!!! 😀 i didn't get my secondaries done untill the end of january/1st week of feb.

i did not get interviews at some of the "better?" schools i think simply because i was so late. i feel lucky about kcom because i consider them one of the better ones.

if i remember correctly, i could have interviewed at the touros, lecoms, wvcom, and western i think. (so...if you need to limit yours, these might be the best to go for since they offered me interviews late in season)

also...make sure you do both touros/lecoms because it will be like doing 2 apps for the effort of one.

i didn't get an interview at the midwesterns, pcom, nsu, vcom, new jersey, or nycom.

i didn't do dmu, michigan, texas, ohio for residency favorability or kcumb because of genetics or something.

definitely not too late...you might get somewhere and it doesn't matter where...you'll still be a doctor.

if it doesn't happen this yr don't give up. if you read my recent post in the NSU... discussion you'll see i never did. i think you will definitely need to retake MCAT, even if it wasn't expiring. you might want to consider genetics, biochem, or o chem again just to show them you can get an "A". ( i wouldn't go crazy with the classes though, my focus would be to up the MCAT.

try to take the mcat earlier. if you take it in aug, don't wait to get the ball rolling

good luck...le us know what happens!

 

[TAI786]

Your GPA, in itself, is doable but a 21 on the MCAT is quite low. Your resume is extensive and is going to interest admissions committees. You may end up getting admissions somewhere but it won't necessarily be where you want. If you can live with that, give it a go.

 

[docmd2010]

i think if you submit within the next week, you'll be fine. i'd say your application for aacomas would be verified within 3 weeks, and then allow another 2 weeks for you to get all your secondaries. so that puts you at around the second week of december or so (1 week to prepare you aacom app + 3 weeks verification + 2 weeks for sec's to arrive) make sure you have a quick turnaround time for your secondaries though just so you can get your applications completed quickly. try to get them done over the holidays and make sure you get your recs sent out right after you submit your aacom, so that way if there is any delay with your rec letter writers, they have plenty of time... (it's okay to submit you lor's even though you haven't submitted your secondaries, i did this too) time is of the essence, so u'll have to work your butt off on those essays. apply to at least 12 or 13 schools, your extracurriculars are bound to catch the attention of some person on some committee. your mcat, however, is a bit of a concern, retake if you don't get in... make sure your personal statment and your secondeary essays are well written. i wish you the best.

 

[ezal36]

Try unecom,vcom,pscom,wsvm, pscom,lecom.

 

[iwillbesoon]

If you decide to apply this cycle, I'd stay away from the Midwesterns just because I know they fill up their class (at least in Chicago) bt the end of December. Last year there was a snafu with my transcripts and it wasn't resolved until mid-December...at which point CCOM told me that their class was basically full. I've heard they've accepted 160 people already for this year. Also, I'd be careful with TUCOM-NV. I still was able to interview there last year in Jan., but they only had something like 11 spots open as of the day I interviewed - and by the end of the cycle, they had around 150 on the waitlist. Check out the interview feedback from Jan./Feb. at the schools you're interested in. Some of them have info on how many spots are open & I would assume that those numbers would be comparable with this year's timeline.

 

[bbake87]

Apply everywhere. I got into CCOM and my interview was in late March. The beautiful thing about DO schools is that stats are important but they are not the only thing. If you have any questions feel free to PM me.

Billy

 

[sweet2th]

Is it horrible if I just put my stuff in for PCOM? It is truely ideal for me at this point, with hubby working across the street from the school in a self-made business and us living 10 min away. My thinking was that I would see how it goes with PCOM (like a trial run), if I get rejected, then take MCATs again, and try for round two at other schools and then be prepared to relocate. Is this dumb? 😕

 

[Buckeye(OH)]

Apply everywhere. I got into CCOM and my interview was in late March. The beautiful thing about DO schools is that stats are important but they are not the only thing. If you have any questions feel free to PM me.

Billy

That was an admissions mistake though.


Love,
Buckeye

 

[Nate]

You need to retake the MCAT
Good luck

 

[NonTradMed]

If you decide to apply this cycle, I'd stay away from the Midwesterns just because I know they fill up their class (at least in Chicago) bt the end of December. Last year there was a snafu with my transcripts and it wasn't resolved until mid-December...at which point CCOM told me that their class was basically full. I've heard they've accepted 160 people already for this year. Also, I'd be careful with TUCOM-NV. I still was able to interview there last year in Jan., but they only had something like 11 spots open as of the day I interviewed - and by the end of the cycle, they had around 150 on the waitlist. Check out the interview feedback from Jan./Feb. at the schools you're interested in. Some of them have info on how many spots are open & I would assume that those numbers would be comparable with this year's timeline.

CCOM already filled up with 160 people?! I didnt' realize that. They told us that they meet every month or so, and that they would meet for November and send us their answer before Thanksgiving! Ack! I wish I had sent out my stuff earlier if I'd known they were that fast. Now, I'm scared.

I'm also surprised that TUCOM-NV had so many people on the waitlist---I mean, it's a new school, I figured that some people would be turned off by that....

 

[iwillbesoon]

Yeah, go check out the TUCOM-NV interview feedback from later on in the cycle for last year. It agrees with what Roger told me when I called....

 

[iwillbesoon]

"CCOM already filled up with 160 people?! I didnt' realize that. They told us that they meet every month or so, and that they would meet for November and send us their answer before Thanksgiving! Ack! I wish I had sent out my stuff earlier if I'd known they were that fast. Now, I'm scared."

Damn, they told you they'd let you know before Thanksgiving?? They told us the first or second week of December. When did you interview?

 

[NonTradMed]

"CCOM already filled up with 160 people?! I didnt' realize that. They told us that they meet every month or so, and that they would meet for November and send us their answer before Thanksgiving! Ack! I wish I had sent out my stuff earlier if I'd known they were that fast. Now, I'm scared."

Damn, they told you they'd let you know before Thanksgiving?? They told us the first or second week of December. When did you interview?

I interviewed on the 10th. They told us we'd know "by Thanksgiving"---earlier they had said they can't guarantee that they would tell us by Thanksgiving, but then at the end of the day, they said they would notify us by then. That's kind of scary to think I'm in the last group. I thought DO schools didn't have the same type of anal premeds that MD schools had, so I kind of took my time gettint stuff in. Geesh, maybe I shouldn't have done that.

 

[fitnessexpert]

CCOM already filled up with 160 people?! I didnt' realize that. They told us that they meet every month or so, and that they would meet for November and send us their answer before Thanksgiving! Ack! I wish I had sent out my stuff earlier if I'd known they were that fast. Now, I'm scared.

I'm also surprised that TUCOM-NV had so many people on the waitlist---I mean, it's a new school, I figured that some people would be turned off by that....

Hold UP!! This is how rumors get started. We do not know that CCOM is filled up. If you call and ask and they confirm it, then you should start believing things. I know a lot of people who WANT spring semester interviews because they had a really crazy Fall Semester, money, graduate Fall semester to just concentrate on interviews in the spring. I am sure that not all the spots are full. But I could be wrong, just give them a call they will "usually" tell you. Remember, BREATHE in through the nose and out through the mouth.

 

[TimmyTheWonderD]

If you decide to apply this cycle, I'd stay away from the Midwesterns.....I've heard they've accepted 160 people already for this year.

may I inquire as to who told you this? I called them about a week ago and they said don't wait forever but now was not too late.... 😱

 

[TimmyTheWonderD]

may I inquire as to who told you this? I called them about a week ago and they said don't wait forever but now was not too late.... 😱

...whether or not I will get seriously considered this late in the game is another matter.