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I applied this past cycle (2012-2013) to about 30 MD schools. No interviews, no acceptances.
I applied with a 3.4 cGPA and 3.3 postbacc GPA and 30 MCAT. My MCAT breakdown was:
PS: 8
BS: 10
VR: 12
Seeing the writing on the wall in late 2012, I improved my application in the following ways:
1. Took an additional course and brought my postbacc GPA to 3.42
2. Improved my MCAT to a 35 with the breakdown:
PS: 10
BS: 12
VR: 13
3. Completed an 80-hour Wilderness First Responder course
4. Completed 50+ hours volunteering on an ICU
5. Volunteered in a human performance lab for 2 months
6. Started doing community service guiding a handcyclist in races.
7. Continued working part-time as a personal trainer.
I'll be applying broadly to 25+ schools, but I'm wondering if you guys think applying to some DO schools is necessary? I'm not dying to go the DO route, but I would go if the school/location was right. I'd appreciate any advice.
I applied this past cycle (2012-2013) to about 30 MD schools. No interviews, no acceptances.
I applied with a 3.4 cGPA and 3.3 postbacc GPA and 30 MCAT. My MCAT breakdown was:
PS: 8
BS: 10
VR: 12
Seeing the writing on the wall in late 2012, I improved my application in the following ways:
1. Took an additional course and brought my postbacc GPA to 3.42
2. Improved my MCAT to a 35 with the breakdown:
PS: 10
BS: 12
VR: 13
3. Completed an 80-hour Wilderness First Responder course
4. Completed 50+ hours volunteering on an ICU
5. Volunteered in a human performance lab for 2 months
6. Started doing community service guiding a handcyclist in races.
7. Continued working part-time as a personal trainer.
I'll be applying broadly to 25+ schools, but I'm wondering if you guys think applying to some DO schools is necessary? I'm not dying to go the DO route, but I would go if the school/location was right. I'd appreciate any advice.
Your MCAT is stellar! Apply to all your state schools and a few low-tier back up schools. Please don't apply to all the top medical schools because it might be a disappointment and I would hate for you to waste another year. Look at the MSAR, apply to schools that you have a decent chance. I would apply to schools that consider your MCAT score heavily.
Your GPA is a bit low compared to many accepted medical students. This is the reason why you should apply to some low-tier schools. Apply to some top DO programs or state DO programs. You will definitely get accepted to the DO programs. A few DO schools emphasize heavily on your GPA so choose the DO schools wisely too.
Please don't be reluctant to go to a DO school just because your peers think MD is better. Premeds don't know jack about hospitals and how DO's are the same as MD's. Just the names are different but they essentially do the same. If you visit a hospital you will realize no one calls a doctor by MD or DO. If you're wearing a white coat with a MD or DO on it, you will be called a doctor. Patients don't even know that they have a DO doctor unless they specifically check the last two letters after the name of the doctor.
I submitted by primary application in June but did not submit my secondaries until late August - mid September. The adviser at my post-bacc program believes that my applying late accounted for the lack of interviews.
I received feedback from a member of one admissions committee, who recommended I retake the MCAT to improve the scores of my science subsections. It certainly didn't help that I was in the bottom of the range for both MCAT and GPA for most schools I applied to. In other words, despite having a 30, I was naive and did not apply broadly enough.
With that said, yeah, I was surprised at no interviews too.