MD & DO For all those pre-meds below the median and mean

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Who ever has been told or read that their stats are too "low"?

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goboardin4313

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This thread is for all those pre-meds who have been told by counselors or who have read on this site that their stats are "too low" to apply to medical school. I sure as hell was told the same exact thing on more than one occasion! Here's my experience, for all those who are doubting whether they should or even want to apply to medical school.

When I was a junior, I transferred to a UC (I'm a Californian applicant) following three years of junior college. Yea, it took my three years AND I was a transfer student. Some counselors and members on this site might say, "you have to spend all four years at a university to have a chance at medical school, you can't be a transfer student". So that was strike one. When I got to UC, I definitely didn't know what I was getting myself into and registered for all the same classes I would have taken at my JC. I thought the academic rigor wouldn't be so bad, even though I was a biology major. Well, I might have underestimated how hard it was actually going be and, my junior year, I got three C's, 6 B's (some B-), and a P. That might be considered strike two by most. I mean, who hasn't been told "you can't get into medical with C's on your transcript"? I sure as hell did. So, I went back to my counselors and they told me I sure think about going to graduate school for a masters degree to try and make my GPA a little better OR kick major ass on the MCAT. I did neither of those things. I ended up doing pretty well my senior year and ended up with a 3.7 overall for the year, but that junior year definitely impacted my GPA.

SO! When all is said and done, I was applying as a transfer student who took 5 years to get my degree with an overall GPA of 3.49, a science GPA of 3.3, and an MCAT score of 30. Some might call my GPA "crappy "and my MCAT was decent, but still below the national median (which is 32). But I pushed on an applied anyway and submitted all of my stuff the third day the application opened (a must-do for someone with "low" stats). I wrote a kick ass personal statement and made sure to include all of my EC activities, which didn't include any research experience (strike three?)

And now its December, almost christmas. I ended up applying to 19 programs and I've received 4 interview invites thus fur. Of the three I have done so far, I was waitlisted at George Washington University, accepted at University of Illinois (and received an OOS scholarship), and accepted at Keck School of Medicine at USC. AND, I'm still waiting to hear the final word on my application from 7 programs, including some UCs.

I didn't write this post to brag by any means. I wrote this to share my experience and show any pre-med applicant who has been told that they have "low" stats that they can still have success when applying to medical school. I was one of those pre-meds who read this site often and felt discouraged. I was one of those pre-meds who left my pre-med counselors office feeling like I wasn't good enough to make par. I've been there and I wanna tell whoever is reading this to never give up and to keep pushing forward. Grades and MCAT scores play a major role in acceptances, we all know that. BUT, its definitely not the whole story. For those decent scoring MCATers thinking about retaking it again to get past that 32 mark, DON'T. Use that time and effort to stick out on paper in a different way. There are so many people applying with 32+ MCATs! Thats not the way to stick out. Fill your application with awesome ECs, write a kick ass personal statement, be genuine in your secondary responses, and ace your interviews. ADCOMs love people like that.

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and Good luck everyone!
 
OP, I have a question for you.

What about YOUR application made you stand out?

You mention that applying to medical school isn't just a numbers game, ie stats that are "too low," but all that you actually mention are your numbers in your lengthy post. Therefore, could you describe/detail the "awesome ECs" that made your application stand out?

IMO, that would be infinitely more helpful than yet another thread on SDN where an applicant says that they were accepted with stats that were "too low" yet they fail to share what they did to make their application stand out.
 
Applicants with a 3.49 and a 30 have a 49% chance of acceptance to at least one MD program. 49 is definitely not 0, that's for certain. Congrats on winning the coin flip, TC. What were your kick-ass ECs?
 
goboardin4313 said:
This thread is for all those pre-meds who have been told by counselors or who have read on this site that their stats are "too low" to apply to medical school. I sure as hell was told the same exact thing on more than one occasion! Here's my experience, for all those who are doubting whether they should or even want to apply to medical school.

When I was a junior, I transferred to a UC (I'm a Californian applicant) following three years of junior college. Yea, it took my three years AND I was a transfer student. Some counselors and members on this site might say, "you have to spend all four years at a university to have a chance at medical school, you can't be a transfer student". So that was strike one. When I got to UC, I definitely didn't know what I was getting myself into and registered for all the same classes I would have taken at my JC. I thought the academic rigor wouldn't be so bad, even though I was a biology major. Well, I might have underestimated how hard it was actually going be and, my junior year, I got three C's, 6 B's (some B-), and a P. That might be considered strike two by most. I mean, who hasn't been told "you can't get into medical with C's on your transcript"? I sure as hell did. So, I went back to my counselors and they told me I sure think about going to graduate school for a masters degree to try and make my GPA a little better OR kick major ass on the MCAT. I did neither of those things. I ended up doing pretty well my senior year and ended up with a 3.7 overall for the year, but that junior year definitely impacted my GPA.

SO! When all is said and done, I was applying as a transfer student who took 5 years to get my degree with an overall GPA of 3.49, a science GPA of 3.3, and an MCAT score of 30. Some might call my GPA "crappy "and my MCAT was decent, but still below the national median (which is 32). But I pushed on an applied anyway and submitted all of my stuff the third day the application opened (a must-do for someone with "low" stats). I wrote a kick ass personal statement and made sure to include all of my EC activities, which didn't include any research experience (strike three?)

And now its December, almost christmas. I ended up applying to 19 programs and I've received 4 interview invites thus fur. Of the three I have done so far, I was waitlisted at George Washington University, accepted at University of Illinois (and received an OOS scholarship), and accepted at Keck School of Medicine at USC. AND, I'm still waiting to hear the final word on my application from 7 programs, including some UCs.

I didn't write this post to brag by any means. I wrote this to share my experience and show any pre-med applicant who has been told that they have "low" stats that they can still have success when applying to medical school. I was one of those pre-meds who read this site often and felt discouraged. I was one of those pre-meds who left my pre-med counselors office feeling like I wasn't good enough to make par. I've been there and I wanna tell whoever is reading this to never give up and to keep pushing forward. Grades and MCAT scores play a major role in acceptances, we all know that. BUT, its definitely not the whole story. For those decent scoring MCATers thinking about retaking it again to get past that 32 mark, DON'T. Use that time and effort to stick out on paper in a different way. There are so many people applying with 32+ MCATs! Thats not the way to stick out. Fill your application with awesome ECs, write a kick ass personal statement, be genuine in your secondary responses, and ace your interviews. ADCOMs love people like that.

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and Good luck everyone!
Click to expand...
Congrats! I, too would like to know what factors helped you rise above the numbers, for the sake of future applicants in your shoes.
 
A simple, "what were you ECs?" would have sufficed. Sorry, should have mentioned that in my previous post.

I volunteered in an ER for two years, worked as an EMT running 911 in my county for 2 years, and as an ER technician for another 2 years.
 
According to USCs website the average MCAT for acceptance was 35 and their GPA 3.7 for last year. Throughout my premed career I was told by counselors and read from people on this site that my stats are low. One counselor literally told me that if I didn't finish with a 3.6 and get a 32 on my test, I'd better do a masters program and retake the test. If it turns out they aren't, that's news to me. Sorry for any confusion with the title.

As far as personal qualities, I'd say I'm a pretty average guy. The best advice I was given was just to be honest and candid in everything I wrote. So that's pretty much what I did.
 
goboardin4313 said:
According to USCs website the average MCAT for acceptance was 35 and their GPA 3.7 for last year. Throughout my premed career I was told by counselors and read from people on this site that my stats are low. One counselor literally told me that if I didn't finish with a 3.6 and get a 32 on my test, I'd better do a masters program and retake the test. If it turns out they aren't, that's news to me. Sorry for any confusion with the title.

As far as personal qualities, I'd say I'm a pretty average guy. The best advice I was given was just to be honest and candid in everything I wrote. So that's pretty much what I did.
Click to expand...
Special language skills, exemplary community service (I heard they put a lot of stock in this, but I didn't know it would extend this far)?
 
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No language skills other than fluent English and some preliminary spanish, but far from fluent or even conversational.

As far as community service, I mentioned in a previous post that I volunteered in an ER for a couple of years, worked on an ambulance for two years, and two years in a trauma center as an ER technician.

ECs play a pretty significant role especially those that are clinical. Adcoms want to see that kind of stuff because they want to know you have at least an idea of what the medical field is. It's all good to say you want to work in the medical field but until you have experienced it in at least a small capacity, who knows if that's what you really want to do, Ya know? I think everyone should have at least some experience in the field whether it be volunteer, shadowing, scribing etc. because it's definitely a lot different than what's portrayed on television! And to dedicate all the time and effort to being a physician, it's good to have an idea of what it's all about before jumping in feet first.
 
goboardin4313 said:
No language skills other than fluent English and some preliminary spanish, but far from fluent or even conversational.

As far as community service, I mentioned in a previous post that I volunteered in an ER for a couple of years, worked on an ambulance for two years, and two years in a trauma center as an ER technician.

ECs play a pretty significant role especially those that are clinical. Adcoms want to see that kind of stuff because they want to know you have at least an idea of what the medical field is. It's all good to say you want to work in the medical field but until you have experienced it in at least a small capacity, who knows if that's what you really want to do, Ya know? I think everyone should have at least some experience in the field whether it be volunteer, shadowing, scribing etc. because it's definitely a lot different than what's portrayed on television! And to dedicate all the time and effort to being a physician, it's good to have an idea of what it's all about before jumping in feet first.
Click to expand...
There must be something exceptional. I'm at a CA school and your stats would not get a second look without it. You are surely being too modest! I can understand that you may be reluctant because your achievement may identify you, though.
 
goboardin4313 said:
This thread is for all those pre-meds who have been told by counselors or who have read on this site that their stats are "too low" to apply to medical school. I sure as hell was told the same exact thing on more than one occasion! Here's my experience, for all those who are doubting whether they should or even want to apply to medical school.

When I was a junior, I transferred to a UC (I'm a Californian applicant) following three years of junior college. Yea, it took my three years AND I was a transfer student. Some counselors and members on this site might say, "you have to spend all four years at a university to have a chance at medical school, you can't be a transfer student". So that was strike one. When I got to UC, I definitely didn't know what I was getting myself into and registered for all the same classes I would have taken at my JC. I thought the academic rigor wouldn't be so bad, even though I was a biology major. Well, I might have underestimated how hard it was actually going be and, my junior year, I got three C's, 6 B's (some B-), and a P. That might be considered strike two by most. I mean, who hasn't been told "you can't get into medical with C's on your transcript"? I sure as hell did. So, I went back to my counselors and they told me I sure think about going to graduate school for a masters degree to try and make my GPA a little better OR kick major ass on the MCAT. I did neither of those things. I ended up doing pretty well my senior year and ended up with a 3.7 overall for the year, but that junior year definitely impacted my GPA.

SO! When all is said and done, I was applying as a transfer student who took 5 years to get my degree with an overall GPA of 3.49, a science GPA of 3.3, and an MCAT score of 30. Some might call my GPA "crappy "and my MCAT was decent, but still below the national median (which is 32). But I pushed on an applied anyway and submitted all of my stuff the third day the application opened (a must-do for someone with "low" stats). I wrote a kick ass personal statement and made sure to include all of my EC activities, which didn't include any research experience (strike three?)

And now its December, almost christmas. I ended up applying to 19 programs and I've received 4 interview invites thus fur. Of the three I have done so far, I was waitlisted at George Washington University, accepted at University of Illinois (and received an OOS scholarship), and accepted at Keck School of Medicine at USC. AND, I'm still waiting to hear the final word on my application from 7 programs, including some UCs.

I didn't write this post to brag by any means. I wrote this to share my experience and show any pre-med applicant who has been told that they have "low" stats that they can still have success when applying to medical school. I was one of those pre-meds who read this site often and felt discouraged. I was one of those pre-meds who left my pre-med counselors office feeling like I wasn't good enough to make par. I've been there and I wanna tell whoever is reading this to never give up and to keep pushing forward. Grades and MCAT scores play a major role in acceptances, we all know that. BUT, its definitely not the whole story. For those decent scoring MCATers thinking about retaking it again to get past that 32 mark, DON'T. Use that time and effort to stick out on paper in a different way. There are so many people applying with 32+ MCATs! Thats not the way to stick out. Fill your application with awesome ECs, write a kick ass personal statement, be genuine in your secondary responses, and ace your interviews. ADCOMs love people like that.

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and Good luck everyone!
Click to expand...

Since gyngyn is a member of an adcom from CA, I think that sharing your ECs could help other applicants in a similar boat for future application cycles. Since your stats are below the 10% for USC, your acceptance is impressive.
 
1. Hospital Volunteer 2 years
2. EMT on an ambulance 2 years
3. ER technician 2 years
4. Competitive Powerlifter
5. Volunteer Fitness Coach
6. Golfer
7. Grocery Merchandiser 1 year (first job)

Thats it guys!

I don't know what else to say.. I did well on my interview, wrote a good personal statement, and was completely honest and candid in my responses to secondary application questions. That's my point of posting this thread. Stats are not all that matters.
 
Maybe the fitness/athletic stuff stuck out? But i doubt I'm the only athlete applying to medical school for the fall of 2015!
 
goboardin4313 said:
1. Hospital Volunteer 2 years
2. EMT on an ambulance 2 years
3. ER technician 2 years
4. Competitive Powerlifter
5. Volunteer Fitness Coach
6. Golfer
7. Grocery Merchandiser 1 year (first job)

Thats it guys!

I don't know what else to say.. I did well on my interview, wrote a good personal statement, and was completely honest and candid in my responses to secondary application questions. That's my point of posting this thread. Stats are not all that matters.
Click to expand...
We all agree that stats are not everything. It's just that your EC's do not explain an interview invite (given the school where you have been accepted). In order to help those who consult us here, we are hoping for a clue as to the special quality that allowed you to stand out in a field of thousands with similar stats and EC's. Powerlifting? Given that it is USC, I'm pretty sure that they have plenty of student athletes! EO1 (severe financial hardship as a child, foster care, homelessness)?
 
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Nope no financial hardship or anything, I've lived a pretty comfortable life. I helped pay my way through school.. But again, I doubt that I'm the only applicant whose done so. Maybe I got lucky I suppose.
 
I wish I can provide that clue you are looking for, but like I said, pretty average guy who really wants to be a doctor and make a difference in people's lives.
 
goboardin4313 said:
I wish I can provide that clue you are looking for, but like I said, pretty average guy who really wants to be a doctor and make a difference in people's lives.
Click to expand...
I guess this will just remain a mystery, then. We wish you the best in pursuit of that end.
 
Well, he has what looks to be 6 years of clinical experience. That's a lot more than the average 150 hours of hospital volunteering.
 
URM?
Veteran?
Serious injury or disease survivor?
Overcoming serious family issues?

gyngyn said:
We all agree that stats are not everything. It's just that your EC's do not explain an interview invite (given the school where you have been accepted). In order to help those who consult us here, we are hoping for a clue as to the special quality that allowed you to stand out in a field of thousands with similar stats and EC's. Powerlifting? Given that it is USC, I'm pretty sure that they have plenty of student athletes! EO1 (severe financial hardship as a child, foster care, homelessness)?
Click to expand...
 
I'm not African American..

I dont understand what being African American, overcoming financial hardship, having some kind of rare disease, being the first one in your family to go to college, having a near death experience, etc. has to do with having success in medical school and eventually treating patients.

Why can't a good-hearted, average 24 year old guy with 6 years of clinical experience get into medical school? I just don't understand the process and how people are chosen I suppose. If I was an ADCOM, I'd choose to interview and admit people I think are good people that will make good doctors, regardless of the bubble they fill in next to their racial identity, financial situation, etc.

I'm really not trying to put you on the spot, I know about "diversifying medicine" and "increasing cultural competence" but in the end, aren't we all doing the same job?
 
goboardin4313 said:
I'm not African American..

I dont understand what being African American, overcoming financial hardship, having some kind of rare disease, being the first one in your family to go to college, having a near death experience, etc. has to do with having success in medical school and eventually treating patients.

Why can't a good-hearted, average 24 year old guy with 6 years of clinical experience get into medical school? I just don't understand the process and how people are chosen I suppose. If I was an ADCOM, I'd choose to interview and admit people I think are good people that will make good doctors, regardless of the bubble they fill in next to their racial identity, financial situation, etc.

I'm really not trying to put you on the spot, I know about "diversifying medicine" and "increasing cultural competence" but in the end, aren't we all doing the same job?
Click to expand...

While you may be happy to treat any patient you see to the best of your ability, not every patient will work well with you because of reasons that have nothing to do with your competence. That's why diversifying medicine is necessary.
 
@goboardin4313 hmm...are you really attractive (try to be obejctive)? haha had to ask. I suppose that could sway a decision to a degree. Are you a good speaker/interviewer? The kind that can be captivating?
 
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