From law to MD. 3.45 CGPA/3.35 SGPA 32m MCAT

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Mintberry

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I am currently in a tier 1 law school (first year) and I dont know how or why I am here.

Stats:
MCAT: 11Bio, 10 Phy, 11V

Gpa: 3.45 cum with 3.35 science

Experience:

Shadowed a few Dr.'s
No volunteering ( starting at at a hospital soon)
Little research(no publications, but in talks with a Dr. about doing some research for him)
Tons of clinical experience in a chiropractic office (does this count)
1 good letter of rec from a top neurosurgeon, plus ones from law school


I am a CO resident.

I have missed this admission cycle, and plan on doing some research and more shadowing.

What do I need to be doing this next year to make my app more solid, also I don't care where I go to school at.

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Don't try to focus on multiple things. Focus on a couple and try to do well and make an impact in them. You're GPA is a little low compared to average stats, but I think being a non-traditional may be to your advantage. It's traditional to be non tradish, if ya know what I mean.

Good luck and keep your engine going!
 
Thanks, ya I understand my gpa is low, but I figured my decent mcat might take away from that. With my stats am I still competitive in MD or should I focus on DO?
 
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Thanks, ya I understand my gpa is low, but I figured my decent mcat might take away from that. With my stats am I still competitive in MD or should I focus on DO?

You can get into an MD program if your ECs are strong and you have a solid reason for making this career change.
 
I considered law as well but after shadowing doctors and volunteering as well as having many friends that are fresh law grads I am very happy I chose medicine. You should be able to get in but I would assume adcoms are going to want to be sure you are not going to drop medicine like you did law and that you know enough about medicine to know you won't drop it.

In short I'd get 100+ hours of clinical volunteering and 50+ of shadowing. From everything everyone has told me ever this is a bare minimum requirement.
 
You can get into an MD program if your ECs are strong and you have a solid reason for making this career change.
It would help if you have a steep upward grade trend, particularly in the sciences. It might take you an extra year of preparation to buff up your transcript if the letters after your name are a serious issue for you. Your stats are fine as they are for a DO acceptance however. Your ECs need serious attention for consideration at either type of med school.

Consider dropping out of the law program now, as adcomms don't like to steal students from other professional programs.

What was your role in the chiropractic office?

Consider getting in some nonmedical community service to the poor, as well as the volunteer gig in the hospital.
 
Only weakly competetive (at best) for MD. the MCAT doesn't balance out the low GPAs, als. You're fine for DO programs, but definitely work on the ECs, especially patient contact.

You need to show that being around sick and injured people is what you want to do with your life (andnot be a professional student, as one of my colleagues would suggest...his words, not mine...that's the bar you need to pass).

Thanks, ya I understand my gpa is low, but I figured my decent mcat might take away from that. With my stats am I still competitive in MD or should I focus on DO?
 
Consider dropping out of the law program now, as adcomms don't like to steal students from other professional programs.

What was your role in the chiropractic office?

.


I do not want to drop out because it would look like I could not handle law school so I dropped it and decided to head to medicine. But my chiro experience was general patient interaction, I removed stims/heat pads from patients, new patients evals, and general adjustments of the patients.
 
Your experience in the chiro office does "count" as clinical experience, but it shouldn't stand on its own. The active experience interacting with sick folks in a traditional medical setting of a hospital will round out your experience nicely.

Some (passive) MD/DO shadowing where you observe the doc interacting with patients is important, so I'm glad you connected with the neurosurgeon and others. It would be ideal if you can also observe an office-based primary care MD or DO, too, if not already done. Note that a DO LOR is required at some DO schools.
 
Thanks, ya I understand my gpa is low, but I figured my decent mcat might take away from that. With my stats am I still competitive in MD or should I focus on DO?

Your MCAT is definitely not going to buoy your GPA. 32 is squarely average. Be aware that GPA under 3.5 is bad.


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