MD Help For a Friend (Good GPA, Not so good MCAT)

[Chamomile Tea]

Hello!

I have a friend who is looking to apply this upcoming cycle. He has recently taken the MCAT and the score was unfortunately not what he had hoped for. He is wondering if he should retake the MCAT in August and try to apply in September or if he should go on and apply now. What is the best advice to give him?


I apologize for not being able to give more accurate information such as an exact number of hours of volunteering and the science GPA.

Residency: NC
School: Public State School in NC
Ethnicity: Caucasian
Major: Biology and Philosophy
MCAT: 500
Science GPA: He hasn't recalculated recently. Mostly As and A-. 5 Bs and one C+ in physics 2
Overall GPA: 3.715
Trend: Slight downward trend due to most recent semester, otherwise consistent

Volunteering: Immense number of hours as an EMT, camp counselor and more
Shadowing: Plenty of shadowing due to two medical mission trips
Leadership: Multiple exec positions in multiple groups
Letters of Rec: Stellar
Other: Lived in a dorm on campus with a prestigious program and also had a scholarship.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[gyngyn]

Even if he were a "legacy," his chances for MD are historically <25%.
Given his state of residence, I'm going say it's much less than that.

 

[Chamomile Tea]

Even if he were a "legacy," his chances for MD are historically <25%.
Given his state of residence, I'm going say it's much less than that.

So I'm guessing his best bet is to retake and try next year? Also is having NC residence a bad thing? I should have added this to the first post but he goes to a public state school in NC.

 

[gyngyn]

So I'm guessing his best bet is to retake and try next year? Also is having NC residence a bad thing? I should have added this to the first post but he goes to a public state school in NC.

NC has an IS matriculation of 23%, only VA and FL are lower in the south.
He's right at the 10th percentile for Brody (and they only have 80 seats). That means that he is vying for about 8 seats with a lot of applicants who may have overcome some serious stuff to get to this point...

 

[Faha]

If your friend is interested in applying this year then apply to at least 15 DO schools. A September retake for the MCAT is too late to apply for this MD cycle. If he retakes in September or later it would be better to apply next June assuming his score is at least 508.

 

[Chamomile Tea]

NC has an IS matriculation of 23%, only VA and FL are lower in the south.
He's right at the 10th percentile for Brody (and they only have 80 seats). That means that he is vying for about 8 seats with a lot of applicants who may have overcome some serious stuff to get to this point...

Oh dear. This is not what he'll want to hear. But I sincerely thank you for your input!

If your friend is interested in applying this year then apply to at least 15 DO schools. A September retake for the MCAT is too late to apply for this MD cycle. If he retakes in September or later it would be better to apply next June assuming his score is at least 508.

He told me that he'll be retaking in August and applying in September (I'll be sure to clarify that in the OP). He wanted to know why so many DO schools?

 

[Faha]

Oh dear. This is not what he'll want to hear. But I sincerely thank you for your input!



He told me that he'll be retaking in August and applying in September (I'll be sure to clarify that in the OP). He wanted to know why so many DO schools?

A MCAT of 500 is competitive for perhaps half the DO schools. Schools where he would have a chance include:
CUSOM
WVSOM
UP-KYCOM
LMU-DCOM
ACOM
WCU-COM
VCOM (all 3 schools)

 

[Chamomile Tea]

A MCAT of 500 is competitive for perhaps half the DO schools. Schools where he would have a chance include:
CUSOM
WVSOM
UP-KYCOM
LMU-DCOM
ACOM
WCU-COM
VCOM (all 3 schools)

I see. My friend isn't really interested in DO schools, but he thanks you for the suggestions as do I. I think he's going to try the MCAT again and hopefully it will go a lot better! I really hope he does a lot better because other than the MCAT he appears to be a good applicant.

 

[gyngyn]

I see. My friend isn't really interested in DO schools, but he thanks you for the suggestions as do I. I think he's going to try the MCAT again and hopefully it will go a lot better! I really hope he does a lot better because other than the MCAT he appears to be a good applicant.

Tell him to take all the time he needs to do substantially better. Two weak scores are much worse than one.