Help: Should I apply?

[lifesavers]

I have submitted primaries to like 30 schools. I have received secondaries back from like 27 of them, only because of this being a weird year because of the virus. I just got my MCAT scores back and tbh, not near what I was expecting and much lower than my practice scores.

Stats:

MCAT: 499 (I know, you don't have to tell me how bad it is)

GPA: 3.72 (Biological Sciences)

-I am a hispanic woman and from a rural town (some midwest schools prefer).

-From Illinois

-Roughly 300 hours of shadowing, over 1000 hours of research in neuroscience, Teach for America CM

-5+ Leadership positions in college orgs, leadership positions in TFA

-Fairly strong Letters of Rec

-Over 1000 hours of volunteering (mainly in education in low income communities through tutoring, coaching, club leading, etc.)

-More stuff, but I'm trying not to make this too long.

SO obviously I know I shouldn't submit my secondaries. I only really applied to low and mid tier schools. I guess my question is, do y'all think I should pull my application entirely and retake the mcat (which I plan to do anyways), or should I submit some applications to state schools and lower tier schools.

I know the stats of acceptances below a 500 MCAT, but I dont know if you all think I should scratch my application entirely or submit a few secondaries and just see what happens. This is more of a personal opinion question, not a post for people to rail how awful I did (I already know).

Opinions very much appreciated!!!

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[The wise one]

You are not competitive. That MCAT is a no go. Try to get it up.

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[DrStephenStrange]

Stats are not good for MD schools, but might be ok for some DO schools. Advice: take your time, do at least 3 months of preparation, retake to the MCAT, and aim for a 510+ because you should do everything you can to get into an MD school before trying for DO. I'm telling you this as a 3rd year DO student.

 

[The wise one]

Those stats are not OK for DO. This isn't 1980

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[lifesavers]

Stats are not good for MD schools, but might be ok for some DO schools. Advice: take your time, do at least 3 months of preparation, retake to the MCAT, and aim for a 510+ because you should do everything you can to get into an MD school before trying for DO. I'm telling you this as a 3rd year DO student.

I appreciate the response!

 

[GoSpursGo]

Moving to what are my chances.

It all depends on your goals and how much the $$$ hurts. You already submitted your AMCAS, which is the biggest hurdle. Probably doesn't take a ton of effort to pick out the 5 least competitive schools on your list, including your state school, and selectively complete those secondaries and see what happens. It likely won't go anywhere, but doesn't seem like you have much to lose.

 

[lifesavers]

You are not competitive. That MCAT is a no go. Try to get it up.

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I appreciate your honesty! I know this I've just been told conflicting things to apply and just trying to cover all my bases.

 

[DrStephenStrange]

Those stats are not OK for DO. This isn't 1980

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I had a 3.7 and 499 (4th attempt) got 12 interview invites and 2 acceptances. I wasn't just saying that out of the blue.

 

[The wise one]

You have nice stats outside your MCAT. But they are 50k other student with the same stats if not a better MCAT.
My advice is to not apply unless you score around the mean.
Being a re-applicant isn't a great thing.

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[lifesavers]

You have nice stats outside your MCAT. But they are 50k other student with the same stats if not a better MCAT.
My advice is to not apply unless you score around the mean.
Being a re-applicant isn't a great thing.

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I already submitted my primary prior to taking my MCAT because it got rescheduled 2X due to COVID. Even if I don't submit my secondaries, wouldn't I be a reapplicant either way?

 

[The wise one]

@DrStephenStrange , I will need to see your MCAT to believe that.
Nonetheless, those stats are absyssmal. There are not OK by another standard. It could be that something about your story made up for your MCAT?

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[DrStephenStrange]

I already submitted my primary prior to taking my MCAT because it got rescheduled 2X due to COVID. Even if I don't submit my secondaries, wouldn't I be a reapplicant either way?

You'd be a reapplicant either way. Just submit secondaries for the least competitive schools and states schools if you can and see where things goes. I won't advise applying DO until you retake the MCAT.

 

[lifesavers]

Moving to what are my chances.

It all depends on your goals and how much the $$$ hurts. You already submitted your AMCAS, which is the biggest hurdle. Probably doesn't take a ton of effort to pick out the 5 least competitive schools on your list, including your state school, and selectively complete those secondaries and see what happens. It likely won't go anywhere, but doesn't seem like you have much to lose.

Thank you for your response!!

This is basically what I have been told! Other than money and time, I have nothing to lose at this point I feel like. I have already submitted my primaries so I've already put myself in a sticky situation with being a reapplicant. I have no hopes in getting accepted but like maybe a slim less than 1% chance because I already submitted the primary, maybe I should.

I'm currently a middle school teacher, so money is not the greatest but I could swing it.

 

[Faha]

Which Hispanic community are your from (Mexican American, Puerto Rican ?). Are you fluent in Spanish ?

 

[lifesavers]

Which Hispanic community are your from (Mexican American, Puerto Rican ?). Are you fluent in Spanish ?

Not fluent, no! I have working Spanish, but not fluent. Family didn't speak it to me because they wanted me to assimilate into our rural, predominately white town. I'm Mexican.

 

[IMGASMD]

I think op should tag some admins, maybe they can chime in.

I think if you’re a teacher, with 3.72 taking MCAT while teaching and URM, you may have a good chance to get interviews.

 

[lifesavers]

I think op should tag some admins, maybe they can chime in.

I think if you’re a teacher, with 3.72 taking MCAT while teaching and URM, you may have a good chance to get interviews.

I'm new to posting here, how/who do I tag?

 

[The wise one]

@Goro @LizzyM

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[DrStephenStrange]

@DrStephenStrange , I will need to see your MCAT to believe that.
Nonetheless, those stats are absyssmal. There are not OK by another standard. It could be that something about your story made up for your MCAT?

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You had me taking a trip down memory lane, but yea as you can see from the screen shot (had to strip some identifying info). Anyway, you're right, I'm a Haitian immigrant who survived the 2010 earthquake that killed more than a quarter million people, so I might have had a good background story to pull me up, but I'm doing ok so far in med school. I applied to 26 DO schools and 6 MD schools, got lots of rejections and silent treatments, but got interview from 1 MD instate (University of Missouri-Columbia), and 11 DO interviews invites, but only attended 4: ATSU-KCOM (instate)-Accepted, KCU (instate)-Waitlisted for both campuses, ARCOM-Accepted, CUSOM-Rejected. Didn't attend Interview at: WCUCOM, PNWU, LMUDCOM, PCOM-GA, UIWSOM, VCOM-Carolinas campus, BCOM.

 

[Faha]

Not fluent, no! I have working Spanish, but not fluent. Family didn't speak it to me because they wanted me to assimilate into our rural, predominately white town. I'm Mexican.

Mexican Americans are considered URM and with your stats you have a ~50% chance for a MD acceptance. I suggest applying to and completing the secondaries for all these schools:
U Illinois
SIU
Loyola
Rush
Rosalind Franklin
Medical College Wisconsin
Oakland Beaumont
Wayne State
Wright State
St. Louis
Creighton
TCU-UNT
NOVA MD
Georgetown
George Washington
Drexel
Temple
Jefferson
Seton Hall
New York Medical College
Albany
Einstein
Vermont
Quinnipiac
California University
Loma Linda (if you fit their mission)
Arizona (Tucson and Phoenix)

 

[lifesavers]

Mexican Americans are considered URM and with your stats you have a ~50% chance for a MD acceptance. I suggest applying to and completing the secondaries for all these schools:
U Illinois
SIU
Loyola
Rush
Rosalind Franklin
Medical College Wisconsin
Oakland Beaumont
Wayne State
Wright State
St. Louis
Creighton
TCU-UNT
NOVA MD
Georgetown
George Washington
Drexel
Temple
Jefferson
Seton Hall
New York Medical College
Albany
Einstein
Vermont
Quinnipiac
California University
Loma Linda (if you fit their mission)
Arizona (Tucson and Phoenix)

I appreciate you for this! I have most of those on my application currently, so I may just finish it out since I already submitted primaries before I received my scores (although the money is going to hurt me). Thank you for this!

 

[LizzyM]

You are at slightly higher risk of having difficulties in med school compared with students who had MCAT >499 but med schools may see your TFA and URM life experience and decide that you are "high riks/high reward" and give you a shot. You've already have a large sunk cost so you might as well go all the way and submit the secondaries. The nice thing about this year is that there will be little travel cost and time associated with interviews so you'll save some time and money in that regard. Good luck!

 

[lifesavers]

You are at slightly higher risk of having difficulties in med school compared with students who had MCAT >499 but med schools may see your TFA and URM life experience and decide that you are "high riks/high reward" and give you a shot. You've already have a large sunk cost so you might as well go all the way and submit the secondaries. The nice thing about this year is that there will be little travel cost and time associated with interviews so you'll save some time and money in that regard. Good luck!

Thank you for your response! I agree with the huge cost already, so the slim chance at a maybe acceptance might be worth trying. I put myself in a bad position here! But huge thanks!!

 

[GoSpursGo]

Thank you for your response!!

This is basically what I have been told! Other than money and time, I have nothing to lose at this point I feel like. I have already submitted my primaries so I've already put myself in a sticky situation with being a reapplicant. I have no hopes in getting accepted but like maybe a slim less than 1% chance because I already submitted the primary, maybe I should.

I'm currently a middle school teacher, so money is not the greatest but I could swing it.

Another way of looking at it--there's a pandemic. What else are you really doing with your time, streaming your 10th Netflix series?

$$$ is a real thing, though once you've paid AMCAS everything else is a much smaller drop in the bucket. Just be realistic and selective in where you complete your secondaries.

FWIW, "being a reapplicant" is more of a negative because it signals that the underlying application is not strong more than any intrinsic negative view that is held towards reapplicants. If you're able to re-take the MCAT and improve 5-10 points I would expect you'll do fine. The problem is that's always easier said than done, so take the next week to finish the secondaries you're going to do, and then start studying again. And if you didn't do this last time, make a firm plan--if your "plan" is simply to read as much as you can every single day, you're probably not going to accomplish as much as if your goal is to "read X pages a day," "do Y practice problems per day," etc.

 

[Goro]

Stats are not good for MD schools, but might be ok for some DO schools. Advice: take your time, do at least 3 months of preparation, retake to the MCAT, and aim for a 510+ because you should do everything you can to get into an MD school before trying for DO. I'm telling you this as a 3rd year DO student.

Agree 100%.

While MD opens more doors for you than DO, beggars can't be choosy. Unless you massively ace the MCAT, i suspect that you'll be neeidng ot apply to MD + DO.

Which Hispanic community to you represent, OP?

I disagree with my young colleague above. The bias against reapplicants is mostly SDN hype. People who improve apps on the second try do get accepted.

 

[lifesavers]

Agree 100%.

While MD opens more doors for you than DO, beggars can't be choosy. Unless you massively ace the MCAT, i suspect that you'll be neeidng ot apply to MD + DO.

Which Hispanic community to you represent, OP?

I disagree with my young colleague above. The bias against reapplicants is mostly SDN hype. People who improve apps on the second try do get accepted.

I agree with everything y'all have said! I am fully planning a retake and reapplication. My practice scores on all the full length exams I did before taking the MCAT were 505-510, so honestly I believe I can improve with more studying and a retake. But I am Mexican!

 

[lifesavers]

Another way of looking at it--there's a pandemic. What else are you really doing with your time, streaming your 10th Netflix series?

$$$ is a real thing, though once you've paid AMCAS everything else is a much smaller drop in the bucket. Just be realistic and selective in where you complete your secondaries.

FWIW, "being a reapplicant" is more of a negative because it signals that the underlying application is not strong more than any intrinsic negative view that is held towards reapplicants. If you're able to re-take the MCAT and improve 5-10 points I would expect you'll do fine. The problem is that's always easier said than done, so take the next week to finish the secondaries you're going to do, and then start studying again. And if you didn't do this last time, make a firm plan--if your "plan" is simply to read as much as you can every single day, you're probably not going to accomplish as much as if your goal is to "read X pages a day," "do Y practice problems per day," etc.

Hey thank you for this response! I agree with you. For my full length practice exams I was in the 505-510 range with the AAMC and NextStep Material. I was scoring a little higher with NextStep, but I believe I can improve my score by a minimum of 5 points. I am currently teaching full time, so the scheduling/time commitments gets a little trickier, but it's completely doable. I appreciate you for taking time to respond to me and do plan to retake!

I may just finish out a few of the secondaries and suck up the money aspect because I already submitted the primaries and I put myself in a bad position with my MCAT score. Thank you for your response and time!!!

 

[Faha]

Thank you for your response! I agree with the huge cost already, so the slim chance at a maybe acceptance might be worth trying. I put myself in a bad position here! But huge thanks!!

Your chances are not slim. They are greater than 50%. Apply to all the schools I listed and complete the secondaries and you may receive interviews. If no interviews by February then plan to retake the MCAT in the spring and include DO schools next year.

 

[lifesavers]

Your chances are not slim. They are greater than 50%. Apply to all the schools I listed and complete the secondaries and you may receive interviews. If no interviews by February then plan to retake the MCAT in the spring and include DO schools next year.

Again, I appreciate you! I'm going to do it and hope for the best. Your comment played a big role in me contemplating what I should do so thank you. It's good to feel some encouragement when I've been constantly doubting myself after receiving my score. So thank you!!!

 

[Mr.Smile12]

I also encourage the OP to seek out officers in LMSA and SNMA chapters at the schools on the wishlist, as well as diversity student affairs officers. Pay careful attention to the demographic representation at the medical schools, especially when it comes to individuals who share the OP's journey to the profession and cultural context.

 

[lifesavers]

I also encourage the OP to seek out officers in LMSA and SNMA chapters at the schools on the wishlist, as well as diversity student affairs officers. Pay careful attention to the demographic representation at the medical schools, especially when it comes to individuals who share the OP's journey to the profession and cultural context.

Hi! Thank you for the response. I'm curious what you mean by seeking out different LMSA and SNMA chapters at the schools. Seek out in terms of what or with what purpose? I know for support reasons of course, but I'm just curious if you had another idea.

 

[IMGASMD]

Hi! Thank you for the response. I'm curious what you mean by seeking out different LMSA and SNMA chapters at the schools. Seek out in terms of what or with what purpose? I know for support reasons of course, but I'm just curious if you had another idea.

They may get you an interview with their faculty person?