Help with school selection

[SoWasRed]

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Good afternoon SND. I have posted a few times on this board and have got some great advice. I am applying to schools in June and am trying to narrow down my list. I am a 29 year old nontrad applicant who originally graduated in 2005. I came back to school last January and have am finishing up the prereqs with Orgo 2 w/lab this semester. I am taking my MCAT in May but have been doing my own study plan using TBR and EK. My stats should be cgpa 3.02, sgpa 3.84, post bacc gpa through 49 credits 3.87. My mean practice score through 3 aamc's and 2 TBR tests is 33. I also will have 200 hours of clinical volunteering and 4 months of clinical research experience. My question is that if I can score 32-35 on my MCAT do you think certain MD schools will take a look. I have been browsing the MSAR and am a little nervous since my cgpa is below every schools 10th percentile. Any advice will be apprecitated.

 

[DrMidlife]

I believe you're miscalculating cGPA. The only cumulative GPA calcs include postbac grades. Like this:

Your cGPA will still be low, but it will be better.

Your strong upward trend & strong postbac will help.

The higher your MCAT, the better.

School choice: totally depends on where you live & how much money you have.

Apply to every public school in your state.

Apply to every school where you think you have a chance after serious review of each school's app criteria and serious review of school-specific threads in allo, limited by your cash flow. Study the interview feedback on SDN as well.

I'm seeing signs that the last 2 years of coursework are starting to be a greater consideration after initial review. I have no school names to share on this, just a trend in the postbac forum low GPA threads.

Think about whether it's even worth it to add another low-GPA to the piles that are 10k apps or more (GW, Gtown, Boston, Tufts etc.).

Don't make the mistake of applying to public schools in states where you're not a resident: confirm you are eligible. UWash and WVU show what looks like an out of state tolerance in the MSAR, but it's a strictly delineated regional preference.

Study the MSAR and use it to start your research. The data in there is about 2 years out of date when it comes out, so you need to scramble for the best info.

Best of luck to you.