You have the wrong mentality. Instead of thinking: "there are so many superstars, I don't even have a chance" try this: "if there are so many people out there who were able to reach such astonishing stats, why can't I be one of them?"
As I have told you in the past, don't compare yourself to others. Be the best you that you can be. If you feel inadequate compared to your own expectations of yourself, then git good. If you only feel bad about yourself when you look at other people then stop looking at other people. You do you.
Even with those stats, 7% - 13% of them don't get in. The ADCOMs on here (I know @gonnif has mentinoed it before) say that this personality type is the very type that make up that 7 - 13 percent. It isn't all stats and ECs. Gotta be personable too.
Thankfully admissions committee members care more about the quality of Dr. they produce than their US news rating. Thankfully
As someone said "nobody wants URM experience until it comes to med school application process"
“Never cede to someone else the power to determine your worth. When evaluating your life, you need to use your own yardstick” the wise Doktermom
One could join the military: adversity is likely, and service is guaranteed. If you survive, you'll get a solid boost to your application.
FFS, I literally just told you not to do that. Why would you give terrible advice?
See other thread
It happens for residencies too. I know for a fact one of our residencies didn't even rank a superstar applicant because they couldn't respond to basic questions.
He isn’t even jesting though...they genuinely believe that as an effective method of bettering your application...
It is a fairly ill-advised though effective method - a little bit like strapping a pulsejet engine to your bicycle to go faster. It will work, yes, if you survive...but there are costs to oneself and others.
You keep saying if you survive...You could go in as a lab tech, a nurse, a pharmacy tech, supply, and so on...
Also, if something is I’ll advised, why even suggest it?
More like over a cliff on a homemade rope or something. It's probably been successfully done before. Perhaps combat arms might be the equivalent of pulsejet engine guy and jet-engine mechanic in the Air Force less risky but still a rather...intense way of improving your application. Anyone brave and foolish enough to risk his life for admission to medical school probably deserves to get in...on the other hand, someone that became an infantryman solely to pad his medical school application might be showing an unusual degree of folly.
I was talking to an adcom member at one of my revisits, and they told me they have definitely encountered applicants who seemed absolutely perfect on paper but were so off in their interviews that they were rejected on that basis.
No they don't. Joining the military for selfish and idiotic reasons is beyond foolish. Someone that entitled deserves nothing from either the military or from medical schools.
You have literally asked ADCOMs on here "should I join the military to improve my application?" You seem not to understand that you are that foolish person. And it is just not clicking in your head. It isn't a means of improving your application. It isn't even something you should bring up in a conversation about improving one's application. It isn't an option. You don't suggest something that you don't do. So just stop bringing it up. Stop bringing up peace corps. Stop bringing up extra curriculars. Someone is going to read it and genuinly consider it. Particularly on a post where OP was already feeling inadequate, you want to roll in here and suggest "I mean one option is to join the military to boost your app." No. Just...no. If you want to join the military to find yourself over the course of 4 years, cool. that is awesome. Good on you. You DO NOT do it with the viewpoint of "This will so boost my med school app." So literally just stop.
It's only part of the app, but from 2015-to-2017 186,450 people took the MCAT, or ~62,000/year. ~48,000 people apply per year and ~45% of them apply with an MCAT score under 506. The AAMC MCAT/GPA grid shows you about where you fall with respect to stats compared to your fellow applicants.
It's incredibly more common to have a high GPA and a low MCAT. Low GPA/High MCAT people are actually much more rare than you would think based on SDN posts.
We can't make them stay in a lab. If they are going to touch patients in a clinical setting they still have to match...somewhere.
I mean, it is a sin. But 50% of people still get it.
Pearson testing centers need some holy water on site.
