Interview = Acceptance?

stats? schools applied to?

 

an interview at OCPM usually means at least a conditional acceptance. Dean Lott will probably give you one with the stip. that you to raise your GPA to 3.0 by the time you graduate. your MCAT is perfectly fine obviously. She'll give you 30 days to put in your $500 deposit; if, by the time may rolls around, your GPA doesnt increase, you'll probably loose your 500, unless you work something out to take a few summer courses at your undergrad.

p.s.- you'll love Dean Lott, she is the bombdiggity

 

I seem to have the same question. I have a decent GPA, 3.25 Science and 3.49 total, nothing to write home about. My problem, however is that my MCATs were 18. What do you think my chances are of getting in to OCPM? This looks like the school I'd like to go to.

 

Good GPA, horrible MCAT. Who knows? You could get an interview at a school or two but be asked to explain away your low MCAT. Why not retake the MCAT?

On the other hand, since your GPA is ~3.5 it might balance out your MCAT. With a strong application, plenty of clinical experience, LORs, personal statement and a genuine interest in podiatric medicine, you could have a shot. I would highly advise you email the schools you like and explain your situation. If you make an effort and show you're concerned, who knows, they might look at you as a proactive applicant.

Good luck! PM if you have more questions.

 

Good GPA, horrible MCAT. Who knows? You could get an interview at a school or two but be asked to explain away your low MCAT. Why not retake the MCAT?

On the other hand, since your GPA is ~3.5 it might balance out your MCAT. With a strong application, plenty of clinical experience, LORs, personal statement and a genuine interest in podiatric medicine, you could have a shot. I would highly advise you email the schools you like and explain your situation. If you make an effort and show you're concerned, who knows, they might look at you as a proactive applicant.

Good luck! PM if you have more questions.

 

i was in the same situation as you...i got a 19 my first time and retook it and got a 24! which still isnt anything to really be proud of but its higher than the like 22-23 avg to get into pod school...you should have the hutspa to just take it again and do better PLEASE DONT TRY TO GET IN WITH YOUR CURRENT MCAT...if 18 is the best you can do then go to another profession. honestly if you cant be somewhat good at all at standardized testing then this is the wrong field and your admittance will only further burden the applicant pool with weak applicants. I considered PA if i couldnt bring my score up to the minimum to be competitive and honestly if you cant then consider something else...

 

Don't listen to this. Yes, you should try to raise your MCAT, but to say that you shouldn't apply because your score is too low and it will burden the applicant pool is less than good advice. All of the schools will try to fill their seats, so if they don't give it to you with an 18 MCAT, it will go to someone with a 17. Apply, do your best to raise your score, and be careful about whose advice you listen to.

 

you are kidding yourself if for some oddball reason you think that there are not enough applicants that have higher scores...encouragement of this sort of applicant(low VERY LOW mcat score) is really foolishidea and only good if you want to keep podiatry as one of the other last resorts for med and DO rejects as opposed to actually bettering the quality of individual that will apply....be careful giving out advice that is terrible

and um "less than good" you can just say bad? unless you are truly trying to make an attempt at being condecending

 

I understand what you are saying, but if you are implying that the OP won't get accepted because of his low stats, then that is fine with me. It just adds one more total applicant and makes the percentage accepted appear lower, which is a good thing. If there are applicants that have higher scores, it makes no difference if he applies or not, he won't get in. Why not encourage him to apply?

 

I agree here.

Apply and see what happens. If you can afford it, sign up to retake the MCAT and send those scores when they become available. Still, if you are reasonably competitive, apply and get the ball rolling. The worst they can say is "no," and you'd just have to retake and apply next cycle.

At my school, a key member of the faculty gives a talk to incoming students during orientation. He basically enforces that once the classes begin, your gpa, MCAT, etc now mean nothing. He tells everyone that regardless of how you have performed in the past, the next few years will be rigorous for everyone, so what will mainly determine your success or failure is studying very hard and keeping pace with the lectures. I think he's absolutely right.

 

because it makes podiatry appear as like a second string profession-thats why

 

I don't think it makes podiatry look like a second string profession. There are people that apply to DO schools with the exact same stats. Just go the the pre-DO forum and you will see this same question being asked there.We need to improve the total number of applicants. Then the average stats will rise. But that isn't going to happen overnight, and I think that if a person can afford to apply, there is hardly any reason that I can think of to tell them not to. Like Feli said, the worst they can do is say no and you are out a few hundred bucks.

 

I see what you mean in the sense of another applicant but it is , yet again, another poor applicant-idk this obviously could be debated back and forth for a while. If the people up top making the choices just stop taking anything below 20 (for starters) the average "matriculant" will be more applealing if the average goes up to at least like DO level(around 25-27)...so we will see I would love to see if there has been an upward trend in the past several years or at least a link to where I could find that info myself

 

http://www.aacpm.org/html/statistics/PDFs/AppStats/Applicant_MCAT.pdf
There has been a slight up trend. Average in 2003 was 20.3, and in 2007 was 21.3. You're right, it needs to be higher, but that will take time. If schools stopped taking below 20 MCAT's, there might be some schools that wouldn't fill up, and as has been discussed many times, matriculants=$$ for schools. To the OP, apply, if you get in, work hard and prove the doubters wrong. Good Luck!!

 

=me LOL...yeah to that OP try california (cspm not that other school booo...hehe) and if you get in we can compete for higher grades-prove me wrong

 

****..well look at those stats tho-it went up from 2003-2004 then has gone down since then..

 

Don't be an annoying gunner please

 

good lord the queen of negativity is back

 

Bro we can race our vespa's around Lake Merritt after class gets out! It may get a little seedy on the way back to the apartment complex though. Any ideas what your packing??? I was thinking the desert eagle should suffice.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lzri8dn7p0

that should do it

 

If anyone was wondering where the stigma comes from, of pod's not being up to par with the MD's (and now even the DO's) of the world, read the above. I personally have done the research and put in the clinical hours (work, volunteer, shadow, etc.) to know this is what I want to do and that Pod's are incredibly competent (the best when it comes to F&A in most cases). However, someone not knowing a whole lot about the profession and the institutions that feed it will look at this thread and laugh. An 18 on the MCAT? and ldsrmdude is sitting here claiming that if you don't apply with an 18 to a school and they haven't filled their seats that a 17 will get in? we're talking bare minimum 6's across the board, and most likely they excelled in a particular area and ended up with a 4 in another. I'm glad the general trend in matriculating students' MCAT scores is going upward, but until you can't get in unless you are above a 21 (7 7 7 is reasonable IMO) then podiatry will continue to have questions circling its schools' legitimacy. I know this sounds mean, but if you do not have the critical thinking skills to get above an 18 on the MCAT then I do not want you doing the work up on me as my doctor...although I may not have to worry about it because you may very well not make it through the first semester.

 

Originally Posted by ThetaChiNAU1856
because it makes podiatry appear as like a second string profession-thats why


It's statements like yours that perpetuate the inferiority complex that some of us have as pre-pod students. Podiatry does NOT appear like a second string profession to me. It may appear like that to YOU, but it I don't see it like that. Yes, admissions stats and numbers don't lie but that's neither here nor there.

For example, please consider the following conversation I had the other day:
Jane: "So, John what's your major at State University?"
John: "Biology"
Jane: "Oh! So, you want to be a doctor?" "Do you know what you want to specialize in yet?"
John: "Yes, podiatry"
Jane: "Wow! I hear they make a lot of money. That's feet...right?"
John: "Yes"
Jane: "Why feet?" *giggles flirtaciously*
John: "Why not? It's better than a lot of other things"
Jane: "I guess you do have a point. When you're making all that money, can you give me the hook up? I have flat feet...

So, the point of me sharing this with you is to show that you should take things for what they are. If podiatry appears "second rate" to you, it's in your head! There is a need that has to be filled. This is a calling. Have some confidence about your decision to go into podiatry and people will say, "Wow! He's going places"

 

LOL it actually is not a second string profession but everyone on here complains how ppl percieve it that way...for starters ,

secondly-GREAT italics it made it a lot easier to read

thirdly-were you john in that convo i take it?

fourth-you have on idea about my motives behind my personal decision to go to podiatry school instead of DO school with my ECs, MCAT, GPA and letters i could EASILY have gone to MANY DO programs, so where do you get off thinking i would even NEED to "resort" to the profession of podiatry that you perceive me thinking of as second rate for gods sake actually READ what i write and tyr, just try, to make a bit more of an edumacated inference with regards to me saying podiatry as "second string"...it was in teh context that lower stats=GENERAL PUBLIC feeling the profession is second string, for example( because i feel it necessary to include an example for you just in case its complicated) profession A is waaaaay harder to get into than profession B and thus profession A, therefore, is first string-HOWEVER if they had closer stats they would both just be considered "options"

me telling that kid not to apply with crap stats is what most ppl are thinking but few are saying, yes podiatry needs the money of people that will likely flunk out to use for advertising/bringing in more awareness to the profession, but most people would agree that ENCOURAGING ppl to apply with awful, downright awful, test scores will just result in purpetuating a generally poor application pool

note: poor app pool=too many crappy applicants applying with more qualified applicants thus bringing down the averages...

hopefully this clears things up-it probably didnt...lol, but we can hold out hope

and by the way...the only people that I care think I am "going places" are nobody but me and my family-i could care less if some dumb flat-footed girl wants to date me

 

lol that was a little harsh

 

whomp whomp, next subject

 

Sorry about the italics. I don't post much; and no, I didn't think your post was too harsh at all. This is just a forum, a place to go where people exchange ideas and experiences; nothing to take personally. I was not questioning your motives for persuing podiatry at all. However, I do think you suffer from the inferiority complex that some pre-pods have based on admission stats.

The purpose of my post was to let you know that the general public does not see podiatry as "second string". If you seriously think the general public researches the admission requirements of the school that their local podiatrist (who they probably think is an MD anyway), you are sadly mistaken.

The point I'm trying to make is that by repeating things like "Most people think podiatry is a second string profession" you are reflecting a negative attitude in which only a tiny minority of the general public shares.

Basically, what I'm saying is that you are shining a light on something that would otherwise be nonexistent. It's like pointing out a zit on Halle Berry's face. At the end of day, she's still Halle Berry. So please, for the sake of your future profession, stop accentuating the negative.

 

No doubt that this is one reason podiatry has a negative stigma among pre-meds. But I don't think that stigma goes much beyond pre-meds or maybe some med students. Like you said, anyone who puts in even a little effort beyond reading the SDN forums will understand that podiatrists are well-qualified. As far as you not wanting someone working on you who got less than an 18 on the MCAT, when was the last time you asked your doctor what his undergrad grades/test scores were?

 

Nice try...I don't have to ask my MD what his MCAT scores were because I know they were above an 18 for him to get into medical school in the first place. If you do not have the critical thinking skills to do better than that on the MCAT, then you do not have the critical thinking skills to do well in a clinical setting. Granted you have two-three years to improve (since generally the first two years are in the classroom and lab), but there is no way an individual who did that bad on the MCAT can take a problem, possibly something they've never seen or heard of, exrapulate the relevant information, and apply what they do know to provide treatment. That's what the MCAT is...its not some standardized test to see how much science you've learned. Its asking you to understand basic physics, chem, ochem, biochem, and biology and be apply to apply these principles to questions based on passages (often time mock experiments) you've never seen before. Oh and you have to understand a little bit of english, any individual who has been accepted into college should be able to pull an 8 on the verbal section IMO.

I'm not trying to sound mean, this is just a reality. Not everyone has the ability to be a Dr. There are plenty of other health-related professions that you may excell at. I have a buddy who is amazing with people, but isn't great in the classroom and would likely score about a 20 on the MCAT no matter how much he studied. However, he is applying to PA school. There is no doubt in my mind that he will be an excellent PA and if I were ever in a position to hire one, I'd get him to sign on the spot. I could trust that he could handle his cases and he would never lose a patient due to poor bedside manner. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if all of the older women that came into my office would refer their friends just because of him.

 

I agree 100 percent with all of this...

It goes along with todays society and how kids get ribbons for 18th place except they call it the "participation award" or some ridiculous crap. You get a trophy for 1st 2nd and 3rd. If you did not get it, too bad. Welcome to the real world.

Are there some people out there who get 19's and 20's but would be okay in spite of it? yes. Too bad. You should have scored better. The line needs to be drawn somewhere and the MCAT is the accepted way of measuring applicants.

Also, be careful to use PA's here. You may unintentionally be marginalizing them just as others may do to pods.

 

I'll assume that you have no actual evidence for the bolded portion of your comments. I would go as far as to call BS with it actually. I don't disagree with you on most of your post, but the MCAT is not the end all of determining if a person fails or excels. It is a good indicator sure, but to say that there is no way that someone who gets an 18 "can take a problem, possibly something they've never seen or heard of, exrapulate the relevant information, and apply what they do know to provide treatment," is ridiculous. There are numerous examples of people who are poor test-takers that make great doctors. There are numerous fail-safes (exams, boards, etc.) to weed out those who can't make it. I don't care if my doctor got an 18 on the MCAT, I care if they are competent now.

 

this is just turning into a pissing match of those that think, in order to legitimize this profession (that i got accepted to and am going to do and dont have any PERSONAL negative views towards), we will have to raise the admission standards and tell ppl that cant break 21-22ish to go elsewhere VS. those ppl on here that think we should just be nice and encouraging to everyone even if clearly they aren't smart enough/cut out to be any sort of a physician...so its pretty clear that the former group is the ones critically thinking about this and are not dreaming that everyone is intellectually equal-because sadly that is not true, someone has to fill the other jobs in this society!

 

Did I just get called nice? I've gotta show this to my wife!

 

I would like to start off by saying thank you for all of your advice. Some of that advice, I have to say wasn't all that encouraging, but hell... I did ask for your opinion.

I've been working in the healthcare profession for over 9 years now. I do have some experience. I can't explain the low MCAT score, though. I may end up taking it again... who knows.

I can only add that after working with the docs, there isn't much I haven't seen or asked about when it comes to family practice, emergency care, or podiatry related issues.

Critical thinking skills are not always something you're born with. Some need to be trained in that area. From my MCAT scores, it looks like I have some reading up to do, lol. The low MCAT score doesn't mean that I haven't applied to schools. I've already had interview requests from all but one school... hence why I asked what my chances of getting in were if I recieved an invitation.

I've got a pretty good GPA, more experience than most, and balls to keep going. See you in class

 

First of all, I acknowledged that someone could pick up some of those critical thinking skills in their first two years at a allo, DO, pod, etc. school. I don't think its likely but I'll admit its possible. But what is ridiculous about what you italicized in my post? Were you one of those guys that took the DAT (something else pod schools should get rid of)? What I described is the format for 90% of the MCAT. Yes, there are some stand alone questions where you need to know random phys, chem, ochem, biochem, etc. but most of it is answering questions based on passages that, often times, contain the answer in them. If you can figure out how to apply your basic science knowledge you can figure out the products form in a particular reastion you've never seen before. Don't tell me this isn't how a clinical setting works. I've worked in an ER and seen Dr.s, nurses, and PAs all have to treat cases that they've never seen before but could solve based on info they got throughout training. I've had to apply these skills as a ski patroller here in Washington on many a code where the MOI told me enough to keep the rider safe and stable until they could be transferred to a higher level of care (even though I had never come accross or read about such an injury). If you can develop those skills within two years then more power to you, but don't blindly jump into a profession that you may not be able to handle.

 

LOL get a life! haha just kidding man

 

But most important, was the ball picked off or caught in your avatar pic? I say picked off and raced 99 yds untouched for a TD. What's all the brethen here say?

 

totally gettin picked

 

Yeah it was picked...too bad I fell right afterwards and couldn't take it back for 6

The guy in White is the WR...gotta love those overthrown deep balls right up the seam when you're sittin on your hash in a 2.

 

You're right, I didn't italicize your whole quote, let me try it again... "there is no way an individual who did that bad on the MCAT can take a problem, possibly something they've never seen or heard of, exrapulate the relevant information, and apply what they do know to provide treatment." That is what is ridiculous to say that there is no way someone who got an 18 can take some info and extrapolate an answer. No need to get defensive about your time in the ER, I am in no way questioning your clinical skills. I think we agree more than we disagree.

 

ldsrmdude,
I think you are trying to be nice to the individual who asked the question and I'm being a jerk (which I have no problem doing since I think that pod schools should have a qualified enough applicant pool to not worry about excepting people with those MCAT's).

 

Wow, I got called nice two times in the same thread, I am really going to have to save this for future generations. I also agree that pod schools should have a qualified applicant pool so that the entrance stats get raised. We aren't there yet, but I hope we will be.