Is it possible?

[jhdj8707]

I recently got my MCAT scores and I am more nervous than ever. I was consistantly scoring a 29 on the practice tests but I ended up with a 26Q on the real thing.

This wouldn't be so bad except for my overall GPA.

When I first started college I had no interest in medicine. My freshman year I dropped out in the 3rd quarter for financial reasons and because I was young and stupid I didn't formally withdraw leaving me with all Fs. I took a year off and after getting pregnant I realized that I needed to get my act together. I enrolled in community college and did ok but not amazing. It was in those two years that I gained a serious interest in medicine but I wasn't sure I was ready to commit.

After my second year in CC I transfered to a CA state university and that is when I made the decision to work on the pre-med reqs and after joining a research assistant program in an emergency department I knew I was going to go for it. I have averaged a 3.7 every quarter for the last 2 years (taking difficult science courses). Unfortunately that only leaves me with a 2.8 overall (3.1 science).

I have heard so many different things but looking at the charts on the AAMC website I see that 6% of white applicants with my GPA and MCAT get in. So I am thinking it is possible. But under what circumstances?

I am now the Lead research assistant (been an RA for 15 months; Lead for 4 months) and an author on two publications one of which has been presented at two national conferences. I have significant experience observing in the emergency room. I also volunteer experience as a tutor throughout my community.

I am a single parent working 2 jobs with a full school load. I am proud of all that I have accomplished but I fear that my efforts wont be enough because of the mistakes I made several years ago.

Any advice or information is appreciated!

BTW I am currently applying.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[nicknickp3]

I recently got my MCAT scores and I am more nervous than ever. I was consistantly scoring a 29 on the practice tests but I ended up with a 26Q on the real thing.

This wouldn't be so bad except for my overall GPA.

When I first started college I had no interest in medicine. My freshman year I dropped out in the 3rd quarter for financial reasons and because I was young and stupid I didn't formally withdraw leaving me with all Fs. I took a year off and after getting pregnant I realized that I needed to get my act together. I enrolled in community college and did ok but not amazing. It was in those two years that I gained a serious interest in medicine but I wasn't sure I was ready to commit.

After my second year in CC I transfered to a CA state university and that is when I made the decision to work on the pre-med reqs and after joining a research assistant program in an emergency department I knew I was going to go for it. I have averaged a 3.7 every quarter for the last 2 years (taking difficult science courses). Unfortunately that only leaves me with a 2.8 overall (3.1 science).

I have heard so many different things but looking at the charts on the AAMC website I see that 6% of white applicants with my GPA and MCAT get in. So I am thinking it is possible. But under what circumstances?

I am now the Lead research assistant (been an RA for 15 months; Lead for 4 months) and an author on two publications one of which has been presented at two national conferences. I have significant experience observing in the emergency room. I also volunteer experience as a tutor throughout my community.

I am a single parent working 2 jobs with a full school load. I am proud of all that I have accomplished but I fear that my efforts wont be enough because of the mistakes I made several years ago.

Any advice or information is appreciated!

BTW I am currently applying.

I w
You are probably going to get auto-screened because of the cGPA. I would say your chances at MD are probably slim to none. If you wanted to be an MD you would probably have to do some retakes and enter an SMP. A solid year of retakes could raise your gpa a whole lot and probably make you pretty competitive for D.O. schools. For example, I had the exact same problem as you, have a semester of F's, had a cGPA of probably 1.8 my first semester. I retook and with the D.O. calculation system I have a 3.5 now.

 

[jhdj8707]

I have already retaken all of the failed courses which has brought my GPA from 1.8 to 2.8. Don't they average the scores in AMCAS (IE F to A=C)? So repeats wont really help anyways. I know that another year will bring it above the 3.0 but I am applying right now. Also, I have heard that a lot of schools are no longer auto screening but instead doing wholistic review. Anyone else hear this?

 

[nicknickp3]

I have already retaken all of the failed courses which has brought my GPA from 1.8 to 2.8. Don't they average the scores in AMCAS (IE F to A=C)? So repeats wont really help anyways. I know that another year will bring it above the 3.0 but I am applying right now. Also, I have heard that a lot of schools are no longer auto screening but instead doing wholistic review. Anyone else hear this?

You hear about that more with D.O. schools, and with their GPA calculation system if you have an F retake and get an A only the A is used for calculation. It sounds like you don't know much about Osteopathic Physicians.

http://www.osteopathic.org/osteopathic-health/about-dos/Pages/default.aspx

Do some reading, they can do everything MD's can and because they are relatively new they accept lower averages etc. And yes I think if you call any schools they would say suuuure apply, because you have to pay to apply and who doesnt love money?