Is it too late to apply with my low GPA?

[smasi]

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EDITED

 

[TriagePreMed]

You should apply but doing so broadly. The GPA is really what will hold you back, but you may catch the attention of someone and end up at one of the better schools.

 

[Temperature101]

sGPA:3.1
cGPA:3.1
MCAT: 28
BS in Cellular and molecular biology

I'm a 32 year old economically challenged white male and am aware that I have a low GPA. The GPA is low due to having to work a full-time job through all years of school while caring for a child as a single father. My GPA was extremely high during my Junior and Senior years while taking advanced coursework (3.8ish).

EC's/Volunteer:
I've published 2 manuscripts (writing a 3rd) and 1 web publication on medscape, presented 3 years in a row at national neurology conferences.I have worked as a clinical research coordinator (full-time) for a University in Florida for more than 3 years and have great performance reviews. I have daily direct patient care as well as being a certified phlebotomist and ECG technician. I also volunteer in many charity organizations and have done so for the past 8 years. LOR's from many professors and physicians.

Is it too late to apply for this cycle? Any advice for how to secure DO acceptance and schools I should apply to please let me know. My preference is Nova, but will to go anywhere if accepted. Thanks.

You have a good chance to get in somewhere if you apply mostly to low tier schools... Nova is not out of reach since many SDN users say they put more emphasis on MCAT...

 

[Goro]

Concur strongly

You should apply but doing so broadly. The GPA is really what will hold you back, but you may catch the attention of someone and end up at one of the better schools.

 

[Temperature101]

These are great suggestions, however, what schools are considered "Low tier"? It appears almost all DO schools are very similar across the board unless I want to devote my career to rural medicine. Any suggestions on specific schools? I have put a list below as to where I'm planning.

Nova
Lecom-Erie & Bradenton
NYIT
Touro- NY
Touro-NV
CCOM
WIlliam-Carey
Campbell
PCOM-Georgia & Phil
Rowan
AZCOM

Add VCOM-CC and VC, ACOM and LMU-DCOM...

 

[Temperature101]

Thanks Temperature! I will definitely add those as well. What are your thoughts on my current list?

Your current list is ok, but some of them are reaches such as PCOM-phi, CCOM, AZCOM because of your GPAs...

 

[Temperature101]

That was my thought as well. However, I am a non-traditional student with over 10 years experience running my own business, over 4 years of direct patient care (i.e phlebotomy, neuro assessments, EKG's...), a few publications, development in non-profit organizations, and much more. Do you think that I will be screened out prior to the admission committee seeing all these great EC's?
My official GPA is as follows:
cGPA:3.16
sGPA:3.02
Non-Science: 3.31

Both my Junior and Senior years show upward trends in GPA as well as difficult courses (biochem, cellular metabolism, molecular biology of the gene, molecular biology of the cell...)

I think you have a great shot at all these schools with your superb ECs... Most DO schools don't screen 3.0+ GPAs out..

 

[TXKnight]

Thanks Temperature! I will definitely add those as well. What are your thoughts on my current list?

Eliminate Campbell. They WILL screen you out pre-secondary with anything less 3.2 sGPA, regardless of EC's. They won't look at your app.

 

[TXKnight]

I did see that they indicated on their website that, "Applicants should have achieved at least a 3.2 sciences and cumulative grade point average (GPA), on a 4.0 scale. The minimum overall GPA for acceptance is 3.0."

This makes me question their statement being that if your sGPA and cGPA are 3.2 or better than mathematically your overall should be 3.2 or better. However, their last sentence states that the minimum overall GPA for acceptance is 3.0. This sounds contradictory to me. Plus, being a new school I would figure they are going to receive a ton of applicants.

Any thoughts?

Yeah I had issues trying to decipher wast they meant by that statement...very ambiguous. In any case I went ahead and applied with a s/cGPA of around 3.15 and waiting on summer transcripts, which will put me above 3.2 for both GPAs - MCAT 7/11/11. I never got the chance to update my summer grades with them because I initially I got an email saying they were reviewing my app, second email two days later:

".....we have carefully reviewed your application and regret to inform you we are unable to extend an offer of admission to you at this time.
You are encouraged to resubmit your application for the next admission cycle with an appropriately improved science GPA. Specifically, we look for a cumulative science GPA over 3.2, competitive applicants present a science GPA at or above this. When calculating the science GPA, we place the emphasis on the last 120 credit hours......"

so I recommend you save your app money. However, maybe they do read the apps presecondary and they like you, who knows. This sentence contradicts what I told you on my earlier post. I do believe they will screen you out, but cannot confirm 100%, so take my recommendation with a grain of salt. If you do end up applying there, let me know what happens, I'm just curious as to how much they adhere to their guidelines.

 

[TXKnight]

WOW! okay. That's a little upsetting that they would even set those types of standards considering their very first standard states, "The goals of the admissions process are to: 1. Understand each applicant as a whole person". Clearly this is BS since you didn't even get through to have that evaluated. I will consider not applying there, but if I do I'll let you know the outcome. Thanks again.

Exactly, how can they get to know you before even reading what your app is about? I am a reaplicant and I now strongly believe the great majority of schools do this. They are "holistic" once they screen you out....specially allo schools. I also believe from experience that many osteopathic schools,do actually read your application before screening you in/out, and that is a good admissions policy and legit to the "holistic" approach

 

[user3]

Quit fussing and start applying!

 

[TXKnight]

Quit fussing and start applying!

word

 

[TriagePreMed]

These are great suggestions, however, what schools are considered "Low tier"? It appears almost all DO schools are very similar across the board unless I want to devote my career to rural medicine. Any suggestions on specific schools? I have put a list below as to where I'm planning.

Nova
Lecom-Erie & Bradenton
NYIT
Touro- NY
Touro-NV
CCOM
WIlliam-Carey
Campbell
PCOM-Georgia & Phil
Rowan
AZCOM

You have a good mix. Just in case you're wondering, ccom, rowan and pcom-p are considered the top schools of your list.