Is it worth applying DO this upcoming cycle?

[Allosteopath]

I'm a Canadian/American who has applied unsuccessfully twice(albeit with a waitlist this year) in Canada where I reside. I was slightly hesitant about applying DO since American schools look at all undergraduate years in GPA calculation where I did extraordinarily poorly early on (cGPA 1.7 at the time) and many Canadian schools forgive this by examining only the final two years of GPA.

Where I stand now:
~3.2 cGPA and ~3.16 sGPA MCAT: 507
Approximately:
150 hours of volunteering (hospital + mentorship opportunities) + 100ish additional hours.
Various work experience during school and continuing presently.
~ I am trying to arrange some DO shadowing in the USA to add to my application, a bit of a challenge since I am just cold calling (advice?)


Would it be worth the money to throw in an application at this point? As a non-traditional applicant who is a father of a one year old sometimes making time for volunteering hasn't been a tremendous priority lately, but I hope to expand on some of the hours I have now.

Cheers!

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[WoundupKnight]

Definitely. I had a 3.2cgpa/507 MCAT with a post bacc, applied November and have interviews at ~1/3rd of the schools I applied to, 1/3rd silence and 1/3rd rejections.

Are you international though? It might be inadvisable if you're a Canadian resident applying for US schools without more grade repair.

 

[Isoval]

Yes. It appears to me that your profile could net you some interviews.

 

[Allosteopath]

Definitely. I had a 3.2cgpa/507 MCAT with a post bacc, applied November and have interviews at ~1/3rd of the schools I applied to, 1/3rd silence and 1/3rd rejections.

Are you international though? It might be inadvisable if you're a Canadian resident applying for US schools without more grade repair.

Fortunately I was always an American citizen before I became Canadian, I just happened to live in Canada throughout high school and undergraduate. Also how many schools did you apply to?


On a sidenote is the US different in that once you get an interview the admissions decision is based on the interview?

 

[Faha]

You could receive interviews at some DO schools with your stats and I suggest all these:
ACOM
ARCOM
NYIT-Arkansas
ICOM
BCOM
UIWSOM
UP-KYCOM
WVSOM
VCOM (all 3 schools)
LUCOM
PCOM Georgia and South Georgia
LECOM (all schools)

 

[WoundupKnight]

Fortunately I was always an American citizen before I became Canadian, I just happened to live in Canada throughout high school and undergraduate. Also how many schools did you apply to?


On a sidenote is the US different in that once you get an interview the admissions decision is based on the interview?

About a dozen. I sent out more apps than that buy only submitted 12 secondaries. I’d have TUNCOM and both Lecoms at the top of your list. Neither have secondary essays and I had interviews for both.

 

[ES671]

It really depends on the cycle and how competitive it is, but your overall GPA is slightly concerning despite a good MCAT score. I was in a similar boat with a 3.1 overall GPA and 505 MCAT, I received 1 interview at the time and did not get into any schools. I only got accepted after I completed a Masters Program where I received a 4.0 GPA. If you are serious about going to med school I would highly advise doing either a post-bacc or Masters to boost your GPA. No matter your MCAT score, schools will have a hard time overlooking your overall GPA. You have to think that most of these schools are getting 8,000+ applications, so any red flag on your application is an easy way to put you on the not accepted pile when there are only 150-200 seats.

 

[waveringatom]

Definitely. I had a 3.2cgpa/507 MCAT with a post bacc, applied November and have interviews at ~1/3rd of the schools I applied to, 1/3rd silence and 1/3rd rejections.

Are you international though? It might be inadvisable if you're a Canadian resident applying for US schools without more grade repair.

Could you PM me? We have similar stats but my cycle didn’t go as expected.

 

[TheGreatDude]

Your stats looks good enough for DO schools, especially for the newest ones.

 

[Allosteopath]

With an update, it looks like if I include some courses that I took at a flight college (still post-secondary, likely non-accredited but still required by AACOMAS) my overall GPA on my application is brought up to ~3.4

I was enrolled in this college for flight training and these courses were included in the program. As I have said, the program is likely not regionally accredited (private institution on in Canada), but AACOMAS requires me to report the grades.

Would this have any bearing on my application?

 

[smartwater9698]

It really depends on the cycle and how competitive it is, but your overall GPA is slightly concerning despite a good MCAT score. I was in a similar boat with a 3.1 overall GPA and 505 MCAT, I received 1 interview at the time and did not get into any schools. I only got accepted after I completed a Masters Program where I received a 4.0 GPA. If you are serious about going to med school I would highly advise doing either a post-bacc or Masters to boost your GPA. No matter your MCAT score, schools will have a hard time overlooking your overall GPA. You have to think that most of these schools are getting 8,000+ applications, so any red flag on your application is an easy way to put you on the not accepted pile when there are only 150-200 seats.

Are you saying that overall GPA is more weighted than science GPA?

 

[Isoval]

Are you saying that overall GPA is more weighted than science GPA?

At a vast majority of schools, this is not the case.

Most schools will weight your sGPA and science MCAT sections higher than their non-science counterparts.

 

[foreverlearner02]

Definitely. I had a 3.2cgpa/507 MCAT with a post bacc, applied November and have interviews at ~1/3rd of the schools I applied to, 1/3rd silence and 1/3rd rejections.

Are you international though? It might be inadvisable if you're a Canadian resident applying for US schools without more grade repair.

Question- how well did you do in your postbac? Just asking bc I’m in a similar situation and am doing a post bac

 

[WoundupKnight]

Question- how well did you do in your postbac? Just asking bc I’m in a similar situation and am doing a post bac

3.8 s/cgpa @40 units while working full time. Although I'm pretty sure 30 units is sufficient from what other people have said here.

 

[Goro]

I'm a Canadian/American who has applied unsuccessfully twice(albeit with a waitlist this year) in Canada where I reside. I was slightly hesitant about applying DO since American schools look at all undergraduate years in GPA calculation where I did extraordinarily poorly early on (cGPA 1.7 at the time) and many Canadian schools forgive this by examining only the final two years of GPA.

Where I stand now:
~3.2 cGPA and ~3.16 sGPA MCAT: 507
Approximately:
150 hours of volunteering (hospital + mentorship opportunities)
Various work experience during school and continuing presently.
~ I am trying to arrange some DO shadowing in the USA to add to my application, a bit of a challenge since I am just cold calling (advice?)


Would it be worth the money to throw in an application at this point? As a non-traditional applicant who is a father of a one year old sometimes making time for volunteering hasn't been a tremendous priority lately, but I hope to expand on some of the hours I have now.

Cheers!

With that MCAT score alone, you have to apply DO. As a reinventor, doubly so.

 

[foreverlearner02]

3.8 s/cgpa @40 units while working full time. Although I'm pretty sure 30 units is sufficient from what other people have said here.

Thank you!

 

[SawyerMoccassin]

You could receive interviews at some DO schools with your stats and I suggest all these:
ACOM
ARCOM
NYIT-Arkansas
ICOM
BCOM
UIWSOM
UP-KYCOM
WVSOM
VCOM (all 3 schools)
LUCOM
PCOM Georgia and South Georgia
LECOM (all schools)

Add LMU-DCOM and this list is perfect

 

[WoundupKnight]

TUNCOM as well. I had similar stats to OP and had a II there.