Hi, I was wondering if anybody had any advice on whether to apply now or wait until the next year. I would definitely prefer to apply in this cycle but I know its very late. I have a 3.5 cumulative gpa and a 31P mcat score. I'm a CT resident so was going to apply to UConn and other private schools like GW, Tulane, Hofstra, Drexel, Jeff. I also went to a competitive school for undergrad, did a lot of research and athletics. Any kind of advice would be appreciated, Thanks!
Late app with 31P/3.5gpa
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I think your application would benefit from another year of GPA improvement, more especially if you don't have a steep upward grade trend already. The lateness of the cycle by the time you were verified and returned Secondaries would probably make it a good deal less likely you'd get any attention this cycle, anyway. Waiting would give you the additional benefit of more time to beef up your ECs.
How many years and hours of clinical experience do you have? How many shadowing hours, and what specialties? Any nonmedical, noncampus community service? Any leadership or teaching? Were you involved in an intercollegiate sport (swimming per chance)?
How many years and hours of clinical experience do you have? How many shadowing hours, and what specialties? Any nonmedical, noncampus community service? Any leadership or teaching? Were you involved in an intercollegiate sport (swimming per chance)?
I shadowed an orthopaedic surgeon for a semester and an anesthesiologist for one, was on the varsity swim team, did hospital volunteering for a semester, published a children's book thats given to kids with cancer. Would that with a lot of research experience be enough to get noticed?
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Publishing a kid's book is really special, even moreso considering the topic. If you did more than a year of research, that would be above average, and more than two years would be really good. About 50 hours of shadowing is average, and 60-80 is better. If you could follow a primary care doc for a day in addition, that would show a good breadth of experience there. I'd be most concerned if your only clinical experience, where you directly interacted with sick people, was only a semester. I think it would be a very good idea to continue with that for about four hours a week. To put it into perspective, about 1.5 years and 150 hours is about average for applicants. If you were on the varsity swim team for most of college, most adcomms will understand some sparseness of ECs, but I do feel that it would be wise to augment what you already have before you submit.
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by normal people standards you have about a 60% chance of getting in with your stats. with the crazies on sdn, it may seem like you have no chance. But honestly, your MCAT is slightly above average and your GPA is slightly below. if you have good EC's you should be fine. And for normal people applying right now is not considered late. If you can be complete at most schools by mid to late september, you will be fine.
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Being "Complete" means that all supplemental materials have been submitted. Not just Secondaries, but also LORs, photo, etc, that each school has requested.
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He hasn't even submitted his AMCAS yet. Best case scenario is sometime in November, if he submitted today.
