DO low gpa..low mcat

[hopefulfuturedoctor12]

Hello!

So my question is what are my chances if any of getting accepted into DO school (after my gap year) with the following?

MCAT: 1st time:19
cGPA: 3.31
sGPA: 3.1

400+ hours of research
leadership positions held for 3 years
shadowing experience

I am going to be taking a gap year after I graduate (I'm a senior) in which I plan to do a 1 year masters program as well as working part time at a hospital as a scribe.

I am retaking my MCAT on Jan 15th but I am very worried, as I only had about 3 weeks to study for them after the 1st score came back. I feel that with 3 weeks of studying I can bring up my MCAT at highest by 4-5 points. So if I do end up with say a 25, after my gap year do I have any chance at getting accepted into a DO school?

Any advice/input would be greatly appreciated ! Thank you.

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[Saxappeal1]

So a few things:
1. Do you have an idea as to why you got a 19?
2. Even if it is possible and even if it is easier to raise a score from a 19 to a 25 than let's say a 30 to a 36, don't assume such a huge score increase. Let your practice scores speak for you.
3. On that assumption though, it also depends on your sub section scores. If you get a 25 (11/5/9) then no. But a 25 (9/9/7) is better, but I'm guessing for a lot of DO schools that won't be enough.

On the other hand, some DO schools reward reinvention. A jump from a 19 to a 25 would be amazing even if the sub scores weren't stellar. However, with your sGPA barely kosher and your cGPA only ok, I wouldn't recommend it.

 

[AromaticOreo]

I think if you raise your MCAT to at least a 28+, you will stand a very good chance at DO schools. As it is, that 19 is a killer.I would not recommend retaking the test until your practice test scores are within a range that you are happy with. How are your practice test scores now? Also, since you're taking a gap year, you might benefit from using that extra time to study for the 2015 MCAT. I know that sounds like a terrible idea now, but I'm not sure you're going to see the improvement that you need in 3 weeks, unless something just went terribly wrong on your test day.

 

[gyngyn]

I am retaking my MCAT on Jan 15th but I am very worried, as I only had about 3 weeks to study for them after the 1st score came back. I feel that with 3 weeks of studying I can bring up my MCAT at highest by 4-5 points. So if .

I see this so often that am am compelled to respond here.
The most common finding in "multiple MCAT syndrome," is an immediate re-take. No interval of stages of grief, no self reflection, insufficient time to make a real improvement...
This allows the committee insight into the applicant's lack of self knowledge!
It tells a story you do not want told.

 

[Goro]

So after scoring disastrously on the MCAT, you are only going to devote three weeks of prep for a high-stakes, career deciding exam? This stinks of poor decision making, and I have Adcom colleagues who would outright reject for that alone.

Do NOT retake the MCAT until you are fully ready, meaning you have fixed your deficits.

And going from a 19 to a 25 still eliminates you from schools that average (like mine) and the higher end-scoring schools, like CCOM, AZCOM, Western and the NY and CA Touros. This puts you into being competitive for mostly the newest schools.

A low sGPA doesn't bode well either. If you have any F/D/C science grades, retake them.

Make good choices...app season doesn't start until 6/1...you have plenty of time, and the schools aren't going anywhere.

Hello!

So my question is what are my chances if any of getting accepted into DO school (after my gap year) with the following?

MCAT: 1st time:19
cGPA: 3.31
sGPA: 3.1

400+ hours of research
leadership positions held for 3 years
shadowing experience

I am going to be taking a gap year after I graduate (I'm a senior) in which I plan to do a 1 year masters program as well as working part time at a hospital as a scribe.

I am retaking my MCAT on Jan 15th but I am very worried, as I only had about 3 weeks to study for them after the 1st score came back. I feel that with 3 weeks of studying I can bring up my MCAT at highest by 4-5 points. So if I do end up with say a 25, after my gap year do I have any chance at getting accepted into a DO school?

Any advice/input would be greatly appreciated ! Thank you.

 

[hopefulfuturedoctor12]

I am definitely okay with taking the new 2015 exam but the thing is I have so much pressure from my parents to do well on this exam, that not sure If I should just take this & then have to take the new 2015 exam(which would a 3rd take on the exam which in itself looks horrible). The last day to cancel this reservation is tonight by midnight, so really not sure what to do. i don't know if I can raise a score that much in such little time, esp with only 1 week left.

Also I have looked into my mistakes, and it was due to lackings in the PS section.

 

[gyngyn]

I am definitely okay with taking the new 2015 exam but the thing is I have so much pressure from my parents to do well on this exam, that not sure If I should just take this & then have to take the new 2015 exam(which would a 3rd take on the exam which in itself looks horrible). The last day to cancel this reservation is tonight by midnight, so really not sure what to do. i don't know if I can raise a score that much in such little time, esp with only 1 week left.

Also I have looked into my mistakes, and it was due to lackings in the PS section.

Your parents will not be there to explain this lack of judgement to the committee.
With a better choice, you won't have to, either.

 

[kevinsword91]

I am definitely okay with taking the new 2015 exam but the thing is I have so much pressure from my parents to do well on this exam, that not sure If I should just take this & then have to take the new 2015 exam(which would a 3rd take on the exam which in itself looks horrible). The last day to cancel this reservation is tonight by midnight, so really not sure what to do. i don't know if I can raise a score that much in such little time, esp with only 1 week left.

Also I have looked into my mistakes, and it was due to lackings in the PS section.

Cancel. Thinking that somehow magically one extra week of studying will get you up 6 points is poor judgement.

 

[candbgirl]

Why are you doing a masters program? Wouldn't retaking your c/d/ f classes and using the lovely grade replacement of DO schools be better and smarter? Are you planning to apply 6/1/15? Maybe you should put the whole thing off a couple of years. For sure you need to cancel that test. No guarantee you'll improve at all and you might do worse.

 

[hopefulfuturedoctor12]

Cancel. Thinking that somehow magically one extra week of studying will get you up 6 points is poor judgement.

I am considering taking the exam, and seeing how I feel about it in the last 5 minutes you get to void the exam, and so I will void it if I feel it was so bad. Cancelling it or voiding it will basically mean the same thing minus the fact that "voiding" counts as a try although medschools don't see that voided attempt or know about it right?

I figured maybe the real pressure of the actual exam can be used as practice as I feel anxiety is one of the main reasons I suffered on the first exam. I was scoring 29-31s on practice exams and ended up with a 19 on the real thing.

Do you think that seems like a good idea? Just taking it anyways just for my "anxiety" relief practice.

 

[hopefulfuturedoctor12]

Why are you doing a masters program? Wouldn't retaking your c/d/ f classes and using the lovely grade replacement of DO schools be better and smarter? Are you planning to apply 6/1/15? Maybe you should put the whole thing off a couple of years. For sure you need to cancel that test. No guarantee you'll improve at all and you might do worse.

Hey! I was actually considering that but then I figured since all the grades that brought my GPA down were Cs, so I figured instead of retaking them, and spending another year in undergrad I could do my masters and prove myself through the GPA from there. That way I will also have my Masters and I can prove myself through that. Since I am taking a year off I want to be as productive as possible.

 

[gyngyn]

I am considering taking the exam, and seeing how I feel about it in the last 5 minutes you get to void the exam, and so I will void it if I feel it was so bad. Cancelling it or voiding it will basically mean the same thing minus the fact that "voiding" counts as a try although medschools don't see that voided attempt or know about it right?

I figured maybe the real pressure of the actual exam can be used as practice as I feel anxiety is one of the main reasons I suffered on the first exam. I was scoring 29-31s on practice exams and ended up with a 19 on the real thing.

Do you think that seems like a good idea? Just taking it anyways just for my "anxiety" relief practice.

You have already experienced the joy of actually taking the exam.
The probability that one can correctly assess outcome is small. What did you think your score would be the first time?
Do you recall how you felt in the last five minutes of the exam? Was that the state of mind you would like to have for a high stakes decision?

 

[hopefulfuturedoctor12]

You have already experienced the joy of actually taking the exam.
The probability that one can correctly assess outcome is small.

replying to your other post..it disappeared for some reason..

I thought post-baccalaureate pre-medical programs were to enhance your record? Because I actually found my masters program through the AAMC post-bac program site listed as "academic record enhancers"

https://services.aamc.org/postbac/

 

[gyngyn]

replying to your other post..it disappeared for some reason..

I thought post-baccalaureate pre-medical programs were to enhance your record? Because I actually found my masters program through the AAMC post-bac program site listed as "academic record enhancers"

https://services.aamc.org/postbac/

I deleted it because I realized that you had specifically asked about DO schools and I do not have inside knowledge of how they view Master's grades. At MD schools, Masters grades are considered independently and do not remediate a weak undergrad performance. The degree to which they enhance the record will vary depending on the holistic evaluation made at each school.

Post bac programs, in contrast, can improve both the gpa and give evidence of readiness for a rigorous curriculum. If the post bac includes re-takes of previous classes in which one did poorly, they offer the advantage of grade replacement for DO programs.

SMP's are a bit different. Outcomes vary dramatically by program. Depending on the linkages, they may offer an interview or even better. This is probably not going to happen with a 19 on the MCAT, though.

Regarding the first MCAT, what was your post-test estimate regarding the outcome?

 

[hopefulfuturedoctor12]

I deleted it because I realized that you had specifically asked about DO schools and I do not have inside knowledge of how they view Master's grades. At MD schools, Masters grades are considered independently and do not remediate a weak undergrad performance. The degree to which they enhance the record will vary depending on the holistic evaluation made at each school.

Post bac programs, in contrast, do improve both the gpa and can give evidence of readiness for a rigorous curriculum. If the post bac includes re-takes of previous classes in which one did poorly, they offer the advantage of grade replacement for DO programs.

SMP's are a bit different. Outcomes vary dramatically by program. Depending on the linkages, they may offer an interview or even better. This is probably not going to happen with a 19 on the MCAT, though.

Regarding the first MCAT, what was your post-test estimate regarding the outcome?

hmm I will deff take that into consideration ! Thank you

I know I didn't do as well as I had wanted to coming out of the exam, as I was really stressed out but I never never thought I would get a low low 19! The moderator actually checked up on me during my 10 min break cause he saw through the video surveillance that I looked like I was having an issue (hyperventilating)

And in regards to my first MCAT its more of a retention/anxiety problem I think maybe..

The practice exams in which I had 30-31s were a good 4-5 months before my MCAT( this was in the summer). 1-2 weeks before my real MCAT which was during the fall semester I had a range of 27-28. I think maybe it could be I lost alot of information that I learned during the summer during the semester where I also focused on school exams which aided my semester GPA (3.75) but definitely did not help my MCATS. I honestly don't remember alot from the content I had previously solidified. My reasoning was that a "refresher" during the semester would be enough since I had already studied enough during the summer..but clearly that was wrong shown by my real MCAT score as well as my current practice exam range (23-24)..

 

[gyngyn]

My reasoning was that a "refresher" during the semester would be enough since I had already studied enough during the summer..but clearly that was wrong shown by my real MCAT score as well as my current practice exam range (23-24)..

One often does worse in the real thing.
There are learning specialists that can help with test-taking anxiety.
A series of bad outcomes is far more damning than a single bad data point and only increases pressure to perform.

 

[Goro]

OP, you are an adult. You are old enough to drive, vote, work, pay taxes and fight and die for your country. You therefore are old enough to grow a spine and tell your parents that not one but TWO Adcom members (one of whom is at a CA MD school; the other at a DO school) that your 19 score is lethal for ANY medical school in the US.

For you to be competitive now for DO schools, you need to score well into the high 20s, and that will still not be optimal for those schools that average MCAT scores, like mine.

A 24-25 score will only make you competitive for the newest DO schools, meaning those at the bottom of the barrel.

For you to be competitive at MD schools, you will need to score well > 30.

Impress upon your parents taking a high-stakes, career deciding exam without adequate preparation is a recipe for disaster. If they want you to do well, you have to do this on YOUR time-table, not theirs. Their impatience will terminate your medical career.

Impress upon them that poor decision making in med school applicants is very much looked down upon by Adcom.

Capeesh?

I am definitely okay with taking the new 2015 exam but the thing is I have so much pressure from my parents to do well on this exam, that not sure If I should just take this & then have to take the new 2015 exam(which would a 3rd take on the exam which in itself looks horrible). The last day to cancel this reservation is tonight by midnight, so really not sure what to do. i don't know if I can raise a score that much in such little time, esp with only 1 week left.

Also I have looked into my mistakes, and it was due to lackings in the PS section.

 

[midweststudent1]

I am considering taking the exam, and seeing how I feel about it in the last 5 minutes you get to void the exam, and so I will void it if I feel it was so bad. Cancelling it or voiding it will basically mean the same thing minus the fact that "voiding" counts as a try although medschools don't see that voided attempt or know about it right?

I figured maybe the real pressure of the actual exam can be used as practice as I feel anxiety is one of the main reasons I suffered on the first exam. I was scoring 29-31s on practice exams and ended up with a 19 on the real thing.

Do you think that seems like a good idea? Just taking it anyways just for my "anxiety" relief practice.

This is a horrible idea. Don't play Russian roulette with something this important. There's one thing that's true about med school that everyone can agree on---it's not cramming, it's hard work.

Put the Hard work in, hours and hours of if, for a couple months...then re take. That way, you will have set yourself up to SUCCEED not just "get by". And if it doesn't go too hot, well at least you'll know you gave your best effort

 

[chemguy79]

Given the poor decision making skills that you are illustrating in this thread and the complete inability to act independently of the wishes of your parents, I think that you should hold off on a career in medicine until you have remedied those issues.

I apologize for coming across harsh, but the decisions that you are in line to make will absolutely destroy any chance that you have of a medical career. Retake when you are prepared to do so AND do not take an exam that determines a potential career in medicine at the behest of your parents.

 

[LuluLovesMe]

My advice is for you to put in your best effort in this MCAT and see how you do. If you score less than the high 20's as Goro said, you may have a shot for low tier DO schools. But at that point you should really question if medicine is the best career path for you. Aim for low 30's in your retake.

 

[hopefulfuturedoctor12]

Since I am applying for post-bacc programs I feel my 19 will not get me accepted to any program and so this retake might be a bad score but without a score higher than 19 I feel I have no chance at getting into post-bacc program. Not sure what to do now since I know I want to void my score (cancellation deadline passed) but not sure If I should just keep it so I can get accepted into the UMDNJ Masters in Biomedical Sciences program.

 

[user3]

Hello!

So my question is what are my chances if any of getting accepted into DO school (after my gap year) with the following?

MCAT: 1st time:19
cGPA: 3.31
sGPA: 3.1

400+ hours of research
leadership positions held for 3 years
shadowing experience

I am going to be taking a gap year after I graduate (I'm a senior) in which I plan to do a 1 year masters program as well as working part time at a hospital as a scribe.

I am retaking my MCAT on Jan 15th but I am very worried, as I only had about 3 weeks to study for them after the 1st score came back. I feel that with 3 weeks of studying I can bring up my MCAT at highest by 4-5 points. So if I do end up with say a 25, after my gap year do I have any chance at getting accepted into a DO school?

Any advice/input would be greatly appreciated ! Thank you.

Just curious but what is your state of residence?

 

[hopefulfuturedoctor12]

Just curious but what is your state of residence?

NJ

 

[Doug Underhill]

I think you should listen to our experts Goro and gyngyn. You have no business taking a real MCAT until your practice exam average is at least 27 or so, which is 57th percentile. You'll probably have to take the 2015 exam, but that's not a nightmare: every premed from here on out will have to take the 2015 exam. This will put you in good company.

 

[futdoc251989]

OP. I was able to raise my MCAT score from a 23 to a 30 on my second attempt so don't get discouraged. I highly recommend the Exam Krackers books (1001 questions in each subject). Those will give you the most practice and widest range of questions on all the material. Getting through those books should take you at least 2-3 months, so don't rush it. Good luck.

 

[hopefulfuturedoctor12]

OP. I was able to raise my MCAT score from a 23 to a 30 on my second attempt so don't get discouraged. I highly recommend the Exam Krackers books (1001 questions in each subject). Those will give you the most practice and widest range of questions on all the material. Getting through those books should take you at least 2-3 months, so don't rush it. Good luck.

Thank you so much!

I really needed someone to say this as most people are very discouraging.

I have decided to take the new MCAT !
If I may ask, what about your MCAT study habits did you change from the 1st attempt to the 2nd attempt? Any tips would be appreciated

 

[AromaticOreo]

Thank you so much!

I really needed someone to say this as most people are very discouraging.

Sorry for the bump, but I don't think anyone is trying to discourage you OP. We're trying to save you from making a very bad decision and rushing into something that could potentially end your chances at a medical career. I think taking the new MCAT is the best option for you, and I'm really glad that's what you decided to do. Anything is possible with some hard work and determination! You just can't go off all willy-nilly though; you have to have a plan. Wishing you the best of luck! Show that MCAT who's boss!

 

[Goro]

Do NOT take this exam until you are fully ready.

Thank you so much!

I really needed someone to say this as most people are very discouraging.

I have decided to take the new MCAT !
If I may ask, what about your MCAT study habits did you change from the 1st attempt to the 2nd attempt? Any tips would be appreciated